Learn Hardcore Croatian: Bez obzira na rezultat, trener kaže da ne smijemo odustati. - Regardless of the result, the coach says that we must not give up.

Bez obzira na literally means “without regard to” / “without consideration of”. In normal English it’s translated as “regardless of” or “no matter”.

It’s a fixed expression:
- bez obzira na + (noun in accusative)
  - Bez obzira na rezultat – Regardless of the result
  - Bez obzira na vrijeme – Regardless of the weather
  - Bez obzira na sve – Regardless of everything

You can mentally treat bez obzira na as one unit, similar to an English multi‑word preposition like “regardless of”.

Which case is “rezultat” in, and why doesn’t it change its form?

In “bez obzira na rezultat”, the word rezultat is in the accusative singular.

The structure is:
- bez obzira na + accusative
Rezultat is a masculine noun whose nominative and accusative singular are the same form:
- Nominative sg.: (taj) rezultat
- Accusative sg.: (vidim) rezultat

So even though it looks like the nominative, its role here is accusative because it follows na in this expression.

Is “bez obzira na” the only way to say “regardless of” in Croatian?

No, there are several common alternatives with slightly different flavors:

Neovisno o + locative
- Neovisno o rezultatu – Independent of / regardless of the result
Unatoč + dative
- Unatoč rezultatu – Despite the result
  (more like “despite” than “regardless of” in many contexts)
Bez obzira na to što…
- clause
  - Bez obzira na to što smo izgubili… – Regardless of the fact that we lost…

In your sentence, “Bez obzira na rezultat” is the most natural and neutral option.

What is the function of “da” in “trener kaže da ne smijemo odustati”?

Here da is a subordinating conjunction meaning “that”:

trener kaže da… = the coach says that…

It introduces a subordinate clause which is the content of what the coach says:

Trener kaže [da ne smijemo odustati].
= The coach says [that we must not give up].

This da-clause works very similarly to English “that + sentence” after verbs like say, think, know, believe etc.

Where is the subject in “ne smijemo odustati” if there is no “mi”?

The subject “we” (mi) is implied by the verb ending on smijemo:

smijemo is 1st person plural (we) of the verb smjeti.
Croatian usually drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person:
- (Mi) ne smijemo odustati. – We must not give up.
- (On) ne smije odustati. – He must not give up.
- (Oni) ne smiju odustati. – They must not give up.

So grammatically, mi is there, just not written.

What exactly does “smijemo” mean here? Is it like “can”, “may”, or “must”?

Smijemo is the 1st person plural of smjeti, which primarily means “to be allowed to / may”.

Positive:
- Smijemo odustati. – We are allowed to give up / We may give up.
Negative:
- Ne smijemo odustati. – We are not allowed to give up → idiomatic English: We must not / mustn’t give up.

In negative sentences, ne smijemo often corresponds to “must not / mustn’t” (a strong prohibition), not just weak “may not”.

Why is “odustati” in the infinitive, and why not a conjugated form like “odustanemo”?

After smjeti, Croatian uses the infinitive of the main verb:

smijemo + infinitive
- smijemo odustati – we are allowed to give up
- ne smijemo odustati – we must not give up

So:

✔ ne smijemo odustati – correct
✘ ne smijemo odustanemo – incorrect after smjeti

This is a standard pattern:

moramo ići – we must go
želim učiti – I want to study
mogu doći – I can come

Modal-like verbs (morati, moći, smjeti, željeti, etc.) are followed by the infinitive.

What’s the difference between “odustati” and “odustajati”?

They are two aspects of the same verb:

odustati – perfective (focus on a single, completed act of giving up)
odustajati – imperfective (focus on ongoing / repeated giving up)

In this sentence:

Ne smijemo odustati.
Literally: We must not (at some point) give up – we must not reach the point where we give up.

If you say:

Ne smijemo odustajati.
It leans more towards: We must not keep giving up / have a habit of giving up.

In the context of sports and a single match or challenge, “ne smijemo odustati” (perfective) is the natural choice.

Could the word order be “trener kaže da ne odustati smijemo”?

No, that word order is ungrammatical in standard Croatian.

The natural order is:

modal verb + infinitive
- smijemo odustati
- moramo raditi
- možemo pobijediti

You generally do not split smijemo and odustati or put the infinitive before the modal in normal sentences. So:

✔ trener kaže da ne smijemo odustati.
✘ trener kaže da ne odustati smijemo.

Why not say “ne smijemo da odustanemo”?

In standard Croatian, when smjeti is followed by another verb, you use the bare infinitive, not a da + finite verb construction.

So:

✔ ne smijemo odustati – standard Croatian
✘ ne smijemo da odustanemo – non‑standard / Serbian‑like structure

Croatian grammar prefers:

smjeti / moći / morati + infinitive
- smijem pušiti – I’m allowed to smoke
- moramo ići – we must go
- može pobijediti – he can win

The “da + conjugated verb” construction is far less common in Croatian in this modal usage and is felt as non‑standard or influenced by Serbian.

What tense is “kaže”, and why not “je rekao”?

Kaže is present tense of kazati (to say).

Trener kaže… – The coach says… / The coach is saying…

Using present here can mean:

what he is saying now, or
what he regularly says (habitual).

If you say:

Trener je rekao da ne smijemo odustati.
– The coach said that we must not give up.

then you’re talking about a specific past occasion when he said it. The original sentence is more general and can fit present‑time commentary (e.g. during a match: “Regardless of the result, the coach says we must not give up”).

How would you pronounce “smijemo” and “odustati”?

smijemo
- The j is pronounced like English “y” in “yes”.
- Sounds roughly like “SMYE-eh-mo” (one glide: smye-mo, with a short extra vowel in between for English ears).
- Stress is typically on the first syllable: SMI-je-mo.
odustati
- Pronounced “oh-DOO-sta-tee”, with stress usually on DOO: o-DÚ-sta-ti.
- Each vowel is clearly pronounced; there are no silent letters.

Croatian pronunciation is generally phonetic: words are pronounced very close to how they are written.