Learn Hardcore Croatian: Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati; to me stvarno smeta. - Please, don't talk loudly while I am trying to concentrate; that really bothers me.

Molim te literally means “I am asking/begging you” or “I request you”. In practice it functions like “please” in English, but it can sound a bit more personal or pleading, because te = you (object).

molim – “I ask / I request”
te – unstressed object pronoun “you” (singular, informal, accusative)

You’ll commonly see:

Molim te, … – “Please, …” (to a friend, child, someone close)
Molim vas, … – “Please, …” (polite/formal, or to more than one person)

On its own, molim can also mean:

“You’re welcome” (after hvala)
“Pardon?” / “Sorry, what?” (when you didn’t hear something)

In this sentence, Molim te is clearly “please (I’m asking you)” introducing a request.

Why do we use te here and not ti or tvoj?

Because te is the correct unstressed object form in this context.

te – unstressed accusative form of ti (“you” as the object of a verb)
ti – stressed nominative form (“you” as the subject of a verb)
tvoj – “your” (possessive)

In Molim te:

the verb is molim (“I ask”)
the thing being asked is you → so you is a direct object → accusative → te

So:

Molim te. – “I ask you” / “Please.”
Ti pričaš. – “You are talking.” (ti is the subject)
Tvoj glas – “your voice” (tvoj is possessive)

Why is it nemoj glasno pričati instead of just ne pričaj glasno?

Both are possible, but nemoj + infinitive is the standard, very common way to form a negative command in Croatian.

nemoj glasno pričati – lit. “don’t (you) talk loudly”, polite/soft negative imperative
ne pričaj glasno – also “don’t talk loudly”, often felt more direct or blunt

Grammar:

nemoj – 2nd person singular imperative of nemati (“to not have”), used as an auxiliary:
- nemoj + infinitive → negative command to one person
- nemojte + infinitive → to several people or politely to one person
pričati – infinitive (“to talk, to chat”)

So the sentence uses a very natural, polite shape:

Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati… – “Please, don’t talk loudly…”

You can say Ne pričaj glasno dok se pokušavam koncentrirati, but it may sound a bit more like a direct order and a bit less like a softened request.

What is the nuance of pričati here? Could we use govoriti instead?

Pričati and govoriti both relate to speaking, but they’re not fully interchangeable.

pričati
- “to talk, to chat, to tell (a story)”
- more informal, conversational
- often implies a two-way conversation or narrative
govoriti
- “to speak, to talk” in a broader, more neutral sense
- used for languages (govorim engleski – “I speak English”)
- used for more formal speech (govoriti na sastanku – “to speak at a meeting”)

In nemoj glasno pričati, the idea is “don’t chatter / don’t talk out loud like that”, so pričati is the natural choice.

You could say nemoj glasno govoriti, and it’s grammatically fine; it might sound a bit more neutral, less “chatting”/“blabbing” in tone.

What exactly does glasno mean, and is there a difference between glasno, naglas, and bučno?

Glasno = loudly / in a loud voice.

glas – “voice”
glasno – adverb: “loudly, in a loud way”

Compare:

glasno pričati – “to talk loudly”
glasno pjevati – “to sing loudly”

Related words:

naglas – literally “out loud / aloud”
- Čitaj naglas. – “Read out loud.”
- Often about whether something is spoken vs. silent, not necessarily about volume.
bučno – “noisily, in a noisy way”
- Oni se bučno svađaju. – “They are arguing noisily.”

In your sentence, glasno pričati is ideal because the complaint is specifically about speaking in a loud voice.

In dok se pokušavam koncentrirati, what is this se doing, and which verb is reflexive?

The reflexive element belongs to koncentrirati se (“to concentrate”), but the clitic se has moved (clitic climbing) earlier in the clause.

Base reflexive verb:

koncentrirati se – “to concentrate (oneself)”

In a simple sentence you’d say:

Pokušavam se koncentrirati. – “I’m trying to concentrate.”

Here:

dok – “while”
se – reflexive clitic attached to koncentrirati se, but placed in its usual clitic position
pokušavam – “I am trying”
koncentrirati – infinitive “to concentrate”

Clitics like se in Croatian normally appear in second position in the clause (after dok here), so:

dok se pokušavam koncentrirati
literally: “while (myself) I‑am‑trying to‑concentrate”

Even though the se is placed next to pokušavam, it still semantically belongs to koncentrirati se. You must not leave se at the end:

✔ dok se pokušavam koncentrirati
✔ Pokušavam se koncentrirati.
✘ dok pokušavam koncentrirati se (unnatural / wrong)

Why is it pokušavam koncentrirati (infinitive) and not something like “pokušavam da se koncentriram”?

Standard Croatian very often uses verb + infinitive to express “try to do something”:

pokušavati / pokušati + infinitive

Examples:

Pokušavam razumjeti. – “I’m trying to understand.”
Pokušat ću doći. – “I’ll try to come.”

So:

pokušavam se koncentrirati – “I’m trying to concentrate.”

The construction pokušavam da se koncentriram (with da + finite verb) is more characteristic of Serbian or Bosnian usage. In Croatian this is either marked as non‑standard or at least noticeably non‑Croatian in style.

So in standard Croatian, prefer:

pokušavam se koncentrirati (infinitive)
rather than
pokušavam da se koncentriram.

Can we say koncentrisati instead of koncentrirati?

That depends on the variety of the language:

koncentrirati (se) – standard Croatian
koncentrisati (se) – standard Serbian; common in Bosnian and Montenegrin

In Croatian usage, koncentrirati se is the correct standard form. Using koncentrisati would immediately sound Serbian/Bosnian rather than Croatian.

Synonyms that avoid this issue:

usredotočiti se – more “purely Croatian”, but sounds a bit more formal/literary
fokusirati se – “to focus (oneself)”, common in modern speech

But in your sentence, pokušavam se koncentrirati is the most natural choice for standard Croatian.

In to me stvarno smeta, what is to, and why is me in that position and form?

Grammar-wise:

to – “that / it”, functioning as the subject of the verb
me – unstressed dative form of ja (“I”), meaning “to me”
stvarno – “really, truly”
smeta – “bothers / disturbs / annoys” (3rd person singular, from smetati)

Literal structure:

To (that/it)
me (to‑me, dative)
stvarno smeta (really bothers)

In Croatian, smetati works like “to be bothersome to someone”:

To mi smeta. – “That bothers me.” (lit. “That is bothersome to me.”)
Buka im smeta. – “The noise bothers them.”

So me is in the dative, placed in the usual clitic position (among the first few words of the clause). Standard order here is:

To me stvarno smeta. – “It really bothers me.”

You could also say:

Stvarno me to smeta. – word order changed to emphasize stvarno or me, still correct.
To mi stvarno smeta. – if the subject is “I” (mi = “to me”), but that gives the same meaning with a slightly different nuance and pronoun.

How does smetati work compared with something like nervirati or živcirati?

All can be translated as “to bother / annoy”, but they differ in tone.

smetati – relatively neutral: “to disturb, inconvenience, bother”
- To me smeta. – “That bothers me / disturbs me.”
- Can be used politely: Ako ti ne smeta… – “If you don’t mind…”
nervirati – “to get on someone’s nerves, to irritate”
- To me stvarno nervira. – “That really gets on my nerves.”
- Stronger emotional irritation than smetati.
živcirati – very similar to nervirati, colloquial
- To me užasno živcira. – “That annoys me terribly.”

In your sentence, to me stvarno smeta is polite but clear: “it really bothers me / it really disturbs me”. It’s less emotionally charged than saying it nervira or živcira you.

Why is there a semicolon (;) between koncentrirati and to me stvarno smeta? Could it be a comma or a period instead?

Yes, you could also use a comma or a period; this is mostly a stylistic choice, not a grammar rule specific to Croatian.

Semicolon ; here nicely separates two closely related clauses:
- the request: Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati
- the reason: to me stvarno smeta

Possible punctuations:

Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati. To me stvarno smeta.
– Two full sentences. Very clear.
Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati, to me stvarno smeta.
– Comma splice; common in everyday writing/speech, but less formal.
Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati; to me stvarno smeta.
– Slightly more careful/polished, shows the second part is an explanation of the first.

So the semicolon is fine and somewhat stylistically “neat”, but it isn’t mandatory.

Why is there a comma after Molim te?

The comma marks off Molim te as an introductory phrase (a kind of polite preface) to the main request.

Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati…
≈ “Please, don’t talk loudly…”

You’ll see the same pattern with other introductory expressions:

Oprosti, kasnim. – “Sorry, I’m late.”
Nažalost, ne mogu doći. – “Unfortunately, I can’t come.”

Without the comma (Molim te nemoj…) it’s not wrong in casual writing, but the comma is standard and makes the sentence clearer.

Could you give a very literal, word‑by‑word breakdown of the whole sentence?

Yes, here is a rough literal mapping:

Molim – “I ask / I beg”
te – “you” (object, informal singular)
nemoj – “don’t” (imperative helper for negative command)
glasno – “loudly”
pričati – “to talk / to speak (informally, to chat)”
dok – “while”
se – reflexive clitic (for koncentrirati se, “to concentrate”)
pokušavam – “I try / I am trying”
koncentrirati – “to concentrate” (infinitive)
to – “that / it” (subject)
me – “to me” (dative clitic of “I”)
stvarno – “really, truly”
smeta – “bothers / disturbs / annoys” (3rd person singular)

So a very literal reading would be:

I‑ask you, don’t loudly talk while (myself) I‑am‑trying to‑concentrate; that to‑me really bothers.

Which corresponds to fluent English:

“Please, don’t talk loudly while I’m trying to concentrate; it really bothers me.”