Questions & Answers about Ne znam koga on voli.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
- Used for direct objects and some prepositions:
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?
- Used for indirect objects and some prepositions:
In Ne znam koga on voli., the unknown person is the direct object of voli, so you must use koga, not kome.
- 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.
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.
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).*
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.