Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ona se ne slaže i kaže da često razmišlja o tome, jer ima svoj razlog. - She does not agree and says that she often thinks about it, because she has her own reason.

In Croatian, slagati se is a reflexive verb meaning “to agree”. The reflexive pronoun se is part of the verb; without it, the verb changes meaning.

slagati se = to agree
slagati (without se) usually means “to stack, to pile up, to arrange,” or “to tell lies” in some contexts.

So:

Ona se ne slaže. = She does not agree.
Ona ne slaže. sounds wrong in this context; it would be understood as something like “She doesn’t stack (things)” or might just sound incomplete/odd.

You must keep se here because it’s part of the idiomatic verb slagati se = to agree.

Why is the word order ona se ne slaže and not ona ne se slaže or ona ne slaže se?

Croatian has specific rules about the placement of so‑called clitics (short unstressed words), and se is one of them. These clitics usually go into the second position in the clause.

In your sentence:

Ona = first element
se = clitic, moves to second position
ne slaže = the rest of the predicate

So: Ona se ne slaže is normal.

Forms like:

✗ ona ne se slaže
✗ ona ne slaže se

sound incorrect or very unnatural. You should always say Ona se ne slaže (or just Ne slaže se, if you drop the pronoun).

What is the difference between slaže se and složi se?

They are two aspects of the same basic verb:

slagati se (imperfective) – ongoing, repeated, or general agreement
- Ona se ne slaže. = She doesn’t agree (in general/now).
složiti se (perfective) – a completed act of agreeing
- Ona se nije složila. = She did not agree (on that specific occasion).

In your sentence, ne slaže se talks about her general or current stance: she doesn’t agree (with whatever is being discussed), not just at one single moment in the past.

Why do we say kaže da često razmišlja o tome and not use što instead of da?

In Croatian, when you report what someone says or thinks, you typically use da to introduce the content clause, not što.

kaže da… = “she says that…”
misli da… = “she thinks that…”

So:

kaže da često razmišlja o tome
= “she says (that) she often thinks about it.”

If you said kaže što često razmišlja o tome, it would be wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Croatian. što is used as an interrogative or relative pronoun (“what”), not as a conjunction like “that” here.

What exactly does razmišlja o tome mean, and why do we need o tome?

The verb razmišljati (= to think, to reflect, to ponder) usually takes the preposition o (“about”) plus a noun or pronoun in the locative case:

razmišljati o nečemu = to think about something
razmišljati o njemu = to think about him
razmišljati o problemu = to think about the problem

In your sentence:

to = that / it (neuter pronoun)
tome = locative form of to

So razmišlja o tome literally means “(she) thinks about that/it”. You need o and the locative form tome because the verb pattern is razmišljati o + LOCATIVE.

Can the word order in često razmišlja o tome be changed? For example, can I say razmišlja često o tome or o tome često razmišlja?

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and all of these are grammatically possible. The differences are mostly in emphasis and style:

često razmišlja o tome
→ neutral; “she often thinks about it.”
razmišlja često o tome
→ also acceptable, but često sounds a bit more emphasized; like stressing the frequency.
o tome često razmišlja
→ puts extra emphasis on o tome (“about that”); like “about that, she often thinks.”

In spoken language, često razmišlja o tome is probably the most neutral and common.

Why is jer used here, and how is it different from zato što?

jer is a conjunction that means “because” and introduces a reason:

… jer ima svoj razlog.
= “… because she has her own reason.”

zato što also means “because”, but it’s two words: zato (“for that reason / therefore”) + što (“that / which”). In many contexts, you can use either:

Ona se ne slaže, jer ima svoj razlog.
Ona se ne slaže zato što ima svoj razlog.

Differences:

jer is a simple conjunction and sounds a bit more neutral.
zato što can sometimes sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal/emphatic, but in daily speech they’re often interchangeable.

In your sentence, jer is perfectly natural.

Why is there a comma before jer in …o tome, jer ima svoj razlog?

In standard Croatian punctuation, a comma is normally used before jer when it introduces a clause of reason, much like in English before because in many cases:

Ne idem van, jer sam umoran.
Ona se ne slaže, jer ima svoj razlog.

So the comma in …o tome, jer ima svoj razlog follows a normal rule: separate the main clause from the subordinate clause of reason introduced by jer.

What is the function of svoj in ima svoj razlog, and why don’t we say ima njezin razlog?

svoj is the reflexive possessive adjective. It always refers back to the subject of the clause. Think of it as “(one’s) own”.

Ona ima svoj razlog.
= “She has her own reason.”

If the possessor is the same as the subject, you normally use svoj, not njezin.

Compare:

Ona ima svoj razlog.
= She has her own reason (her personal reason).
Ona ima njezin razlog.
= She has her (another woman’s) reason.
(This suggests the reason belongs to some other “she”.)

So in your sentence, svoj correctly shows that the reason belongs to the subject ona.

Is svoj always used for all genders, or does it change form?

svoj behaves like a normal possessive/adjective and agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies, not with the subject.

Base forms are:

masculine: svoj (e.g. svoj razlog)
feminine: svoja (e.g. svoja kuća)
neuter: svoje (e.g. svoje dijete)

In your sentence:

razlog is masculine singular nominative
so we use svoj in masculine singular nominative: svoj razlog.

If the noun were feminine, you would change svoj accordingly:

Ona ima svoju tajnu. = She has her own secret.

Why is ima used in the present tense here? Could it be imala je svoj razlog?

ima is the present tense of imati (“to have”):

ima svoj razlog = “(she) has her (own) reason.”

It describes a current, existing state: right now, she has a reason.

You could use the past:

imala je svoj razlog = “she had her (own) reason.”

That would change the meaning: it would refer to some past situation, not to her current ongoing reason. In most contexts like your sentence, ima (present) fits because it describes her standing reason for not agreeing.

Can I drop ona and say just Ne slaže se i kaže da često razmišlja o tome…?

Yes. Croatian is a pro‑drop language, meaning you can often omit subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

Ona se ne slaže…
Ne slaže se…

Both are correct. The version with ona is slightly more explicit and can be used for emphasis or clarity (for example, when contrasting different people). In many contexts, Croatians would naturally just say Ne slaže se i kaže da… without ona.