Learn Hardcore Croatian: Danas me boli uho.

Danas – today (adverb of time)
me – me (unstressed/short accusative form of ja = I)
boli – hurts (3rd person singular present of boljeti = to hurt, to ache)
uho – ear (nominative singular, the subject)

So the structure is:

Today me hurts ear.

In natural English: My ear hurts today or Today my ear hurts.

Grammatically:

uho is the subject (the thing that is hurting).
boli is the verb.
me is the direct object (the person who feels the pain).
danas is an adverb telling us when.

Why is it me and not ja? In English I’d say I, not me.

Croatian, unlike English, marks grammatical case clearly.

ja = I (nominative, subject form)
me (full form mene) = me (accusative, object form)

In Danas me boli uho. you are not the subject; your ear is the subject:

uho boli = the ear hurts
whom does it hurt? → me (object)

So Croatian must use the accusative (object) form: me, not ja.

Compare:

Ja spavam. – I am sleeping. (you are the subject)
Boli me uho. – My ear hurts (me). (your ear is the subject, you are the object)

Is uho the subject or the object here? Why isn’t it in some other case?

Uho is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

The underlying structure is:

Uho boli. – The ear hurts.

When you add the person who experiences the pain, you add them in the accusative:

Uho boli mene / me. – The ear hurts me.

Because Croatian has flexible word order, this becomes the much more natural:

Boli me uho.
Danas me boli uho.

But regardless of word order:

uho = subject, nominative
me = object, accusative

Could I say Moje uho boli danas or Danas boli moje uho instead? Are those correct, and do they sound different?

Yes, both are grammatically correct:

Moje uho boli danas.
Danas boli moje uho.

All of these mean roughly My ear hurts today, but there is a nuance:

Danas me boli uho. – very neutral and idiomatic, focuses on my experience (“It hurts me”).
Moje uho boli danas. / Danas boli moje uho. – puts more emphasis on uho (the ear itself), as if contrasting it with other body parts:
- Danas me boli uho, jučer me je boljela glava. – Today my ear hurts, yesterday my head hurt.

In everyday speech, Boli me uho. / Danas me boli uho. is by far the most common way to say it.

Why is me in the second position in Danas me boli uho.? Could I move it somewhere else?

Short pronouns like me, te, mu, je, etc. are clitics in Croatian. A key rule is:

Clitics usually go in the second position in a clause.

In Danas me boli uho. the clause starts with Danas, so the clitic me comes next:

Danas me boli uho.

Some common variants:

Boli me uho danas. – starts with the verb, so me comes second.
Uho me danas boli. – starts with uho, so me again is in second place.

You cannot freely move me to the end, e.g.
✗ Danas boli uho me. – sounds wrong.

So: the position of me is tightly controlled by the second‑position clitic rule.

Where can I put danas? Does it have to be at the beginning?

No, danas is flexible. All of these are possible:

Danas me boli uho.
Boli me danas uho.
Boli me uho danas.
Uho me danas boli.

The meaning (time = today) stays the same. The differences are in rhythm and emphasis, not in basic meaning. Putting danas at the beginning is very common and neutral.

How would I say “My ears hurt today” instead of “My ear hurts today”?

Use the plural of uho and make the verb agree in the plural:

Danas me bole uši. – Today my ears hurt.

Changes:

uho → uši (nominative plural)
boli (3rd person singular) → bole (3rd person plural)

Same pattern, just plural:

Boli me uho. – My ear hurts.
Bole me uši. – My ears hurt.

What is the difference between me and mene? When would I use each?

Both are accusative forms of ja (I), but:

me – short, unstressed clitic form
mene – full, stressed form, used for emphasis or after prepositions

In our sentence, the natural choice is the clitic:

Danas me boli uho. – normal, everyday speech.

You might use mene to strongly emphasize me (not someone else):

Danas mene boli uho, a ne tebe. – Today *I have ear pain, not you.*

After a preposition you must use mene, not me:

Za mene je to bolno. – For me that is painful.

Can I drop me and say just Danas boli uho?

Technically yes, it’s grammatically possible:

Danas boli uho. – The ear hurts today.

But:

It sounds impersonal and incomplete in normal conversation.
It doesn’t say whose ear it is or to whom it hurts.
It might be used only in a very specific context (e.g. talking about some ear in a medical or experimental situation, not about yourself).

When you mean I have ear pain / My ear hurts, you should keep me:

Danas me boli uho. – natural and idiomatic.

Is there a more literal way to say “I have pain in my ear”, like with imam?

Yes, you can say:

Imam bol u uhu. – I have pain in (the) ear.
Imam bolove u uhu. – I have pains in my ear. (plural bolovi)

However:

These sound more formal or medical, not like everyday complaints.
In everyday speech, people overwhelmingly say:
- Boli me uho. / Danas me boli uho.

For a doctor, both are fine, but Boli me uho is still the most natural.

I’ve seen uho and also uvo. What’s the difference?

Uho is the standard Croatian word for ear (the organ). Its plural is uši.

Forms like uvo, uvo mi, etc., are:

colloquial / dialectal variants heard in some regions and in informal speech.
not standard in careful written language.

So for learning and for correct standard Croatian, stick to:

uho (sg.), uši (pl.)

e.g. Danas me boli uho. / Danas me bole uši.