Breakdown of Za nju je ovaj zadatak kompliciran, ali učitelj joj strpljivo pomaže.
Questions & Answers about Za nju je ovaj zadatak kompliciran, ali učitelj joj strpljivo pomaže.
Croatian personal pronouns change form depending on case.
Here, “za” is a preposition that always takes the accusative case.
- Nominative (dictionary form): ona = she
- Accusative (after za): nju = her
So:
- Za nju = for her (correct)
- Za ona (mixes za
- nominative) = incorrect
The preposition za answers “for whom?” → that’s an object → accusative → nju.
Both are correct; the difference is emphasis and style, not grammar.
Za nju je ovaj zadatak kompliciran.
Literally: For her, this task is complicated.
→ Emphasizes “for her”. It sounds like you are contrasting her with others (for others it might not be complicated).Ovaj zadatak je kompliciran za nju.
Literally: This task is complicated for her.
→ More neutral, emphasizes “this task” first.
Croatian word order is flexible. What you put at the beginning usually gets extra focus.
“Kompliciran” is an adjective that has to agree with the noun “zadatak”:
- zadatak = masculine, singular
- So the predicate adjective must also be masculine singular: kompliciran
If the subject were different, the ending would change:
- Ovaj problem je kompliciran. (masculine)
- Ova lekcija je komplicirana. (feminine: lekcija)
- Ovo pitanje je komplicirano. (neuter: pitanje)
- Ovi zadaci su komplicirani. (plural masculine)
So here:
ovaj zadatak (m sg) → kompliciran (m sg).
“Je” is the 3rd person singular of “biti” (to be) and is required in standard Croatian when stating that something is something:
- Ovaj zadatak je kompliciran. = This task is complicated.
You cannot omit “je” in standard written Croatian here.
A sentence like “Ovaj zadatak kompliciran” would be incorrect.
In very casual speech people sometimes drop “je”, but learners should keep it:
- Correct: Za nju je ovaj zadatak kompliciran.
- Very colloquial: Za nju ovaj zadatak kompliciran. (non‑standard)
This is because of the verb “pomaže” (pomagati), which means to help.
In Croatian, “pomoći / pomagati” takes the dative case, not the accusative:
- Pomažem joj. = I help her. (her = indirect object → dative)
- Pomažem nju. = incorrect (that would be accusative, not used with pomaći/pomagati)
Forms of “ona” relevant here:
- Accusative: nju → used after za, vidim nju (I see her)
- Dative: njoj / joj → used with pomagati, dati etc.
So:
- učitelj joj pomaže = the teacher helps her (to-her)
- za nju = for her
Same person, different case because different grammar roles.
Both are dative forms of “ona” (she), but:
- njoj is the full (stressed) form
- joj is the clitic (short, unstressed) form
In normal sentences, with verbs etc., you usually use the short clitic:
- Učitelj joj pomaže. = The teacher helps her.
You typically use “njoj” when you want to stress it or when it stands alone:
- Njoj pomaže, a meni ne. = He helps her, but not me. (strong contrast)
- Trebam pomoći njoj. (extra emphasis on her)
In the example sentence, neutral word order and no special emphasis → “joj” is natural.
“Joj” is a clitic pronoun. Croatian clitics have a fairly fixed position in the sentence.
Basic rule (simplified):
- In a main clause, clitics usually come in the second position (after the first stressed word or phrase).
In “učitelj joj strpljivo pomaže”:
- učitelj = first stressed word
- joj (clitic) = goes right after it
- strpljivo pomaže = the rest of the predicate
So:
- Učitelj joj pomaže. (correct, neutral)
- Učitelj pomaže joj. (not natural; sounds wrong to native speakers)
“Strpljivo” is an adverb meaning patiently.
It is formed from the adjective “strpljiv” (patient) by adding -o:
- strpljiv (patient, adj.) → strpljivo (patiently, adv.)
- On je strpljiv. = He is patient.
- On strpljivo pomaže. = He helps patiently.
In the sentence “učitelj joj strpljivo pomaže”, strpljivo describes how the teacher helps her → it modifies the verb pomaže.
“Učitelj” is the noun in the nominative case, masculine singular:
- Nominative: učitelj = the teacher (subject)
- Genitive: učitelja
- Dative: učitelju
- Accusative: učitelja
- etc.
In the clause “učitelj joj strpljivo pomaže”, “učitelj” is the subject → nominative is required.
So:
- Učitelj joj pomaže. = The teacher helps her. (subject in nominative)
- Vidim učitelja. = I see the teacher. (object → accusative)
- pomaže is present tense of the imperfective verb “pomagati” = to help (ongoing, repeated).
pomogne is perfective (from “pomoći”) and is usually used in future or in contexts where the help is seen as one completed act:
- On joj pomaže. = He is helping her / He helps her (generally, repeatedly, or right now).
- On će joj pomoći. = He will help her (one complete event).
- Kad joj pomogne, otići će. = When he helps her, he will leave.
In the given sentence, the idea is ongoing or habitual help (e.g. during learning), so “pomaže” (imperfective present) fits perfectly.
“Ovaj” is the masculine singular nominative form of the demonstrative meaning “this”.
It must agree with the noun “zadatak” in:
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (because ovaj zadatak is the subject)
So we say:
- ovaj zadatak (this task – masc. sg.)
- ova knjiga (this book – fem. sg.)
- ovo pitanje (this question – neuter sg.)
- ovi zadaci (these tasks – masc. pl.)
In “ovaj zadatak kompliciran je” (if you reverse word order), ovaj zadatak is still the subject, so ovaj must be nominative masculine singular.
Yes, that version is still correct:
- Za nju je ovaj zadatak kompliciran, ali joj učitelj pomaže.
You just changed the word order of the second clause:
- Original: ali učitelj joj strpljivo pomaže
- Variant: ali joj učitelj pomaže
Both are grammatical. Differences:
- ali učitelj joj… → neutral, subject (učitelj) first.
- ali joj učitelj… → puts the clitic joj in second position after ali (which is very natural) and gives a tiny bit more emphasis to učitelj coming later.
You also omitted “strpljivo”, which is fine if you don’t want to express “patiently”.