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Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.

Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.
For us, quality sleep is important.

Breakdown of Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.

biti
to be
važan
important
za
for
nas
us
san
sleep
kvalitetan
quality
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Questions & Answers about Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.

Why is it za nas and not mi at the beginning? In English we say “For us, …” but also “We think…”.

In this sentence, za nas literally means “for us”, not “we”.

  • mi = “we” (subject, nominative case)
  • za nas = “for us” (object of the preposition za, accusative case)

The structure here is:

Za nas (for us) je (is) kvalitetan san (quality sleep) važan (important).

So the meaning is “As far as we are concerned / For us, quality sleep is important.”

If you wanted to use mi, you’d need a different structure, for example:

  • Mi mislimo da je kvalitetan san važan. – We think that quality sleep is important.

Here mi is the subject of mislimo (“we think”), not of “to be important for someone”.

What case is nas in, and why is it nas and not mi?

Nas here is in the accusative case, because it follows the preposition za.

  • mi – nominative (subject form: we)
  • nas – genitive/accusative form (of us / us)

The preposition za (“for”) in this sense always takes the accusative:

  • za mene – for me
  • za tebe – for you (sing.)
  • za njega / za nju – for him / for her
  • za nas – for us
  • za vas – for you (pl./formal)
  • za njih – for them

So za + mi is ungrammatical; it must be za nas.

Why does je come after za nas instead of after kvalitetan san? Could I say Za nas kvalitetan san je važan?

In Croatian, short forms of “to be” (like je, sam, si, smo, ste, su) are clitics. Clitics normally have to stand in second position in the clause (after the first stressed word or phrase).

In this sentence, Za nas is the first phrase of the clause. So je must come right after it:

  • Za nas je kvalitetan san važan. – Correct & natural
  • Za nas kvalitetan san je važan. – Sounds wrong/very unnatural because je is no longer in that second position.

Other correct options that respect the second-position rule:

  • Kvalitetan san je za nas važan.
  • Nama je važan kvalitetan san.
  • Važan nam je kvalitetan san. (here nam is the clitic, so it appears second)
Is je (the verb “to be”) absolutely necessary here, or can it be left out, like in some languages?

In standard Croatian, you must include the verb “to be” in sentences like this in the present tense:

  • Za nas je kvalitetan san važan. – Standard
  • ✗ Za nas kvalitetan san važan. – Incorrect / sounds like broken Croatian

In very informal speech, people might occasionally drop je in fast conversation, but this is not considered correct grammar and would not be accepted in writing or careful speech. For learners, always include je (or the correct form of biti) in such sentences.

What are the forms of kvalitetan and važan here? Why do they both end in -an?

Both kvalitetan and važan are masculine singular nominative forms of adjectives.

The noun san is:

  • masculine
  • singular
  • nominative (it’s the subject)

So every adjective that describes or equals san must agree with it:

  1. Attributive adjective (before the noun):

    • kvalitetan san – quality sleep
      (kvalitetan agrees with san)

  2. Predicate adjective (after to be):

    • san je važan – the sleep is important
      (važan also agrees with san)

That’s why both are masc. sg. nom.: kvalitetan, važan, matching san.

What gender, number, and case is san, and what is its basic meaning?

San here is:

  • Gender: masculine
  • Number: singular
  • Case: nominative
  • Syntactic role: subject of the verb je

Basic meanings of san:

  1. dream (what you see while sleeping)
  2. sleep as a restful state, often in fixed expressions like dubok san (deep sleep), čvrst san (sound sleep), kvalitetan san (quality sleep)

So here kvalitetan san is best understood as “quality sleep,” not “a quality dream.” Context decides which meaning of san is intended.

Why is it kvalitetan san, not kvalitetni san or kvalitetna san?

Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:

  • san – masculine, singular, nominative

So the adjective must also be:

  • masculine, singular, nominative: kvalitetan

Other forms would be used with different genders/numbers:

  • kvalitetna – feminine sg. nom. (e.g. kvalitetna knjiga – quality book)
  • kvalitetno – neuter sg. nom. (e.g. kvalitetno vino – quality wine)
  • kvalitetni – masculine plural nom. (e.g. kvalitetni snovi – quality dreams)

Because san is masc. sing. nom., the correct form is kvalitetan san.

Why does the adjective come before the noun (kvalitetan san)? Can I say san kvalitetan?

In normal, neutral Croatian:

  • Adjectives almost always come before the noun they modify.

So:

  • kvalitetan san – natural, standard
  • san kvalitetan – sounds poetic, marked, or just odd in everyday speech

Post‑posed adjectives (after the noun) are rare and usually:

  • poetic / literary
  • used in fixed expressions
  • used to add emphasis or a special stylistic effect

For everyday, standard Croatian, you should put the adjective before the noun:
kvalitetan san, dobar čovjek, veliki grad, etc.

Does važan agree with san or with nas? Why is it masculine and not some other form?

Važan is a predicate adjective and it agrees with the subject of the sentence, which is kvalitetan san (ultimately san).

  • Subject: (kvalitetan) san – masculine singular
  • Predicate adjective: važan – masculine singular to agree with san

Nas is in the accusative case after za and is not the subject; it is an object of the preposition. Predicate adjectives never agree with such objects; they agree with the subject only.

So:

  • Za nas je kvalitetan san važan. – For us, quality sleep is important.
    (san is important → važan matches san)
Could I say Za nas je važan kvalitetan san instead? Is there any difference in meaning or emphasis?

Yes, you can say:

  • Za nas je važan kvalitetan san.
  • Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.

Both are grammatical and mean essentially the same: For us, quality sleep is important.

Nuances of emphasis:

  • Za nas je važan kvalitetan san.
    Slightly more neutral; the focus can feel a bit more on važan (“important”).

  • Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.
    By grouping kvalitetan san together in the middle, you may feel a stronger focus on specifically quality sleep (as opposed to just any sleep).

In everyday conversation, both sound fine. Word order in Croatian is fairly flexible and is often used for information structure and emphasis rather than strict grammatical necessity.

Is there another way to say “for us” here, like using nama instead of za nas?

Yes, you can also use nama (dative plural of mi) instead of za nas:

  • Nama je kvalitetan san važan. – To us, quality sleep is important.

This is a very natural sentence.

Difference in nuance:

  • za nas – “for us,” often with a sense of “from our perspective / concerning us / in our case”
  • nama – “to us,” more like an indirect object, common in structures like
    Nama je važno… (It is important to us that…)

Both are common; Nama je važan kvalitetan san. might actually sound slightly more idiomatic in everyday speech than Za nas je…, but both are correct.

How do we know if this means “a quality sleep,” “quality sleep,” or “the quality sleep,” since there are no articles in Croatian?

Croatian has no articles (a, an, the), so you choose the English article based on context, not on a form in Croatian.

Kvalitetan san can be translated depending on context as:

  • quality sleep (generic, uncountable)
  • a quality sleep (if you’re thinking of one instance, though English rarely says it this way)
  • the quality sleep (if both speakers know which specific sleep is being referred to)

In most generic statements like this one, English would use no article:
“For us, quality sleep is important.”

The Croatian sentence itself is neutral; it does not encode definiteness. The context decides whether English needs a or the.

Why is san used for “sleep” here? I thought san means “dream.” Should it be spavanje instead?

You’re right that:

  • san = dream
    but also
  • san = sleep (as a state), in many common collocations

Examples:

  • dubok san – deep sleep
  • čvrst san – sound sleep
  • kvalitetan san – quality sleep
  • nedovoljno sna – not enough sleep

Spavanje is a verbal noun meaning “sleeping” (the activity):

  • Dugo spavanje nije zdravo. – Long sleeping is not healthy.
  • Volim spavanje. – I like sleeping.

In a natural sentence about health and lifestyle, Croatians usually say kvalitetan san, not kvalitetno spavanje, although kvalitetno spavanje is also understandable. The phrase kvalitetan san is very idiomatic.

Is the word order in this sentence fixed, or can I move words around more freely?

The only strongly constrained element is the clitic je, which must appear in second position in the clause. Otherwise, you have a lot of freedom. All of these are grammatical (with slightly different emphasis):

  • Za nas je kvalitetan san važan.
  • Za nas je važan kvalitetan san.
  • Kvalitetan san je za nas važan.
  • Važan je za nas kvalitetan san.
  • Nama je važan kvalitetan san.
  • Važan nam je kvalitetan san.

The core meaning stays the same: “Quality sleep is important for us.”
What changes is which part of the sentence you highlight or contrast, which is done through word order and stress.