Drago mi je što se moj brat više ne boji trajekta, iako mu je prošle godine bilo mučno.

Drago mi je is a very common Croatian expression meaning I’m glad.

Literally, it is something like It is dear/pleasant to me:

• drago = dear, pleasant, glad
• mi = to me
• je = is

So Croatian uses a structure that is less personal than English. Instead of saying I am glad, it says something more like It is glad/pleasing to me.

You will see the same pattern with other feelings:

• Žao mi je = I’m sorry
• Dosadno mi je = I’m bored
• Hladno mi je = I’m cold

So mi is not optional here; it shows to whom the feeling applies.

Here što introduces the clause explaining what the speaker is glad about.

So:

• Drago mi je = I’m glad
• što se moj brat više ne boji trajekta = that my brother is no longer afraid of the ferry

In English, this is like that in I’m glad that...

Croatian often uses što after emotional expressions such as:

• Drago mi je što... = I’m glad that...
• Žao mi je što... = I’m sorry that...

So in this sentence, što is a conjunction, not the question word what.

The verb is bojati se, which means to be afraid or to fear.

So se belongs to the verb. It is not optional.

• bojati se = to fear / be afraid
• boji se = he is afraid

Many Croatian verbs are used with se, and learners usually have to memorize them as a unit:

• nadati se = to hope
• sjećati se = to remember
• bojati se = to fear

So it is best to learn bojati se as the full dictionary form, not just bojati.

Croatian clitics such as se, mi, mu, je usually appear in the second position of their clause, not necessarily right next to the verb.

That is why you get:

• što se moj brat više ne boji trajekta

Here se comes very early in the clause, after što.

A more word-for-word English learner expectation might be something like što moj brat se ne boji, but that is not the normal Croatian clitic placement.

So the sentence is natural because Croatian follows clitic-position rules, not English-style word order.

više ne means no longer or not anymore.

So:

• boji se = is afraid
• više se ne boji = is no longer afraid

Literally:

• više = more
• ne = not

But together in this kind of sentence, više ne has the meaning not anymore.

Examples:

• Više ne radim tamo. = I no longer work there.
• Više ne puši. = He/She doesn’t smoke anymore.

So in your sentence, it shows a change from the past to the present.

Because bojati se takes the genitive case.

So:

• dictionary form: trajekt
• genitive singular: trajekta

That is why the sentence says:

• boji se trajekta = he is afraid of the ferry

This is something English speakers often need to memorize, because English uses of instead of changing the noun form.

Other verbs and expressions in Croatian also require specific cases, so it is very useful to learn them together with the case they govern:

• bojati se + genitive
• sjećati se + genitive

Because moj brat is the subject of the clause:

• moj brat = my brother

He is the one who is no longer afraid, so he stays in the nominative.

The structure is:

• se moj brat više ne boji trajekta

Here:

• moj brat = subject, nominative
• trajekta = object/complement required by bojati se, genitive

English speakers sometimes expect both nouns to stay in a basic form, but Croatian marks their roles with case endings.

Iako means although or even though.

It introduces a contrast:

• Drago mi je... = I’m glad...
• iako mu je prošle godine bilo mučno = although last year he felt sick / it made him feel nauseous

So the idea is:

He is no longer afraid of the ferry, even though last year he had a bad experience.

This is called a concessive clause: something is true despite a contrasting fact.

Mu means to him and is the dative form of on.

So:

• mu = to him
• referring to moj brat

The structure mu je bilo mučno literally works like:

• it was nauseating/sickening to him
• more naturally: he felt sick / he was nauseous

Croatian often expresses physical or emotional states with a dative pronoun plus an impersonal predicate:

• Meni je hladno. = I’m cold.
• Njemu je loše. = He feels bad.
• Mučno mu je. = He feels nauseous.

So mu is not a direct subject; it marks the person experiencing the state.

Because this is an impersonal expression.

The pattern is:

• bilo mu je mučno
• literally: it was nauseous/sickening to him
• naturally: he felt nauseous / he felt sick

In impersonal expressions, Croatian often uses neuter singular:

• bilo = neuter singular past of biti
• mučno = neuter singular predicate adjective/adverbial form

So it does not agree with brat in masculine gender, because brat is not functioning as the grammatical subject of bilo mučno in the usual way.

Compare:

• Brat je bio umoran. = My brother was tired.
  Here brat is the subject, so bio umoran agrees with masculine singular.

But:

• Bratu je bilo mučno. / Mu je bilo mučno. = My brother felt sick.
  This is an impersonal construction, so neuter singular is used.

Prošle godine means last year, and here godine is in the genitive singular.

Croatian often uses the genitive for certain time expressions.

So:

• prošla godina = last year
• prošle godine = last year / in the previous year

This is a fixed and very common expression.

Other time expressions work differently, so it is best to learn them individually. But prošle godine is something you will see often.

Mučno here means something like:

• nauseous
• sick
• queasy

In context, it usually suggests physical discomfort, often motion sickness or feeling like you might vomit.

Since the sentence mentions a trajekt (ferry), the natural interpretation is probably that he felt seasick or nauseous during the trip.

So bilo mu je mučno is more natural in English as:

• he felt sick
• he felt nauseous

rather than a very literal translation.

Yes. Croatian often has more than one natural way to express the same idea.

For example, instead of bojati se, you might hear:

• plašiti se = to be afraid

So a similar sentence could be:

• Drago mi je što se moj brat više ne plaši trajekta...

And instead of bilo mučno, someone might say:

• bilo mu je loše = he felt bad
• pozlilo mu je = he became sick / he felt suddenly unwell

But the original sentence is perfectly natural and a good example of two useful Croatian patterns:

• Drago mi je što...
• (Nekome) je bilo mučno

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but not completely free. In this sentence, the main limits come from:

1. clitic placement
   Words like mi, je, se, mu usually need to stay near the beginning of their clause.

2. information focus
   Moving words can change emphasis.

For example, the basic meaning would stay the same in small variations, but some versions sound more natural than others.

The given sentence is very natural because it respects normal clitic order and flows well.

So yes, some movement is possible, but you cannot move mi, je, se, or mu around as freely as full words in English.