Možeš li mi proslijediti onaj e-mail s prilogom čim ga primiš?

Li is a question particle used to form yes/no questions in Croatian.

So:

• Možeš = you can / are you able
• Možeš li ...? = Can you ...?

In standard Croatian, li usually comes right after the finite verb:

• Možeš li mi pomoći? = Can you help me?
• Imaš li vremena? = Do you have time?

So Možeš li mi proslijediti... is a very normal way to say Can you forward me....

In casual speech, people may also ask a question just with intonation, for example Možeš mi proslijediti...?, but Možeš li... is clearer and more standard.

Mi is the short dative form of ja (I / me), and here it means to me.

So:

• proslijediti mi = to forward to me
• Možeš li mi proslijediti... = Can you forward me... / Can you forward ... to me?

Croatian often uses these short pronoun forms, called clitics, instead of the full pronoun:

• meni = full form, more emphatic
• mi = short, unstressed form, normal here

If you said Možeš li meni proslijediti..., that would sound more emphatic, like Can you forward it to me (not someone else).

Croatian does not have articles like a and the.

Instead, definiteness is usually understood from context. The word onaj is not an article. It is a demonstrative, meaning roughly:

• that
• that one
• that particular

So:

• onaj e-mail = that email / that particular email

In this sentence, onaj helps point to a specific email already known to both speakers.

Without onaj, the sentence would still be grammatical:

• Možeš li mi proslijediti e-mail s prilogom čim ga primiš?

That would still often be understood as the email, depending on context. Adding onaj makes it more clearly that specific one.

Because after the modal verb moći (can / be able to), Croatian normally uses an infinitive.

So:

• možeš proslijediti = you can forward
• mogu doći = I can come
• možeš nazvati = you can call

Here:

• Možeš li mi proslijediti... = Can you forward me...

So the structure is very similar to English can + base verb.

Both can relate to sending something, but proslijediti has the specific idea of forwarding or passing something on.

• poslati = to send
• proslijediti = to forward / pass along

That makes proslijediti the natural choice for an email that someone receives and then sends onward to another person.

For example:

• Pošalji mi dokument. = Send me the document.
• Proslijedi mi taj e-mail. = Forward me that email.

So in your sentence, proslijediti is exactly right because the speaker wants the other person to receive the email first, then pass it on.

Onaj e-mail is the direct object of proslijediti, so it is in the accusative case.

However, e-mail is a masculine inanimate noun, and in Croatian the accusative singular of masculine inanimate nouns is usually the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: onaj e-mail
• accusative: onaj e-mail

That is why the form does not change.

The demonstrative onaj also stays the same here for the same reason.

So although it is functioning as an object, it still looks like the dictionary form.

The preposition s means with, and it requires the instrumental case.

So:

• basic form: prilog = attachment
• instrumental: prilogom
• s prilogom = with an attachment / with the attachment

This is why the phrase is:

• e-mail s prilogom = an email with an attachment

A useful thing to remember:

• s + instrumental = with

For example:

• s prijateljem = with a friend
• s autom = by car / with a car
• s prilogom = with an attachment

In email contexts, prilog commonly means attachment.

Čim means as soon as.

It introduces a time clause and gives a stronger sense of immediacy than kad.

So:

• čim ga primiš = as soon as you receive it
• kad ga primiš = when you receive it

Both can work, but čim emphasizes that the forwarding should happen immediately after reception.

So the full sentence means something like:

• Can you forward me that email with the attachment as soon as you receive it?

Ga is the short accusative pronoun meaning him/it, and here it means it.

It refers back to e-mail:

• čim ga primiš = as soon as you receive it

Since e-mail is masculine singular, ga is the correct pronoun.

Croatian often avoids repeating the noun when the reference is already clear. So instead of repeating e-mail, it uses ga.

Compare:

• čim primiš e-mail = as soon as you receive the email
• čim ga primiš = as soon as you receive it

The second version is more natural once the noun has already been mentioned.

This is a very common learner question.

Primiš is formally a present-tense form, but it comes from the perfective verb primiti (to receive), and in Croatian, perfective present forms often refer to the future, especially in time clauses after words like:

• kad = when
• čim = as soon as
• nakon što = after

So:

• čim ga primiš literally looks like as soon as you receive it
• but in context it means as soon as you will have received it / as soon as you get it

This is normal Croatian grammar. You do not usually say:

• čim ćeš ga primiti

in this kind of sentence.

So the present form is correct even though the action is still in the future.

Because ga is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go in the second position of their clause.

In the subordinate clause:

• čim is the first element
• so the clitic ga comes next
• then comes the verb primiš

That gives:

• čim ga primiš

This second-position pattern is very important in Croatian word order.

You can see the same thing earlier in the sentence:

• Možeš li mi proslijediti...

Here the clitics are grouped near the beginning:

• Možeš = first element
• li mi = clitics following it

So the word order may feel unusual to an English speaker, but it is very typical for Croatian.