Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni, samo smo danas jednostavno umorni. - My uncle sometimes looks at us seriously and says that we are not lazy at all, we are just simply tired today.

Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni, samo smo danas jednostavno umorni.

My uncle sometimes looks at us seriously and says that we are not lazy at all, we are just simply tired today.

Breakdown of Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni, samo smo danas jednostavno umorni.

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Questions & Answers about Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni, samo smo danas jednostavno umorni.

What exactly does ujak mean, and how is it different from stric?

Both mean uncle, but they refer to different sides of the family:

ujak = your mother’s brother
stric = your father’s brother

So in this sentence, Ujak nas ponekad…, we know the speaker is talking about an uncle on their mother’s side.

There are also some regional words (like teča, tetak) but in standard Croatian, the basic distinction is:

mother’s brother → ujak
father’s brother → stric

What case is nas in, and why is it used here?

Nas here is in the accusative plural (object case) and means us.

The verb gledati (to look at, to watch) normally takes a direct object in the accusative:

gledati nekoga = to look at / watch someone
Ujak gleda nas. = The uncle looks at us.

In fluent speech and writing, the clitic pronoun tends to move earlier in the sentence, which is why we get:

Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda. = The uncle sometimes looks at us seriously.

Why does nas come right after Ujak? Could we say Ujak ponekad ozbiljno gleda nas instead?

Nas is behaving as a clitic pronoun here, and Croatian clitics like to stand very early in the clause (so‑called second position).

Typical pattern:

first: the first stressed word of the clause
second: clitic(s) like se, mi, ga, nas, smo, je etc.

So:

Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda.
Ujak = first stressed word → nas (clitic) comes right after it.

You can say:

Ujak ponekad ozbiljno gleda nas.

but this:

sounds less neutral and more emphatic (stressing us),
is more likely in spoken, expressive language, not as the basic neutral order.

For a normal, neutral sentence, Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda is the most natural.

What does ozbiljno gleda literally mean? Is it “looks serious” or “looks at us seriously”?

In this sentence it means looks at us seriously / gives us a serious look.

Structure:

gledati nekoga = to look at someone
razlog: we have gledati + objekt (nas), so gledati clearly means look at.

The adverb ozbiljno modifies the way he looks:

ozbiljno = in a serious way

So:

Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda
literally: The uncle sometimes looks at us seriously.

If you wanted he looks serious (his face looks serious, without focusing on us), you would more naturally say:

Ujak izgleda ozbiljno. = The uncle looks serious.
(verb izgledati instead of gledati)

Why is the present tense (gleda, kaže) used if this is a repeated/habitual action?

Croatian, like English, uses the present tense to talk about:

actions happening now, and
habits and repeated actions.

Here the adverb ponekad (sometimes) tells us it is something that happens occasionally or habitually.

Compare:

English: He sometimes looks at us seriously and says…
Croatian: Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda i kaže…

So the present tense here is perfectly normal and directly matches the English present with sometimes / often / usually etc.

Why is da used after kaže in i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni?

In Croatian, da is commonly used to introduce reported speech (indirect speech) after verbs like reći, kazati, misliti, znati, etc.

Pattern:

Kaže da… = He says that…

So:

i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni
= and he says (that) we are not lazy at all

Alternatives:

Direct speech:
Ujak nas ponekad ozbiljno gleda i kaže: Uopće niste lijeni, samo ste danas jednostavno umorni.
Indirect speech (our sentence):
…i kaže da uopće nismo lijeni…

In standard Croatian you normally keep the da in such clauses; simply dropping it (i kaže uopće nismo lijeni) is not standard.

What does uopće add to uopće nismo lijeni? Where does it go in the sentence?

Uopće here means at all and it strengthens the negation.

nismo lijeni = we are not lazy
uopće nismo lijeni = we are not lazy at all

Usage:

uopće is typically used with a negative verb:
- uopće ne radim = I do not work at all
- on uopće nije umoran = he is not tired at all

Position:

Very common and natural is:
- uopće ne + verb → uopće ne radim
- uopće nismo + adjective → uopće nismo lijeni

You can sometimes hear nismo uopće lijeni, but uopće nismo lijeni is more neutral and standard.

Why is it lijeni and not lijen? How does this adjective agree with the subject?

In Croatian, adjectives must agree with the subject in:

gender
number
case

Here the subject is we (mi), so it is plural, and in the predicate position it takes nominative plural.

The base form is:

lijen = lazy (masculine, singular)

Plural forms:

masculine (or mixed group) plural: lijeni
- Mi nismo lijeni. = We (m./mixed) are not lazy.
feminine plural: lijenE
- Mi nismo lijene. = We (all female) are not lazy.

So nismo lijeni is correct if the group is all male or mixed.
The same agreement pattern appears later with umorni:

umoran → umorni (masc. pl.) / umorne (fem. pl.)

What is the difference between samo and jednostavno in samo smo danas jednostavno umorni?

Both can be translated as just in English, but they have different core meanings:

samo = only
Limits or restricts something.
- Samo smo umorni. = We are only tired (nothing else is wrong).
jednostavno = simply
- can mean in a simple way
- or a softening word like simply / really / basically.

In the sentence:

samo smo danas jednostavno umorni

you get the nuance:

We are not lazy at all; it is only that today we are simply tired.

If you remove one of them:

Samo smo danas umorni. = We are only tired today.
Danas smo jednostavno umorni. = Today we are simply/just tired (with less emphasis on “only”).

Why is smo after samo and not at the end, like samo danas jednostavno umorni smo?

Smo is an auxiliary clitic (part of the verb biti – to be), and clitics in Croatian strongly prefer second position in the clause.

The first stressed word in the clause is samo, so the rule gives:

first stressed word: samo
then clitic: smo

→ samo smo danas jednostavno umorni

Sentences like:

✗ samo danas jednostavno umorni smo

sound ungrammatical or very strange in standard Croatian, because smo is too far from the start; it is not in its usual second position.

Other natural variants with the same clitic rule:

Danas smo samo jednostavno umorni.
(first stressed word = Danas, so smo comes right after it)
Mi smo danas samo umorni.
(first stressed word = Mi, then smo)

Can we move danas and jednostavno around? For example, is Danas smo samo jednostavno umorni also correct?

Yes, Croatian adverbs like danas (today) and jednostavno (simply) have fairly flexible word order, and different orders mostly change emphasis, not grammar.

All of these are grammatically fine, but with slightly different focus:

Samo smo danas jednostavno umorni.
Focus on today being the only problem: only today we are simply tired.
Danas smo samo jednostavno umorni.
Focus on today; what’s true today is just that we are simply tired.
Danas smo jednostavno samo umorni.
A bit more marked; extra emphasis on only tired, nothing more.

As long as:

the clitic smo stays in second position in the clause, and
word order does not create confusion,

the various placements of danas and jednostavno are acceptable.