Breakdown of Slažem se da si vrijedna, ali mislim da bi trebala manje raditi navečer.
Questions & Answers about Slažem se da si vrijedna, ali mislim da bi trebala manje raditi navečer.
The verb here is slagati se (imperfective) / složiti se (perfective), and it is reflexive, which is why it uses se.
- slagati se = to agree (literally: to be in agreement)
- Slažem se. = I agree.
In Croatian, many verbs are reflexive with se even though English doesn’t show anything similar. You’ll usually find the verb in dictionaries as slagati se (with se included), not just slagati.
Without se, slagati means something else (e.g. “to lie repeatedly” or “to stack things”), so se is essential here to get the meaning to agree.
Yes, you can say Ja se slažem, and it is grammatically correct.
- Slažem se. – neutral, normal
- Ja se slažem. – emphasizes I (as opposed to someone else)
Croatian usually drops subject pronouns (ja, ti, on…) because the verb ending already shows the person. You add ja when you want contrast or emphasis:
- Ja se slažem, ali oni ne. – I agree, but they don’t.
Both si and jesi are forms of the verb biti (to be) in the 2nd person singular present:
- si – unstressed/enclitic form
- jesi – stressed/full form
In normal, neutral sentences after da, you use the unstressed form:
- da si vrijedna – that you are hardworking (neutral)
You use jesi when you want to stress or contrast something:
- Ti jesi vrijedna, ali previše radiš. – You *are hardworking, but you work too much.*
- Pa ti jesi vrijedna! – But you really are hardworking!
So "da si vrijedna" is the standard, unstressed version.
Adjectives in Croatian agree with the gender and number of the noun (or person) they describe.
Here, vrijedna describes you (ti), and the context clearly assumes a female person. So the adjective is:
- vrijedan – masculine singular
- vrijedna – feminine singular
- vrijedno – neuter singular
If you were speaking to a man, you’d say:
- Slažem se da si vrijedan, ali mislim da bi trebao manje raditi navečer.
Changes:
- vrijedna → vrijedan (adjective to masculine)
- trebala → trebao (past/conditional form also agrees in gender)
You can say:
- Slažem se da si ti vrijedna…
This is correct, but it adds emphasis on ti (you). It’s like saying:
- I agree that *you are hardworking (as opposed to someone else).*
You would use this when contrasting:
- Ne znam za druge, ali slažem se da si ti vrijedna.
I don’t know about the others, but I agree that *you are hardworking.*
In a neutral, non-contrastive statement, "da si vrijedna" (without ti) is more typical.
"bi trebala" is the Croatian conditional form, often called kondicional I.
Structure:
- bi – clitic (short) conditional form of biti (would)
- trebala – L‑participle (past/conditional form) of trebati, feminine singular
Together: bi trebala ≈ should / would have to / ought to (for a female ti).
So:
- ti bi trebala – you (f.) should / ought to
- masculine: ti bi trebao
- plural: vi biste trebali
It’s not a tense like “past” or “present”; it’s a mood (conditional), expressing advice, recommendation, or hypothesis.
Both "bi trebala" and "trebala bi" are grammatically possible, but clitics like bi normally want to be in the second position in the clause.
The “second position” rule is flexible, but in your sentence:
- mislim | da bi trebala manje raditi navečer
Within the clause da bi trebala…, the first meaningful element is bi, then comes trebala. That is the most neutral word order.
You can say "trebala bi", but it usually sounds either:
- more colloquial, or
- slightly marked for emphasis or rhythm.
The safest and most standard pattern for learners is:
- [conjunction] + [clitic (bi)] + [main verb]
da bi trebala, da bi morao, da bih htio, etc.
In the conditional with bi, the L‑participle (here: trebala) agrees in gender and number with the subject.
Subject: ti (implied, singular, feminine) → participle must be feminine singular:
- (ti, ž.) bi trebala – you (female) should
- (ti, m.) bi trebao – you (male) should
- (ona) bi trebala – she should
- (on) bi trebao – he should
- (oni) bi trebali – they (m./mixed) should
- (one) bi trebale – they (f.) should
So trebala matches a female “you”.
Yes. "Mislim da bi trebala…" softens the statement and makes it more polite / indirect.
- Trebala bi manje raditi navečer. – direct advice; can sound a bit blunt: You should work less in the evening.
- Mislim da bi trebala manje raditi navečer. – I think you should work less in the evening.
This adds “I think”, making it feel like a personal opinion rather than a command.
Croatians frequently use mislim da…, čini mi se da…, možda bi… to soften advice or criticism.
raditi is the imperfective verb meaning to work (ongoing, repeated activity). In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a general habit:
- manje raditi navečer – to work less in the evenings (as a habit / regularly)
Imperfective verbs are used for:
- habits and routines
- ongoing, repeated, or long-lasting actions
A perfective counterpart (like uraditi, odraditi in some contexts) would focus on one completed action, which is not the intended meaning here. So raditi is the natural choice.
navečer is an adverb meaning in the evening / in the evenings.
- raditi navečer – to work in the evening (regularly / generally)
Compare:
- večer – noun: evening
- Ova večer je lijepa. – This evening is beautiful.
- u večer – as a phrase is unusual in modern standard Croatian; people say "uvečer" or "navečer" instead.
- uvečer – very close in meaning to navečer, also in the evening. In many contexts they’re interchangeable:
- Radim navečer. / Radim uvečer.
In everyday speech, navečer is extremely common for talking about when something usually happens.
manje is an adverb meaning less. The most neutral pattern is:
- manje raditi navečer – to work less in the evening
You can also say:
- raditi manje navečer
- raditi navečer manje (less typical, but possible in some contexts)
Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and the meaning stays the same in all these variants. The version in your sentence:
- manje raditi navečer
puts manje right before raditi, clearly showing that the amount of working should be reduced (not, for example, the evening itself or something else). It’s a very natural-sounding order.
In this context, vrijedna means hardworking / diligent, not valuable.
The adjective vrijedan / vrijedna / vrijedno can mean:
- valuable – having a lot of value or worth
- vrijedna slika – a valuable painting
- hardworking, industrious – about a person
- Ona je jako vrijedna. – She is very hardworking.
In your sentence, because it refers to a person’s work habits, it clearly has the “hardworking” meaning:
- Slažem se da si vrijedna… – I agree that you are hardworking…