Learn Hardcore Croatian: U životu općenito pokušavamo rješavati konflikte tako da obje strane budu zadovoljne. - In life in general we try to solve conflicts so that both sides are satisfied.

rješavati – imperfective aspect
Focuses on the ongoing, habitual process:
Pokušavamo rješavati konflikte… = We generally try to be resolving / to resolve conflicts (as a rule, habit).
riješiti – perfective aspect
Focuses on completing the action, the result:
Pokušavamo riješiti konflikte… = We try to resolve conflicts (to get them resolved, to finish them).

Because the sentence talks about what we do in life in general (a habitual, repeated pattern), the imperfective rješavati fits very well.
Using riješiti would not be wrong, but it sounds a bit more result‑focused and slightly less “general/habitual” in tone.

What grammatical form is konflikte, and why is it used here?

Konflikte is:

accusative case (direct object)
plural
masculine gender

The base noun is konflikt (conflict), masculine, and in the plural accusative it becomes konflikte.
In the sentence:

rješavati (što?) konflikte = to resolve (what?) conflicts

So it’s accusative plural because konflikte is what we are trying to resolve.

You could also say:

rješavati sukobe – to resolve conflicts (using a native Slavic word sukob instead of the loanword konflikt)

What does tako da mean here, and how does it work grammatically?

In this sentence, tako da introduces a clause of purpose or intended result:

tako da ≈ so that / in such a way that

Structure:

pokušavamo rješavati konflikte – main clause
tako da obje strane budu zadovoljne – subordinate clause of purpose/result

So the whole thing means: We try to resolve conflicts *in such a way that both sides are satisfied.*

Grammatically:

tako – so, in that way
da – that, introducing a da‑clause (subordinate clause)

No comma is needed before tako da in this particular sentence; Croatian comma rules allow both patterns depending on context, but here the written version without a comma is common and natural.

Why is it obje strane and not oba strane?

Croatian distinguishes between obje and oba depending on gender:

obje = “both” for feminine plural nouns
oba = “both” for masculine and neuter (in most cases)

The noun strana (side) is:

feminine
plural nominative: strane

So you must use the feminine form:

obje strane = both sides

If the noun were masculine, you’d use oba instead, e.g.:

oba muškarca = both men

Why is strane feminine, and why is it zadovoljne (with -e) instead of something like zadovoljni?

The noun strana (side) is grammatically feminine in Croatian.

In the phrase:

obje strane – both sides
- strane is feminine plural, nominative.
budu zadovoljne – be satisfied
- zadovoljne is an adjective in feminine plural nominative, agreeing with strane.

Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
Since strane is feminine plural nominative, the adjective must also be:

feminine plural nominative: zadovoljne

Using zadovoljni would be masculine plural and therefore ungrammatical here.

Why is it budu zadovoljne and not jesu zadovoljne?

Both biti forms jesu and budu come from the verb biti (to be), but:

jesu – ordinary present tense, factual statement.
budu – present subjunctive / future-like form, often used in da‑clauses to express wish, purpose, or desired outcome.

Here, da obje strane budu zadovoljne is not a simple statement that both sides are satisfied right now; it expresses what we want or aim for as a result of our actions.

So:

…tako da obje strane budu zadovoljne.
= …so that both sides *will be / end up / are satisfied (as the desired outcome).*

Using jesu here would sound odd and more like stating a fact than expressing purpose:

tako da obje strane jesu zadovoljne is not idiomatic in standard Croatian in this context.

Could I omit općenito or u životu? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can omit one or the other, and the nuance changes slightly:

U životu općenito pokušavamo rješavati konflikte…
– In life, generally, we try to resolve conflicts…
(emphasizes that as a general life principle, we do this.)
Općenito pokušavamo rješavati konflikte…
– In general, we try to resolve conflicts…
(more general; not explicitly about “in life”, but implied.)
U životu pokušavamo rješavati konflikte…
– In life we try to resolve conflicts…
(sounds a bit more specific and less “philosophical/general” than with općenito, but still fine.)

All versions are grammatical; the original just sounds a bit more reflective and general.

Is the word order da obje strane budu zadovoljne fixed, or can I say da budu obje strane zadovoljne?

The word order is flexible, but some options are more natural than others.

The most neutral and natural is:

da obje strane budu zadovoljne

Other possible orders:

da budu obje strane zadovoljne – possible, but sounds slightly more marked/emphatic; you shift focus towards the state of being.
da obje budu strane zadovoljne – unnatural and confusing; you’d normally keep obje right next to strane.

In practice, keeping:

obje strane together, and
budu zadovoljne together

is the most idiomatic choice.

What level of formality or style does this sentence have? Is it casual or formal?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, and it fits well in:

an essay
a presentation
a book or article
a reflective conversation

It is not slangy or highly colloquial, but it’s also not overly stiff.
In casual speech, someone might shorten or simplify it a bit, for example:

Općenito u životu pokušavamo rješavati sukobe tako da su obje strane zadovoljne.
(Here su instead of budu makes it sound more colloquial, but also slightly less precise about the goal aspect.)

Is there any important nuance between konflikt and sukob here?

Both can usually be translated as conflict, but:

konflikt – often sounds a bit more formal / technical (psychology, sociology, workplace conflict, etc.), and is an international/loanword.
sukob – is a native word; can be just as formal, but is also very common in everyday language (a fight, clash, dispute).

In this sentence, both work:

rješavati konflikte – resolve conflicts
rješavati sukobe – resolve conflicts

The overall meaning stays the same; it’s mostly a stylistic preference.

How would you pronounce the parts with diacritics, like ž, š, and lje in zadovoljne?

Key sounds:

ž – like s in measure, vision
- životu ≈ zhivotu
- rješavati ≈ rj-eshavati (with ž written as rješ- but pronounced with the ž/sch-like sound from š and j; effectively a sh sound in English)
š – like sh in she
- rješavati ≈ r-yesh-a-va-ti
lj (in zadovoljne) – a palatal l, similar to lli in Italian famiglia or lli in some pronunciations of million
- zadovoljne ≈ zado-vo-lye-ne (one smooth lye sound, not l-j separately)

Croatian spelling is very phonetic: once you know these sounds, you pronounce the word exactly as written.