Questions & Answers about Tko sam ja?
Why is sam the second word in this sentence?
sam (am) is a clitic, which is a short, unstressed word. In Croatian, clitics have a strict rule: they almost always want to be in the second position of a sentence. Here, it correctly steps in right after the first word, Tko (who).
Can I just ask Tko sam? and leave out ja?
Yes! Croatian usually drops subject pronouns like ja (I) because the verb sam already makes it clear that you are talking about yourself. Adding ja here is perfectly fine, but it adds a bit of emphasis, like asking "Who am I?".
Is the word order here exactly the same as in English?
It happens to match perfectly here (Tko = Who, sam = am, ja = I), but do not let that fool you! The word sam is in the middle because of the Croatian second-position rule for short words, not because it copies English question order.
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