Breakdown of Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san.
Questions & Answers about Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san.
Here si is a reflexive pronoun in the dative case, meaning “to myself”.
- The full underlying idea is: Večeras želim priuštiti miran san sebi. → Tonight I want to afford/treat myself to a peaceful sleep.
- si is just the short clitic form of sebi (to myself / to oneself).
It is not the verb biti (to be) as in ti si (you are). That si only appears with a past participle or adjective (e.g. ti si umoran – you are tired), not before želim like here.
No. The pronoun si is a clitic and must stand in “second position” in the clause – roughly: right after the first stressed word or phrase.
- In Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san, the first stressed word is Večeras, so si comes immediately after it.
- Other correct options:
- Želim si večeras priuštiti miran san.
- Večeras si želim miran san priuštiti. (less natural, but still possible)
But:
- ✗ Večeras želim si priuštiti miran san is ungrammatical, because si is no longer in that early clitic position.
You cannot use se here; it would be ungrammatical.
- si = dative reflexive (to myself / for myself)
- se = mostly accusative or locative reflexive (myself as a direct object or in reflexive verbs like smijati se – to laugh)
Some verbs specifically use si to mean “do X for oneself”:
- priuštiti si – to treat/allow/afford oneself
- kupiti si – to buy oneself
- uzeti si – to take for oneself
So you need si (or the full form sebi) with priuštiti in this meaning:
- Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san.
- Večeras želim priuštiti miran san sebi. (more emphatic)
priuštiti is a perfective verb meaning roughly:
- to afford (to oneself)
- to allow oneself / to treat oneself to
In Croatian, verbs like željeti (to want, to wish), morati (must), moći (can), voljeti (to like to) are typically followed by an infinitive, just like “want to do” in English:
- želim spavati – I want to sleep
- moram učiti – I must study
- želim si priuštiti – I want to treat myself (to something)
So priuštiti stays in the infinitive because it’s directly governed by želim.
Yes, Večeras želim miran san is grammatical and means:
- Tonight I want a peaceful sleep.
The nuance:
- Večeras želim miran san – a wish or desire for peaceful sleep.
- Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san – you plan to actively do something to give yourself that peaceful sleep (go to bed early, switch off your phone, relax, etc.). It sounds more like “Tonight I want to treat myself to a peaceful sleep.”
Literally, san most often means “dream”.
However, in certain fixed phrases, it carries the sense of “sleep”, especially when combined with an adjective:
- miran san – peaceful sleep
- čvrst san – deep / sound sleep
So in everyday understanding, miran san here is interpreted as “peaceful sleep”, not as “peaceful dream” (although literally that’s also possible).
Because miran is the form that agrees with san in gender, number, and case.
- san is masculine singular.
- The adjective miran has these forms:
- miran – masculine singular
- mirna – feminine singular
- mirno – neuter singular
- mirni / mirne / mirna – plural forms
In this sentence, miran san is the direct object of priuštiti, so it’s in the accusative case.
For masculine inanimate nouns like san, the nominative and accusative look the same, so you see:
- nominative: miran san
- accusative: miran san
That’s why you don’t see a form like mirnog sna here; that form appears with masculine animate direct objects or with certain prepositions.
miran san is in the accusative case, functioning as the direct object of the verb priuštiti (to afford/treat oneself to something).
In Croatian, a direct object usually:
- stands without a preposition, and
- is in the accusative.
Example parallels:
- Želim kavu. – I want coffee.
- Kupujem knjigu. – I’m buying a book.
- Želim si priuštiti miran san. – I want to treat myself to a peaceful sleep.
Croatian very often uses the present tense with a future time expression to talk about the near future, especially when the intention is clear:
- Sutra idem u Zagreb. – I’m going to Zagreb tomorrow.
- Večeras gledam film. – I’m watching a film tonight.
Similarly:
- Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san.
This is understood as a future plan/intention for tonight, even though the verb is in the present tense. Using the actual future tense (želj(e)t ću) would sound more formal or a bit heavier in this context.
You can say:
- Večeras si hoću priuštiti miran san.
Grammatically it’s fine, but there is a nuance:
- želim – neutral, polite, often used for wishes, desires, and also for intentions.
- hoću – more direct and strong, like “I will / I insist on / I’m determined to”.
So:
- Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san. – Tonight I’d like to treat myself to a peaceful sleep. (sounds softer)
- Večeras si hoću priuštiti miran san. – Tonight I’m going to treat myself to a peaceful sleep, I insist on it. (more forceful, more “I’ve decided and that’s that”)
Yes.
- Večeras želim sebi priuštiti miran san.
and - Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san.
are both correct and mean the same thing.
Differences:
- si is the clitic, short and very common in speech.
- sebi is the full form, often used for emphasis (like stressing “to myself” in English).
So sebi can sound a bit more emphatic: “Tonight I want to treat *myself to a peaceful sleep (not anyone else).”*
Yes, quite a few everyday verbs use si in the same “do something for oneself” pattern. Some very common ones:
- kupiti si nešto – to buy oneself something
- Kupio sam si novu jaknu. – I bought myself a new jacket.
- uzeti si pauzu – to take a break for oneself
- Uzet ću si kratku pauzu. – I’ll take a short break.
- napraviti si kavu – to make oneself coffee
- Idem si napraviti kavu. – I’m going to make myself a coffee.
- priuštiti si odmor – to treat oneself to a vacation/rest
Understanding si in Večeras si želim priuštiti miran san helps you recognize the same structure in many other useful expressions.