Questions & Answers about On voli nju, a ona voli njega.
Because ona and on are subject (nominative) forms, while nju and njega are object (accusative) forms.
In On voli nju, on is the subject (the one who loves), and nju is the direct object (the one who is loved).
Similarly, in ona voli njega, ona is the subject and njega is the direct object.
Croatian changes pronoun forms depending on grammatical case, unlike English, which mostly uses word order.
Both nju and njega are in the accusative singular case, used mainly for direct objects.
Their base forms (nominative singular) are:
- on → nominative (subject) form “he”
- accusative (object): njega (full form), ga (short form)
- ona → nominative (subject) form “she”
- accusative (object): nju (full form), ju / je (short forms)
So the dictionary will list on and ona, not njega or nju.
Here are the most important singular forms (without getting too deep into all variants):
Masculine “he / him” – on
- Nominative (subject): on
- Genitive: njega
- Dative: njemu
- Accusative (direct object): njega
- Locative: njemu
- Instrumental: njim
Common short (clitic) forms:
- Genitive/accusative: ga
- Dative: mu
Feminine “she / her” – ona
- Nominative (subject): ona
- Genitive: nje
- Dative: njoj
- Accusative (direct object): nju
- Locative: njoj
- Instrumental: njom
Common short (clitic) accusative form:
- je or ju (regional/phonetic variation)
In your sentence, nju and njega are accusative forms.
In Croatian, verbs in the present tense do not change for gender, only for person and number.
So on voli, ona voli, and ono voli all mean “he loves / she loves / it loves”.
Gender is shown by the pronoun (on/ona/ono), not by the verb ending.
The 3rd person singular present ending for voljeti is always voli, regardless of gender.
The infinitive is voljeti (“to love”).
The present tense is formed with a stem change: volj- → vol- in the present:
- ja volim
- ti voliš
- on/ona/ono voli
- mi volimo
- vi volite
- oni/one/ona vole
So voli in the sentence is 3rd person singular present of voljeti.
They are all forms of the same pronouns, but:
- nju, njega = stressed (full) forms
- je/ju, ga = unstressed (clitic, short) forms
Main points:
Full forms (nju, njega):
- Used for emphasis or contrast.
- Used after many prepositions.
- Can stand more freely in the sentence.
Short forms (je/ju, ga):
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Usually stand right after the verb or in a fixed “clitic cluster” position.
- Typically not stressed.
Your sentence with clitics could be:
- On ju/je voli, a ona ga voli.
The original On voli nju, a ona voli njega has strong focus on nju and njega.
Yes. The use of the full forms nju and njega, and their position at the end of each clause, add emphasis:
- On voli nju ≈ “He loves her (not someone else).”
- Ona voli njega ≈ “She loves him (not someone else).”
Everyday neutral speech is more likely to use clitics:
- On ju/je voli, a ona ga voli.
Your original sentence sounds more contrastive and “balanced”, like a clear statement in a textbook or a dramatic line.
Yes, Croatian word order is flexible, and each variant changes emphasis, not basic meaning.
- On voli nju – neutral to slightly emphasizing nju (her).
- On nju voli – stronger emphasis on nju; something like “It’s her that he loves.”
- Nju on voli – very strong contrast on nju; often implies: “He loves her (but not some other woman).”
- Ona njega voli – parallel to On nju voli, with emphasis on njega.
The core roles (who loves whom) stay the same; only what is highlighted changes.
A is a coordinating conjunction that often expresses contrast or a mild opposition, roughly like “and” with a contrastive flavor, or sometimes like “whereas”.
In this sentence, it contrasts the two clauses:
- On voli nju, a ona voli njega.
“He loves her, and (on the other hand) she loves him.”
The comma is standard in Croatian when linking two independent clauses with a.
Very roughly:
- i = simple “and”, usually just adding:
- On voli nju i ona voli njega. – “He loves her and she loves him.” (more neutral, less contrast)
- a = “and / whereas”, often contrastive or showing a different perspective:
- On voli nju, a ona voli njega. – slight contrast between the two clauses.
- ali = “but”, a stronger, more explicit contrast:
- On voli nju, ali ona ne voli njega. – “He loves her, but she doesn’t love him.”
So a in your sentence balances the two sides without a strong opposition.
Grammatically, yes; Croatian often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the person.
However, Voli nju, a voli njega is ambiguous: it could sound like the same person loves both “her” and “him”, or like two different people, depending on context.
With on and ona, the contrast between he and she is explicit and very clear:
- On voli nju, a ona voli njega.
Because njoj is dative/locative (“to her / at her”), while the sentence needs a direct object (“her”) of the verb love.
- Voli nju. – “(He) loves her.” → nju = accusative direct object
- Daje joj cvijeće. – “(He) gives her flowers.” → joj (dative clitic of njoj) = “to her”
In your sentence, love takes a direct object, so accusative nju is required, not dative njoj.
Njega is the masculine singular form, so it can mean:
- “him” for a male person.
- “it” for a masculine noun (e.g. stol “table”, auto “car”).
In your sentence the context is clearly two people (he/she→him/her), so njega is understood as “him”, not “it”.
Croatian often relies on context and the gender of previously mentioned nouns to decide whether a pronoun refers to “him” or “it”.
Yes, voljeti can cover both English “love” and “like (a lot)”, depending on context and intensity:
- Volim te. – usually “I love you.”
- Volim čokoladu. – “I love/like chocolate.”
For a softer “like”, Croatian often uses sviđati se:
- Sviđa mi se on. – “I like him.” (more neutral than Volim ga.)
In On voli nju, a ona voli njega, the most natural reading is romantic “love”.