Learn Croatian: Školovao se u Zagrebu. - He was educated in Zagreb.

In Croatian, the third-person singular auxiliary verb je is usually dropped when it appears alongside the reflexive pronoun se. So, instead of saying Školovao se je, it is simply written as Školovao se. This omission is standard for reflexive verbs in the past tense.

Why use the reflexive se here instead of a passive phrase like bio je školovan?

While bio je školovan literally translates to "he was educated", Croatian strongly prefers reflexive constructions over the passive voice for actions involving personal background or routines. Using školovati se (literally "to school oneself") is the most natural way to express that someone received their education somewhere.

Is the verb školovati se perfective or imperfective?

The verb školovati se is biaspectual, meaning it can act as both perfective and imperfective depending on the context. In this sentence, it functions perfectively to state the completed fact of his education, but it could also mean "was getting educated" (imperfective) in a sentence describing an ongoing background action.

If I wanted to emphasize the location, could I say U Zagrebu se školovao?