Learn Hardcore Croatian: Planet nam je zajednički dom i samo zajedno možemo naći rješenje za njegove probleme. - The planet is our common home and only together can we find a solution for its problems.

Planet – subject, nominative singular masculine (“the planet”).
nam – unstressed pronoun “to us / for us” in dative plural (from mi = we).
je – 3rd person singular of biti (“to be”), present tense.
zajednički dom – predicate noun phrase:
- zajednički – adjective, nom. sg. masc., “common / shared”.
- dom – noun, nom. sg. masc., “home”.
i – coordinating conjunction “and”.
samo – adverb “only”.
zajedno – adverb “together”.
možemo – 1st person plural present of moći (“can, be able to”).
naći – infinitive of a perfective verb (“to find”).
rješenje – direct object, accusative singular neuter (same form as nominative).
za – preposition “for”, governs accusative.
njegove probleme – object of the preposition:
- njegove – possessive adjective “his/its”, acc. pl. masc., agrees with probleme.
- probleme – noun acc. pl. masc. (“problems”).

So the basic structure is:

[Subject] + [indirect object (to us)] + [copula] + [predicate] + and + [adverbials] + [modal verb] + [infinitive] + [object phrase].

What exactly does nam mean here, and why is it used instead of naš (“our”)?

nam is the dative plural of the personal pronoun mi (“we”), in its clitic (unstressed) form.
It literally means “to us / for us”.

So Planet nam je zajednički dom is literally:

“The planet is to us a common home” → idiomatically “The planet is our common home.”

Why not naš?

naš is a possessive adjective: “our”.
Planet je naš zajednički dom = “The planet is our common home.” (also correct).
Planet nam je zajednički dom emphasizes that to us the planet functions as a common home, slightly highlighting the people rather than ownership.

Both are correct; nam adds a small nuance of “for us, to us” rather than a simple possessive label.

Why is nam placed right after Planet? Could we say Planet je nam zajednički dom or put nam at the end?

No, Planet je nam zajednički dom and Planet je zajednički dom nam are not natural Croatian.

Reason:

nam is a clitic (unstressed pronoun). Croatian clitics normally go to the “second position” in the clause—right after the first stressed word or phrase.
The first stressed word here is Planet, so the clitic cluster comes right after it.

So the natural order is:

Planet nam je zajednički dom.

Here nam je is the clitic group; nam must appear early in the sentence, not at the end.

You can move the stressed form nama:

Planet je nama zajednički dom. – also possible, with emphasis on nama (“to us in particular”).
But when you use the short nam, its position after the first word is basically fixed: Planet nam je…

What does zajednički add to dom, and how does it agree grammatically?

zajednički means “joint, common, shared” (belonging to more than one person/group).
It’s an adjective and must agree with the noun in:
- gender: masculine (because dom is masculine),
- number: singular,
- case: nominative (part of the predicate: “is a common home”).

So:

zajednički dom – common/shared home (nom. sg. masc.)
If the noun changed, the adjective would change:
- zajednička kuća (fem. sg.)
- zajedničko mjesto (neut. sg.)
- zajednički domovi (masc. pl.)

How do samo and zajedno work together in samo zajedno možemo? Can I move them around?

samo = “only” (adverb of limitation).
zajedno = “together” (adverb of manner).

In samo zajedno možemo, samo narrows the idea “together”:

samo zajedno ≈ “only if we are together / only by acting together”.

Possible variants and nuances:

Samo zajedno možemo naći rješenje… – neutral, standard.
Zajedno možemo naći rješenje. – “Together we can find a solution” (no “only”).
Možemo naći rješenje samo zajedno. – also possible; puts focus at the end (“only together (and in no other way) can we do it”).

Moving samo too far away from zajedno risks changing what is being limited (do we mean “only we can”, “only now we can”, etc.), so samo zajedno is the clearest for “only together”.

Why is the verb možemo followed by the infinitive naći without anything like “to” or “da”?

In Croatian, modal and similar verbs are normally followed directly by an infinitive:

moći (can, be able to)
morati (must, have to)
htjeti (want to)
smjeti (be allowed to)

So:

možemo naći = “we can find”
No particle like “to” (English) or “da” (as in some Serbian constructions) is used here in standard Croatian.

Structure:

[možemo] + [infinitive]
Možemo naći rješenje. – “We can find a solution.”

What’s the difference between naći and forms like nalaziti or pronalaziti?

This is about aspect (perfective vs imperfective):

naći – perfective, “to find (as a single, completed action)”.
- Used when you focus on achieving the result.
- možemo naći rješenje – we can (at some point) succeed in finding a solution.
nalaziti (nalaziti, pronalaziti) – imperfective, “to be finding, to find repeatedly, habitually, or in progress”.
- često nalazimo rješenja – we often find solutions (repeated action).
- dugo smo nalazili rješenja – we were (for a long time) finding solutions.

In this sentence, the idea is about one eventual solution to the planet’s problems, so the perfective infinitive naći is the natural choice.

Why is rješenje in this form? What case is it in?

rješenje is a neuter noun.
In Croatian, neuter nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative singular.

Here, rješenje is the direct object of naći, so it is in the:

accusative singular neuter.

Declension (simplified):

Nominative sg.: rješenje – (a) solution
Accusative sg.: rješenje – (find) a solution
Genitive sg.: rješenja – of a solution
Nominative pl.: rješenja – solutions
Accusative pl.: rješenja – (find) solutions

In naći rješenje za njegove probleme, it is “to find a solution for his/its problems” (object of naći).

Why do we use za with njegove probleme? Could we instead say rješenje njegovih problema?

Yes, both constructions are possible but have slightly different nuances.

rješenje za njegove probleme
- za
  - accusative (njegove probleme).
- Literally “solution for his/its problems”.
- Emphasizes purpose or target: a solution intended to address those problems.
rješenje njegovih problema
- njegovih problema – genitive plural.
- Literally “solution of his/its problems”.
- Emphasizes belonging/association: the problems belonging to the planet.

In many contexts, they are close in meaning and both correct. In this sentence, za njegove probleme nicely highlights that we are looking for a solution aimed at solving those problems.

What case is njegove probleme, and how do njegove and probleme agree?

probleme is accusative plural masculine (from problem).
njegove is a possessive adjective meaning “his/its”, and must agree with the noun it modifies in:
- gender: masculine (because problem is masculine),
- number: plural,
- case: accusative.

So:

Nominative pl.: njegovi problemi – his/its problems
Accusative pl.: njegove probleme – (solve) his/its problems

In rješenje za njegove probleme, the preposition za requires the accusative, hence probleme and njegove in accusative plural.

In English we would normally say “its problems” for the planet, not “his problems”. Why does Croatian use njegove?

Croatian does not have a special pronoun for “its” like English does. Instead, it reuses the “his/her/their” system:

njegov – his / its (for masculine singular antecedents)
njezin / njen – her / its (for feminine singular antecedents)
njihov – their / its (for plural antecedents)

Since planet is a masculine noun in Croatian:

njegove probleme = literally “his problems”, but contextually “its problems (the planet’s problems)”.

So njegove here corresponds to English “its” because the noun planet is grammatically masculine.

Why is probleme with -e at the end? What are the main forms of the noun problem?

problem is a masculine noun. In this sentence, probleme is:

accusative plural masculine (object of za).

Key forms:

Nominative sg.: problem – problem
Accusative sg.: problem – (solve) a problem
Genitive sg.: problema – of a problem
Nominative pl.: problemi – problems
Accusative pl.: probleme – (solve) problems
Genitive pl.: problema – of problems

So za njegove probleme = “for his/its problems” in the accusative plural.

Is planet masculine or feminine in Croatian? I’ve also seen planeta.

In standard Croatian:

planet is masculine: taj planet (“that planet”).
There is also planeta (feminine), but planet is more typical/neutral in standard usage, especially in scientific or formal contexts.

Because planet is masculine:

You use on (“he/it”) and njegov / njegove (“his/its”) for agreement:
- Planet ima svoje probleme. Njegove probleme moramo riješiti.
  (“The planet has its problems. We must solve its problems.”)

That’s why the sentence has njegove probleme, not something based on a feminine or neuter form.