Volim sebe.

to love

Breakdown of Volim sebe.

• sebe: myself

Questions & Answers about Volim sebe.

Why is there no word for “I” in Volim sebe?

Croatian usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Volim is the 1st person singular present of voljeti (to love), so it already means “I love”.
• Adding ja (I) is only needed for emphasis or contrast.

So:

• Volim sebe. = I love myself.
• Ja volim sebe. = I love myself (implying “not someone else”, or stressing I).

Both are grammatically correct; the shorter one is more neutral and more common.

What exactly does sebe mean here?

Sebe is the stressed/reflexive pronoun meaning “myself / yourself / himself / herself / ourselves / themselves”, depending on the subject of the sentence.

In Volim sebe:

• The subject is (ja) = I.
• sebe refers back to that subject, so here it means “myself”.
• Grammatically, sebe is the direct object of the verb volim, so it is in the accusative case.

There is no separate word for “myself” vs “yourself” in the reflexive form; sebe covers them all and takes its meaning from the subject:

• Ja volim sebe. – I love myself.
• Ti voliš sebe. – You love yourself.
• Ona voli sebe. – She loves herself.