Learn Hardcore Croatian: Za mene je važno da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi. - For me it is important that everyone can live freely and love whomever they want.

za mene = for me, from my point of view, in my opinion
- Za mene je važno... = For me, it is important that... / As far as I’m concerned, it’s important that...
- It highlights your perspective or value system compared to others.
meni is the dative form of ja (“to me”), used with mi:
- Važno mi je... = It is important to me that... / I personally care about...
- It highlights your personal interest or emotional importance.

Often they can overlap, but:

Za mene je važno da svatko može...
feels like you’re stating a principle or belief you hold.
Važno mi je da svatko može...
feels more like a personal concern / thing you care deeply about.

You can even combine them, but it’s heavier:

Za mene je jako važno / Meni je jako važno = It’s very important to me / for me.

Why is the verb je placed between za mene and važno? Could I say Za mene važno je or Važno je za mene instead?

In Croatian, the short form of biti (je) is a clitic and usually wants to be in “second position” in the clause.

Za mene je važno...
is natural: za mene (first phrase) + je (second position clitic) + važno.

Alternatives:

Važno je za mene... – also correct and quite natural.
- Here, važno comes first for emphasis, then je, then za mene.
- Slight nuance: puts a bit more stress on the idea that this thing is important, and only then you add “for me”.

What sounds wrong:

Za mene važno je... – sounds unnatural in standard Croatian word order.
- You’ve moved je out of its usual “second position” and stuck it at the end of the phrase, which Croatians rarely do in neutral speech.

So the best word orders here are:

Za mene je važno da...
Važno je za mene da...

What is the function of da in da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi? Is it like English “that”?

Yes. Here da functions very much like English that introducing a subordinate clause:

Za mene je važno da svatko može...
It is important to me *that everyone can...*

This da + present tense construction is extremely common in Croatian after verbs/phrases expressing:

importance: važno je da...
wishes: želim da...
necessity: moramo da... (less common in Croatian than in Serbian; Croatians often prefer an infinitive or another construction)
feelings: drago mi je da...

You cannot simply drop da here:

✗ Za mene je važno svatko može slobodno živjeti... – ungrammatical.
You must keep da to link the “important” part to what exactly is important.

Why is svatko followed by a singular verb (može) even though it means “everyone”?

Svatko is grammatically singular in Croatian, even though it refers to all people taken one by one (like “every person”).

svatko ≈ “each person, everybody”
Therefore it takes a 3rd person singular verb:
- Svatko može... = “Everyone can...”
- Svatko je došao. = “Everyone came.” (literally “Everyone has-come [he/she]”)

This is parallel to standard English:

“Everyone is here.” (not everyone are here in standard grammar)

If you want a clearly plural subject, you use svi:

Svi mogu... = “All (of them) can...”
Svi su došli. = “They all came.”

What’s the difference between svatko, svaki, and svi?

They’re related but used differently:

svatko – pronoun
- meaning: everyone / everybody
- stands alone, no noun after it:
  - Svatko zna. – “Everyone knows.”
  - Svatko može slobodno živjeti.
svaki – adjective
- meaning: every, each
- must go before a noun and agree in gender, number, and case:
  - svaki čovjek – every man/person
  - svaka osoba – every person (f.)
  - u svakom gradu – in every city
svi – pronoun (plural of sav / “all”)
- meaning: all (of them)
- used for real plurals:
  - Svi ljudi – all people
  - Svi mogu doći. – They all can come.

Rough mapping:

svatko ≈ “everyone”
svaki (čovjek) ≈ “every (person)”
svi (ljudi) ≈ “all (people)”

Why do we use the infinitives živjeti and voljeti after može?

Because moći (“can, be able to”) in standard Croatian normally takes an infinitive:

može živjeti – “can live”
može voljeti – “can love”

Structure:

[svatko] može [slobodno živjeti i voljeti...]

Other modal or semi-modal verbs behave similarly:

morati + infinitive – Moram učiti. (“I must study.”)
smjeti + infinitive – Ne smiješ pušiti. (“You must not smoke.”)

In Serbian, you more often see:

može da živi – “can that he lives” but in Croatian this is felt as more Serbian; the infinitive is the standard, natural choice:
može živjeti, može raditi, može putovati, etc.

Could we change the word order in može slobodno živjeti to može živjeti slobodno? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can, and the basic meaning stays the same:

može slobodno živjeti
može živjeti slobodno

Both mean “can live freely”.

Word order with adverbs in Croatian is flexible. In this particular sentence, the difference in nuance is tiny:

može slobodno živjeti
slightly foregrounds the freedom before the verb “live”.
može živjeti slobodno
sounds maybe a touch more neutral, like you’re stating the action first and adding “freely” after.

In everyday speech, both are fine and will not confuse anyone. The original može slobodno živjeti is a very natural choice.

In voljeti koga želi, why is koga used, and which case is it? Why not tko or kome?

Koga is the accusative case of the interrogative/relative pronoun tko (“who”).

Relevant forms of tko:

Nominative: tko – who (as subject)
Genitive: koga – of whom
Dative: komu / kome – to whom
Accusative: koga – whom (as object)
etc.

Here, koga is the direct object of voljeti (“to love”):

voljeti koga – “to love whom”

The structure is:

voljeti [koga (on) želi]
- “to love whomever (he/she) wants”

So:

tko – nominative, would be used if it were the subject:
- Tko želi? – “Who wants (it)?”
kome – dative, “to whom”:
- Komu daješ knjigu? – “To whom are you giving the book?”
koga – accusative, “whom”; correct here because koga is the object of voljeti (“love someone”).

The phrase koga želi corresponds loosely to English “who(m)ever they want”, giving a general, unrestricted meaning.

Why is there no explicit pronoun like on or ona before želi?

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted when the subject is clear from context.

In koga želi, the subject of želi is still svatko from earlier in the sentence:

Za mene je važno da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi.
- Literally: “For me it is important that everyone can freely live and love whom [he/she] wants.”

We could say:

... i voljeti koga on želi.
... i voljeti koga ona želi.

but that adds extra emphasis to on/ona (“he/she”), and sounds heavier. Native speakers normally drop the pronoun unless they need contrast or emphasis.

So:

koga želi = “whomever (they) want”
subject “they/he/she” is understood from svatko.

How is željeti conjugated, and why is the form here želi?

Željeti (“to want, to wish”) is an -jeti verb with a stem change, so its present tense is:

ja želim
ti želiš
on / ona / ono želi
mi želimo
vi želite
oni / one / ona žele

In the sentence, the understood subject is svatko (3rd person singular), so you need the 3rd person singular form:

svatko ... želi → želi

That’s why we have koga želi (“whomever [he/she] wants”).

Past tense example:

On je želio. – “He wanted.”
Ona je željela. – “She wanted.”

What grammatical role does the whole clause da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi play in the sentence?

The da‑clause functions as the thing that is important – effectively the subject/content clause of je važno.

You can think of the structure as:

Za mene je važno [da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi].

Roughly:

For me, [that everyone can live freely and love whomever they want] is important.

Sometimes this is clearer if you insert to (“that/this”) in Croatian:

Za mene je važno to da svatko može...
- “For me it is important that everyone can...”

So da svatko može... equals English “that everyone can...” and is the complement to je važno.

Could this sentence also be expressed with an infinitive clause instead of da, something like Za mene je važno slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želiš?

You can make sentences with an infinitive, but they will not mean exactly the same thing.

Za mene je važno da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi.
= “For me, it is important that everyone can live freely and love whomever they want.”
- Subject: svatko (“everyone”)
- This is a general principle about all people.
Za mene je važno slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želiš.
would mean something more like:
- “For me, it is important to live freely and to love whomever you want.” or
- “Living freely and loving whomever you want is important to me.”
Changes:
- No svatko = no explicit “everyone”.
- The subject becomes the infinitive phrase (slobodno živjeti i voljeti...).
- You switched to želiš (2nd person singular) → now it’s “you want”, not “everyone wants.”

So if you want to keep the meaning “everyone can...”, stick with the da + finite verb construction and svatko.

I see several verbs ending in ‑jeti (živjeti, voljeti, željeti). Is there any pattern to how these verbs are pronounced and conjugated?

Yes. Many common Croatian verbs in their dictionary (infinitive) form end in ‑jeti, and in the present tense that ‑jeti often changes to ‑i (with various stem changes).

Examples from your sentence:

živjeti – “to live”
- ja živim
- ti živiš
- on/ona/ono živi
- mi živimo
- vi živite
- oni žive
voljeti – “to love”
- ja volim
- ti voliš
- on/ona/ono voli
- mi volimo
- vi volite
- oni vole
željeti – as already shown:
- ja želim, ti želiš, on želi, mi želimo, vi želite, oni žele

Patterns to notice:

Infinitive ‑jeti → present ‑im / ‑iš / ‑i / ‑imo / ‑ite / ‑e.
The vowel sequence je / je often reduces in the stem (vol‑je‑ti → voli‑).

Pronunciation:

živjeti is pronounced roughly zhee-vye-tee.
Voljeti: vo-lye-tee.
Željeti: zhe-lye-tee.

The ije/je spelling is part of the standard Croatian (ijekavian) system; in Serbian ekavian you’d often see živeti, voleti, želeti instead.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “For us it is important...” or “For them it is important...” instead of “For me it is important...”?

You mainly change the prepositional phrase (or dative, if you choose that structure):

For us it is important...
- Za nas je važno da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi.
- Or: Važno nam je da svatko može... (“It is important to us that...”)
For them it is important...
- Za njih je važno da svatko može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi.
- Or: Važno im je da svatko može... (“It is important to them that...”)

So the patterns are:

Za mene / za nas / za njih je važno...
Važno mi je / nam je / im je...

Are there any register or style issues with this sentence? Does it sound formal, neutral, or colloquial?

The sentence is neutral and natural. It fits well in:

spoken conversation (especially in thoughtful or serious contexts),
written texts (essays, articles, social media posts),
even relatively formal contexts (e.g. a speech about values, a personal statement).

None of the vocabulary is slangy or overly formal:

za mene je važno – everyday expression
svatko – standard “everyone”
može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi – clear, natural, slightly idealistic but stylistically neutral.

So you can safely use this sentence in most situations without sounding either too casual or too stiff.