Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ne znam koga on voli. - I don’t know whom he loves.

Ne znam koga on voli.

I don’t know whom he loves.

Breakdown of Ne znam koga on voli.

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Questions & Answers about Ne znam koga on voli.

What does each word in Ne znam koga on voli. literally mean?

Word by word:

Ne – not (negation particle placed before the verb)
znam – I know (1st person singular present of znati – to know)
koga – whom (interrogative pronoun, an object form of tko – who)
on – he (3rd person singular subject pronoun)
voli – (he) loves / likes (3rd person singular present of voljeti – to love, to like)

So the structure is literally: Not I-know whom he loves.

Why is it koga and not tko here?

Tko is the nominative form – used for the subject (the “doer” of the action):

Tko voli njega? – Who loves him? (who = subject)

Koga is the accusative (or genitive) form – used for the object (the receiver of the action):

Koga on voli? – Whom does he love? (whom = object)

In Ne znam koga on voli., the unknown person is the object of voli, so Croatian must use the object form koga, not the subject form tko.

Which case is koga in this sentence exactly?

In Ne znam koga on voli., koga is in the accusative singular.

It’s the direct object of voli (loves). The verb voljeti takes a direct object in the accusative:

On voli Mariju. – He loves Maria. (Mariju = accusative)
On voli njega. – He loves him. (njega = accusative)
On voli koga? – He loves whom? (koga = accusative)

Note: koga is also the genitive singular form of tko in other contexts (e.g. bez koga – without whom), but here it is functioning as accusative.

How does tko / koga decline in Croatian?

For the interrogative tko (who), the main singular forms are:

Case	Form	Typical meaning	Example
Nominative	tko	who (subject)	Tko dolazi? – Who is coming?
Genitive	koga	of whom / without whom	Bez koga si bio?
Dative	kome/komu	to whom / for whom	Kome si dao?
Accusative	koga	whom (object)	Koga voliš?
Locative	kome/komu	about whom, etc.	O kome pričaš?
Instrumental	kim	with whom	S kim ideš?

Your sentence uses the accusative form koga.

Is there any difference between koga and kome?

Yes:

koga = accusative (and genitive) singular of tko
- Used for direct objects and some prepositions:
  - Koga on voli? – Whom does he love?
  - Bez koga? – Without whom?
kome/komu = dative/locative singular of tko
- Used for indirect objects and some prepositions:
  - Kome on piše? – To whom is he writing?
  - O kome govoriš? – About whom are you talking?

In Ne znam koga on voli., the unknown person is the direct object of voli, so you must use koga, not kome.

What are the verb forms here – znam and voli?

znam – 1st person singular, present tense of znati (to know)
- ja znam – I know
voli – 3rd person singular, present tense of voljeti (to love / to like)
- on/ona/ono voli – he/she/it loves

So Ne znam literally = I not-know → I don’t know.
And on voli = he loves.

Why is there no word for English do in Ne znam (“I don’t know”)?

Croatian doesn not use a separate auxiliary verb like English do for questions or negation:

English: I do not know.
Croatian: Ne znam. (negation particle ne
- main verb)

Negation is formed by putting ne directly in front of the conjugated verb:

znam → ne znam – I know → I don’t know
voli → ne voli – he loves → he doesn’t love
razumijem → ne razumijem – I understand → I don’t understand

So ne does the job that do not / don’t does in English.

Can I drop on and just say Ne znam koga voli?

Yes, you can, and it’s very common:

Ne znam koga voli. – I don’t know whom (he/she/it) loves.

Croatian usually omits subject pronouns when the verb ending makes the subject clear. The ending -i in voli shows it’s 3rd person singular, but it doesn’t show gender:

Could be he, she, or it from context.

Adding on makes the subject explicitly he and can also add a bit of emphasis on he:

Ne znam koga on voli. – I don’t know whom *he loves (as opposed to someone else).*

Can the word order inside the clause koga on voli be changed?

Croatian word order is flexible, but not all orders sound equally natural here.

Most natural options:

Ne znam koga on voli.
– neutral; object (koga) first because it’s a wh-word.
Ne znam koga voli.
– also natural; subject pronoun is just omitted.

Marked/emphatic orders:

Ne znam koga voli on.
– heavily emphasizes on (“I don’t know whom HE loves.”), used in contrast, e.g. “Ona voli njega, ali ne znam koga voli on.”

Unnatural or very odd in this sentence:

Ne znam on koga voli. – sounds wrong / very strange.
Ne znam voli on koga. – definitely wrong.

So, stick to koga on voli or koga voli in normal speech.

Why is there a period, not a question mark, even though koga is a question word?

Because Ne znam koga on voli. is not a question. It’s a statement that contains an embedded (indirect) question.

Compare:

Koga on voli? – Whom does he love? → whole sentence is a direct question → question mark.
Ne znam koga on voli. – I don’t know whom he loves. → main clause Ne znam is a statement, and koga on voli is just a subordinate clause.

So:

Direct question ⇒ Koga on voli?
Statement about not knowing ⇒ Ne znam koga on voli.

How would I turn this into a direct question: “Whom does he love?”

Use the same words, but:

Drop Ne znam.
Raise intonation and add a question mark.

Result:

Koga on voli? – Whom does he love? / Who does he love?

Or, even more common and natural in speech (subject pronoun omitted):

Koga voli? – Whom does he love?

The main difference is in punctuation and intonation, not in special extra words.

Can koga refer to a woman, or is it only for males?

koga here is grammatically the form of tko (who), and it is not limited to males. It can refer to:

a man: Ne znam koga on voli. – maybe “which man he loves (likes).”
a woman: more likely “which woman he loves.”
in practice, any person – gender is determined by context, not by the form koga.

So koga is not “him” or “some male”, it’s simply whom (object form of who), for any person.

Is there usually a comma between Ne znam and koga on voli?

No. In this type of sentence, Croatian does not normally use a comma:

Ne znam koga on voli. – correct
Ne znam, koga on voli. – generally considered incorrect or at least non-standard here.

Object clauses introduced by words like što, tko, koga, gdje etc. usually follow directly after the main verb with no comma:

Pitaj ga gdje živi. – Ask him where he lives.
Ne razumijem što kažeš. – I don’t understand what you are saying.
Ne znam koga on voli. – I don’t know whom he loves.