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Questions & Answers about Mama mi je dobro.
Why does this use mi instead of moja for "my"?
In Croatian, it is very common to use the short "to me" pronoun (mi) to show possession or a close relationship, especially with family members and body parts. You could also say Moja mama je dobro, but Mama mi je dobro sounds very natural and is used constantly in everyday conversation.
Why is the order mi je instead of je mi?
Both mi and je are "enclitics" (short, unstressed words that group together in the second position of a sentence). When multiple enclitics stack up, they follow a strict order. Normally, short verbs come before short pronouns, but the word je is a famous exception! It always goes at the very end of the enclitic group, which is why it must be mi je.
Since mama is feminine, why doesn't the sentence use dobra?
In this sentence, dobro is acting as an adverb meaning "well" because it describes how your mom is doing, so it doesn't change its ending. If you used the feminine adjective and said Mama mi je dobra, it would change the meaning entirely to "My mom is a good person."
If I talk about my dad instead, does the rest of the sentence change?
No, only the first word changes! You would say Tata mi je dobro. Because dobro is an adverb here, it does not change to match masculine or feminine words.