Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.

After work we feel more relaxed.

Breakdown of Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.

• posao: work
• nakon: after
• osjećati se: to feel
• opuštenije: more relaxed

Questions & Answers about Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.

Why is it posla and not posao after nakon?

Because nakon (“after”) always takes the genitive case.

• posao is the nominative form (dictionary form) “work / job”.
• After nakon, you must use the genitive: posla.

So:

• Nakon posla = after work
• Nakon škole = after school
• Nakon ručka = after lunch

You cannot say ✗ Nakon posao; that’s incorrect case usage.

Can I say poslije posla instead of nakon posla?

Yes, in this sentence nakon posla and poslije posla are essentially synonyms and both sound natural.

• nakon posla – perhaps a bit more formal / neutral
• poslije posla – very common in everyday speech

Both nakon and poslije take the genitive, so you still need posla, not posao:

• Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.
• Poslije posla osjećamo se opuštenije.

po poslu would mean something like “around work / while at work” depending on context, so it does not mean “after work” and wouldn’t fit here.

Why do we need se in osjećamo se?

Croatian distinguishes:

• osjećati – to feel something (with your senses, or to feel an emotion toward something)
• osjećati se – to feel in the sense of to feel (a certain way), to be in a state

In sentences about how you feel (emotionally or physically), you almost always use the reflexive form:

• Osjećam se dobro. – I feel good.
• Osjećaš li se umorno? – Do you feel tired?
• Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije. – After work we feel more relaxed.

If you drop se, the meaning changes or becomes incomplete:

• ✗ Nakon posla osjećamo opuštenije. – ungrammatical in this meaning.

So for “we feel (more relaxed)”, you need osjećamo se.

Why is se after osjećamo here? Could I say Nakon posla se osjećamo opuštenije?

The little word se is a clitic (an unstressed word) and Croatian clitics like to sit in the second position in a clause.

In your sentence:

• Nakon posla – prepositional phrase
• osjećamo se – verb + clitic
• opuštenije – complement

Inside the main clause (osjećamo se opuštenije), the verb comes first, so se naturally comes second: osjećamo se.

You can also put the clitic earlier in the whole sentence:

• Nakon posla se osjećamo opuštenije.

Both:

• Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.
• Nakon posla se osjećamo opuštenije.

are correct and common. The difference in emphasis is minimal here; both are fine for a learner.

What exactly is opuštenije grammatically?

Opuštenije is the comparative form of the adjective opušten (“relaxed”).

The base adjective:

• opušten – relaxed (masc.)
• opuštena – relaxed (fem.)
• opušteno – relaxed (neut.)

Comparative forms:

• opušteniji – more relaxed (masc.)
• opuštenija – more relaxed (fem.)
• opuštenije – more relaxed (neut.)
  and also the adverbial/“in a more relaxed way” form

With verbs like osjećati se, Croatian very often uses this -e form, which you can feel as “in a more X way”:

• Osjećam se bolje. – I feel better.
• Osjećamo se opuštenije. – We feel more relaxed / in a more relaxed way.

So here opuštenije functions adverbially: it describes how you feel.

Could I say Nakon posla smo opušteniji instead? Is it the same?

Yes, you can, and both versions are natural, but there is a small nuance:

1. Nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.
   – Focus on the feeling process: “After work we feel more relaxed.”

2. Nakon posla smo opušteniji.
   – Focus more on the state / fact: “After work we are more relaxed.”

Both are perfectly correct and common.
For a learner, you can treat them as near-synonyms in everyday conversation.

Why is there no mi (“we”) in the sentence?

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• osjećam – I feel
• osjećaš – you (sg.) feel
• osjećamo – we feel

So osjećamo already means “we feel”. Adding mi is only needed for emphasis or contrast:

• Mi se nakon posla osjećamo opuštenije, ali oni ne.
  “We feel more relaxed after work, but they don’t.”

In a neutral sentence, Mi nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije is grammatically possible but sounds heavy and less natural than simply leaving mi out.

Why is present tense (osjećamo se) used even though this is a repeated / general situation?

In Croatian, the present tense of an imperfective verb (here: osjećati se) is used both for:

• what is happening now
• what happens regularly / habitually

So:

• Svaki dan nakon posla osjećamo se opuštenije.
  “Every day after work we feel more relaxed.”

is perfectly natural with the simple present.

If you wanted to talk about a single, completed moment of starting to feel relaxed, you might use the perfective partner osjetiti se in past or future, but in most everyday speech about how you (generally) feel, osjećati se in the present is what you want.

Is osjećamo se opuštenije more like “we feel more relaxed” or literally “we feel ourselves more relaxed”?

It corresponds to “we feel more relaxed”, not to a literal “we feel ourselves”.

The se here is a reflexive marker required by the verb osjećati se when it means “to feel (in some state)”. It doesn’t carry a separate meaning like English “ourselves”.

So you should think:

• osjećamo se opuštenije ≈ “we feel more relaxed / we are in a more relaxed state”

and not try to translate se word‑for‑word into English.

How do I pronounce osjećamo and opuštenije? Any tricky sounds?

Two main pronunciation points:

1. č vs. ć

   • č – harder, like ch in church
   • ć – softer, somewhat between ch and t; tongue a bit further forward

   In osjećamo you have ć: osje‑ća‑mo (soft “ch”).
   In this word you don’t have č, but you’ll see both letters a lot in Croatian.

2. Syllables and stress (approximate for standard Croatian):

   • osjećamo: o‑sjé‑ća‑mo (stress usually on the second syllable)
   • opuštenije: o‑pu‑šté‑ni‑je (stress on šte)

Each written vowel is pronounced; nothing is silent, and j is like English y in yes.