Breakdown of U restoranu se uvijek ostavlja napojnica.
restoran
restaurant
uvijek
always
u
in, into
sebe
oneself (stressed reflexive)
Questions & Answers about U restoranu se uvijek ostavlja napojnica.
How does se change the meaning of the verb ostavlja here?
The word se is used here to create a passive or impersonal sentence. Instead of saying "someone leaves a tip" (which would be active), adding se makes it "a tip is left" or "one leaves a tip". It takes the focus off who is doing the action and puts it entirely on the action itself.
If a tip is being left, why is napojnica in the nominative case instead of the accusative case (napojnicu)?
In passive sentences built with se, the thing receiving the action actually becomes the grammatical subject of the sentence. Because napojnica is the subject here ("a tip is left"), it must be in the nominative case.
Why does se come right after U restoranu?
The word se is an enclitic, which means it is a "weak" word that must sit in the second position of a sentence. In Croatian, a closely linked prepositional phrase like U restoranu (In the restaurant) counts as the first "block" of information, so se naturally takes the second spot right after it.
Why do we use the verb ostavlja here instead of ostavi?
Ostavlja comes from the imperfective verb ostavljati (to leave). Because the sentence includes the word uvijek (always), it describes a repeated, routine habit. For repeated actions, Croatian requires an imperfective verb.