Learn Hardcore Croatian: Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje, pa ćemo zajedno odlučiti što je najbolje. - Let everyone calmly say their opinion, and then we will decide together what is best.

Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje ≈ “Let everyone calmly say their opinion.”
It sounds like a polite invitation or suggestion to the whole group.
A direct imperative would look like:
- Recite mirno svoje mišljenje. – “Say your opinion calmly.” (to you plural/formal)
- Kaži mirno svoje mišljenje. – “Say your opinion calmly.” (to you singular informal)

With neka, the verb is in the 3rd person (here kaže), not in the 2nd person. It’s grammatically like a statement, but functionally like: “Let (him/her/them/everyone) do X.”

You can also use it with plural subjects:

Neka svi mirno kažu svoje mišljenje. – “Let everyone calmly say their opinion.”

Why is svatko singular (kaže) if the meaning is “everyone”? Why not use a plural verb?

In Croatian, svatko (also svako) literally means “each person / everybody (as individuals)” and is grammatically singular.

svatko kaže – “everyone says” (literally: “each person says”)
nitko ne zna – “nobody knows” (also singular)

So:

Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje.
→ verb kaže is 3rd person singular, because svatko is grammatically singular.

If you wanted a plural subject, you would change the noun:

Neka svi mirno kažu svoje mišljenje.
Here svi is plural, so the verb is plural kažu.

Nuance:

svatko = emphasizes each individual separately.
svi = emphasizes the group as a whole.

What is the role of mirno in this sentence, and where can it go?

Mirno is an adverb meaning “calmly / peacefully.” It describes how they should say their opinion.

Default position here:

Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje.

You can move it, with only small changes in emphasis:

Neka svatko kaže svoje mišljenje mirno. – still correct, but the adverb feels a bit more detached, often used for slight end-focus.
Mirno neka svatko kaže svoje mišljenje. – stronger emphasis on being calm, almost “Calmly, let everyone say…”

Croatian word order is fairly flexible; adverbs like mirno can move around, but the version in the original sentence is the most neutral-sounding.

What case is svoje mišljenje, and why is it not svoju mišljenje?

Mišljenje is a neuter noun:

to mišljenje – “that opinion” (neuter, nominative singular)

In svoje mišljenje, we have:

svoje – accusative singular, neuter, of the reflexive possessive svoj
mišljenje – accusative singular, neuter

Why accusative? Because it’s the direct object of the verb kaže (to say):

(On) kaže što? → svoje mišljenje.

Why svoje, not svoju?

Svoju would be feminine accusative (for nouns like svoju knjigu).
Mišljenje is neuter, so we need svoje, not svoju.

Why do we use svoje instead of something like njegovo or njezino mišljenje?

Svoj is a reflexive possessive pronoun: it refers back to the subject of the clause.

Here the subject is svatko:

svatko … kaže svoje mišljenje.
→ Each person says their own opinion.

If you used njegovo mišljenje or njezino mišljenje, it would mean:

njegovo mišljenje – his opinion (some man’s opinion)
njezino mišljenje – her opinion (some woman’s opinion)

That could suggest they are saying someone else’s opinion, not their own.
So svoje mišljenje is exactly “his/her/its/their own opinion,” tied to whoever svatko happens to be in each case.

What does pa mean here, and how is it different from just using i or onda?

In this sentence, pa is a coordinating conjunction roughly meaning “and then / and so / and” with a sense of sequence or consequence.

… neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje, pa ćemo zajedno odlučiti…
→ “Let everyone calmly say their opinion, and then we will decide together…”

Comparison:

i – plain “and”, simply adds another action.
- … kaže svoje mišljenje i zajedno ćemo odlučiti… – OK, but a bit flatter; less sense of “first this, then that.”
onda – “then,” usually an adverb.
- … kaže svoje mišljenje, onda ćemo zajedno odlučiti… – possible, but more explicitly “afterwards, then”.

Pa is very frequent in spoken Croatian; here it nicely links the two parts into a logical sequence: first people speak, then they decide.

Why is the future written as ćemo odlučiti and not odlučiti ćemo?

In standard Croatian, the future tense is formed with ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će plus the infinitive, but the clitic (ću/ćeš/…) has fixed preferred positions.

For 1st person plural:

zajedno ćemo odlučiti (most natural)
ćemo zajedno odlučiti (clitic in second position in the whole clause)

Odlučit ćemo (infinitive shortened) is also common:

Zajedno ćemo odlučiti što je najbolje.
Zajedno odlučit ćemo što je najbolje. (less common order)

Odlučiti ćemo is generally felt as non‑standard in modern Croatian.
The clitic ćemo should normally precede the main verb, not follow the full infinitive.

Why is što je najbolje used, and what exactly is going on grammatically?

Što je najbolje is a subordinate clause functioning like a noun phrase: “what is best.”

Breakdown:

što – here a relative / interrogative pronoun, neuter singular
je – 3rd person singular present of biti (to be)
najbolje – neuter singular superlative form of dobar (“good”) used adverbially or as a predicate adjective meaning “the best / best”

So:

odlučiti (što?) što je najbolje – “decide what is best.”

You could expand it:

… odlučiti što je najbolje za sve. – “decide what is best for everyone.”
… odlučiti što je najbolje rješenje. – “decide what the best solution is.”

The key point: što je najbolje is not a question here, it’s an embedded clause serving as the object of odlučiti.

Why is najbolje in the neuter form?

Najbolje is the neuter singular superlative of dobar:

dobar – bolji – najbolji (masculine)
dobro – bolje – najbolje (neuter)

In što je najbolje, we are talking about something unspecified and abstract (“what is best”), not about a specific masculine or feminine noun. Croatian often uses the neuter for such general, abstract predicates.

Compare:

To je najbolje. – “That is best / That’s the best (thing to do).”
Najbolje je da pođemo. – “It’s best that we go.”

So neuter najbolje matches the idea of an unspecified “what” (što) and functions almost like “the best thing / the best way.”

What is the difference between kazati, reći, and govoriti; why use kaže here?

All three relate to speaking, but they have different flavors:

kazati – to say, tell (often a bit more formal or bookish than reći)
- 3rd person singular: kaže
reći – to say (very common, perfective)
- 3rd person singular: reće (spelled reći, pronounced the same)
govoriti – to speak, be saying (imperfective, often for ongoing or habitual speech)

Here:

Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje
→ A single, complete act of saying: each person will state their opinion once.

You could also say:

Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje.
Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje. (with reći) – also acceptable in many contexts.

Govoriti would shift the focus toward the process of speaking:

Neka svatko mirno govori. – “Let everyone speak calmly.” (not specifically “their opinion” once, but speak in general, calmly)

Is the comma before pa obligatory here?

In standard Croatian punctuation, a comma is typically used before the conjunction pa when it links two clauses:

Neka svatko mirno kaže svoje mišljenje, pa ćemo zajedno odlučiti…

This reflects the fact that there are two finite verbs (kaže, ćemo odlučiti) and thus two clauses.

In informal writing, you may sometimes see it omitted, but with pa between clauses, the comma is the norm and is what you should learn and use.

Could we say Neka svi mirno kažu svoja mišljenja instead? How would that change the nuance?

Yes, that is a correct and natural alternative:

Neka svi mirno kažu svoja mišljenja.

Differences:

Subject and verb:
- svatko kaže – singular, emphasizes each individual person.
- svi kažu – plural, emphasizes the whole group.
Object:
- With svatko you naturally say svoje mišljenje (singular per person).
- With svi, you could use svoje mišljenje (each says their own) or svoja mišljenja (all of their opinions collectively).
  - Neka svi mirno kažu svoje mišljenje. – each person, one opinion (still fine).
  - Neka svi mirno kažu svoja mišljenja. – highlights the many opinions that will be expressed.

The original sentence with svatko feels a bit more individual-focused: “Let each person, one by one, calmly say their opinion.”