Learn Hardcore Croatian: Osim te dosadne teme na sastanku, sve je bilo dobro i svi su mogli postaviti pitanja, a poslije smo imali kratak odmor. - Apart from that boring topic at the meeting, everything was good and everyone could ask questions, and afterwards we had a short break.

Sve here is treated as a neuter singular collective pronoun meaning “everything”. Croatian often uses neuter singular for “everything / all (of it)” as a lump sum.

sve (everything) → grammatically neuter singular
Therefore, verbs and adjectives agree in neuter singular:
- sve je bilo dobro – literally “everything was good (neuter)”

You would use plural agreement when referring to separate countable items with a clearly plural subject:

sve stvari su bile dobre – all (the) things were good
- stvari is plural → su bile dobre (feminine plural agreement)

But when it’s just sve meaning “everything”, je bilo dobro is correct.

What’s the difference between sve and svi in this sentence?

sve here = “everything” (neuter, non-personal)
svi here = “everyone / all (the people)” (masculine personal plural by default)

So:

sve je bilo dobro – everything was good (all circumstances, aspects)
svi su mogli postaviti pitanja – everyone could ask questions (all the people present)

In Croatian, svi is used for people (or mixed groups), while sve is for things, situations, abstract “everything”.

Why is it svi su mogli postaviti pitanja and not something like svi su mogli da postavljaju pitanja like in some other languages?

Croatian does not use da + finite verb after moći (“can / be able to”) the way Serbian often does. Instead, moći is followed by a bare infinitive.

Correct in Croatian:

svi su mogli postaviti pitanja – everyone could ask questions
ne mogu doći – I can’t come

So:

moći + infinitive
postaviti is the infinitive “to ask / to pose (a question)”

Forms like mogli da postavljaju are characteristic of Serbian, not standard Croatian.

What is the difference between postaviti pitanja and postavljati pitanja?

This is about aspect:

postaviti pitanja – perfective aspect
- Focus on completed action: the act of asking questions is seen as a whole event.
- Here it implies they had the chance to ask (their) questions in that specific situation.
postavljati pitanja – imperfective aspect
- Focus on ongoing / repeated / habitual action.
- Would suggest asking questions repeatedly or as a general habit.

In this context, svi su mogli postaviti pitanja fits better: there was a question time, and people could ask their questions (a completed act in that meeting).

Why is pitanja in that form? Isn’t the basic form pitanje?

Yes, the base form is pitanje (a question, neuter singular).

In postaviti pitanja, pitanja is:

accusative plural of pitanje (neuter)
plural because people could ask more than one question

Neuter -e nouns usually form plural like this:

pitanje → pitanja (nom./acc. plural)
more (sea) → mora (seas)

So postaviti pitanja = “to ask questions” (literally: to set questions).

What does the conjunction a do here? Is it just and, like i?

A is also often translated as “and”, but it usually adds a slight contrast or shift between clauses, more like “and / while / whereas / and then”.

In the sentence:

… svi su mogli postaviti pitanja, a poslije smo imali kratak odmor.

a signals a move to the next event:

“everyone could ask questions, and then afterwards we had a short break.”

If you used i instead, it would sound more neutral, just adding another fact:

… svi su mogli postaviti pitanja i poslije smo imali kratak odmor.

Both are possible, but a here smoothly connects and slightly contrasts “question time” with “break time”.

Why is it just poslije and not poslije nečega? Does poslije need a genitive object?

Poslije can be used in two ways:

As an adverb, meaning “afterwards / later” (no object):
- Poslije smo imali kratak odmor. – Afterwards we had a short break.
- Doći ću poslije. – I’ll come later.
As a preposition that takes the genitive:
- poslije sastanka – after the meeting
- poslije ručka – after lunch

In this sentence, poslije is used adverbially: “afterwards” (after the meeting / discussion, which is understood from context), so it stands alone without a genitive phrase.

Why is it imali kratak odmor and not imali kratki odmor?

Both kratak odmor and kratki odmor are grammatically possible, but there’s a nuance:

kratak odmor – the long (full) adjective form, common in neutral, standard style.
kratki odmor – the short/definite form can sound a bit more specific/definite (“that short break”), and is also common in some fixed phrases or certain dialects.

In practice:

imali kratak odmor – “we had a short break” (neutral, standard)
taj kratki odmor – “that short break” (definite, specific)

In this sentence, kratak odmor is the standard, natural way to say “a short break” in a narrative.

Why is the word order poslije smo imali instead of poslije imali smo or imali smo poslije?

Croatian word order is flexible, but certain positions are more natural:

poslije smo imali kratak odmor:
- poslije at the beginning sets the time frame: “afterwards,”
- smo imali – verb phrase with auxiliary smo (we) before the main verb imali is the most neutral pattern.

You could also say:

poslije smo imali kratak odmor – most natural here
imali smo poslije kratak odmor – possible, but less usual; stresses “we had later a short break,” sounds a bit marked.
poslije imali smo kratak odmor – unusual; typically smo wants to be very close to the verb, so imali smo is nicer than imali smo split by time adverb.

General tendency: in past tense, the clitic auxiliary (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su) usually sits right after the first stressed element in the clause. Here, poslije is first and stressed, so smo comes right after it: poslije smo imali…

Could I say osim dosadne teme without te? Does te change the meaning?

Yes, you can say just osim dosadne teme.

osim dosadne teme – “apart from a / the boring topic” (no specific pointing)
osim te dosadne teme – “apart from that boring topic” (more specific, refers to a known, previously mentioned topic)

te is a demonstrative pronoun (“that”) and makes it clear you mean a particular, identifiable topic that the speakers both know about.

Is dosadna the only word for “boring”? Could it also mean “annoying”?

Dosadan / dosadna / dosadno primarily means “boring”, but it can also carry the sense of “annoying / a nuisance”, especially when talking about people or behavior:

dosadna tema – a boring topic
dosadan čovjek – a boring / annoying person
Prestani, dosadan si. – Stop it, you’re annoying.

In this sentence, dosadne teme clearly refers to the topic being boring (and maybe tiresome/annoying) at the meeting.