Learn Hardcore Croatian: Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar. - Several times a day I ask myself whether my way of learning is really good.

pitati = to ask (someone else)
- Pitam učitelja. – I ask the teacher.
pitati se = to wonder, to ask oneself
- Pitam se je li to dobra ideja. – I wonder if that is a good idea.

So in your sentence pitam se (surface order: se pitam) means “I wonder”, not “I ask (someone)”.

Why is se after dnevno in Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam, and not just stuck to the verb as pitam se?

In Croatian, se is a clitic, and clitics normally go in second position in the clause, not necessarily right next to “their” verb.

Very roughly:

They cannot start a sentence.
They usually come right after the first stressed word or phrase in the sentence.

Here, the first phrase is Nekoliko puta dnevno, so one natural place for the clitic is right after that phrase:

Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam je li…

You could also hear:

Nekoliko se puta dnevno pitam je li…

Both sound natural. What is not standard is to push se far to the end, e.g. …pitam se je li… in this kind of word order; standard grammar prefers the clitic in second position, not after the verb.

Can the sentence start with Se, like Se pitam nekoliko puta dnevno je li…?

No. Clitics like se cannot stand in first position in a sentence in standard Croatian.

You need at least one stressed word or phrase before them:

Ja se pitam je li…
Često se pitam je li…
Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam je li…

But not:

Se pitam je li… ✗

Could I say Nekoliko puta dnevno pitam se je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar instead?

This is understandable and you will hear it, but in standard grammar it’s less good, because it breaks the usual “second-position clitic” rule.

Preferred standard options are:

Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar.
Nekoliko se puta dnevno pitam je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar.

Those keep se in a second-position slot. …pitam se… at the very end of that initial phrase is more colloquial and less stylistically neutral.

Why do we use je li after pitam se? In English it’s “I wonder if my method is really good.”

English if/whether in this type of sentence is usually translated in Croatian with je li (or sometimes da li, see below).

The underlying statement is:

Moj način učenja je stvarno dobar. – My way of learning is really good.

To turn that into a yes/no question, you invert the je and add the question particle li:

Je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar? – Is my way of learning really good?

When you embed that question under pitam se (I wonder), you just insert the question form:

Pitam se je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar. – I wonder if my way of learning is really good.

So je li is the normal way to introduce an embedded yes/no question here.

What is the difference between je li and da li in this sentence? Can I say Pitam se da li je moj način učenja stvarno dobar?

You can say it; it’s common in everyday speech:

Pitam se da li je moj način učenja stvarno dobar.

Differences:

je li
- more standard / neutral in writing
- clearly comes from inversion: je (is) + li (question particle)
- strongly recommended in formal language
da li
- very common and natural in speech
- somewhat more colloquial / regional, depending on who you ask
- some style guides prefer je li in careful writing

Meaning-wise, here they both work as “if/whether”. If you’re aiming at standard, slightly formal Croatian, Pitam se je li… is the best choice.

Is je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar literally a full question inside the sentence?

Yes. You can see it as an embedded yes/no question.

Base statement:

Moj način učenja je stvarno dobar. – My way of learning is really good.

Direct question:

Je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar? – Is my way of learning really good?

Embedded under pitam se:

Pitam se je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar. – I wonder if my way of learning is really good.

So the second part keeps the structure of a normal question, just without a question mark at the very end of the whole sentence.

What cases are used in nekoliko puta dnevno? Why puta and not something else?

Nekoliko (“a few, several”) is a quantifier that normally takes a genitive plural noun.

The noun here is put (meaning “time, occurrence” in this context):

nominative singular: put
genitive singular: puta
genitive plural: puta (same form as gen. sg.)

After nekoliko, you use the genitive plural, which happens to be puta:

nekoliko puta – a few times / several times

So nekoliko puta dnevno = literally “several times daily / per day”.

Dnevno here is an adverb meaning “daily, per day”.

Is nekoliko puta dnevno the same as nekoliko puta na dan?

They are very close in meaning and often interchangeable:

nekoliko puta dnevno – several times a day / daily
nekoliko puta na dan – several times per day

Subtle points:

dnevno is an adverb and can sound a bit more compact or slightly more “written”.
na dan is a prepositional phrase and is very ordinary and colloquial.

Both are perfectly fine in normal conversation:

Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam…
Nekoliko puta na dan se pitam…

Both would be understood the same way.

What is the structure and case of način učenja?

This is a very common noun + noun-in-genitive structure:

način – “way, manner, method” (here in nominative singular, it’s the subject)
učenja – genitive singular of učenje (“learning, studying”)

General pattern:

način + GENITIVE = “way/method of X”

So:

način učenja = way/method of learning
način rada = way of working
način govora = way of speaking

Učenje is a neuter noun:

nominative sg: učenje
genitive sg: učenja

That’s why you see učenja in this phrase.

Why is it dobar and not dobro in stvarno dobar?

Because dobar is an adjective that must agree with the noun način in:

gender: masculine
number: singular
case: nominative (it’s part of the predicate of the subject način)

Način is masculine singular, so the adjective has to be dobar (masc. sg.):

taj način je dobar – that way is good

If you said dobro here, that would be either:

neuter singular adjective (for a neuter noun), or
an adverb (“well”)

Both would be grammatically wrong in je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar, because the subject is masculine (način).

What exactly is stvarno doing here, and where can it go?

Stvarno is an adverb meaning “really, genuinely, truly”. Here it modifies the adjective dobar:

stvarno dobar – really good

Normal position is before the adjective:

je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar

You can move it a bit for emphasis, especially in speech:

Je li stvarno moj način učenja dobar? – Is it really my way of learning that is good? (emphasis shifts)
Je li moj način učenja dobar stvarno? – possible in speech, but less neutral and a bit marked.

The version in your sentence,

…je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar.

is the most neutral and natural.

Why is there no comma before je li in Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar?

Because je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar is a content / object clause directly governed by the verb pitam se.

Croatian normally does not use a comma before such clauses:

Mislim da je to dobra ideja. – I think that this is a good idea.
Pitam se je li to dobra ideja. – I wonder if this is a good idea.

So:

Nekoliko puta dnevno se pitam je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar.

is punctuated just like:

Mislim je li moj način učenja stvarno dobar.

A comma could appear in special stylistic, “pausing” cases, but the standard, neutral version is without a comma here.