Breakdown of Čudan mi je taj san, ali mi ponekad pomaže da zaspim.
Questions & Answers about Čudan mi je taj san, ali mi ponekad pomaže da zaspim.
Mi is an unstressed (clitic) pronoun meaning to me / for me. It is the dative singular of ja (I).
- In Čudan mi je taj san, it literally means “strange to me is that dream” → “that dream is strange to me / I find that dream strange.”
Here mi marks you as the experiencer of the feeling. - In ali mi ponekad pomaže, it means “but it sometimes helps me”.
Here mi is the indirect object of pomaže (it helps me).
So it appears twice because it does two similar but slightly different jobs in each clause:
1) expressing whose perspective the strangeness is from, and
2) indicating who is being helped.
All of these are possible and grammatical; they just differ in emphasis and style:
- Taj san mi je čudan. – fairly neutral, maybe the most “normal” word order.
- Taj mi je san čudan. – similar, with a bit more emphasis on taj (that specific dream).
- Čudan mi je taj san. – puts čudan (strange) first, so it emphasizes the quality (how strange it is).
Croatian word order is relatively flexible. Fronting čudan makes the sentence sound a bit more expressive or stylistic, something like:
- “Strange, that dream is to me.” (in English we’d just say “That dream is strange to me”, but the fronting is similar to emphasis.)
You can say both:
- Čudan je taj san. – “That dream is strange.”
- Čudan mi je taj san. – “That dream is strange to me / I find that dream strange.”
Without mi, it’s still understood that you are the one who thinks it’s strange (because you’re the speaker), but it sounds a bit more objective or general.
Adding mi makes it more personal and subjective, explicitly marking your reaction:
- Čudan je taj san. – A bit like stating a fact.
- Čudan mi je taj san. – More like “I personally find that dream strange.”
Taj is a demonstrative adjective meaning that (near the listener or previously mentioned in context).
- ovaj san – this dream (near the speaker, or just introduced)
- taj san – that dream (often something you both know about, or mentioned earlier)
- onaj san – that dream over there / that (more distant) dream, often used for something more distant in space, time, or discourse
In this sentence, taj san suggests a particular dream already known in the conversation, roughly:
- “That dream (we’ve been talking about) is strange to me, but it sometimes helps me fall asleep.”
Čudan is the masculine singular form of the adjective meaning strange / weird.
- The noun san (dream) is masculine singular, nominative.
- Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
So:
- taj san – that dream (masc. sg. nom.)
- čudan san – strange dream (masc. sg. nom.)
- čudan mi je taj san – the same agreement applies.
Other forms of čudan:
- čudna knjiga – strange book (feminine)
- čudno dijete – strange child (neuter)
- čudni snovi – strange dreams (masculine plural)
Ali means but.
The sentence is made of two clauses:
- Čudan mi je taj san – That dream is strange to me
- (ali) mi ponekad pomaže da zaspim – (but) it sometimes helps me fall asleep
In Croatian, you normally put a comma before conjunctions like ali when they join two clauses, just like in English:
- Čudan mi je taj san, ali mi ponekad pomaže da zaspim.
“That dream is strange to me, but it sometimes helps me fall asleep.”
Here mi again is dative singular of ja, meaning to me / for me:
- pomaže – (it) helps
- mi pomaže – (it) helps me
- ali mi ponekad pomaže – but it sometimes helps me
You cannot leave it out if you want to say “helps me”. Without mi, pomaže would just mean “(it) helps” with no indication of who is being helped.
Pomaže is the 3rd person singular, present tense of the verb pomagati (to help).
- Infinitive: pomagati – to help
- 1st sg: pomažem – I help
- 2nd sg: pomažeš – you help
- 3rd sg: pomaže – he/she/it helps
- 1st pl: pomažemo – we help
- 2nd pl: pomažete – you (pl) help
- 3rd pl: pomažu – they help
In the sentence, the subject of pomaže is taj san (that dream):
- Taj san mi ponekad pomaže…
→ “That dream sometimes helps me…”
Yes, a bit. Because mi is a clitic, it tends to appear in second position in its clause. Common possibilities:
- Ali mi ponekad pomaže da zaspim. – very natural
- Ali ponekad mi pomaže da zaspim. – also natural; a bit more emphasis on ponekad (sometimes)
In standard Croatian you generally don’t put the clitic at the very end:
- ✗ Ali pomaže ponekad mi da zaspim. – sounds wrong / very unnatural
So stick with ali mi ponekad pomaže or ali ponekad mi pomaže.
Croatian often uses da + present tense instead of the infinitive in subordinate clauses, especially in everyday speech.
- da zaspim – literally “that I fall asleep”, but functionally like “to fall asleep”
- pomaže mi da zaspim – “it helps me (to) fall asleep.”
Using da zaspim sounds very natural and conversational.
The infinitive version is also possible:
- pomaže mi zaspati – grammatically OK, but sounds a bit more formal, bookish, or regional in modern usage.
Both relate to sleep, but they are different:
- zaspati – to fall asleep (the moment of beginning to sleep)
- zaspim – I fall asleep
- spavati – to sleep (the ongoing state of being asleep)
- spavam – I sleep / I am sleeping
So:
- pomaže mi da zaspim – “it helps me fall asleep” (helps me reach sleep)
- pomaže mi da spavam – “it helps me sleep” (helps me while I’m sleeping)
In your sentence, falling asleep is the intended meaning, so zaspim is correct.
Yes, it is grammatically correct:
- Čudan mi je taj san, ali mi ponekad pomaže zaspati.
Meaning: “That dream is strange to me, but it sometimes helps me to fall asleep.”
However, in modern standard Croatian, pomaže mi da zaspim is more common and natural in everyday speech.
Pomaže mi zaspati may sound a bit more formal, written, or old-fashioned to some speakers, depending on region and style.