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Nakon poraza raspoloženje u ekipi je tiše, ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele.

Nakon poraza raspoloženje u ekipi je tiše, ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele.
After a defeat the mood in the team is quieter, but a good result and a small victory quickly cheer us up.

Breakdown of Nakon poraza raspoloženje u ekipi je tiše, ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele.

biti
to be
dobar
good
mali
small
u
in
i
and
ali
but
brzo
quickly
nas
us
nakon
after
ekipa
team
raspoloženje
mood
rezultat
result
pobjeda
victory
poraz
defeat
tiši
quieter
razveseliti
to cheer up
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Questions & Answers about Nakon poraza raspoloženje u ekipi je tiše, ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele.

Why is poraza used after nakon, and what case is it?

Poraza is the genitive singular of poraz (defeat).

The preposition nakon (after) in Croatian always takes the genitive case. So:

  • nominative: poraz – a defeat
  • genitive: poraza – of a defeat / after a defeat

That is why you must say:

  • nakon poraza – after the defeat

You cannot use the nominative (nakon poraz) or accusative (nakon poraz) here; they would be ungrammatical with nakon.

Could I say poslije poraza instead of nakon poraza? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say poslije poraza, and it means the same thing. Both nakon and poslije mean after and both require the genitive:

  • nakon poraza
  • poslije poraza

Differences:

  • nakon sounds slightly more neutral/formal.
  • poslije is very common in everyday speech, completely normal as well.

In most contexts they are interchangeable; here you can safely use either.

What case is u ekipi, and why is it ekipi and not ekipa or ekipe?

U ekipi is locative singular.

The noun ekipa (team/squad) declines like a regular feminine noun:

  • nominative: ekipa – a team
  • genitive: ekipe – of a team
  • dative/locative: ekipi – to/in a team
  • accusative: ekipu
  • instrumental: ekipom

The preposition u can take:

  • locative = in, inside (position)
  • accusative = into (movement)

Here it describes a state within the team, so it uses locative:

  • u ekipi – in the team (within the group)

So ekipi is locative singular, required by u in the meaning in.

Is ekipa the same as tim, or is there a nuance?

Both can be translated as team, but there is a nuance:

  • tim – more neutral, often used for sports teams, work teams, etc.
  • ekipa – also team, but often feels a bit more informal / colloquial, and can mean the crew, the guys, the group of people who hang out together.

In sports context:

  • ekipa = the squad, the group of players as a whole.
  • tim = also team, but sometimes used more in formal contexts or in business.

In this sentence u ekipi feels very natural: within the squad / within the group.

Why is it raspoloženje u ekipi je tiše and not je tiho? What exactly is tiše here?

Raspoloženje is a neuter noun meaning mood.

The adjective tih (quiet) has these basic (positive) forms:

  • masculine: tih
  • feminine: tiha
  • neuter: tiho

The comparative forms are:

  • masculine: tiši
  • feminine: tiša
  • neuter: tiše

So in:

  • raspoloženje u ekipi je tiho – the mood in the team is quiet (just a description)
  • raspoloženje u ekipi je tiše – the mood in the team is quieter / more subdued (compared to before)

Tiše here is:

  • the neuter singular comparative adjective agreeing with raspoloženje
  • meaning quieter, more subdued

So the sentence implies a change relative to normal: after a defeat, the mood in the team is quieter than usual.

What are the subjects in dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele, and why is razvesele plural?

The subjects are:

  • dobar rezultat – a good result
  • mala pobjeda – a small victory

They are joined by i (and), so together they form a compound subject. Because there are two subjects, the verb must be 3rd person plural:

  • razvesele – cheer (us) up, make (us) happy (3rd person plural)

If there were only one subject, the verb would be singular, e.g.:

  • Dobar rezultat nas razveseli. – A good result cheers us up.

But with two subjects:

  • Dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda nas razvesele. – A good result and a small victory cheer us up.
Why is it dobar rezultat but mala pobjeda? How do the adjectives agree here?

Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

  1. rezultat

    • gender: masculine
    • number: singular
    • case: nominative (subject)
      → adjective: dobar (masc. nom. sg.)
      → dobar rezultat

  2. pobjeda

    • gender: feminine
    • number: singular
    • case: nominative (subject)
      → adjective: mala (fem. nom. sg.)
      → mala pobjeda

So you get:

  • dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda – a good result and a small victory

Same nouns in other cases would change the adjective, e.g. genitive:

  • dobrog rezultata, male pobjede
What verb is razvesele from, is it perfective or imperfective, and what nuance does it have?

Razvesele is:

  • 3rd person plural, present tense
  • from the perfective verb razveseliti (to cheer up, to make happy)

Aspect:

  • razveseliti – perfective: focuses on the completed change of state (the moment when you become cheered up)
  • related imperfective forms:
    • veseliti (to make happy, to gladden – more general, ongoing)
    • razveseljavati (to be cheering up repeatedly / for a while)

In this sentence:

  • brzo nas razvesele roughly = they (will) quickly succeed in cheering us up, focusing on the result of that action after a defeat.

If you wanted to emphasise something more habitual or ongoing, you might hear:

  • dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda nas vesele / razveseljuju – a good result and a small victory cheer us (generally) / have the tendency to cheer us up.
I learned that the present tense of perfective verbs usually has a future meaning. Does brzo nas razvesele sound future-like?

Yes, the present tense of a perfective verb normally refers to the future (or to a single, completed event that will happen).

Here, razvesele (present of perfective razveseliti) is best understood as:

  • will quickly cheer us up (when that situation arises)
  • or more generally: they quickly end up cheering us up whenever they happen

So the nuance is:

  • after a defeat, the mood is quieter, but when we get a good result or a small victory, those events quickly bring about a change: they cheer us up.

Using an imperfective (vesele / razveseljuju) would sound more like a general characteristic: they are things that (in general) make us feel better.

Why is the pronoun nas placed between brzo and razvesele? Could I put it somewhere else?

Nas is the accusative form of mi (we → us). In this sentence:

  • nas = us (direct object)

Croatian has a special placement rule for short pronouns (clitics): they usually go right after the first stressed word in the clause.

In brzo nas razvesele:

  • first stressed word: brzo
  • next position: nas
  • then the verb: razvesele

So brzo nas razvesele is very natural.

Other orders:

  • Dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda nas brzo razvesele. – also natural, with nas after the first stressed word (Dobar).
  • Dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo razvesele nas. – possible, but puts extra emphasis on us; it sounds less neutral.
  • Nas dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo razvesele. – emphasises us strongly (almost like it’s us that a good result and a small victory cheer up).

For a neutral statement, keeping nas in the clitic position (after the first stressed word in the clause) is the default.

Is the word order in ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele fixed, or could I move brzo?

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, so you can move brzo (quickly) around, but the neutral and most natural version here is:

  • … ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda brzo nas razvesele.

Other options:

  1. … ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda nas brzo razvesele.
    – Also neutral; just a slightly different rhythm.

  2. … ali brzo nas dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda razvesele.
    – Possible, but now brzo is emphasised; it sounds more marked.

  3. … ali dobar rezultat i mala pobjeda razvesele nas brzo.
    – Grammatically OK, but less idiomatic; brzo at the end often feels a bit tacked-on.

The original word order sounds very natural and balanced.

What exactly does mala pobjeda mean here? Is it literally a “small victory” or something like a “narrow win”?

Literally, mala pobjeda is small victory.

In context, it usually means:

  • a modest or not very big success
  • maybe a narrow win, or a win in a less important match
  • anything that is not a huge triumph, but still positive

So the idea is:

  • even a good result or even just a small win is enough to lift our mood.

You could also hear phrases like:

  • mala, ali važna pobjeda – a small but important victory
  • i najmanja pobjeda nas razveseli – even the smallest victory cheers us up