Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati; to mi stvarno smeta.

Molim te is a very common way to say please when speaking to one person informally.

• molim = I ask / I beg / please
• te = you in the accusative singular

So literally it is something like I ask you, but in normal use it often just functions as please.

If you were speaking formally or to more than one person, you would usually say Molim vas.

Croatian has two common ways to make a negative command:

1. ne + imperative

   • Ne pričaj! = Don’t talk!

2. nemoj + infinitive

   • Nemoj pričati! = Don’t talk!

Both are correct, but nemoj + infinitive is extremely common and often sounds a bit softer or more natural in everyday speech.

In your sentence, Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati... sounds polite but still firm: Please, don’t talk loudly...

For plural/formal:

• Nemojte pričati = Don’t talk (to several people / formal)

Because the pattern is:

• nemoj + infinitive

So:

• nemoj pričati
• nemoj vikati
• nemoj kasniti

You do not use the imperative form after nemoj. That is why it is nemoj pričati, not nemoj pričaj.

Glasno means loudly or out loud.

It is an adverb, describing how the person is talking:

• pričati glasno = to talk loudly
• govoriti glasno = to speak loudly

Related forms:

• glasan = loud (adjective, masculine)
• glasna = loud (feminine)
• glasno = loudly or neuter adjective form

So in this sentence, glasno modifies pričati.

Both can relate to speaking, but they are not always identical.

• govoriti = to speak, to say, sometimes more neutral
• pričati = to talk, to chat, to tell

In this sentence, pričati works very naturally because the speaker is asking someone not to keep talking. It has a conversational feel.

Compare:

• Nemoj govoriti tako glasno. = Don’t speak so loudly.
• Nemoj glasno pričati. = Don’t talk so loudly.

Both are possible, but pričati often feels especially natural for casual talking/chattering.

Yes. Dok can mean:

• while
• until

The meaning depends on context.

In your sentence:

• dok se pokušavam koncentrirati = while I’m trying to concentrate

Examples:

• Čekaj dok dođem. = Wait until I come.
• Nemoj me ometati dok radim. = Don’t disturb me while I’m working.

So here it clearly means while, because the two actions happen at the same time.

The verb is koncentrirati se = to concentrate.

So the idea is:

• pokušavam se koncentrirati = I am trying to concentrate

However, Croatian clitics like se, mi, te, ga, and so on usually appear in the second position of the clause. Because of that, the sentence becomes:

• dok se pokušavam koncentrirati

Here se still belongs logically to koncentrirati (se), but its position is determined by clitic placement rules.

This is one of the trickier things for English speakers, because English does not do this in the same way.

Because the se has already appeared earlier in the clause.

The full dictionary form is:

• koncentrirati se = to concentrate

But in an actual sentence, the se often moves forward because it is a clitic:

• Pokušavam se koncentrirati.
• Dok se pokušavam koncentrirati...

So even though you only see koncentrirati at the end, the se is still part of that verb.

Pokušavam is the 1st person singular present tense of pokušavati.

• pokušavati = to be trying / to try repeatedly (imperfective)
• pokušavam = I am trying

This fits well with dok because it describes an ongoing action:

• while I’m trying to concentrate

There is also a perfective partner:

• pokušati = to try as a completed attempt

Compare:

• Pokušavam koncentrirati se. = I’m trying to concentrate.
• Pokušat ću se koncentrirati. = I’ll try to concentrate.

In your sentence, the imperfective pokušavam is the natural choice because the action is in progress.

The verb smetati means to bother, to disturb, to annoy, and it often takes the person affected in the dative.

So:

• to = that / it
• mi = to me
• smeta = bothers / disturbs
• stvarno = really

Literally:

• That really bothers me or more literally
• That is really bothersome to me

This dative pattern is very common with smetati:

• To mi smeta. = That bothers me.
• Smeta mi buka. = Noise bothers me.
• Smeta li ti dim? = Does smoke bother you?

Yes, here stvarno means really.

It is a very common everyday adverb. In this sentence it adds emphasis:

• to mi stvarno smeta = that really bothers me

Other similar words:

• zaista = really / truly (often a bit more formal or emphatic)
• doista = indeed / really (more formal/literary in many contexts)

In casual speech, stvarno is extremely common.

Yes, both are short pronoun forms, but they are in different cases because the verbs require different structures.

• Molim te

  • te = accusative you
  • because moliti takes a direct object

• To mi smeta

  • mi = dative to me
  • because smetati commonly takes a dative experiencer

So the cases are different because the verbs work differently.

This is a very common thing in Croatian:

• Vidim te. = I see you.
• Pomažem ti. = I help you.
• To mi smeta. = That bothers me.

Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order, but it is not random.

A few important points here:

1. Clitics like se and mi tend to go near the beginning of the clause, usually in second position.

   • dok se pokušavam koncentrirati
   • to mi stvarno smeta

2. The default order often sounds most natural, even if alternatives are grammatically possible.

For example:

• To mi stvarno smeta sounds natural.
• To stvarno smeta meni is possible, but more marked or emphatic.

So learners should not think any order is fine. Croatian allows flexibility, but clitic placement is an important rule.

The semicolon connects two closely related parts:

• Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati
• to mi stvarno smeta

It shows a stronger break than a comma, but not a full stop. In English, a semicolon works similarly.

A comma could also appear in some less formal writing, but the semicolon neatly separates:

1. the request
2. the reason or explanation

So it helps structure the sentence clearly.

You would change the informal te and singular nemoj.

Informal, one person:

• Molim te, nemoj glasno pričati...

Formal or plural:

• Molim vas, nemojte glasno pričati...

So the full formal/plural version would be:

• Molim vas, nemojte glasno pričati dok se pokušavam koncentrirati; to mi stvarno smeta.

That means:

• please to you formal/plural = vas
• negative imperative formal/plural = nemojte + infinitive