Learn Hardcore Croatian: Učitelj mi je dao savjet da imam više strpljenja sa sobom. - The teacher gave me the advice to have more patience with myself.

It is the dative form of ja (“I”).
Dative is typically used for the indirect object – the person receiving something.
So Učitelj mi je dao savjet literally is “The teacher gave me advice,” with mi = “to me”.

Why is the word order Učitelj mi je dao and not Učitelj je mi dao?

Croatian has a strict rule for short unstressed pronouns (called clitics) like mi, je, ga, se. They usually go in the so‑called second position in the clause, in a fixed internal order.

In Učitelj mi je dao savjet:
- Učitelj = first stressed word
- mi je = clitic cluster in second position
- dao = main verb (past participle)

The correct clitic order for mi and je is mi je, not je mi:

✅ Učitelj mi je dao savjet.
❌ Učitelj je mi dao savjet.

You can sometimes move the clitic group to after another first-position element, but inside the cluster, the order mi je is fixed.

Why is it dao and not something like dajeo or another past form?

Dao is the past participle (l-participle) of the verb dati (“to give”).

Croatian forms the usual past tense (called the perfect) with:

present of “biti” (to be) + past participle

So:

je dao = “(he) gave” / “(he) has given”
sam dao = “I gave”
si dao = “you gave”

Because učitelj is masculine singular, the participle is dao (masc. sg.):

Učitelj mi je dao savjet. – The teacher (masc.) gave me advice.
Učiteljica mi je dala savjet. – The (female) teacher gave me advice.
(Here it changes to dala, feminine singular.)

What case is savjet in, and why that case?

Savjet is in the accusative singular, masculine.

The verb dati (“to give”) takes:
- a dative indirect object (mi – to me)
- an accusative direct object (savjet – advice)

Pattern:

dati + (nekome, dative) + (nešto, accusative)
“to give (something) to (someone)”

So:

Učitelj mi (DAT) je dao savjet (ACC).

Why is it savjet (singular) and not savjete (plural) when in English we usually say “gave me some advice”?

Croatian can use savjet both:

As a countable noun:
- dao mi je jedan savjet – he gave me one piece of advice
- dao mi je dva savjeta – he gave me two pieces of advice
In a more generic / uncounted sense in the singular:
- dao mi je savjet – he gave me advice (some advice)

In your sentence, savjet is understood like “a piece of advice” or simply “advice” without emphasizing the number.

Savjete (plural) would emphasize that there were several separate pieces of advice:

Učitelj mi je dao nekoliko savjeta. – The teacher gave me several pieces of advice.

Why is it da imam više strpljenja instead of using the infinitive, like imati?

Croatian very often uses da + present tense to express a content clause (“that I do X”) instead of an infinitive, especially after verbs of:

saying, thinking, advising, wanting, ordering, etc.

So:

dao mi je savjet da imam više strpljenja
= “gave me the advice that I should have more patience”

English uses “to have more patience” or “that I should have more patience”, but Croatian prefers:

da + present: da imam, da radim, da budem …

Using just an infinitive here (savjet imati više strpljenja) would be ungrammatical in standard Croatian.

What form of strpljenje is strpljenja, and why do we need that form?

Strpljenja is the genitive singular of strpljenje (“patience”).

After certain quantifying words like:

više – more
manje – less
puno – a lot of
malo – a little (of)

Croatian normally uses the genitive:

više strpljenja – more patience
puno vode – a lot of water
malo vremena – a little (bit of) time

So imam više strpljenja literally is “I have more of patience.”
That’s why you need strpljenja (genitive), not strpljenje (nominative/accusative).

Why is it više strpljenja and not something like više strpljivosti or više strpljiv?

strpljenje is a noun: “patience”
strpljiv is an adjective: “patient”
strpljivost is another noun (‘patience’ / ‘forbearance’), but strpljenje is more common in everyday speech for “patience”.

The structure više + GENITIVE NOUN is very regular:

više vremena – more time
više posla – more work
više strpljenja – more patience

You could say više strpljivosti, but više strpljenja sounds more natural and is the standard collocation.
You cannot say više strpljiv here, because after više you need a noun in the genitive, not an adjective.

What does sa sobom mean exactly, and why not sa mnom?

sa sobom literally means “with oneself” / “with myself/yourself/himself …” (reflexive).
sa mnom means specifically “with me”.

In this sentence:

više strpljenja sa sobom = “more patience with myself” (if the speaker is “ja”)
The form sobom is reflexive, so it automatically refers back to the subject of the sentence, whoever that is.

If you said:

više strpljenja sa mnom – “more patience with me”
That would mean someone else should be more patient with me, not that I should be more patient with myself.

So sa sobom matches the idea “with myself / yourself” depending on the subject, and is the natural choice here.

What case is sobom, and when do we use that form?

Sobom is the instrumental form of the reflexive pronoun sebe (“oneself”).

The preposition s / sa (“with”) normally takes the instrumental case:

s prijateljem – with a friend
s tobom – with you
sa mnom – with me
sa sobom – with myself/yourself/himself … (reflexive)

So:

sa sobom = s + sobom (instrumental) = “with oneself”

When do we use sa instead of just s?

s and sa are the same preposition (“with”).
Sa is used mainly for euphony – to make pronunciation smoother, especially:

before words starting with s-, z-, š-, ž-:
- sa sobom (not s sobom)
- sa sestrom (with (my) sister)
or when s + word would be hard to pronounce:
- sa mnom (with me)

So sa sobom is chosen because s sobom is awkward to say. In many other cases, you’ll see just s:

s prijateljem, s tobom, s njim, etc.

Can the word order be changed? For example, can I say Učitelj je meni dao savjet?

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and you can change it for emphasis:

Učitelj mi je dao savjet.
Neutral; focus is on the fact that the teacher gave some advice.
Učitelj je meni dao savjet.
Emphasizes meni = “to me (not someone else).”

However, when you change mi to the stressed form meni, it is no longer a clitic, so:

You must say je meni, not mi je.
Meni is stressed; it can move more freely.

With the clitic mi, the standard, natural version is:

✅ Učitelj mi je dao savjet.

Could we say Učitelj mi je savjetovao da imam više strpljenja sa sobom instead of dao savjet? What’s the difference?

Yes, that is possible, with a small structural change:

Učitelj mi je dao savjet da imam više strpljenja sa sobom.
– “The teacher gave me (the) advice to have more patience with myself.”
Učitelj mi je savjetovao da imam više strpljenja sa sobom.
– “The teacher advised me to have more patience with myself.”

Differences:

dati savjet = “to give advice” (verb + noun)
savjetovati = “to advise” (verb only)

Meaning is almost the same; savjetovati is a bit more formal/literary, while dati savjet is very common in everyday speech. Both take a da + present clause for the content of the advice.