Learn Hardcore Croatian: U obitelji često moramo naći kompromis između odmora i posla. - In the family we often have to find a compromise between rest and work.

u obitelj – would use the accusative and mean into the family (movement into), which doesn’t fit the meaning.
u obitelji – locative, meaning in the family / within the family, which is what we want here.

The same pattern appears in other nouns:

u školi (in the school, locative) vs. u školu (into the school, accusative)
u gradu (in the city) vs. u grad (into the city)

Does u obitelji mean “in my family” or “in a family / in families in general”?

It can mean either, depending on context.

If you’re talking about your own family, you can say:
- U mojoj obitelji često moramo naći kompromis… – In my family we often have to find a compromise…
If you omit the possessive (mojoj), you get:
- U obitelji često moramo naći kompromis…

This second version is often understood more generally:
In a family / In family life, we often have to find a compromise…
– i.e. a statement about how families work in general, not just your own.

So the original sentence is slightly more universal-sounding than U mojoj obitelji…

Why is često placed before moramo? Can the word order be different?

Yes, the word order is flexible, but each position slightly changes the emphasis.

U obitelji često moramo naći kompromis…
– neutral and natural. Emphasis is that this happens often.

Other possible orders:

U obitelji moramo često naći kompromis…
– also correct, but can sound a bit heavier and may slightly highlight moramo (the obligation) plus frequency.
Često u obitelji moramo naći kompromis…
– puts extra emphasis on često at the beginning; often, in the family, we have to…

All of these are grammatically fine.
The original order, često moramo, is the most typical and natural-sounding in everyday speech.

What is the difference between moramo and trebamo?

Both can be translated as we have to / we need to / we should, but:

moramo (from morati) is stronger:
– we must, we are obliged to
trebamo (from trebati) is often softer:
– we should, we need to, it’s necessary / advisable

In your sentence:

U obitelji često moramo naći kompromis…
– suggests that compromise is required; there’s a sense of obligation.

You could say:

U obitelji često trebamo naći kompromis…

That’s still understandable and fairly natural, but it can feel a bit less strict, more like we often need to / we ought to find a compromise rather than we must.

Why is it naći kompromis? Could I say napraviti or postignuti kompromis instead?

The most common collocations in Croatian with kompromis are:

naći kompromis – to find a compromise
postići kompromis – to reach a compromise
sklopiti kompromis – to strike a compromise / to conclude a compromise (more formal)

Napraviti kompromis is understandable but sounds less idiomatic; it’s not the usual verb used.

So:

naći kompromis – very natural in everyday speech.
postići kompromis – also common, maybe a bit more formal or “result-focused”.

In your sentence, naći kompromis is perfectly idiomatic and typical.

What is the aspect of naći, and how is it different from nalaziti?

Croatian verbs come in pairs of aspects:

naći – perfective (focus on a single, completed act: to find)
nalaziti – imperfective (focus on process or repeated action: to be finding / to keep finding)

In your sentence:

moramo naći kompromis
– you’re talking about reaching a specific compromise in each situation; the act is seen as a complete event.

If you said:

U obitelji često nalazimo kompromis između odmora i posla.
– In the family we often find (keep finding) a compromise…
– here the focus is more on the habitual action over time.

Both are possible, but:

With moramo, the perfective naći fits very well, because morati + perfective commonly expresses a goal to be achieved: we must (eventually) find a compromise.

Why doesn’t kompromis change its form, but odmor becomes odmora and posao becomes posla?

Because they are in different cases:

kompromis is the direct object of naći:
- Verb + direct object → accusative case.
- For masculine inanimate nouns, accusative singular is the same form as nominative.
- Nominative: kompromis, accusative: kompromis (no visible change).
odmor and posao are objects of the preposition između:
- između always takes the genitive.
- Nominative: odmor, posao
- Genitive singular: odmora, posla

So:

naći kompromis – kompromis in accusative (looks like nominative)
između odmora i posla – odmora, posla in genitive after između

Why do odmor and posao take the genitive after između?

Because in Croatian, the preposition između (between) always governs the genitive case.

Pattern:

između
- genitive + i
  - genitive

Examples:

između kuće i škole – between the house and the school
između prijatelja i kolege – between a friend and a colleague
između odmora i posla – between rest/vacation and work

So here:

odmor → odmora (genitive)
posao → posla (genitive)

You cannot use nominative or accusative after između; it would be ungrammatical.

Could I say između odmora i rada instead of između odmora i posla? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say između odmora i rada, but the nuance changes slightly:

posao (gen. posla)
– job, work, employment, workload, tasks
– often more concrete or tied to your job or duties.
rad (gen. rada)
– work in a more abstract or activity sense: doing work, working (as an activity).

So:

između odmora i posla
– between rest/vacation and one’s job / work responsibilities.
između odmora i rada
– between rest and working (in general), more abstract.

Both are correct; the original sentence using posla sounds very natural and everyday-like, especially if you mean balancing free time with your job or household obligations.

Could I change the word order to Često u obitelji moramo naći kompromis… or U obitelji moramo naći kompromis često…?

Često u obitelji moramo naći kompromis…
– Yes, this is correct and quite natural.
– Puts strong emphasis on često by placing it first.
U obitelji moramo naći kompromis često…
– Grammatically possible, but sounds less natural.
– Adverbs of frequency like često usually go before the main verb (moramo naći), not at the end of the clause.

Most natural options are:

U obitelji često moramo naći kompromis… (your original)
Često u obitelji moramo naći kompromis…

What is the difference between obitelj and porodica?

Both mean family, but they are associated with different standards/regions:

obitelj
– standard in Croatian
– used in Croatia as the normal word for family.
porodica
– standard in Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin
– in Croatia it sounds more regional or influenced by those varieties.

So in standard Croatian you say:

U obitelji često moramo naći kompromis…

In Serbian, for example, you’d more naturally hear:

U porodici često moramo naći kompromis…