Learn Hardcore Croatian: Taj radoznali stranac se ljubazno ponaša i pažljivo sluša svaki odgovor. - That curious foreigner behaves politely and carefully listens to every answer.

Taj radoznali stranac se ljubazno ponaša i pažljivo sluša svaki odgovor.

That curious foreigner behaves politely and carefully listens to every answer.

Breakdown of Taj radoznali stranac se ljubazno ponaša i pažljivo sluša svaki odgovor.

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Questions & Answers about Taj radoznali stranac se ljubazno ponaša i pažljivo sluša svaki odgovor.

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

Taj is a demonstrative adjective/pronoun meaning roughly “that” (often something already known from context, or “that one you know about”).

Very roughly:

ovaj = this (near the speaker)
taj = that (often “that one we’re talking about / that one near you”)
onaj = that (over there), more distant or more strongly separated

In Taj radoznali stranac…, taj points to a specific stranger that both speaker and listener can identify (from context, or something already mentioned).

You could theoretically say:

Ovaj radoznali stranac… – this curious stranger (near me / just introduced)
Onaj radoznali stranac… – that curious stranger (over there / that one we both know about, maybe a bit more distant)

The choice slightly changes the “distance” or the way you point to the person, but not the core grammar.

Why is it radoznali stranac and not radoznao stranac?

Croatian adjectives often have two forms in the masculine singular:

a short / indefinite form:
- radoznao (curious)
a long / definite form, usually ending in -i:
- radoznali

Very typical pattern:

On je radoznao. – He is curious. (predicate, after “to be” → short form)
taj radoznali stranac – that curious stranger (before a specific noun, often after taj / ovaj / onaj / moj… → long/definite form)

So:

Taj radoznali stranac is the normal “definite” combination: demonstrative (taj) + definite adjective (radoznali) + noun (stranac).
Radoznao stranac is possible, but it sounds more like “a curious stranger” in a neutral, descriptive way, without that extra “definite/specific” feel you get from taj radoznali stranac.

What does stranac mean exactly: “stranger” or “foreigner”? How is it used?

Stranac can mean both “stranger” and “foreigner”, depending on context:

stranger – someone you don’t know personally
- Ne vjeruj svakom strancu. – Don’t trust every stranger.
foreigner – someone from another country
- U gradu ima mnogo stranaca. – There are many foreigners in the city.

In many real contexts, those meanings overlap: a foreign tourist is both a foreigner and usually a stranger.

Grammatically, stranac is:

masculine,
singular,
nominative here (subject of the sentence).

What is the function of se in se ljubazno ponaša? Can I just say ponaša without se?

Se is a reflexive clitic pronoun. Many Croatian verbs are reflexive verbs, and they are normally used with se as part of their basic form.

Ponašati se = to behave

You will see it in dictionaries as ponašati se, not just ponašati.
Without se, ponašati is either:

not used in everyday speech, or
has some special, less common uses.

So:

On se dobro ponaša. – He behaves well. ✅
On dobro ponaša. – sounds wrong in modern standard Croatian ❌

In your sentence, se is obligatory with ponaša in this meaning.

Why does se come after Taj radoznali stranac and not right after taj or after ponaša?

Clitics like se in Croatian follow a “second position” rule: they like to stand in the second position in the clause, after the first stressable element or phrase.

In Taj radoznali stranac se ljubazno ponaša:

The first phrase is Taj radoznali stranac (it works as one big unit).
se then comes right after that phrase, in the “second” slot.

Other correct options (with slightly different focus) include:

Taj se radoznali stranac ljubazno ponaša.
Radoznali se stranac ljubazno ponaša.
Ljubazno se ponaša taj radoznali stranac.

But these are not okay:

*Taj radoznali stranac ljubazno se ponaša. – clitic is too far in; native speakers find this unnatural/wrong in standard language.
*Taj radoznali stranac ponaša se ljubazno. – se isn’t in second position.

So: you cannot move se freely; it has to respect this “second position” rule.

Why are ljubazno and pažljivo ending in -o? What forms are they?

Ljubazno and pažljivo are adverbs, derived from adjectives:

ljubazan (adj) → ljubazno (adv) = kind / polite → kindly / politely
pažljiv (adj) → pažljivo (adv) = careful → carefully

In Croatian, adverbs of manner are very often formed by taking the neuter singular adjective form or a related form in -o:

spor → sporo (slow → slowly)
brz → brzo (fast → quickly)
tiha (f.) / tih (m.) → tiho (quiet → quietly)

You use the adverb (the -o form) to modify a verb:

ponaša se ljubazno – behaves politely
sluša pažljivo – listens carefully

Could I say ponaša se ljubazan instead of ponaša se ljubazno?

No. That would be ungrammatical in standard Croatian.

You need:

an adverb to modify a verb.

So:

ponaša se ljubazno ✅ – he behaves politely/kindly
(ljubazno modifies the verb ponaša se)
ponaša se ljubazan ❌ – ljubazan is an adjective, and here there is no noun for it to agree with.

You can, however, say:

On je ljubazan. – He is polite/kind.
(Here ljubazan is a predicate adjective describing on.)

What is the difference between slušati and čuti? Why is it sluša here?

The verbs differ just like English “to listen” vs “to hear”:

slušati = to listen (to), to pay attention intentionally
- On pažljivo sluša. – He listens carefully.
čuti = to hear, to receive sound, not necessarily intentional
- Ne čujem te. – I can’t hear you.

In your sentence, the idea is that the person is actively paying attention to every answer, so sluša svaki odgovor = listens to every answer is the natural choice.

In svaki odgovor, why is it svaki and not something like svak? And why doesn’t odgovor change form as an object?

svaki vs svak

The normal everyday form is svaki (masculine singular):

svaki čovjek – every man
svaki odgovor – every answer

Svak exists but is:

more archaic, poetic, or dialectal,
not what you’d normally learn or use first in standard speech.

So svaki odgovor is the regular standard form.

Why doesn’t odgovor change form?

Because:

odgovor is a masculine inanimate noun.
For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular = nominative singular.

Here, svaki odgovor is the direct object of sluša, so it is in the accusative:

(On) sluša svaki odgovor.

Forms:

Nominative sg: odgovor
Accusative sg (inanimate): odgovor (same)

You see a similar pattern with adjectives/determiners:

svaki is both:
- nominative masc sg (in general) and
- accusative masc sg for inanimate nouns.

For animate masculine nouns, it changes:

Nominative: svaki čovjek – every man (subject)
Accusative: vidim svakog čovjeka – I see every man

Why are all the main words (taj, radoznali, stranac, svaki, odgovor) in the masculine singular? How does agreement work here?

Agreement in Croatian works like this:

The noun decides the gender and number.
- stranac – masculine, singular
- odgovor – masculine, singular
Any adjectives, determiners, and demonstratives must agree with their noun in gender, number, and case.

So:

taj radoznali stranac
- taj (demonstrative) → masc, sg, nominative
- radoznali (adjective) → masc, sg, nominative (definite form)
- stranac (noun) → masc, sg, nominative (subject)
svaki odgovor
- svaki (determiner) → masc, sg, accusative (but same form as nominative for inanimate)
- odgovor (noun) → masc, sg, accusative (same as nominative for inanimate)

The consistent masculine singular forms reflect that we are talking about one male (or grammatically masculine) stranger and each individual answer.