Learn Hardcore Croatian: Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park. - I like to carry a book with me to the park.

Imperfective verbs describe ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions.
Saying volim nositi emphasizes that this is something you do regularly / in general.

Compare:

Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park.
→ I generally like taking a book with me (habit, preference).

You could also use a perfective verb like ponijeti (to take/bring once), but then you would usually be talking about a single occasion, not a general habit:

Volim ponijeti knjigu sa sobom kad idem u park.
→ I like to bring a book with me when I go to the park (more “each time I go”, often with an explicit situation).

Why is it knjigu and not knjiga?

The dictionary form is knjiga (nominative singular), but here knjigu is in the accusative case, because it’s the direct object of the verb nositi (to carry).

Nominative (subject): Knjiga je na stolu. → The book is on the table.
Accusative (object): Nosim knjigu. → I am carrying the book.

In Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park, the thing you like to carry is what? → knjigu (accusative).

Why is it u park and not u parku?

U park uses the accusative because it expresses movement towards a place.

General rule with u:

u + accusative → motion into / to somewhere
- Idem u park. → I’m going to the park.
- Trčimo u školu. → We’re running to school.
u + locative → location in somewhere (no movement)
- Jesam u parku. → I’m in the park.
- Učimo u školi. → We’re studying in school.

In the sentence, the idea is “to the park”, not “in the park”, so u park (accusative) is used.

Could you also say u parku in this sentence? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, but it would slightly change the focus:

Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park.
→ I like to take a book with me to the park (focus on bringing it along as you go there).
Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u parku.
→ I like to have/carry a book with me in the park (focus more on having it with you while you are there).

Both are grammatical; the original version emphasizes the act of taking it to the park.

What exactly does sa sobom mean, and why not just say sa mnom?

Sa sobom literally means “with oneself” or “with oneself / with me (in this case)”.
It’s a reflexive expression that refers back to the subject (“I”).

In practice:

sa sobom ≈ with me / with you / with him… depending on who the subject is.
It’s a common way to say “take something with you”.

Compare:

Nosim knjigu sa sobom. → I carry the book with me.
Nosim knjigu sa mnom. → Grammatically possible, but sounds awkward and very unusual here.

For “taking things along with yourself”, sa sobom is the natural choice, not sa mnom.

Why is it sa sobom and not s sobom?

The basic preposition is s (with), but it often becomes sa for easier pronunciation, especially:

before s, z, š, ž (and often other consonant clusters).

Since sobom starts with s, saying s sobom is hard to pronounce. So Croatian uses sa sobom instead.

Same pattern:

sa sestrom (with my sister), not s sestrom
sa školom is also common.

So here sa sobom is used for phonetic (pronunciation) reasons.

Can you leave out sa sobom and just say Volim nositi knjigu u park?

Yes, you can say:

Volim nositi knjigu u park.

This is still perfectly correct and understandable: I like to take a book to the park.

The difference:

Volim nositi knjigu u park.
→ Focus on the direction: taking a book to the park.
Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park.
→ Emphasizes that you like to have it with you as you go there, slightly stronger feeling of “bringing it along with yourself”.

In everyday speech, both versions are fine; sa sobom just makes that “with me” part more explicit.

Why is there no “I” (ja) at the beginning, like Ja volim nositi…?

Croatian is a pro-drop language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

Volim can only mean “I like” (1st person singular).
There’s no need to say Ja volim.

You would use ja for emphasis or contrast:

Ja volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park, ali on ne voli.
→ I like taking a book with me to the park, but he doesn’t.

In neutral, non-contrasted sentences, leaving ja out is more natural.

How flexible is the word order here? Can we move words around?

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, because case endings show each word’s role. You can rearrange for emphasis or style.

Some possible variants (all grammatical):

Knjigu volim nositi sa sobom u park.
→ Emphasis on knjigu (the thing you like to carry).
U park volim nositi knjigu sa sobom.
→ Emphasis on u park (the destination).
Volim knjigu nositi sa sobom u park.
→ Slightly marked, but still understandable.

The original Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park. is neutral and natural. Other orders change what is highlighted, more like playing with emphasis in English.

Does volim here mean “I love” or “I like”? How is it different from sviđa mi se?

Volim (from voljeti) can mean both “I love” and “I like”, depending on context and intensity:

Volim kavu. → I like coffee.
Volim te. → I love you.

In activities and habits, volim + infinitive is the standard way to say you like doing something:

Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park.
Volim čitati.
Volim putovati.

Sviđa mi se is more like “it pleases me / I find it nice”, often about impressions or specific instances:

Sviđa mi se ova knjiga. → I like this book (I find it nice).
Sviđa mi se taj park. → I like that park.

You wouldn’t normally say Sviđa mi se nositi knjigu sa sobom u park; volim nositi is the idiomatic choice for a general preference.

If I want to say “my book”, should it be moju knjigu or svoju knjigu in this sentence?

Both are possible, but svoju knjigu is usually more natural here:

Volim nositi svoju knjigu sa sobom u park.
→ I like taking my (own) book with me to the park.

Why svoju?

svoj/svoja/svoje… is a reflexive possessive that refers back to the subject of the sentence (“I” in this case).
When the owner is the subject, svoj- is preferred over moj- (my), tvoj- (your), etc.

Moju knjigu is not wrong:

Volim nositi moju knjigu sa sobom u park.

…but it can sound a bit more emphatic or contrastive (“my book, not someone else’s”), while svoju knjigu is the neutral default when the subject is also the owner.

Would it sound more natural to use the plural knjige, like Volim nositi knjige sa sobom u park?

Both singular and plural are natural, but they suggest slightly different things:

Volim nositi knjigu sa sobom u park.
→ I like carrying a book (typically one book) with me to the park.
Volim nositi knjige sa sobom u park.
→ I like carrying books (maybe more than one, or books in general) with me to the park.

So use singular if you’re thinking of a single book each time, and plural if you mean you often take several books or you’re speaking more generally about books.