Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.

None of us likes boring movies, but everyone likes interesting stories.

Breakdown of Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.

• ne: not
• ali: but
• film: movie
• voljeti: to like
• od: of
• nas: us
• priča: story
• svatko: everyone
• zanimljiv: interesting
• dosadan: boring
• nitko: nobody

Questions & Answers about Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.

Why is there a ne in Nitko od nas ne voli? Isn’t nitko already negative?

In Croatian, negative words "stack" together — this is called negative concord.

• nitko = nobody
• ne voli = does not like

In standard Croatian, when you use a negative pronoun like nitko, ništa, nikad, etc., the verb must also be negated with ne:

• Nitko ne voli dosadne filmove. – Nobody likes boring movies.
• Nitko ništa ne zna. – Nobody knows anything.
• Nikad nigdje ne idem. – I never go anywhere.

Saying *Nitko voli dosadne filmove is ungrammatical in Croatian, even though in English we can’t say nobody doesn’t like.

Why is the verb voli (3rd person singular) and not volimo or vole in this sentence?

The verb agrees with nitko and svatko, not with nas or with any implied "we".

• Nitko od nas ne voli…

  • grammatical subject: nitko (nobody) → 3rd person singular
  • therefore: voli

• …ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.

  • grammatical subject: svatko (everyone) → 3rd person singular
  • therefore: voli

The phrase od nas ("of us") just tells you which group "nobody" comes from; it does not affect verb agreement.

Compare:

• Mi ne volimo dosadne filmove. – We don’t like boring movies.

  • subject: mi → 1st person plural → volimo

• Svi ne vole dosadne filmove. – Everyone (they all) doesn’t like boring movies.

  • subject: svi → 3rd person plural → vole

What does od nas mean exactly, and which case is nas?

od nas literally means "from us" or "of us", and in this context it’s best understood as "of us" / "from among us".

• Nitko od nas ne voli… → None of us likes…

Grammatically:

• od is a preposition that always takes the genitive case.
• nas here is genitive plural of mi (we).

Forms of mi ("we"):

• Nominative: mi – we
• Genitive: nas – of us
• Dative/Locative/Instrumental: nama – to us / with us / among us
• Accusative: nas – us

So od nas = "of us" (genitive after od).

Could I just say Nitko ne voli dosadne filmove without od nas?

Yes, that is grammatically correct, but the meaning changes.

• Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove.
  → None of us likes boring movies. (talking about a specific group: “us”)

• Nitko ne voli dosadne filmove.
  → Nobody likes boring movies. (a general statement about people in general)

So od nas narrows it down to the group "us". Without it, you’re talking about nobody at all, not specifically “nobody among us”.

Why is it Nitko od nas, and not something like *nitko mi or *nitko među nas?

Two separate issues here:

1. The preposition and case

   • od always takes the genitive:
     • od nas, od mene, od Petra
   • mi is nominative and cannot come after od, so *nitko mi is ungrammatical.
   • Correct forms:
     • nitko od nas – none of us
     • netko od nas – someone among us

2. Another possible phrase: među nama

   • među normally takes instrumental/locative, which for we is nama.
   • So:
     • Nitko među nama ne voli dosadne filmove. – Nobody among us likes boring movies. (also correct)
   • *među nas would mean “into our midst” (direction), not “among us” in the static sense, so it’s wrong here.

So the natural standard ways to say "none of us" are:

• Nitko od nas ne voli…
• Nitko među nama ne voli…

Is nitko the same as niko? I often hear niko.

In standard Croatian, the correct form is nitko.

• tko – who
• netko – someone
• itko – anyone (used in questions/negatives)
• nitko – no one / nobody

You will hear niko in speech, especially in some regions and in neighbouring standards (Bosnian, Serbian), where niko is the usual form.

If you are learning Croatian:

• Prefer tko, nitko, netko, itko in writing and in careful speech.
• Be aware that niko is common colloquially and in other standards, and you should understand it, but nitko is the safest choice for Croatian exams and formal contexts.

What is the difference between svatko, svaki, and svi?

They’re related but used differently.

1. svatko – "everyone / each person" (indefinite pronoun)

   • Stands on its own, singular verb:
     • Svatko voli zanimljive priče. – Everyone likes interesting stories.
     • Svatko zna odgovor. – Everyone knows the answer.

2. svaki – "every / each" (adjective, must stand before a noun)

   • Agrees with the noun in gender, number, case:
     • svaki film – every film
     • svaka priča – every story
     • svaki čovjek voli priče. – Every person likes stories.

3. svi – "all / everyone" (plural pronoun)

   • Uses plural verb; often means "we all" or "they all":
     • Svi volimo zanimljive priče. – We all like interesting stories.
     • Svi vole taj film. – They all like that film.

If you replaced svatko in the original with svi, the sentence would become:

• Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, ali svi volimo zanimljive priče.
  → None of us likes boring movies, but we all like interesting stories.

Notice the change from voli → volimo because svi is plural and includes the speaker.

Why is it dosadne filmove and zanimljive priče, not dosadni filmovi and zanimljive priče as subjects?

Because in both clauses, films and stories are objects, not subjects, so they must be in the accusative case.

1. Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove.

   • subject: Nitko od nas – nobody of us
   • verb: ne voli – does not like
   • object: dosadne filmove – boring movies (accusative plural)

   Noun film (masculine):

   • Nominative plural (subject): filmovi – Filmovi su dosadni. – The movies are boring.
   • Accusative plural (object): filmove – Gledam filmove. – I watch movies.

   Adjective dosadan:

   • Nom. masc. plural: dosadni filmovi – boring movies (as the subject)
   • Acc. masc. plural: dosadne filmove – boring movies (as the object)

2. …ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.

   • subject: svatko – everyone
   • verb: voli – likes
   • object: zanimljive priče – interesting stories (accusative plural)

   For feminine nouns like priča:

   • Nominative plural = Accusative plural: priče
   • Adjective zanimljiv: fem. plural in both nom. and acc. is zanimljive.

So:

• dosadni filmovi su loši. – Boring movies are bad. (subject: nom. pl.)
• Nitko ne voli dosadne filmove. – Nobody likes boring movies. (object: acc. pl.)

Why is ali used here, and could I use nego instead?

Both ali and nego can be translated as "but", but they’re used differently.

• ali = "but / however" – introduces a simple contrast.
• nego = "but rather / but instead" – used after a negation to correct or replace something.

In the original:

• Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.
  – None of us likes boring movies, but everyone likes interesting stories.

This is just a contrast: negative statement vs positive statement. ali is the natural choice.

You can use nego, but then the structure changes slightly:

• Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, nego (voli) zanimljive.
  – None of us likes boring movies, but (rather) interesting ones.

Here nego connects two alternatives of the same kind (dosadne vs zanimljive filmove). Often the second voli is omitted because it’s understood.

Typical examples with nego:

• Ne gledam filmove, nego serije. – I don’t watch films, but (rather) series.
• Bolje kasno nego nikad. – Better late than never.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move parts around, like Nitko od nas dosadne filmove ne voli?

Croatian word order is quite flexible, and your example is grammatical.

All of these are possible:

1. Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove. (neutral, most common)
2. Dosadne filmove nitko od nas ne voli.
3. Nitko od nas dosadne filmove ne voli.

The differences are mostly about emphasis:

• Putting dosadne filmove at the beginning (2) highlights boring movies:

  • Roughly: "As for boring movies, none of us likes them."

• In (3), keeping ne voli together at the end keeps the emphasis on the dislike of boring movies.

Key rule: ne must stay directly in front of the verb:

• ✅ ne voli
• ❌ voli ne dosadne filmove (wrong)

Is voljeti more like "to like" or "to love"? When should I use voljeti instead of sviđati se?

voljeti can mean both "to love" and "to (really) like", depending on context.

• Volim ovaj film. – I love / really like this film.
• Volim pizzu. – I love / really like pizza.
• Volim te. – I love you.

sviđati se literally means "to be pleasing to someone", and is closer to "to like" in the sense of "to find nice / appealing":

• Ovaj film mi se sviđa. – I like this film. (It appeals to me.)
• Ta priča mi se ne sviđa. – I don’t like that story.

Typical tendency:

• voljeti + accusative: a stronger, more stable liking or love, often for people, things you care about, or general preferences:

  • Volim zanimljive priče. – I (really) like interesting stories.

• sviđati se + dative: more about immediate impression or taste:

  • Zanimljive priče mi se sviđaju. – I like interesting stories (they’re pleasing to me).

In your sentence, voljeti is natural because we’re talking about general preferences:

• Nitko od nas ne voli dosadne filmove, ali svatko voli zanimljive priče.
  – None of us likes boring movies, but everyone likes interesting stories.