Questions & Answers about On je pravi prijatelj.
What does on mean in this sentence, and does it have to be there?
On means he. It is the 3rd person singular masculine pronoun.
Croatian is a “pro‑drop” language: you can often leave out subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context, because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.
So instead of On je pravi prijatelj., you can also say:
- Pravi je prijatelj. – The subject on is understood from context.
However, just saying Je pravi prijatelj. (dropping only on) sounds wrong in standard Croatian. If you drop the pronoun, you normally change the word order so that something else comes first (for example Pravi je prijatelj.).
What is je, and why doesn’t it look like biti, the verb “to be”?
Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb biti (to be):
- biti – to be (infinitive)
- jesam – I am (1st sg, full form)
- si – you are (2nd sg)
- je – he/she/it is (3rd sg)
- smo – we are (1st pl)
- ste – you are (2nd pl)
- su – they are (3rd pl)
So in On je pravi prijatelj., je means is:
On je = He is.
Can je ever be left out, like Spanish sometimes leaves out “ser/estar”?