Breakdown of Pitao sam što mu znači sloboda.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
on
he
što
what
pitati
to ask
značiti
to mean
sloboda
freedom
Questions & Answers about Pitao sam što mu znači sloboda.
Why is the clitic mu placed right after što?
This is the main rule for subordinate clauses! Short grammar words (clitics) like the dative pronoun mu always try to take the second position in their clause. In a dependent clause, the connecting word like što, da, or ako counts as position one, so the clitic must lock in right after it.
Could I change the word order and say što znači mu sloboda?
No, that would be incorrect. Because mu is a clitic, it relies on strict placement rules. It must come right after the first word or phrase of its clause, which is što. The verb znači has to wait its turn.
Why do we use the dative case (mu) with the verb značiti (to mean)?
When you want to say what something means to a specific person, Croatian uses the dative case to show the recipient of that meaning. If you were asking what freedom means to us, you would use the dative for us: što nam znači sloboda.
Why is the subject sloboda at the very end of the sentence?
Croatian word order allows for this to place emphasis. Putting the subject at the end of the clause highlights it as the main piece of important information. Saying što mu sloboda znači is also grammatically correct, but putting sloboda at the end gives the word a bit more dramatic focus.
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