Log inSign up

Prijatelji su se grlili.

Prijatelji su se grlili.
The friends hugged.
From Lesson 81:Reciprocal verbs (se)·Croatian

Questions & Answers about Prijatelji su se grlili.

I know se usually means "oneself". Does this sentence mean the friends hugged themselves?
No, in this case, se shows a reciprocal action, meaning they did it to each other. When a plural subject does an action together, adding se often translates to "each other" or "one another".
Why is se placed between the two verb parts (su and grlili)?
Both su and se are enclitics (short words that lack their own stress). In Croatian, enclitics must group together and usually take the second position in a sentence. Here, the first position is the subject Prijatelji, so su and se immediately follow it.
Could I swap the short words and say Prijatelji se su grlili?
No, the order of these short words is strictly fixed! When you have a helper verb like su and a pronoun like se, the helper verb almost always comes first. The only exception is the word je (is), which goes at the very end of an enclitic group.
Why does the main verb end in -li (grlili)?
In the past tense, the main verb's ending must match the gender and number of the subject. Since Prijatelji is a masculine plural noun, the verb takes the masculine plural ending -li. If the sentence was about female friends (prijateljice), it would be Prijateljice su se grlile.

Learn Prijatelji su se grlili and more in Croatian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Croatian →