Learn Hardcore Croatian: Šef uglavnom misli da je moj kolega vrijedan, pa mu daje dodatni zadatak. - The boss mostly thinks that my colleague is hardworking, so he gives him an additional task.

Šef uglavnom misli da… = The boss mostly thinks that…
You could also say: Uglavnom šef misli da… or Šef misli uglavnom da…, but the most natural are Šef uglavnom misli da… and Uglavnom šef misli da….

Moving uglavnom changes the emphasis slightly, but not the basic meaning. Placing it right after the subject (Šef uglavnom misli…) is very common and neutral.

Why is it da je moj kolega vrijedan and not da moj kolega je vrijedan?

In Croatian clitic words (short, unstressed words like je, se, ga, mu) follow very strict word‑order rules.

In a da‑clause like this:

da je moj kolega vrijedan ✅ (correct)
da moj kolega je vrijedan ❌ (sounds wrong)

The usual pattern is:

da
clitics (here: je)
the rest of the sentence (moj kolega vrijedan)

You cannot freely move je the way you do with is in English; it has to stay in that clitic position right after da.

Why is it vrijedan and not some other form like vrijedni or vrijednog?

Vrijedan is an adjective describing moj kolega:

moj kolega = masculine, singular, nominative
The adjective must agree: masculine, singular, nominative → vrijedan

Other forms you might see:

vrijednog kolege – genitive singular
vrijednom kolegi – dative singular
vrijedni kolega – nominative plural (hard‑working colleagues)

Here, moj kolega is the subject (in the embedded clause), so nominative singular is needed: vrijedan.

Does vrijedan mean valuable or hard‑working?

In this context, vrijedan means hard‑working / diligent, not valuable in the money sense.

On je vrijedan radnik. → He is a hard‑working worker.

For valuable, Croatian more often uses vrijedan for abstract worth (e.g., valuable experience: vrijedno iskustvo) or dragocjen when stressing preciousness (a precious/valuable object). Context tells you which meaning is intended.
Here, with a boss giving extra tasks, vrijedan clearly = hard‑working.

What exactly does pa mean here, and how is it different from i, zato, or tako da?

In this sentence, pa connects two clauses and can be translated as so, and so, or and with a slight sense of consequence:

Šef uglavnom misli da je moj kolega vrijedan, pa mu daje dodatni zadatak.
→ The boss mostly thinks my colleague is hard‑working, so he gives him an extra task.

Comparisons:

i = and (just adds information, weaker sense of consequence)
zato / zato što = because / that’s why (more explicit cause and effect)
tako da = so that / so (often expresses result or purpose)

Pa is fairly neutral and very common in spoken language; it often means something like and so / and then.

Why is there a comma before pa?

In Croatian, a comma is usually placed before pa when it connects two independent clauses:

[Šef uglavnom misli da je moj kolega vrijedan], [pa mu daje dodatni zadatak].

Each part could stand as its own sentence in terms of structure, so a comma is used. This is a standard punctuation rule in Croatian, even though English often omits the comma before and/so in similar sentences.

What does mu mean, and why is that form used?

Mu is a clitic dative pronoun, 3rd person singular, masculine or neuter. It means to him or to it.

dati nekome nešto = to give someone something
- komu? (to whom?) → dative case → mu (to him)

So:

daje mu dodatni zadatak = he gives him an extra task.

We use the dative because my colleague is the indirect object (the receiver) of the task.

Who does mu refer to: the boss or the colleague?

Grammatically, mu could refer to šef or moj kolega, because both are masculine singular. Normally, context decides.

In a typical real‑life context, it would usually mean:

Šef… misli da je moj kolega vrijedan, pa mu daje dodatni zadatak.
→ The boss thinks my colleague is hard‑working, so he (the boss) gives him (the colleague) an extra task.

So mu = to my colleague. If it meant the boss gives himself an extra task, you would normally phrase it differently.

Why is it daje and not something like da or dao?

Daje is the 3rd person singular present tense of davati (to give, imperfective):

ja dajem
ti daješ
on/ona/ono daje
mi dajemo
vi dajete
oni daju

Here, we are talking about a repeated or general action:

Šef… misli… pa mu daje dodatni zadatak.
→ The boss (generally, regularly) gives him an extra task.

If you wanted a one‑time, completed action in the past, you would use the perfective dati:

Šef je mislio da je moj kolega vrijedan, pa mu je dao dodatni zadatak.
→ The boss thought my colleague was hard‑working, so he gave him an extra task.

Why is it dodatni zadatak and not dodatni zadatka or dodatnog zadatka?

Dodatni zadatak is the direct object of the verb daje → it must be in accusative singular.

Što daje? (what does he give?) → dodatni zadatak

For a masculine noun like zadatak:

nominative singular: zadatak
accusative singular (for inanimate nouns) is the same as nominative: zadatak

The adjective dodatni must agree:

masculine, singular, accusative → dodatni zadatak

Forms like:

dodatnog zadatka → genitive singular (e.g. of an extra task)
are used in different grammatical roles, not as a direct object here.

Why is the subject pronoun (on) omitted before daje?

In Croatian, subject pronouns are usually dropped if the subject is clear from context and verb form.

(On) daje mu dodatni zadatak.
Both are possible, but on is normally omitted when it’s obvious who we are talking about.

Here, the subject šef was already mentioned, and daje clearly refers back to him, so on is not needed.

Can kolega be feminine, or is it only masculine?

Kolega is grammatically masculine, but can refer to a male or (in everyday speech) sometimes to a female colleague. However:

Male colleague: moj kolega (masculine)
Female colleague: moja kolegica (feminine form of the noun)

In this sentence:

moj kolega vrijedan → masculine adjective agreement
For a female colleague you would say:
moja kolegica je vrijedna
(my [female] colleague is hard‑working)

Could I say Šef misli uglavnom da je moj kolega vrijedan instead? Is that wrong?

You can say:

Šef misli uglavnom da je moj kolega vrijedan…

It is grammatically correct, but less neutral in rhythm and emphasis. It tends to sound like you are focusing on what he thinks (as opposed to what he does or feels), and then qualifying it with uglavnom.

The most natural, default version is still:

Šef uglavnom misli da je moj kolega vrijedan…

It places uglavnom directly after the subject and before the verb, which is very common for adverbs of this type.

Is da here the same da as in yes (like da, da = yeah, yeah)?

No. Croatian has two very common da’s with different functions:

da as a conjunction: introduces a clause, like that in English
- Mislio sam da je on vrijedan. → I thought that he was hard‑working.
da as an interjection: roughly yes / yeah, often informal or emphatic
- Da, da, razumijem. → Yeah, yeah, I understand.

In this sentence, da is clearly the conjunction: misli da je moj kolega vrijedan → thinks (that) my colleague is hard‑working.