Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji.

Everyone is an important person in the family.

Breakdown of Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji.

• biti: to be
• u: in
• važan: important
• obitelj: family
• svatko: everyone
• osoba: person

Questions & Answers about Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji.

What does svatko mean exactly, and is it singular or plural?

Svatko means “everyone / everybody / each person”.
Grammatically, it is singular, which is why the verb is je (“is”) and not su (“are”).

You can think of it like English “everyone is …”, not “everyone are …”.

Why is it je and not su in this sentence?

Je is the 3rd person singular form of biti (“to be”), meaning “is”.

Even though svatko refers to many people in meaning, it is grammatically singular, so it takes the singular verb:

• Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji. = Everyone is an important person in the family.

Using su (are) would be incorrect here:

• ✗ Svatko su važna osoba... – ungrammatical.

Why is it važna osoba and not važan osoba?

In Croatian, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

• Osoba (person) is a feminine noun.
• Therefore the adjective must also be feminine singular: važna.

So we say:

• važna osoba – important person (feminine noun)
  not:
• ✗ važan osoba – adjective is masculine, noun is feminine → mismatch.

If svatko can refer to men and women, why isn’t the adjective masculine (važan)?

Here the adjective važna is not directly agreeing with svatko, but with osoba:

• Svatko je važna osoba.
  Literally: Everyone is [an] important person.

The structure is:

• svatko (subject)
• je (verb)
• važna osoba (predicate = important person)

Because osoba is feminine, the adjective važna is feminine.

If you used only an adjective, then it would agree with svatko, and you’d normally use masculine singular:

• Svatko je važan. – Everyone is important. (default masculine form)

That’s a key difference:

• Svatko je važan. (adjective referring to svatko)
• Svatko je važna osoba. (adjective referring to osoba)

Does osoba mean a female person only, since it’s feminine?

No. Osoba is grammatically feminine, but it can refer to a person of any gender.

Examples:

• On je dobra osoba. – He is a good person.
• Ona je vesela osoba. – She is a cheerful person.

So the feminine gender of osoba is purely grammatical, not semantic.

Why is it u obitelji and not u obitelj?

The preposition u (in, inside) usually takes either:

• Locative (for location: in/at), or
• Accusative (for movement into).

In Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji, there is no movement; it’s a location/state, so Locative is used.

The noun obitelj (family) declines like this in the singular:

• Nominative: obitelj – (the) family
• Genitive: obitelji
• Dative: obitelji
• Accusative: obitelj
• Locative: u / na obitelji → obitelji
• Instrumental: s obitelji

So u obitelji is Locative singular = in the family.

Could I also say u porodici instead of u obitelji?

Yes, but with a regional / standard difference:

• obitelj – standard in Croatia
• porodica – standard in Serbia, also heard in Bosnia and Montenegro

So:

• Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji. – natural Croatian standard
• Svako je važna osoba u porodici. – natural Serbian standard

In Croatian, obitelj is preferred in formal and standard speech. Porodica will be understood, but sounds more Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin.

Why is there no word for “a/an” before važna osoba?

Croatian does not have articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• važna osoba can mean:
  • an important person
  • the important person
  • important person (in a general sense)

The exact meaning comes from context, not from a separate word.

What is the difference between svatko, svaki, and svi?

They all relate to the idea of “every/all”, but are used differently:

1. svatko – pronoun, “everybody / everyone”

   • Svatko je važna osoba. – Everyone is an important person.

2. svaki – adjective, “every / each” (must go with a noun)

   • Svaki član obitelji je važan. – Every family member is important.

3. svi – pronoun, “all (people)” / adjective “all”

   • Svi su važni. – All (of them) are important.
   • Svi članovi obitelji su važni. – All family members are important.

You can’t say:

• ✗ svaki je važna osoba (here you need svatko or a noun: svaki član …)

Can I change the word order, like Važna je osoba svatko u obitelji?

Croatian word order is flexible, but not all permutations sound natural.

The neutral, most natural word order here is:

• Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji.

You could move things a bit for emphasis, for example:

• U obitelji je svatko važna osoba. – Emphasis on “in the family”.

But:

• Važna je osoba svatko u obitelji.
  sounds awkward and unnatural in modern Croatian, even if a native speaker might technically understand it.

For learners, it’s safest to keep:

• Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji.

How do you pronounce svatko and obitelji? Anything tricky?

Yes, there are a couple of points:

• svatko: SVAT-ko

  • sv is a consonant cluster; say s and v together: sv-
  • stress is usually on the first syllable: SVAT-ko

• obitelji: o-BI-te-lji

  • lj is a single sound, like the lli in English million or the ll in Spanish llama (in many accents)
  • So obitelji roughly sounds like: o-BEE-te-lyi
  • Again, stress is normally on the second syllable: o-BI-te-lji

Could I say Svatko je važan član obitelji? Is that more natural?

Yes, that is also very natural:

• Svatko je važan član obitelji.
  = Everyone is an important member of the family.

Here:

• član (“member”) is masculine, so the adjective is važan (masculine singular).
• The focus shifts slightly from “person” (osoba) to “member” (član), but the overall meaning is very close.

So you can express the idea in several natural ways:

• Svatko je važna osoba u obitelji. – Everyone is an important person in the family.
• Svatko je važan član obitelji. – Everyone is an important member of the family.
• Svaki član obitelji je važan. – Every family member is important.