Questions & Answers about Ne sviđaju mi se iste stvari.
What do the little words mi and se do here?
- mi = the short dative pronoun “to me.” With this verb, the person who experiences the liking is in the dative.
- se = the reflexive particle required by the verb sviđati se (“to be pleasing, to appeal”). The literal structure is “X is pleasing to Y.” Example: Ovaj film mi se sviđa. = “This film appeals to me / I like this film.”
Why are mi se placed after sviđaju?
Croatian short pronouns like mi and se are “second-position clitics”: they come right after the first stressed word/phrase in the clause. The negative ne is unstressed, so the first stressed word is the verb sviđaju, and the clitics follow it: Ne sviđaju mi se… If you start with a different stressed phrase, the clitics follow that:
- Iste stvari mi se ne sviđaju.
- Meni se ne sviđaju iste stvari.
What is the subject, and why is the verb plural (sviđaju)?
The subject is iste stvari (“the same things”), which is nominative feminine plural. The verb agrees with the subject, hence plural sviđaju. In the singular it would be:
- Ne sviđa mi se ista stvar.
Can I use voljeti instead: “Ne volim iste stvari”? What’s the difference?