Learn Hardcore Croatian: Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski bez stresa. - I hope that we will manage to learn Croatian without stress.

Grammatically, se is an unstressed clitic that belongs to the verb and changes its meaning. There isn’t a direct equivalent in English; the whole combination nadam se should be learned as one unit meaning I hope.

Why do we need da here? Could we say Nadam se ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski…?

You need da because Croatian uses da + a full clause after many verbs of thinking, saying, hoping, fearing, etc.

Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski…
= I hope (that) we’ll manage to learn Croatian…

The structure is:

nadam se (main clause)
da (subordinator “that”)
ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski bez stresa (subordinate clause)

You cannot say *Nadam se ćemo uspjeti… – that’s wrong in standard Croatian. After nadam se, you either:

Use da + finite verb (as in the sentence), or
Use an infinitive: Nadam se uspjeti naučiti hrvatski.
(more “I hope to manage to learn Croatian”, slightly more formal/literary).

Why is ćemo in the middle of the clause? Why not da uspjeti naučiti ćemo hrvatski?

Ćemo is a clitic (a short, unstressed word) and follows the Croatian “second position” rule. Within its clause, clitics tend to go as early as possible, usually right after the first stressed element.

In da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski…:

First element: da
Then comes the clitic: ćemo
Then the rest: uspjeti naučiti hrvatski bez stresa

You cannot freely move ćemo around:

✔ da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski
✖ *da uspjeti naučiti ćemo hrvatski

The second one sounds very wrong to native speakers, because it breaks the clitic-position rule.

What exactly does uspjeti add? Could we just say Nadam se da ćemo naučiti hrvatski bez stresa?

Yes, you can say Nadam se da ćemo naučiti hrvatski bez stresa, and it’s perfectly correct; it means:

I hope we will learn Croatian without stress.

Adding uspjeti gives the nuance of managing / succeeding:

uspjeti naučiti ≈ to manage to learn / to succeed in learning

So:

Nadam se da ćemo naučiti hrvatski…
→ Focus on the fact that the learning will happen.
Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski…
→ Emphasizes that it might be difficult, but you hope you’ll succeed in learning it.

Both are fine; the version with uspjeti just highlights the idea of overcoming difficulty.

What’s the difference between učiti and naučiti? Why is naučiti used here?

This is about aspect (perfective vs imperfective).

učiti (imperfective) ≈ to be learning / to study (process, ongoing activity)
naučiti (perfective) ≈ to learn, to have learned / to master (completed, successful result)

In the sentence, the idea is “I hope we’ll end up knowing Croatian,” not just “I hope we’ll be in the process of learning Croatian.” That’s why naučiti is used:

naučiti hrvatski = to learn Croatian (to the point of knowing it)

If you said:

Nadam se da ćemo učiti hrvatski bez stresa,
it would sound like: I hope we will *be studying Croatian without stress* — focusing on the activity rather than the final result.

Why is there no “we” (no mi) in da ćemo uspjeti naučiti? How do we know it means “we”?

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (I, you, we, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

ćemo = “we will” (1st person plural)
So (mi) ćemo uspjeti naučiti = we will manage to learn

You could say Mi se nadamo da ćemo uspjeti naučiti…, but adding mi is usually only done for emphasis (e.g. contrast: We hope, but they don’t).

What tense is ćemo uspjeti naučiti? Why not just one future verb?

Ćemo is the future auxiliary (from htjeti) used to form Future I:

uspjeti and naučiti are infinitives.
The future is expressed mainly by ćemo, not by changing uspjeti/naučiti themselves.

The structure is:

ćemo uspjeti naučiti = we will manage to learn

Croatian allows a chain of infinitives under one future auxiliary when the same subject does several things or one thing depends on another (uspjeti + naučiti). You don’t need to repeat ćemo:

✔ da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski
✖ *da ćemo uspjet ćemo naučiti hrvatski

Why is it just hrvatski, without jezik? Is hrvatski an adjective or a noun here?

Hrvatski is originally an adjective meaning Croatian, but in practice it is very often used as a noun meaning “the Croatian language”.

So:

hrvatski jezik = the Croatian language
hrvatski (alone) = Croatian (as a language), understood from context

This is very common with language names:

učim hrvatski = I’m learning Croatian.
priča engleski = He/She speaks English.

Grammatically here, hrvatski is in the accusative singular masculine (direct object of naučiti), but its form is the same as the nominative for inanimate nouns/adjectives, so it looks like the base form.

What case is stresa, and why does it change from stres?

Stresa is genitive singular of stres.

The preposition bez (without) always takes the genitive case:

bez + GENITIVE

So:

stres (nominative) → stresa (genitive)
bez stresa = without stress

Other examples:

bez šećera = without sugar
bez problema = without problems

Is bez stresa the only option? How could I modify this part naturally?

Bez stresa is very natural and common, but you can expand it, keeping the genitive:

bez ikakvog stresa = without any stress at all
bez mnogo/puno stresa = without much/a lot of stress
gotovo bez stresa = almost without stress

The key rule: whatever you put after bez must be in the genitive.

Can I change the word order to something like Nadam se da ćemo hrvatski naučiti bez stresa?

Yes. Croatian word order is relatively flexible, as long as you don’t break clitic rules. All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:

Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski bez stresa.
(neutral; focus on the whole idea of managing to learn)
Nadam se da ćemo hrvatski uspjeti naučiti bez stresa.
(slight emphasis on hrvatski)
Nadam se da ćemo hrvatski naučiti bez stresa.
(no uspjeti; focus simply on learning Croatian)

But you cannot safely move clitics like se or ćemo to random positions; they must stay near the start of their clause (after the first stressed element).

Could I say Nadam se da učimo hrvatski bez stresa? What’s the difference?

You can say Nadam se da učimo hrvatski bez stresa, but the meaning changes.

Nadam se da učimo hrvatski bez stresa.
→ I hope that we are learning Croatian without stress (right now / generally as an ongoing process).
Nadam se da ćemo (uspjeti) naučiti hrvatski bez stresa.
→ I hope that in the future we will (manage to) learn Croatian (completely) without stress.

So your original sentence is future-oriented and result-oriented, whereas da učimo is more about the current or ongoing process.

Is there any difference in meaning between Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski… and Nadam se da ćemo moći naučiti hrvatski…?

Yes, a subtle one:

uspjeti naučiti = to manage to learn, to succeed in learning
→ Focus on success in achieving the result.
moći naučiti = to be able to learn
→ Focus on ability/possibility (having the time, talent, resources).

Examples:

Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski bez stresa.
→ I hope we’ll succeed in learning it (implies some challenge).
Nadam se da ćemo moći naučiti hrvatski bez stresa.
→ I hope we’ll be able to learn it (maybe we’re not sure about time, energy, or capability).

Is nadam se always followed by da, or can it be followed directly by an infinitive?

Both patterns exist, with a nuance difference.

nadam se + da‑clause (very common, very natural):
- Nadam se da ćemo uspjeti naučiti hrvatski.
  I hope (that) we’ll manage to learn Croatian.
nadam se + infinitive (more “I hope to…”, often a bit more formal/literary):
- Nadam se uspjeti naučiti hrvatski.
  I hope to manage to learn Croatian.

For everyday speech, nadam se da… is by far the most common pattern.