Learn Hardcore Croatian: Važno je brzo se pomiriti kad znamo da je ljubav jača od problema. - It is important to make up quickly when we know that love is stronger than problems.

Važno je brzo se pomiriti is literally closer to:
“Important is to reconcile quickly.”
English has to say: “It is important to reconcile quickly.”
That “it” has no real meaning; it just fills the subject slot.

So grammatically:

važno – predicate adjective: important
je – 3rd person singular of biti (to be): is
brzo se pomiriti – infinitive phrase functioning as the “subject-like” part: to reconcile quickly

Croatian allows “[predicate] + je + infinitive” without an explicit “it”.

Why is the word order Važno je, not Je važno?

The usual neutral order in Croatian is:

[predicate/subject/etc.] + je + …

The verb je is a clitic (short unstressed form) and typically appears in the second position in the clause.

So:

Važno je brzo se pomiriti… – normal, sounds natural.
Je važno brzo se pomiriti… – sounds wrong/very strange in standard Croatian.

In main clauses, je almost never begins the sentence; it wants to follow the first stressed word or phrase.

What exactly does se do in brzo se pomiriti?

Se is a reflexive clitic pronoun, but with certain verbs it’s better to think of it as just part of the verb:

pomiriti se – to make up, to reconcile (with each other)

Here se doesn’t mean oneself in the English sense; instead, it often has a reciprocal meaning: we make up with each other.

So:

pomiriti – to reconcile (someone / something)
pomiriti se – to reconcile (with someone), to make peace, to make up

Some Croatian verbs are simply “verb + se” as their normal dictionary form, and pomiriti se is one of those.

Why is it brzo se pomiriti and not se brzo pomiriti?

Because se is a clitic and likes to stand in the second position of its clause.

In the infinitive phrase brzo se pomiriti:

brzo – first stressed word
se – clitic in second position
pomiriti – infinitive verb

So:

brzo se pomiriti – natural and standard
se brzo pomiriti – feels wrong; clitics almost never start a clause/phrase in standard usage

With this kind of structure, you’ll very often see [adverb] + se + infinitive.

Could I also say brzo pomiriti se? Is that wrong?

Brzo pomiriti se is not impossible, and you’ll hear similar patterns in speech, but:

The most neutral and standard form in this sentence is brzo se pomiriti.
Croatians generally prefer to keep se very close to the verb and respect the second-position rule inside clauses and infinitive phrases.

So, for a learner, it’s safest to treat brzo se pomiriti as the model pattern here.

Why is pomiriti in the infinitive and not a finite form like pomirimo se?

The structure važno je + infinitive is very common and sounds quite neutral:

Važno je brzo se pomiriti. – It is important to make up quickly.

You could also say:

Važno je da se brzo pomirimo. – It is important that we make up quickly.

Differences:

Infinitive (brzo se pomiriti) – more neutral/compact, somewhat more formal or general.
Da-clause (da se brzo pomirimo) – slightly more colloquial, explicitly marks person and number (we).

Both are grammatically correct; the sentence you’re analyzing just uses the very common važno je + infinitive pattern.

What’s the difference between kad and kada in kad znamo?

Kad is just the shortened form of kada; they mean the same thing:

kad znamo = kada znamo – when we know

Difference:

kada – a bit more formal, slightly more careful or literary.
kad – more colloquial / everyday, very common in speech.

In most contexts, you can freely switch between them without changing the meaning.

Why is it kad znamo with present tense, not something like kad ćemo znati?

Croatian often uses the present tense in general or conditional “when” clauses, even when English might use future:

Kad znamo da je ljubav jača od problema…
Literally: When we know that love is stronger than problems…
Implication: Whenever / once we know…

You could say kad ćemo znati, but that sounds more like a very specific future time (when we will know (at some point later)), not a general truth.

Here, the sentence talks about a general principle, so present tense (znamo) is the natural choice in Croatian.

What is the role of da in da je ljubav jača od problema?

Da introduces a subordinate clause, similar to English “that”:

znamo da je ljubav jača od problema
– we know that love is stronger than problems

Structure:

znamo – we know (main verb)
da – that (subordinator)
je ljubav jača od problema – embedded clause: love is stronger than problems

In English, “that” can be dropped: we know (that) love is stronger…
In Croatian, using da is standard and usually cannot be dropped in this kind of sentence.

Why is it ljubav jača, not ljubav jači?

Because adjectives in Croatian agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

ljubav – love – is feminine singular in Croatian.
The comparative of jak (strong) is jači (masc.), jača (fem.), jače (neut.).

So we must use the feminine singular form:

ljubav je jača – love is stronger

If the noun were masculine, we’d say:

problem je jači – the problem is stronger

Why is od used for “than” in jača od problema?

In Croatian, “X is more/stronger/better than Y” is usually formed as:

X je [comparative adjective] od Y

So:

ljubav je jača od problema
– love is stronger than problems

Other examples:

On je stariji od mene. – He is older than me.
Ovo je bolje od onoga. – This is better than that.

The preposition od (from, of) + genitive acts as the Croatian equivalent of English “than” in many comparative constructions.

Why problema and not problemi or problemima?

Because od requires the genitive case, and here we have genitive plural of problem.

Cases of problem:

Nominative plural: problemi – problems (as subject)
Genitive plural: problema – of problems
Dative/locative/instrumental plural: problemima

After od, you must use genitive:

od problema – than problems / from problems

So:

ljubav je jača od problema
– literally: love is stronger from problems (i.e. stronger than problems).

Is the word order ljubav je jača od problema fixed, or can it change?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but not all permutations sound equally natural.

Possible orders:

Ljubav je jača od problema. – neutral, very natural.
Ljubav je od problema jača. – possible, but marked; focuses jača at the end.
Jača je ljubav od problema. – also possible, adds emphasis or contrast to ljubav.

What you normally wouldn’t say in this sentence is something that splits ljubav je jača unnaturally, like:

Ljubav od problema je jača. – understandable, but the “of problems” interrupts the expected flow.

For a learner, stick to: Ljubav je jača od problema.