Learn Hardcore Croatian: Važno mi je da svatko u našem susjedstvu može slobodno živjeti i voljeti koga želi. - It is important to me that everyone in our neighborhood can live freely and love whomever they want.

Croatian doesn’t use a dummy subject like English “it”. Where English says “It is important to me that…”, Croatian just says Važno mi je da…, with:

važno as the thing being stated
mi in the dative to show the experiencer (to whom it is important)
je as the verb “is”

Why is it mi je and not je mi? Can I say Važno je mi?

Mi here is a clitic pronoun (unstressed short form), and Croatian clitics have quite strict word order rules: they normally go into the second position in the clause.

In Važno mi je:

Važno is the first (stressed) word.
The clitic mi must come right after it (second position).
Then comes je.

You cannot say Važno je mi – that sounds wrong to native speakers, because it breaks the clitic ordering rule.

Other natural options are:

Meni je važno da… – uses the full, stressed form meni, so it can stand first.
Jako mi je važno da… – adverb jako is first, then clitic mi, then je.

But Važno je mi is ungrammatical.

What case is mi in Važno mi je, and when is this case used?

Mi here is dative singular of ja (I).

The dative is used for:

indirect objects – “He gave it to me” → Dao mi je to.
experiencers of feelings/importance/needs – “It’s important to me”, “I feel cold”, etc.

So Važno mi je literally means “It is important *to me”, with the experiencer *mi in the dative case.

You could also say:

Meni je važno… – same case (dative), but the full form meni, with more emphasis on me.

Why is svatko used here instead of svaki or svi?

These three are related but not interchangeable:

svatko = everyone / everybody (pronoun, refers to a person)
- Svatko može doći. – Everyone can come.
svaki = every / each (adjective, goes before a noun)
- Svaki čovjek ima pravo. – Every person has a right.
svi = all (plural pronoun, “all [of them]”)
- Svi mogu doći. – All (of them) can come.

In da svatko u našem susjedstvu može…, we’re talking about each person individually, without naming a noun after it:

svatko stands alone, like English “everyone”.
If we wanted “every person”, we’d say svaka osoba or svaki čovjek.

Why is the verb singular in svatko … može? Shouldn’t “everyone” be plural?

In Croatian, svatko is grammatically singular, even though it refers to a group of people in meaning.

So:

Svatko može. – Everyone can.
(verb is 3rd person singular)
Svi mogu. – All can.
(verb is 3rd person plural)

Using plural with svatko (e.g. svatko mogu) is incorrect.
You always treat svatko like a singular subject.

Why is it u našem susjedstvu and what case is used there?

U našem susjedstvu breaks down as:

u – in
našem – our (dative/locative singular, neuter, of naš)
susjedstvu – neighbourhood (locative singular of susjedstvo)

After u meaning in, Croatian uses the locative case:

u gradu – in the city
u školi – in (the) school
u našem susjedstvu – in our neighbourhood

So both našem and susjedstvu are in the locative singular, agreeing in gender (neuter) and number.

What is the function of da in da svatko u našem susjedstvu može…? Is it like English “that”?

Yes, in this sentence da works similarly to English “that” introducing a content clause:

Važno mi je da svatko…
≈ It is important to me *that everyone…*

This structure is very common after verbs and expressions of:

feelings: Drago mi je da… – I’m glad that…
importance: Važno mi je da…
wishes: Želim da…

Croatian doesn’t have a separate subjunctive tense like some languages, so you just use the present tense inside this da-clause:

Važno mi je da svatko može… – “It’s important to me that everyone can…”
Važno mi je da dođeš. – “It’s important to me that you come.”

Why is može used with two infinitives: živjeti i voljeti?

Može is the 3rd person singular of moći – can / be able to.

The usual pattern is:

[subject] + može + [infinitive]

For example:

On može plivati. – He can swim.

If you have more than one verb, you only need može once, followed by multiple infinitives:

Svatko može živjeti i voljeti. – Everyone can live and love.

So in the sentence:

…može slobodno živjeti i voljeti…

we have:

može – can
slobodno – freely (adverb)
živjeti – to live
i voljeti – and (to) love

Only može is conjugated; the other verbs stay in the infinitive.

What does slobodno mean here, and what form is it?

Slobodno here means “freely”, i.e. without restrictions or fear.

Grammatically, it’s the adverb based on the adjective slobodan (free):

slobodan – free (masculine adjective)
slobodna – free (feminine adjective)
slobodno – free(ly) (neuter adjective form → also used as adverb)

As an adverb it modifies the verbs živjeti and voljeti:

može slobodno živjeti i voljeti – can live and love freely.

You could move it and still be correct:

može živjeti i voljeti slobodno
može slobodno živjeti i slobodno voljeti (more emphatic, but a bit repetitive)

Why is it koga želi and not tko želi or koga god želi?

Koga is the accusative singular of tko (who), used as an object (“whom”).

In voljeti koga želi, the structure is:

voljeti koga – to love whom
želi – (he/she) wants

So it literally means “to love whom (he/she) wants” → “to love the person they want.”

Compare:

tko – who (nominative; subject)
- Tko želi? – Who wants (it)?
koga – whom (accusative; object)
- Koga voliš? – Whom do you love? / Who do you love?

Koga god želi would be more like “whoever they want”, adding the idea of anyone at all.
The given sentence koga želi is closer to “the person they want” (still open-ended, but slightly less emphatic than whoever).

Why is koga masculine, if this can refer to people of any gender?

In Croatian, masculine forms are often used as default / generic when:

the gender is unknown, or
it could be any gender, or
you’re talking about people in general.

So koga (masculine animate “whom”) usually functions as gender-neutral in contexts like this:

voljeti koga želi – to love whomever they want (regardless of gender)

Croatian doesn’t have a special gender-neutral pronoun like English they; using the masculine as a generic form is standard. If you wanted to underline the “anyone at all” aspect, you might say:

…može slobodno voljeti koga god želi. – can freely love whoever they want.

But it would still use koga as the default object form.