Learn Hardcore Croatian: Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan.

In this sentence, za mene expresses “from my perspective / in my opinion / as far as I’m concerned”.
So Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan = “For me, this conclusion is clear” (i.e. I find this conclusion clear).

What case is mene, and why don’t we say ja?

Mene is in the accusative case.

Personal pronoun ja (“I”) changes form depending on case:

Nominative (subject): ja – “I”
Accusative (object, after many prepositions): me / mene – “me”

Because za (“for”) requires the accusative, you must say:

za mene = “for me”
not
✗ za ja

So mene is used here because it follows za, not because it is the subject.

Could we say meni je ovaj zaključak jasan instead of za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say Meni je ovaj zaključak jasan, and it is completely correct and very natural.

Nuance:

Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan
– literally “For me, this conclusion is clear.”
– Slightly more explicitly subjective, emphasizing “from my viewpoint (maybe not from others’)…”.
Meni je ovaj zaključak jasan
– literally “To me, this conclusion is clear.”
– Uses dative (meni) and feels a bit more neutral: “I find this conclusion clear.”

Both can often be translated the same way in English, but za mene tends to sound more like “as far as I’m concerned / in my book”.

Why is the word order Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan and not Ovaj zaključak je jasan za mene?

Croatian word order is flexible and mainly used to express emphasis or topic.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan.
Ovaj zaključak je za mene jasan.
Ovaj zaključak je jasan za mene.
Ovaj je zaključak za mene jasan.

Differences:

Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan.
– Puts “for me” at the beginning → emphasizes your personal viewpoint.
Ovaj zaključak je jasan za mene.
– Neutral order: first “this conclusion”, then “is clear for me”; focus more on the conclusion itself.

In speech, speakers choose the order to highlight what they think is most important or new in the conversation.

Why is the verb je in the second position in the sentence?

Je is the 3rd person singular of biti (“to be”), and it is a clitic. Croatian clitics usually appear in the second position in the clause.

In Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan:

Za mene = first “unit” (phrase)
je = clitic goes in second position
ovaj zaključak jasan = the rest of the sentence

If you start with a different element, je still tries to be second:

Ovaj zaključak je za mene jasan.
Ovaj je zaključak za mene jasan. (here je is literally the second word)

So its position is not random; it follows the “second position” rule for clitics.

Can we omit je (the verb “to be”) in this sentence?

In standard Croatian, you should not omit it here. The correct standard form is:

Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan.

In casual speech, people sometimes drop je in very short, fixed expressions, but in a full sentence like this, leaving it out would sound incorrect or at best very colloquial:

✗ Za mene ovaj zaključak jasan. – sounds wrong / incomplete in standard language.

So: keep “je” in your sentence.

What does ovaj mean exactly, and how is it different from taj or onaj?

Ovaj, taj, and onaj are all demonstrative adjectives meaning “this/that”, but they show distance (physical or mental):

ovaj zaključak – this conclusion (close to the speaker, or just mentioned, or very “present” in the conversation)
taj zaključak – that conclusion (a bit more neutral, maybe something already known or previously mentioned)
onaj zaključak – that conclusion over there / that one (farther away) (physically or in memory, or something more remote)

Here, ovaj zaključak suggests “this particular conclusion (we are focusing on now)”.

Why is jasan in that exact form, and not jasna or jasno?

Jasan is an adjective meaning “clear”, and it must agree with the noun it describes in:

Gender
Number
Case

Zaključak (“conclusion”) is:

Masculine
Singular
Nominative (subject)

So the adjective must also be:

Masculine, singular, nominative → jasan

Other forms:

jasna – feminine singular nominative (e.g. ova knjiga je jasna – “this book is clear”)
jasno – neuter singular nominative or adverb (e.g. ovo je jasno – “this is clear”)

Here: ovaj zaključak (m.sg.nom.) → jasan (m.sg.nom.).

Why is zaključak in the nominative case?

Zaključak (“conclusion”) is the subject of the sentence — it is the thing that is clear.

In Croatian:

The subject is typically in the nominative case.
The structure is basically [subject] + je + [predicate adjective].

So:

Ovaj zaključak = “this conclusion” (subject, nominative)
je = “is”
jasan = predicate adjective, agreeing with ovaj zaključak

Therefore, zaključak is in the nominative because it functions as the subject of the sentence.

Could I say Ovaj zaključak je meni jasan? Is that different from Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan?

Yes, Ovaj zaključak je meni jasan is correct and common.

Comparison:

Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan.
– Emphasizes “for me, personally, from my perspective” (slightly stronger, can imply contrast with others).
Ovaj zaključak je meni jasan.
– Feels like you’re focusing on “to me”, compared maybe to someone else who doesn’t understand:
“This conclusion is clear to me (even if it’s not clear to you).”

Both are natural. The difference is mostly in what you put in the spotlight through word order and choice of za mene vs meni.

How do you pronounce zaključak and what do the letters č and lj sound like?

Zaključak is pronounced approximately: [zá-klyu-chak].

Important sounds:

lj: a single sound, like “lli” in “million” or the “lli” in “William” → a palatal l.
č: like English “ch” in “chair” (a hard ch sound).
a: always like the a in “father” (never like “cake”).

Syllables: za-klju-čak.
Stress is usually on the first syllable: ZA-ključak (regional variation exists, but this is a safe approximation).

Is the Croatian sentence structure here similar to English “For me, this conclusion is clear”?

Yes, very similar.

English:

For me, this conclusion is clear.
- for me = adverbial phrase of viewpoint
- this conclusion = subject
- is = verb “to be”
- clear = predicate adjective

Croatian:

Za mene je ovaj zaključak jasan.
- za mene = adverbial phrase of viewpoint
- je = 3rd person singular of biti (“to be”) in clitic second position
- ovaj zaključak = subject
- jasan = predicate adjective, agreeing with zaključak

So the logic of the sentence is almost one‑to‑one with English, just with Croatian-specific word order and agreement rules.