Pobrinut ćemo se za putnika.

This is a feature of the Croatian future tense.

The infinitive of the verb is pobrinuti se. In the future, Croatian often uses:

• the auxiliary ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će
• plus the infinitive

But when the infinitive comes before the auxiliary, infinitives ending in -ti usually drop the final -i:

• pobrinuti → pobrinut
• so: Pobrinut ćemo se

If the auxiliary comes first, the full infinitive stays:

• Mi ćemo se pobrinuti za putnika.

Both are correct. The sentence you have is just the version where the infinitive is placed first.

Se is a reflexive clitic, but in this sentence it is best learned as part of the verb expression:

• pobrinuti se za nekoga/nešto = to take care of someone/something, to make sure something is handled

So although se is historically reflexive, here you should treat pobrinuti se as one unit.

Compare:

• brinuti = to worry / to care
• brinuti se = to worry, to care
• pobrinuti se = to take care of, to see to it

In other words, you normally do not translate se separately here.

Because the verb expression is:

• pobrinuti se za + accusative

So za is required by this verb pattern.

Examples:

• Pobrinut ću se za djecu. = I’ll take care of the children.
• Pobrinula se za sve detalje. = She took care of all the details.

You should learn the whole structure together:

• pobrinuti se za nekoga/nešto

not just the bare verb by itself.

Because za here takes the accusative case, and putnik is a masculine animate noun.

For masculine animate nouns in Croatian:

• nominative singular: putnik
• accusative singular: putnika

So:

• putnik = traveler, as the subject form
• za putnika = for the traveler / of the traveler in this structure, using accusative

This is a very common pattern. Compare:

• Vidim čovjeka. = I see the man.
• Čekamo gosta. = We are waiting for the guest.
• Pobrinut ćemo se za putnika.

Good question. The form putnika can indeed be both genitive singular and accusative singular.

Here it is accusative singular because it follows za in the expression:

• pobrinuti se za + accusative

You know it is accusative from the grammar of the sentence, not just from the form itself.

This happens a lot with masculine animate nouns, because their:

• genitive singular and
• accusative singular

often look the same.

It is the future tense, usually called futur I in Croatian grammar.

The pattern is:

• infinitive + present of htjeti as an auxiliary

Here:

• ćemo = we will
• pobrinut = shortened infinitive form of pobrinuti
• se = reflexive clitic

So the whole verb phrase means:

• we will take care

You could also rearrange it as:

• Mi ćemo se pobrinuti za putnika.

That version may look easier to learners because it resembles the basic future pattern more clearly.

Because Croatian often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The form ćemo already tells you the subject is we.

So:

• Pobrinut ćemo se za putnika. = We will take care of the traveler.

If you want to emphasize we, you can add mi:

• Mi ćemo se pobrinuti za putnika.

But normally it is unnecessary.

The dictionary form is:

• pobrinuti se

This is a perfective verb.

Its imperfective counterpart is usually:

• brinuti se

The difference is important:

• brinuti se = to care, to worry, to be taking care of
• pobrinuti se = to take care of, to make sure something gets done

So in this sentence, the speaker means a completed, one-time action in the future: they will make sure the traveler is taken care of.

Because pobrinuti se is perfective, and Croatian usually uses a perfective verb when talking about a single completed future action.

• Pobrinut ćemo se za putnika.
  = We’ll take care of the traveler.
  The focus is on making sure it gets done.

If you used brinuti se, it would sound more like an ongoing process or repeated care, depending on context.

So this sentence is naturally using the verb that means:

• to see to it
• to handle it
• to take care of it

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but clitics like ćemo and se have placement rules.

Common versions include:

• Pobrinut ćemo se za putnika.
• Mi ćemo se pobrinuti za putnika.
• Za putnika ćemo se pobrinuti.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly.

A useful thing to remember is that ćemo and se are clitics, so they usually appear near the beginning of the clause, in the so-called second position area.

That is why forms like Ćemo pobrinuti se... sound wrong.

Because they are clitics: short grammatical words that lean on neighboring words.

• ćemo is the future auxiliary
• se is the reflexive clitic

Croatian writes them separately:

• Pobrinut ćemo se...

not as one combined word.

Clitics are very common in Croatian, and their position is one of the things English speakers often need time to get used to.

A very transparent version would be:

• Mi ćemo se pobrinuti za putnika.

Many learners find this easier because:

• mi clearly shows the subject
• ćemo clearly shows the future
• pobrinuti appears in its full infinitive form

Your original sentence is completely natural, but this alternative can be easier for studying the structure.

Ćemo is pronounced roughly like CHYEH-mo, but the exact Croatian ć sound is softer than English ch.

A few pronunciation notes:

• ć is a distinct Croatian consonant
• e is like e in bed, but cleaner and shorter
• o is a pure o, not a diphthong

Also, ćemo is unstressed compared with the main verb phrase in natural speech, because it is a clitic.

No. It can be both literal and figurative.

Literal:

• Pobrinut ćemo se za putnika. = We’ll take care of the traveler.

Figurative or administrative:

• Pobrinut ću se za dokumente. = I’ll take care of the documents.
• Pobrini se za to. = Take care of that.

So the phrase often means handle it, see to it, or make sure it is taken care of, not only physical caregiving.