Questions & Answers about Mi smo ovdje.
Can I drop mi and just say smo ovdje?
You can drop the pronoun mi (we), but you cannot start the sentence with smo. Smo is a clitic, which is a short, unstressed word that is never allowed to be the very first word in a sentence. If you want to drop mi, you have to swap the word order and say Ovdje smo.
When should I include mi if the verb already tells us it means 'we'?
You use mi when you want to add emphasis, like saying 'We are here (but maybe someone else is not).' If you are just stating a simple fact without any special emphasis, Croatians usually drop the pronoun entirely.
I learned the word tu for 'here', so what is the difference between tu and ovdje?
They are very similar and often used interchangeably! Strictly speaking, ovdje means right exactly here where the speaker is, while tu can mean somewhere close by or 'right there' near the listener. However, in everyday conversation, you will hear both used to mean 'here'.
How would I say 'We are not here'?
You would say Mi nismo ovdje or simply Nismo ovdje. To make smo negative, you attach ni- to the front. Unlike smo, the negative verb nismo is a full, stressed word, which means it is perfectly fine to put it at the start of a sentence.
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