Može izdržati bol.

She can endure the pain.

Breakdown of Može izdržati bol.

• moći: to be able to
• bol: pain
• izdržati: to endure; withstand

Questions & Answers about Može izdržati bol.

Why is there no subject pronoun here? Who is doing the action?

In Croatian, the subject pronoun is often left out because the verb form already gives enough information.

Here, može means he/she/it can (and in some contexts even you can in a formal sense, depending on the sentence around it). So Može izdržati bol. can mean:

• He can endure pain.
• She can endure pain.
• It can withstand pain.

If you want to make the subject explicit, you can add it:

• On može izdržati bol. = He can endure pain.
• Ona može izdržati bol. = She can endure pain.

Croatian usually prefers omitting pronouns unless you want emphasis or clarity.

What exactly does može mean here?

Može is the 3rd person singular present tense of moći, which means to be able to / can.

So:

• moći = to be able to
• može = can / is able to

In this sentence, može is followed by an infinitive:

• može izdržati = can endure / is able to endure

Depending on context, može can sometimes also mean may / is allowed to, but in this sentence the most natural meaning is can in the sense of being capable of.