Breakdown of Zaista ne znam, valjda je bolestan.
bolestan
sick
znati
to know
zaista
indeed, truly
valjda
presumably, I suppose (colloquial)
Questions & Answers about Zaista ne znam, valjda je bolestan.
Is there a difference between zaista, stvarno, and zbilja?
They all mean "really" or "truly" and are highly interchangeable. Zaista can sound slightly more formal or literary than stvarno or zbilja, but in everyday speech like this, you can use whichever one you prefer.
Why is ne znam written as two words here? Don't we sometimes combine ne with the verb?
In Croatian, the negative particle ne is almost always written as a separate word before a verb, just like here with ne znam. The only verbs that merge into a single word with ne are biti (nisam), imati (nemam), htjeti (neću), and the negative imperative nemoj.
Why does the English translation use a verb phrase like "I suppose" for valjda?
Valjda is a very common adverb meaning "probably", "I guess", or "I suppose". Unlike English, which often uses a full subject and verb like "I guess" to express this feeling, Croatian achieves the exact same conversational tone just by dropping in the adverb valjda.
Why is the adjective bolestan rather than bolesni?
Because it is used after the verb to be (je) to describe the subject, you must use the indefinite form of the adjective, which is bolestan. The definite form bolesni would be used directly before a noun, like in bolesni čovjek (the sick man).
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