Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ugovor je već napisan, ali želim napisati i svoje bilješke uz njega. - The contract is already written, but I also want to write my own notes next to it.

So Ugovor je već napisan literally = “The contract is already written”, but in English we usually say “The contract has already been written.”

It’s often called the passive perfect in learner grammars: to be (present) + passive participle.

Why is it napisan and not something like napisano or napisana?

The form of napisan agrees with the gender and number of the noun ugovor.

ugovor – masculine singular
so the participle/adjective must also be masculine singular → napisan

Other examples:

Pismo je napisano. – The letter is written. (neuter singular)
Knjiga je napisana. – The book is written. (feminine singular)
Ugovori su napisani. – The contracts are written. (masculine plural)

So napisan is chosen because ugovor is masculine singular.

Why is napisati used after želim, and not pisati?

Both pisati and napisati can follow želim (I want), but they have different aspect:

pisati – imperfective: to write (process, activity, no focus on completion)
napisati – perfective: to write (and finish writing, complete something)

In this sentence:
... ali želim napisati i svoje bilješke uz njega.
= “…but I want to write (and complete) my notes as well.”

The speaker wants to produce a finished set of notes, so a perfective verb (napisati) is natural.
Compare:

Želim pisati bilješke. – I want to (be) writing notes / I like the activity of writing notes.
Želim napisati bilješke. – I want to get the notes written (finish them).

What does i mean in napisati i svoje bilješke? Is it just “and”?

Here i means “also / too / as well”, not just simple “and”.

Ugovor je već napisan, ali želim napisati i svoje bilješke uz njega.
= “The contract is already written, but I also want to write my notes to go with it.”

The idea is: the contract is written, and in addition to that, I want to write my notes.

Why is it svoje bilješke and not moje bilješke?

Svoje is the reflexive possessive pronoun (“one’s own”) and is used when the possessor is the subject of the sentence.

Subject: (ja) želim – I want
Possessed thing: bilješke – notes
Owner of the notes = the same as the subject (“I”) → use svoje, not moje

So:

Želim napisati svoje bilješke. – I want to write my (own) notes.
On želi napisati svoje bilješke. – He wants to write his own notes.

Moje bilješke is grammatically possible but less natural here. Svoje emphasizes that the notes belong to the subject and is the default choice in such structures.

What form and case is bilješke, and what does the word mean?

Bilješke means “notes” (like notes you write while reading, studying, or reviewing a contract).

Form and case:

Base form: bilješka – a note (feminine singular)
bilješke here is accusative plural feminine
It is the direct object of napisati.

So structurally:
(Ja) želim napisati (što?) svoje bilješke.
(I) want to write (what?) my notes.

What does uz njega mean here, and what nuance does uz add?

Uz njega literally means “by/next to it, alongside it, together with it.”

uz
- accusative (njega) can mean:
  - physically next to / beside something
  - along with / in addition to something

In this sentence:

... želim napisati i svoje bilješke uz njega.
= “…I want to write my notes to go with it / alongside it.”

It can suggest either:

Physical: notes that will be kept together with the contract (e.g. attached, in the same folder), or
Functional: notes that accompany the contract, commenting on it.

Both ideas fit the context.

Why is it njega and not on or njim?

On is the nominative form (“he/it” as the subject).
But after the preposition uz, you need the accusative case.

For on (he/it), the strong/stressed accusative form is njega:

Nominative: on – he/it
Accusative: (njega) – him/it

So:

uz njega – next to him/it, along with him/it

You cannot say uz on.
You might see the clitic form ga in other structures (e.g. uz ga is rare/awkward, usually you’d rearrange the sentence), but with a preposition the full form njega is standard.

Could you say pored njega or o njemu instead of uz njega? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you can, but the nuance changes:

pored njega – beside it / next to it (more purely spatial)
- ... svoje bilješke pored njega. = notes placed next to the contract.
o njemu – about it (content-focused)
- ... svoje bilješke o njemu. = notes about the contract (their content is about the contract).

Uz njega can imply both physical closeness and the idea of something that accompanies or goes together with the contract. It’s slightly more “together with / in parallel to” than simply “next to”.

Is the word order Ugovor je već napisan fixed, or can we say Ugovor je napisan već?

The word order is fairly flexible, but the most natural versions are:

Ugovor je već napisan.
Ugovor je napisan već. (possible, but sounds a bit marked / emphatic)

Typically, već appears early in the clause, often after the auxiliary je or before the main content word:

Ugovor je već napisan. – neutral, standard
Ugovor već je napisan. – possible with emphasis, but less common in everyday speech.

So the given sentence uses the most neutral and natural placement of već.

What is the overall structure of the sentence in terms of clauses?

The sentence consists of two clauses linked by ali (but):

Ugovor je već napisan
- Subject: Ugovor (The contract)
- Verb (passive): je napisan (has been written / is written)
- Adverb: već (already)
ali želim napisati i svoje bilješke uz njega
- Conjunction: ali (but)
- Subject: (ja) – implied “I”
- Verb: želim napisati (I want to write)
- Direct object: i svoje bilješke (also my [own] notes)
- Prepositional phrase: uz njega (alongside it / to go with it)

So it contrasts what is already done (contract written) with what the speaker still wants to do (write notes).