Learn Hardcore Croatian: Moja prijateljica misli da je glumica u toj predstavi stvarno dobra. - My friend thinks that the actress in that play is really good.

Croatian marks grammatical gender much more consistently than English.
Because the sentence is talking about a female friend, it uses the feminine noun prijateljica together with the feminine possessive moja:

moja prijateljica = my (female) friend
moj prijatelj = my (male) friend

So the choice reflects the friend’s gender, not the speaker’s.

Why is it moja prijateljica, not moj prijateljica?

The possessive adjective moj changes form to agree with the gender of the noun it modifies.

masculine singular: moj prijatelj (my friend – male)
feminine singular: moja prijateljica (my friend – female)
neuter singular: moje dijete (my child)

Since prijateljica is feminine, moja is the correct form.

What does misli mean exactly, and what is its form?

Misli is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb misliti (to think).

infinitive: misliti – to think
ja mislim – I think
ti misliš – you think
on/ona/ono misli – he/she/it thinks

So moja prijateljica misli = my (female) friend thinks.
It’s present tense and describes her current opinion.

What is the function of da in misli da je glumica…?

Here da is a subordinating conjunction meaning that (introducing a subordinate clause):

moja prijateljica misli da… = my friend thinks that…

So the pattern is:

main clause: Moja prijateljica misli (My friend thinks)
dependent clause: da je glumica u toj predstavi stvarno dobra (that the actress in that play is really good)

In Croatian, da is very common to introduce clauses after verbs like misliti (to think), reći (to say), znati (to know), željeti (to want), etc.

Can I say misli da glumica je stvarno dobra instead of misli da je glumica stvarno dobra?

No, that word order sounds wrong to native speakers.

In Croatian, short forms like je (the clitic form of biti, to be) must usually stand in the second position in the clause. After da, the clitic normally comes immediately:

✅ da je glumica stvarno dobra
❌ da glumica je stvarno dobra

So the natural order is:

da (that)
je (is) – clitic, second position
glumica u toj predstavi (the actress in that play)
stvarno dobra (really good)

This “second position” rule for clitics is very strong in Croatian.

What is je here, and why is it needed?

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti (to be), in its clitic (short) form:

full form: jest (rare in modern speech, more literary/emphatic)
clitic: je

In English you need is in “the actress is really good”. Croatian also needs the verb biti:

glumica je stvarno dobra = the actress is really good

Because it’s inside a da-clause, the clitic je goes immediately after da:

da je glumica stvarno dobra = that the actress is really good

Without je, the sentence would be ungrammatical here.

Why is it glumica and not glumac? What’s the difference?

glumac = actor (male)
glumica = actress (female)

Croatian usually uses different words for male and female professions.
Since the sentence talks about a female performer, it uses glumica.

Also note the adjective agreement later:

glumac je stvarno dobar (male: dobar)
glumica je stvarno dobra (female: dobra)

The adjective has to agree in gender with the noun.

Why is the adjective dobra and not dobar?

Dobar/dobra/dobro is the adjective good, and it changes form according to gender:

masculine singular: dobar
feminine singular: dobra
neuter singular: dobro

Because the subject is glumica (feminine), the correct form is:

glumica je dobra – the actress is good

So dobra is feminine, agreeing with glumica.

What does u toj predstavi literally mean, and why these forms?

u toj predstavi literally means in that play / in that performance.

Breakdown:

u = in
taj / ta / to = that (demonstrative adjective)
- taj (masc.), ta (fem.), to (neut.) – nominative forms
predstava = play, performance (feminine noun)

With the preposition u (in), locations usually take the locative case.
For a feminine noun like predstava, the locative singular is:

nominative: predstava
locative: predstavi

The demonstrative ta also changes to match this case and gender:

nominative feminine: ta (that)
locative feminine: toj (in that)

So you get:

u toj predstavi – in that play/performance

Both toj and predstavi are in the feminine locative singular and agree with each other.

Why is it toj predstavi, not ta predstava?

Because of the preposition u (in) and the meaning “in that play”.

ta predstava is nominative (“that play”) – used as a subject:
- Ta predstava je dobra. – That play is good.

But when you say “in that play”, Croatian uses preposition u + locative:

u toj predstavi – in that play

So both the demonstrative and the noun switch from nominative to locative:

ta predstava (nom.) → u toj predstavi (loc.)

What does stvarno mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

Stvarno means really / truly / actually (here: intensifier, like “really good”).

Common equivalents:

stvarno dobra – really good
zaista dobra – truly/really good
jako dobra – very good
vrlo dobra – very good (somewhat more formal/written)

Typical positions for stvarno in this sentence:

glumica je stvarno dobra – the actress is really good
glumica je stvarno jako dobra – the actress is really very good

You generally put it before the adjective it modifies.

In your sentence, stvarno is in its most natural spot:

…glumica u toj predstavi stvarno dobra.

Could the word order be Moja prijateljica misli da je stvarno dobra glumica u toj predstavi?

You can say:

Moja prijateljica misli da je stvarno dobra glumica u toj predstavi.

It’s grammatically possible, but the nuance changes slightly.

Original:
- …misli da je glumica u toj predstavi stvarno dobra.
  Focus: that particular actress (in that play) is really good.
Alternative:
- …misli da je stvarno dobra glumica u toj predstavi.
  Sounds more like “she thinks there is a really good actress in that play”, with more emphasis on a really good actress as a type, not so clearly on the specific person already mentioned.

Context can make either acceptable, but the original word order is the most straightforward way to say “She thinks that the actress in that play is really good.”

Why is there no word for “she” before misli or before je?

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (like on, ona, ono = he, she, it) are often omitted when the verb ending already shows the person.

(Ona) misli – (She) thinks
(Ona) je glumica – (She) is an actress

In your sentence, moja prijateljica is the clear subject, so you don’t repeat ona:

Moja prijateljica misli da je glumica…
literally: My friend thinks that (the) actress … is really good.

Adding ona in this context would usually be unnecessary or sound like extra emphasis or contrast.

Are the tenses in misli da je the same as in English “thinks that … is”?

Yes, here they match quite closely:

misli – present tense (“thinks”)
je – present tense of biti (“is”)

So:

Moja prijateljica misli da je glumica… stvarno dobra.
= My friend thinks that the actress … is really good.

You could change the tense in both languages similarly:

Moja prijateljica je mislila da je glumica… stvarno dobra.
= My friend thought that the actress … was really good.

The structure and tense alignment are very parallel to English here.