EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croatian

© Daniel N. 2009-2019.

(with case annotations)

Easy-Croatian.com

facebook/Easy.Cro

for Sandra, as she was very patient

(updated 2019-03-13, rev. 47b)

NOT COMPLETE

converted using Print Pages to PDF, edited with iLovePDF.com

Contents

Introduction 6

01 Alphabet and Pronunciation 9

02 Simplest Sentences

03 Objects

14

19

04 No, Often, Probably and Again

05 Accusative Case

24

28

06 Destinations

07 Verbs with Obligatory Objects

34

41

08 Weather and General Statements 48

09 Numbers and Time 52

10 Gender 57

11 Colors, More Adjectives and Adverbs

12 Simple Conversations

64

71

13 She Loves Me: Pronouns and Properties 76

14 My and Adjectives in Accusative 82

15 Locations 89

16 Giving to Someone, Going to Someone

17 Adjectives in Dative/Locative

94

100

18 This and That 105

19 Your, Ana’s: Possessives 111

20 At My Friend’s: Genitive 116

21 Origins 121

22 Here I am: More Pronouns

23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions

126

132

24 Past Tense 138

25 Plural 145

26 Yes or No? 152

27 Body

28 Asking Who and What

157

163

29 Plural of Masculine Nouns and Adjectives 168

30 Three Beers: Less than 5 Things 174

31 First, Second: Ordinals 178

32 Love and Like

33 School Yard and Bunk Bed: Relations

184

189

34 Stressed Pronouns 196

35 Tools and Means, With and Without 202

36 Dative/Locative and Instrumental Plural 208

37 Complete Reading: Perfective Verbs 213

38 Needs, Wishes and Intentions

39 Would, Could: Conditionals

220

229

40 Future Tense 233

41 Somewhere, Nobody, Everything... 238

42 Come In, Come Out, Go 243

43 And, Or, But: Basic Conjunctions

44 Genitive Plural

250

256

45 Quantities and Existence 262

46 More than Four Things 268

47 Of Flowers, Thorns and Counting Children 273

48 Wholes, Parts, Heaps and Pairs

49 For 7 Hours: Definite Periods

278

284

50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons 290

51 For Days: Approximate Periods, Repetions and References 295

52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease 299

53 Giving Orders 306

54 When, While, Until, Before, After

55 More Prepositions

313

320

56 Desires and Demands 324

57 Whose, What Thing and What Like 331

58 Colloquial and Formal 335

59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses

60 More Useful Verbs and Verbal Patterns

342

350

61 Cake is Eaten: Passive Adjectives 356

62 The Friend I Saw: Relative Clauses 361

63 Bigger and Better: Comparatives 366

64 The Door Opens: Fun with se² 372

65 Carry, Bring, Drive: Transport Verbs

66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns

379

385

67 Only, Except, Too: Inclusion and Exclusion 391

68 Three Men: Group Numbers 397

69 Memories, Expectations and Fear 399

70 If I Were: Conditional Sentences

71 Suggestions, Permissions and More Verbs

405

409

72 Addressing and Vocative Case 415

73 Learning and Renting: Verbs Shifting 418

74 It Just Happened to Me 421

75 Friends and Family

76 Inner, Outer, Step by Step: More on Space and Time

424

428

77 As If: Advanced Clauses 431

78 Dijete vs. Dite 437

79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases 444

80 Present Adverbs and Adjectives 449

81 Sneeze Once and Start Blooming

82 Visible and Unreadable: Potential Adjectives

453

459

83 Depth and Distance: Abstract Nouns 462

84 Western Urban Speech 467

85 Small and Cute: Diminutives 468

86 More Verbs and Standing Outcomes

87 Player, Playroom and Playground: Common Derivations

472

477

88 Weird Words and Constructions 484

89 Customs and Traditions 488

90 Number-like Words 491

91 Taboo Words and Expressions 494

93 Fine Points of Verb Aspect 496

99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal Features 497

A1 Nouns and Adjectives 501

A3 Verbs 504

A5 Word Order 516

A7 Stress 520

A8 Dialects 524

A9 Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin 531

L1 Common Names 545

L2 Countries and Nationalities 547

L3 Cities and Towns 551

Core Dictionary 554

Symbols & Abbreviations 596

Index 597

Keys to Exercises 598

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / Introducon 6 / 600

Introduction

This is a simple introduction to the Croatian language, where you can learn the very

basics easily. (At least I hope so.)

It’s currently under construction: some parts are completed, some are not even

started.

Two warnings. First, I’m not a professional language teacher or linguist. Second,

English is not my native tongue so you will probably find some bad English in this

‘course’. Feel free to correct me.

If you’re an expert in Croatian, or have read some book with very detailed

descriptions of Croatian grammar, etc. and want to ask me why something is not

described here, please bear in mind that this ‘course’ is intentionally lightweight and

focuses on performance and not learning all the details and formal rules.

What is Croatian? There’s no single answer. Strictly speaking, ‘languages’ are a kind

of abstractions and oversimplifications. There’s language on the public TV, but

there’s also language on the streets, in movies, books and songs. People in Croatia

don’t speak a ‘monolithic’ language, despite being portrayed so in many

introductory, and even advanced texts. There’s a lot of regional variation, and in

some parts of Croatia, extraordinary local diversity is found. This affects not only

the language spoken at home, but also how people talk in public, certain words and

grammar rules. I will attempt to give at least an overview of all such variations:

places of significant variation within Croatia will be marked with a ® mark, and

explained at the end of each chapter.

In this work, I’ll use ‘Croatian’ as ‘what is most common in use in Croatia’, especially

in in everyday communication, e.g. at work, at university, in shops, at least in bigger

cities, that is, how most people today speak (which is not uniform, as you will

immediately see).

It turns out that the language most people in Croatia use is very close to what

people in Bosnia-Herzegovina use, and quite similar to what many people in Serbia

use. There are no sharp lines between Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian (defined as

how people actually speak in these countries). Actually, the diversity within Croatia

is much greater than e.g. difference between the standard languages you can hear

on Croatian and Serbian public TV.

However, this means if you’re really interested in Bosnian or Serbian, this ‘course’

could be very useful to you; differences are small and I will summarize them at the

end. Through this ‘course’, all important differences are marked: words that are

really different are also marked with a ® mark, and such differences are explained at

the end of each chapter. What applies to Bosnian, usually applies to Montenegrin as

well. If you are interested in Croatian only, simply ignore such remarks.


Some might ask: why is this, then, only ‘Croatian’, and not ‘Bosnian, Croatian,

Montenegrin and Serbian’? There are two reasons: first, I happen to live in Croatia,

so I know the actual speech and language in Croatia much better than in the 3 other

countries; second, that would imply treating them on equal footing, i.e. giving many

examples in three or four versions, including Serbian Cyrillic spelling from the start,

and so on. Everything would get really complicated then. However, Bosnian,

Croatian, Serbian books by Ronelle Alexander do exactly that – you should check

them if you like such an approach.

In Croatia, there are various manuals with rules for ‘standard’, ‘proper’ language.

Not of them agree what is ‘standard’, and what is not. This ‘course’ will focus

primarily on the everyday language: sometimes, there's a difference between formal

(or ‘standard’) and everyday (‘colloquial’) words and forms, which are used in almost

all circumstances, except in laws and textbooks. Such differences will be explained

as well.

Depending on your background, you might find some features of Croatian a bit

strange. For example, while English apple shows a simple variation (apple, apples)

the Croatian jabuka has more forms (jabuka, jabuku, jabuci, jabukom, jabuko,

jabuke, jabukama). Such forms will be introduced gradually, starting from more

often used forms. Knowing any language beside English is really useful, since English

is one of European languages most unlike Croatian. I’ve added examples in German,

French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish at various places, since they are more similar to

Croatian.

Each chapter supposes that you have mastered all previous chapters. The aim of this

‘course’ is to enable you to produce and understand as many useful sentences as

possible with the minimal knowledge of grammar.

Chapters 1-9 will introduce you to the very basics: alphabet, present tense, how to

use nouns as objects. You’ll be able to say Ana is driving Goran to school, It’s warm

today, My name is Ivan, The bus to Zadar is leaving tomorrow at three o’clock, and

much more.

Chapters 10-19 will introduce you to gender in Croatian, use of adjectives, and

useful words like this, that, my, your; you’ll be able to say Ana’s book is in this

drawer, We’re eating in an expensive restaurant, and much more.

Chapters 20-29 will introduce you to plural of nouns, adjectives and verbs, ways of

expressing what you feel (e.g. I’m quite cold), expressions like car keys, my sister’s

friend, past tense, use of pronouns (I saw her), and more.

Chapters 30-39 will introduce you to more forms, ordinal numbers (first, second),

more types of questions, expressing tools, company, conditional and polite

expressions (e.g. I would like...) and more.

Chapters 40-49 will introduce you to measuring, counting things, expressing

existence, future tense, expressing how long actions were, and ways to express


existence, future tense, expressing how long actions were, and ways to express

accomplishments.

Chapter 50 and later will introduce you to various kinds of sentences and ways to

communicate in various situations.

A small Core Dictionary is attached to this course. It currently contains about 1800

entries, with about 2900 most used words.

Since April 2016, all recent updates in offline versions (Kindle and PDF) are marked

with a pale blue stripe on the right margin (like this paragraph) to draw attention to

recent changes and added information. This does not apply to Exercises and

Examples, or to the Core Dictionary, only to the main text.

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me: my wife for

sound clips, Blaženka for additional sound clips; Boban Arsenijević for drawing the

boundary of the standard stress area in Serbia, Dušica Božović for details on

language in Serbia, CJ for many ideas and comments, Conor O’Neill for fixing my

English, Аня Немова for drawing my attention to parts of grammar I’ve overlooked,

Viviam for many comments and comparisons with Brazilian Portuguese, and many

others who helped me improve this work.

Feel free to use this material in any way, but if you copy it, quote it, or republish it,

please acknowledge the source (or link to this, etc.)

Happy learning!

— Daniel N.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 01 Alphabet and Pronunciaon 9 / 600

01 Alphabet and Pronunciation

Croatian alphabet is simpler than English and much more similar to German or

Spanish.

Letters b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z are pronounced more or less as in English.

The letter g is pronounced always as in English go or get.

The following letters have a special pronunciation in Croatian:

Specific letters in Croatian

c as tz in tzar

č as ch in child

ć similar to č, a bit ‘softer’

đ as j in joke

j as y in you

š as sh in ship

ž as s in pleasure

Sequences of letters dž, lj and nj are considered single letters in Croatian; they are

pronounced as follows:

Specific two-letter sequences

dž similar to đ, a bit ‘harder’

lj like an l fused with a j

as Italian gl (e.g. in figlia)

or like English million

nj like an n fused with a j

like Spanish ñ (e.g. in señor)

or Italian gn (e.g. in bagno)

or like English onion

The 7 letters listed above (c to ž) and these two-letter sequences are Croatianspecific

letters and have a somewhat special role in grammar. (You can remember

them as consonants having ‘hooks’ on them, including j, having a ‘dot’ + letter c.)

Croatian vowels are quite different than English vowels: they should be pronounced

as Spanish or Italian vowels, as rather ‘flat’. Vowels can be either long or short

(similar to English fit vs. feet) but in some cities (notably, Zagreb, Rijeka and Pula)

that distinction is lost.

Therefore, I have decided not to mark long vowels, as it would be too complicated

for beginners: the rules are really complex and not respected in real life in many


parts of Croatia anyway.

Also, most people in Croatia pronounce today ć the same as č, and dž the same as

đ. This feature includes most cities.

In the Standard pronunciation of č and dž, the tip of tongue is pressed against the

palate (top of the mouth) right above teeth, the teeth are separated, and there’s a

gap between lips and teeth; it’s called apical pronunciation.

There’s a vowel ə (pronounced as e in English the) that’s never spelled; it appears in

the following situations:

1. in seemingly impossible words like čvrst rigid, hard and krv blood: they can be

approximately pronounced with the vowel ə (at least by some Croatian speakers)

as čvərst and kərv. Actually, krv is pronounced a bit like English curve.

2. the same goes for e.g. bicikl bicycle, which is rather pronounced as bi-ci-kəl (three

syllables).

3. when talking about letters, Croatians often talk about the letter "b", and

pronounce its ‘name’ as bə.

Although words should be pronounced as spelled, a great majority of Croatians

pronounce the sequence ije (when not at the end of the word) as just je, for

example:

lijepo beautifully is usually pronounced as lje-po

prije before is pronounced as written (pri-je), since the ije comes at the very end

Some people pronounce lijepo as l-j-e-p-o (that is, l and j are separate sounds; this

is regarded as standard), others as lj-e-p-o. To help you with the pronunciation, I’ve

marked such normally written, but not pronounced i’s like this: lijepo. In the words

like prije, where all vowels are normally pronounced, nothing is marked.

There are very few other situations where something is written but not pronounced

in Croatian, they will be specially emphasized.

Croatian spells the foreign names and places how they are originally spelled, if the

original spelling uses the Latin script (e.g. New York, Chuck Norris), while in

sometimes in Bosnian, and as the rule in Serbian, respelling according to an

approximate pronunciation is used (Njujork, Čak Noris).

Stress (pronouncing one syllable a bit louder, as in English together) has quite

complex rules and varies in colloquial speech in different parts of Croatia. Stress is

never indicated in writing (similar to the practice in English, but unlike Spanish or

Italian), and you are simply supposed to know it.

There are two common ways (or schemes) of stressing words used in speech:

The standard stress is used in the Standard Croatian, and in cities of Split, Osijek,

Dubrovnik, and surrounding countryside; the area extends to Bosnia, and most of


Serbia. This is what you hear on the Croatian Public Radio and TV (this is the

pronunciation you will find in language manuals and good dictionaries).

Furthermore, the Standard Croatian has two kinds of stress (ways that one syllable

in the word can be stressed): with the rising tone and the falling tone. It’s a bit

similar to tones in Swedish or even Chinese. The stress in the Standard Croatian is

virtually identical to stress in the Standard Serbian or Bosnian, but many people in

Croatia don’t use standard stress in everyday communication. Furthermore, rules

governing standard stress are very complex (the stress changes in various forms of

one word) so I think it would be too complex to introduce tones in a course

intended for beginners (this approach is followed by most language schools that

offer Croatian; I will describe details later, in A9 Stress).

Therefore, I decided just to mark what vowel is stressed, when the stress is not on

the first syllable (that’s the default place of stress). This map shows roughly (the

shaded area) where the standard stress scheme (or something quite similar to it)

prevails in Croatia and neighboring countries, at least in public settings:

The ‘western stress’ is used colloquially, very often heard in Zagreb, surrounding

areas and some other cities, including Rijeka and Pula. You can hear it on local radio

stations. This is the pronunciation I personally use in everyday life, at work, in

school, etc. (It’s sometimes, confusingly, called ‘urban stress’; you will find virtually

nothing about it in textbooks.)

There are more stress schemes and ways to pronounce words in various dialects,


but they are more or less limited to small areas and villages. They will be briefly

described in the section on dialects.

I won’t describe the stress schemes used in unshaded areas of Serbia and

Montenegro. For some words, they are a very similar or identical to the ‘western’

stress, for others, quite different.

I will also mark the stressed vowel in the ‘western’ stress, when it’s different from

the standard stress position. For many words, there’s little or no difference, and for

others, there’s an obvious difference, as demonstrated with words ponekad

sometimes and kolač cake (I have underlined the stressed vowels):

word standard ‘western’

ponekad ponekad ponekad

kolač kolač kolač

As you can see, some people pronounce the words ponekad and kolač with the

stress on the first syllable, and some others with the stress on the second syllable.

You would never know it from the normal spelling, since stress is normally not

marked.

Therefore, I marked the word ponekad and similar ones with two stress positions

(that is, I have underlined two vowels). The first mark (from left) is always the

standard position and the second mark (if indicated) the ‘western’ stress position.

the first mark (if present):

standard stress

the second mark (if present):

‘western’ stress

ponekad

The word kolač and many others are marked in the same way. (Such markings are

my invention. There are also standard stress symbols, but they are quite

complicated and used only in specialized books. You can find more in Wikipedia and

elsewhere.)

Bear in mind, if nothing is marked, the word is stressed on the first syllable. If there’s

only one mark, practically everyone pronounces the stress on the same syllable.

There are a few words where the standard stress is not on the first syllable, but the

‘western’ stress is; one of them is the word for binoculars:

standard: dalekozor

‘western’: dalekozor

= dalekozorʷ¹

For such words, I’ll underscore the standard stress position, and write in small

superscript letters ‘W1’ after the word (i.e. ‘western’ stress on the 1st syllable), as


shown above.

A suggestion. I have to admit, the standard stress scheme is quite complicated,

even in my watered-down version. Try learning the standard stress scheme only if

you want to speak roughly as news presenters on Croatian Public TV, or you

really want to imitate speech from the shaded area. Otherwise, don’t bother with

it, and go for the ‘western’ scheme. You’ll sound roughly like someone from the

unshaded regions, which is not bad if your main goal is to communicate. Keep in

mind, stress is not marked in normal writing at all.

There are only couple of words that differ only by their stress, for example:

frizer freezer

frizer hairdresser

(Again, pay attention that both marks, for stress, and for i’s usually not pronounced

are just my inventions: nobody uses them in writing.)

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 02 Simplest Sentences 14 / 600

02 Simplest Sentences

The simplest sentences are of type Ana is sleeping or Ivan is running. Such sentences

are in the present tense and in the 3rd person.

To make them in Croatian, you need the 3rd person present tense form or the verb

(I’ll call it pres-3 for short).

(Verbs are words that mean an action or state, like listen, wait, eat, sit.)

Verbs are normally listed in Croatian dictionaries in the so-called infinitive form (inf

for short). For most verbs, you just need to remove the ending -ti and you have the

form you need now. For instance, let’s take these verbs right from a dictionary:

čitati read

kuhati cook ®

pjevati sing ®

raditi work

plivati swim

spavati sleep

učiti learn, study

voziti drive

It’s very easy to make simple sentences like the following:

Ana čita. Ana is reading.

Marko kuha. Marko is cooking.

Ivana spava. Ivana is sleeping.

Goran uči. Goran is studying.

Here one Croatian word (e.g. čita) really corresponds to two English words (e.g. is

reading). Croatian present tense is just one word.

If you are new to learning languages, a warning: in very few instances you can

just translate from English word-for-word and get a meaningful sentence in

another language. For example, these two sentences in English have three words

each and differ in only one word:

I am cooking.

I like cooking.

However, the matching sentences in Croatian have 1 word and 2 words

respectively – and no words in common. Croatian, generally, uses less words than

English in an average sentence.

If you’re now asking why the verb čitati has the first vowel underlined, if the default

stress is on the first syllable anyway (e.g. voziti is stressed on the first syllable

without any special mark), be patient: you will get the answer in the following

chapters.

There are few verbs where you need to change the last vowel in the present tense,

from a to i. One of them is:

trčati run → trči


If the pres-3 form is not straightforward, I’ll list it after the infinitive form of a verb,

in parentheses. A good Croatian dictionary should list it too:

ležati (leži) lie down, recline trčati (trči) run

To help you remember all verbs where pres-3 and other present tense forms are

not simply derived by removing -ti from the inf, such present tense forms will be

underlined with a blue line, and the inf forms will be printed on the right margin in

pale blue. For example:

Ana trči. Ana is running.

Marko leži. Marko is lying.

There are more verbs where you have to remember the present form, but it’s not a

simple change of a vowel; it again should be listed in a dictionary (you can call such

verbs ‘irregular’). For such verbs, the pres-3 form almost always ends in -e:

jesti (jede) eat

pisati (piše) write

piti (pije) drink

plakati (plače) cry

plesati (pleše) dance ®

skakati (skače) jump

trčati

ležati

(Recall that in words like pije, ije is pronounced as two syllables, since it comes at

the very end: pi-je.) Let’s put these forms to use:

Ana jede. Ana is eating.

jesti

Marko piše. Marko is writing.

pisati

Ivana pleše. Ivana is dancing.

plesati

Goran plače. Goran is crying.

plakati

Instead of names, you can use the following pronouns:

on he ona she

For example:

Ona jede. She’s eating.

jesti

On plače. He’s crying.

plakati

You can even leave out the pronoun if it’s obvious who you’re talking about:

Plače. He/she is crying.

plakati

That’s fine, but how do you say I’m eating or I’m cooking? Such sentences are in the

1st person. Croatian does not use personal pronouns (I, you...) often, the preferred

way is just to use a special verb form. (This is actually common in most languages:

English, German and French obligatory pronoun is an exception, from the standpoint

of the majority of languages in the world.)

It turns out that for almost all verbs, you just need to add an -m to the pres-3 form

to get the pres-1 form you now need:

Čitam. I’m reading.


Kuham. I’m cooking.

Učim. I’m studying.

(This is also possible in English, but only colloquially, e.g. hope this helps. However,

the sentences above are not considered colloquial at all in Croatian! Croatian simply

uses pronouns only in specific circumstances, which will be described later.)

This works regardless of the verbs being ‘irregular’ or not:

Jedem. I’m eating.

jesti

Pišem. I’m writing.

pisati

Plešem. I’m dancing.

plesati

Pijem. I’m drinking.

piti

Since pijem is derived from pije, the pronunciation of ije is the same as in pije – it’s

pronounced clearly as two syllables: pi-jem. This holds to all similar verbs as well. ®

A Croatian dictionary could list either pres-3 forms or pres-1 forms for the ‘irregular’

verbs, but it’s easy to distinguish them, since they end in different letters (almost all

pres-1 forms end in an -m: for just two irregular verbs they end in -u).

We can introduce two useful words to add information to such sentences (they are

both adverbs):

još still već already

We can put them in front of the verb to say that something is still ongoing or it has

already started:

Ana već spava. Ana is already sleeping.

Goran još plače. Goran is still crying.

plakati

The adverb još, when used in this role, is often emphasized as još uvijek, giving it a

bit stronger meaning:

Ana još uvijek pleše. Ana is still dancing.

plesati

This is a bit colloquial. It’s usually pronounced as u-vjek, since the ije does not

appear at the very end (and so I marked it).

If you’re now asking how to say I write or Ana sleeps, there’s no such difference in

Croatian: pišem means both I’m writing and I write.

If a verb has an irregular pres-3, please learn the inf as well, even if you don’t need it

right now: you’ll need it a bit later, for the past and the future tense.

________

® In most of Serbia, and in the prevailing variant of Standard Serbian, most words

that have -ije- or -je- in Croatian, have -e- instead, e.g. instead of pjevati, the verb is

pevati. That’s called “Ekavian pronunciation” (the name is misleading – it’s not just a

matter of pronunciation, since spelling follows the pronunciation).


However, forms like pjevati, called “Ijekavian” are also standard in Serbian (as

another standard variant) and you can occasionally read articles written in

“Ijekavian” in newspapers from Serbia. I will not mark all such words. In most cases,

if you want to obtain them, just replace -ije- or -je- in Croatian with -e-. Exceptions

will be marked: one of them are present forms of the verb piti, which are pijem, pije

also in Serbia. You can find more about “Ekavian” in A9 Bosnian, Serbian and

Montenegrin.

In most coastal areas of Croatia, but not in the very south (i.e. Dubrovnik area) most

words that have -ije- or -je- in Standard Croatian, have -i- instead, e.g. instead of

pjevati, the verb is pivati. That’s called “Ikavian pronunciation”. You will find it in

casual writing, some novels, movies and pop songs.

Instead of kuhati, the form kuvati is used in Serbia, and in parts of Bosnia and

Croatia (however, it’s not standard in Croatian).

In Serbia, meaning dance is usually expressed with the verb igrati which has other

meanings (play) in both Croatia and Serbia.

• Something Possibly Interesting

English is a distant cousin to Croatian and related languages. This will mostly be of

interest to language geeks. However, it can also help you remember things.

For example, the -m in the Croatian 1st person is related to the English I am —

thousands of years ago, a long lost language which was the common ancestor of

both languages had the -m in the first person form of some verbs. This consonant

has survived literally thousands of years.

Russian is a much closer cousin. For example, Russian verb meaning write has inf

писать, and the pres-3 пишет. If we would spell these words using Croatian

characters, it would be p’isаt’ (p’išet), which is almost identical to Croatian.

However, the pres-1 is p’išu. Russian has overall a bit more complex forms of words

when compared to Croatian.


• Exercise

Use the following verbs:

sjediti sit zijevati yawn

and the verbs you have already learned, to fill in right verb forms and adverbs:

Goran ______________(a). Goran is yawning.

______________(b). I’m crying.

Ana ______(c) ______________(d). Ana is already sitting.

______(e) ______________(f). I’m still sleeping.

______(g) __________(h). She’s running.

______(i) ______(j) __________(k). He’s already waiting.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 03 Objects 19 / 600

03 Objects

It’s nice to be able to say Ana is reading or I’m cooking, but it would be even better

to be able to say what you are reading or cooking!

Croatian is a language with grammatical cases. It means that words change a bit

when used in sentences. For instance, when you express what you are reading or

even whom you’re waiting for – that’s called object. This ‘role’ requires a form of a

noun that’s usually called accusative case or sometimes the object case. Since

accusative is a long word, it’s often shortened to just A.

(Nouns are words standing for a more or less specific object, person or idea,

something that can perform an action, e.g. sister, cat, or can be an object of an

action, e.g. you can eat a pizza).

Not all nouns change in accusative in the same way. Some don’t change at all. A

large group of nouns in Croatian end in -a; they all change that ending to -u in

accusative. For instance:

baka grandmother

jabuka apple

juha soup ®

kava coffee ®

knjiga book

mama Mom

pjesma song

riba fish

sestra sister

tata Dad

teta aunt

televizija TV ®

večera supper, late dinner

voda water

The default, ‘dictionary’ forms listed above are also considered a ‘grammatical case’

and are called nominative (just N for short).

We are now able to say:

Ana čita knjigu. Ana is reading a book.

Kuham juhu. I’m cooking soup.

Ivan pije kavu. Ivan is drinking coffee.

Jedem večeru. I’m eating supper.

Pijem vodu. I’m drinking water.

Warning. English prefers using ‘light’ or ‘generic’ verbs like make in many

circumstances, so you usually make coffee, make dinner and so on. Croatian has

almost no such verbs, and you have to use always specific verbs – for example,

kuhati cook if you prepare food or drink by cooking.

piti

jesti

piti


In sentences like Ana čita knjigu, the word Ana is called subject. So, the Croatian N

case is sometimes called the subject case:

subject object

↓ ↓

Ana čita knjigu.

N

A

In English, the word order is almost always subject-verb-object. It’s also the most

common order in Croatian, but it’s not always so, as you’ll see later.

If you are now puzzled where the English a (in a book) got lost – it does not exist in

Croatian, there’s no difference between a book and the book in Croatian. (I’ll show

later how you can express a or the if you really need it.)

The majority of verbs require just objects in accusative. For instance:

čekati wait

gledati watch

imati have, possess

slušati listen

tražiti search, look for

trebati need

Let’s put them to use:

Ana gleda televiziju. Ana is watching TV.

Trebam kavu. I need coffee. ®

Ivan čeka baku. Ivan is waiting for his grandmother.

Slušam pjesmu. I’m listening to a song.

Goran traži knjigu. Goran is looking for the book.

Unlike the English verb have, Croatian imati is a perfectly regular and simple verb:

Ivan ima knjigu. Ivan has a book.

While in English, verbs listen and wait use prepositions to and for (you wait for

something), in Croatian no such special words are needed, you just use nouns in

accusative. The same goes for tražiti.

You could also see that in English we have his grandmother while in Croatian it’s just

baka (in A). Words like his, my, her are less used in Croatian and are often implied.

(English also implies possession in some circumstances: it’s enough to say I’m at

home – it’s implied that you’re at your home, not at home that belongs to someone

else. When it’s somebody else’s home, then you would say e.g. I’m at your home.)

This change of ending applies to loanwords (that is, words taken from other

languages) as well:

Goran jede pizzu. Goran is eating a pizza.

jesti

There are also a few words that must adapt in English as well, depending on their

role: you cannot say “I’m listening to she”, but I’m listening to her. It’s just that in

Croatian, basically all nouns must adapt.


The accusative change -a → -u applies to personal names as well:

Ivan čeka Anu. Ivan is waiting for Ana.

Goran sluša Ivanu. Goran is listening to Ivana.

Therefore, personal names in Croatian have many forms, as other nouns do, and

some of these forms may coincide with other names – as you will later discover.

However, there’s always the base, default form – e.g. Ana and Ivana.

Most personal names that end in -a in Croatian are female names. However, there

are couple of male names that end in -a as well, e.g. Jakša, Luka, Nikola and Saša.

They behave exactly the same:

Ana traži Luku. Ana is looking for Luka.

There are few Croatian female names that don’t end in -a: they don’t change at all,

ever. Such names are e.g. Ines and Nives. For example:

Ivan čeka Ines. Ivan is waiting for Ines.

A more exhaustive list of various names, including male names in -a and female

names not in -a, can be found in L1 Common Names. ®

(I’ll explain you how to use nouns not ending in -a, including masculine names like

Ivan, as objects in the following chapters.)

Finally, I’ll explain how to ask what someone is doing (at the moment, or generally).

While English has the special verb do, Croatian uses the verb raditi work in a generic

sense. You should start such questions with the word što what:

Što Ana radi? What is Ana doing? (lit. ‘working’)

— Gleda televiziju. She’s watching TV.

As you can see, there’s nothing special about questions in Croatian: no special word

order, no special rules. You just have to start them with the right question-word. I’ve

also given the literal (lit.) meaning, in quotes; of course, it really means what is

doing.

We can here answer only with a verb, no pronouns (e.g. ona she) are needed, since

it’s clear who we’re talking about. Generally, Croatian prefers very short answers.

To ask directly what someone is doing, use the 2nd person form radiš:

Što radiš? What are you doing? (to a single person!)

— Čitam knjigu. I’m reading a book.

This form is used only when you ask a single person, someone you’re familiar with,

your family member, co-worker, etc; for your superiors, people you don’t know

personally, other forms are used (they will be explained later).

In many regions, šta is used colloquially instead of što®, so you’ll very often read and

hear šta radiš, etc. (try it with Google).


One more remark: there are other languages out there that have grammatical cases,

and call one of them accusative, e.g. Finnish, German, Greek, Latin and so on. The

accusative case in all languages tends to be similar, but details can be different. If

you know a lot how to use the accusative case in e.g. German, be aware that not all

of it applies to Croatian.

________

® Instead of kava, a slightly different word kafa is common in most parts of Bosnia

and Serbia. In Bosnia, the form kahva is used as well. Instead of juha, supa is

common in these countries, and in some regions of Croatia as well.

Standard Serbian insists that the word for TV must be stressed as televizija (you will

hear it on the Serbian Public TV); regardless of it, a great majority of speakers in

Serbia uses the same stress in that word as in Croatia. However, you will

occasionally hear televizija in parts of Croatia and Bosnia.

While many names are common in Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia, there

are some country-specific names. Actually, there are some names that are specific

for a part of Croatia, and uncommon elsewhere – despite the total population of

Croatia being about 4 millions.

The form šta what is considered standard in Serbia, Montenegro and most of

Bosnia. It’s very common in Croatia (including the cities of Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, etc)

but not standard. In Northwestern Croatia, many people colloquially use kaj for

what (you can hear it in Zagreb too). In parts of the coast, especially islands and

Istria, another word is often used colloquially for what: ča.


If we would pay attention to tones in words, object forms of some words would be

a bit more complicated to create. For instance, the noun voda water has the rising

tone in the nominative case, but the falling tone in the accusative vodu. However,

the noun riba fish has the falling tone in all forms. This is not a major issue, since

many people in Croatia have no differences in tone, or have non-standard tones

anyway, so we’re used various ‘accents’.

In Russian, this is a major issue. There are no tones in Russian, but the stress often

moves in various forms of one word. For instance, Russian water is N вода, A воду.

When written in Croatian spelling, it’s N vodа, A vodu – which seems identical to

Croatian, but there’s a catch: since the o in N is unstressed, it’s pronounced reduced,

much closer to the a sound, while in A it’s stressed and pronounced like o! Russian

pronunciation is more complex than Croatian.


• Exercise

Use the following nouns:

banana banana poruka message

and the words you have already learned, to fill in right forms of nouns:

Goran jede ______________(a). Goran is eating a banana.

Ana piše ______________(b). Ana is writing a message.

Ivan čeka ______________(c). Ivan is waiting for Ines.

Josip traži ______________(d). Josip is looking for the book.

Ona jede __________(e). She’s eating pizza.

On pije ________(f). He’s drinking coffee.

Jedem ____________(g). I’m eating an apple.

Next, complete the following sentences:

______(h) ____________(i) ____________(j). She’s reading a book.

Ana ____________(k) ____________(l). Ana has a sister.

______________(m) ______________(n). I’m listening to a song.

______________(o) ______________(p). I’m reading a message.

______________(q) ______________(r). I’m waiting for the supper.

______________(s) ______________(t). I’m drinking water.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 04 No, Oen, Probably and Again 24 / 600

04 No, Often, Probably and Again

We now know how to say Ana is watching TV, but how to say Ana isn't watching TV?

It is quite simple: just put a word ne¨ right before the verb. This is the default and

main way to make negation in Croatian (in English, you can also put no right in front

of a noun, e.g. I need no coffee, but it does not work in Croatian):

Ana ne gleda televiziju. Ana isn’t watching TV.

Ne trebam kavu. I don’t need coffee.

According to the Standard pronunciation, the word ne¨ is pronounced together with

the verb that follows it, and for many verbs – but not for all – the ne¨ gets stressed

instead of the verb. That almost never happens in the ‘western’ pronunciation,

where the stress almost never moves in such circumstances. We could therefore

write the above combination as ne-gleda.

If you want to follow the Standard stress scheme, how to find out if the stress

moves to ne¨ or not? Just look if the verb has (in my markings!) any underline. This

explains why I have underlined the first syllables of some verbs:

Standard stress when ne¨ is before a verb

ne + gleda the stress moves to ne

ne + čita no shift: the stress stays on či

ne + razgovara no shift: the stress stays on go

In the ‘western’ scheme, which is much simpler, the stress doesn’t even move from

gleda. It that scheme, it moves mostly from the very short verbs, like znati know,

and there’s only few of them. In the city of Rijeka and the region around it, the

stress usually doesn’t move, even from such short verbs.

The two dots (¨) after the ne¨ are just a reminder that this word must be placed

always right before the verb, and that it gets pronounced together with the verb;

they are just my markings, of course they are not normally written, please don’t

write them when you write in Croatian.

The verb imati have behaves a bit specially: its present tense forms get always fused

with ne¨ into nema, nemam, etc.:

Nemam čašu. I don’t have a glass.

Croatian has two words that correspond to English glass (to drink from, not what is

used for windows) and cup, and they divide the world a bit differently:

čaša glass, (paper) cup (no handle)

šalica cup, mug (has a handle) ®

Basically, čaša is made of glass or some thin material (e.g. plastic, paper) and šalica


is heavy and has a handle.

Back to negative sentences: they can mean that something is not happening right

now or it never happens. If you want to emphasize that something never happens,

you should add the following adverb in the sentence – the most common place is

before the ne¨ – but without removing the negation:

nikad(a) never (use with negation!)

This is different than in English, where you have to remove negation if you use

never. The word can appear as either nikad or nikada, there’s no difference in

meaning and the shorter form is more common in everyday communication (there

are many words in Croatian with this feature). For example:

Ana nikad ne gleda televiziju. Ana never watches TV.

Nikad ne pijem kavu. I never drink coffee.

piti

There are more words like nikad(a) in Croatian: whenever any of them is used, the

verb must be negated. Most of them start with ni-.

There’s another special adverb that emphasizes the negation:

uopće + negation not... at all ®

As in other Croatian words that have vowels without a consonant between, vowels

are pronounced separately. Therefore, the word has three syllables: u-op-će.

(Besides, the word is stressed on the first syllable in the Standard scheme, and on

the second syllable in the ‘western’ scheme.) For example:

Goran uopće ne spava. Goran isn’t sleeping at all.

Futhermore, we can use the following combinations of adverbs and ne¨ to express

that something is over or still didn’t begin:

još + negation not... yet

više + negation not... anymore

For example:

Goran još ne spava. Goran isn’t sleeping yet.

Više ne pijem kavu. I don’t drink coffee anymore.

piti

(It’s not obligatory to put the words nikad(a), uopće, još and više right before ne¨,

that’s just the most frequent position.)

It’s also useful to tell how often something happens. There are following useful

words:

često often

obično usually

ponekad sometimes

rijetko not very often

stalno all the time

svaki dan every day

uvijek always


Such words are often placed before the verb, and svaki dan is often found at the

end of the sentence as well. Word order is quite free in Croatian and you can place

many words as you like.

Ana rijetko gleda televiziju. Ana watches TV rarely.

Ponekad pijem kavu. I drink coffee sometimes.

Ivan pije kavu svaki dan. Ivan drinks coffee every day.

There’s another useful word: skoro almost (it has other meanings as well). Used

with nikad(a), it expresses almost never. However, you still have to use negation:

Skoro nikad ne pijem kavu. I almost never drink coffee.

There are more useful words. For example when you say that someone is doing

something, you could be perfectly sure, or just guess. That’s where these words

come into play:

možda maybe

očito obviously

sigurno for sure

vjerojatno probably ®

Such words are again usually put before the verb. For example:

Goran možda spava. Goran is maybe sleeping.

Ivan sigurno pije kavu. Ivan is drinking coffee for sure.

There are couple of words to indicate that something repeats or happens for the

first time:

opet / ponovo / ponovno again

prvi put for the first time

There’s really no difference among the three words meaning again. The word opet

is the most frequent one in everyday life:

Ana opet spava. Ana is sleeping again.

Goran prvi put čita knjigu. Goran is reading a book for the first time.

You will sometimes hear and read prvi puta, e.g. in newspapers. (Some people think

that form is not acceptable as standard, but it can be seen in publications issued by

the Croatian government!) It’s basically the same variation as nikad vs. nikada.

If you are asked what you’re doing, and you aren’t doing anything in particular, you

can answer with:

Što radiš? What are you doing?

— Ništa. Nothing.

If you want to use ništa nothing with a verb, the verb must be negated too:

Ivan često ne radi ništa. Ivan frequently does nothing. (lit. ‘isn’t doing nothing’)

This is again quite unlike English. In English, there’s at most one negation in a

piti

piti

piti


sentence; in Croatian, it’s always either all negative – including the verb – or

nothing. The following sentence negates the verb and has two additional negative

words:

Ivan nikad ne radi ništa. Ivan never does anything. (lit. ‘doesn’t never do nothing’)

Such ‘multiple negations’ in Croatian are mandatory.

________

® Instead of šalica, šolja is used in Bosnia and Serbia. Instead of uopće, uopšte is

used in Serbia and parts of Bosnia. Instead of vjerojatno, vjerovatno is common in

Bosnia and Serbia, and colloquially in parts of Croatia.


The word ne¨ is negative. This is not a coincidence: the English word ultimately

comes from Latin, and the prefix ne- in Latin meant negation; Croatian and Latin are

(distant) cousins. This is another detail that can help you remember the Croatian

word.

• Exercise

Fill in the words:

______(a) ______________(b), gledam __________________(c). I’m not sleeping,

I’m watching TV.

______________(d) trebam ______________(e). I need coffee again.

______________(f) više ______________(g). I don’t have a glass anymore.

Ivan ______________(h) ne __________(i) televiziju. Ivan is not watching TV for

sure.

______________(j) pijem ________(k). I drink coffee sometimes.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 05 Accusave Case 28 / 600

05 Accusative Case

In the previous chapters you’ve learned how to use nouns that end in -a (in their

dictionary form) as objects, that is, how to make their accusative (object) form (also

called case). But what about other nouns?

First, there are general nouns that end in -o or -e. They usually don’t change at all in

the accusative case, that is, they can be used as objects in their dictionary (or

nominative) form. For instance:

auto car

jutro morning

meso meat

mlijeko milk

nebo sky, skies

more sea

pismo letter

pivo beer

vino wine

voće fruit, fruits

We can (and must!) use them as objects without any change:

Pijem pivo. I’m drinking beer.

piti

Ana gleda more. Ana is watching the sea.

Goran pije vino. Goran is drinking wine.

piti

Jedem voće. I’m eating fruits.

jesti

Ivan pije mlijeko. Ivan is drinking milk.

piti

Pišem pismo. I’m writing a letter.

pisati

Ivana vozi auto. Ivana is driving a car.

There are two useful and similar verbs:

vidjeti (vidi) (can) see voljeti (voli) like, love ®

These two verbs change from -jeti in inf to -i in pres-3. That happens for almost all

verbs in -jeti, and can be considered regular, therefore, I usually won’t list pres-3

forms for such verbs. Some examples:

Vidim more. I (can) see the sea.

Ana voli pivo. Ana likes beer.

Then, there are nouns that end in a consonant (nouns that end in -i or -u are very

rare in Croatian). Their behavior depends on what they stand for. If they stand for

anything except people or animals, they also don’t change in accusative:

brod ship

film movie

kruh bread ®

ručak lunch, dinner

sok juice

vlak train ®

Let’s introduce two more useful verbs:

poznavati (poznaje) know (someone)

rezati (reže) cut


Croatian has a special verb for knowing people (and cities), like French connaître.

(Also, this is not an error, the verb poznavati has a different stress in infinitive and

present. Such shifts specific for individual verbs is what makes stress complex in

Croatian.)

Again, we can use the nouns listed above as objects without any change:

Ana gleda film. Ana is watching a movie.

Režem kruh. I’m cutting bread. ®

rezati

Goran pije sok. Goran is drinking juice.

piti

Ivana kuha ručak. Ivana is cooking lunch.

Čekam vlak. I’m waiting for a train. ®

However, nouns that end in a consonant, but stand for people or animals do change

in accusative. You must add an -a to them. This applies to e.g. following nouns:

brat brother

čovjek man/human

galeb (sea)gull

konj horse

muž husband

sin son


Ana gleda konja. Ana is watching a horse.

Ivan čeka brata. Ivan is waiting for his brother.

Goran vidi galeba. Goran sees a seagull.

The accusative ending applies to names as well:

Ana čeka Gorana. Ana is waiting for Goran.

Josip poznaje Ivana. Josip knows Ivan.

poznavati

This applies to names having more than one word (e.g. with the last name) and to

non-native names as well – each word in the (masculine) name has to get an -a:

Čekamo Ivana Horvata. We’re waiting for Ivan Horvat.

Gledam Brada Pitta. I’m watching Brad Pitt.

When you hear or read a sentence where names are expected to be in the

accusative case, you have to be able to work them back to the default (nominative)

forms. You simply cannot understand Croatian without understanding cases – that’s

why I have introduced them from the start:

Čekam Ivana. I’m waiting for Ivan. (Ivan = male)

Čekam Ivanu. I’m waiting for Ivana. (Ivana = female)

When endings are added to certain nouns ending in a consonant, they don’t get

added to their nominative form, but to a usually slightly different form. One

example is pas dog. In the accusative case, it looks like this:

Ana gleda psa. Ana is watching a dog.


The accusative ending is not added to pas, but to a slightly shorter form (ps). We can

call that form the ‘case-base’ and list it after such nouns, in parentheses:

nominative

‘case-base’

magarac (magarc-) donkey

pas (ps-) dog

vrabac (vrapc-) sparrow

The case-base form has usually just the last syllable shortened, but sometimes

there’s a consonant alternation as well. (This form is also called oblique stem, or just

stem; I’ve invented a simple name for it.)

A few nouns have two possible forms of their case-base. However, the difference is

only in spelling, as in sequences -dc- and -tc-, only -c-; is pronounced. Common ones

are:

sudac (sudc- / suc-) judge

svetac (svetc- / svec-) saint ®

A few male names that end in either -o or -e behave as if they end in a consonant

and have a specific case-base, usually just without the last vowel (j is added if the

word ends in -io):

Darko (Dark-)

Hrvoje (Hrvoj-)

Marko (Mark-)

Dario (Darij-)

Mario (Marij-)

Silvio (Silvij-)

For example:

Ana čeka Marka. Ana is waiting for Marko.

Josip ne poznaje Hrvoja. Josip doesn’t know Hrvoje.

poznavati

The j is sometimes carried even to the nominative (that is, dictionary) form:

according to the official statistics, there are 32708 Mario’s and 4066 Marijo’s in

Croatia.

Finally, there are common male names that change as if they end in -a. They end in -

e or -o, but that’s just in the nominative case. All other forms are like for nouns in -a.

Such names are historically nicknames. For example, Ante is a nickname for Antun

(corresponding to English Anthony), but it’s used as an official name as well (there

are 35457 Ante’s in Croatia).

Two more names that behave like that are Ivo and Kruno. For a more exhaustive

list, check L1 Common Names.

To mark such strange names, I’ll use (A -u) as a reminder that they change like any

other nouns in -a, i.e. get an -u in the accusative case. For example:


Čekam Antu. I’m waiting for Ante.

Ne poznajem Krunu. I don’t know Kruno. ®

Now you know how to make accusative case of almost all nouns! We can

summarize the rules we have learned in a table:

noun type (N)

A (object)

nouns in -a -a → -u

nouns in -o or -e no change

nouns in a consonant

(not people or animals)

no change

nouns in a consonant

(people or animals)

add -a

poznavati

(These rules are not completely precise, but will work for almost all nouns; I will give

you the exact rules a bit later.)

Finally, let me explain how you can ask about objects. Start questions with the

following question words:

kog(a) who (as an object)

što what

For example, you can ask what Ana is watching, or who Goran is waiting for. There’s

a very important point: the answers must be again in the accusative case, as they are

still considered objects:

Što Ana gleda? What is Ana watching?

— Film. A movie. (A!)

— Konja. A horse. (A!)

Što Ivan pije? What is Ivan drinking?

piti

— Kavu. Coffee. (A!)

Koga Goran čeka? Who is Goran waiting for?

— Anu. Ana. (A!)

Again, you’ll often hear and read the colloquial word šta ® instead of što. I’ll explain

details of who and what questions later, in 28 Asking Who and What.

You can, of course, answer with just:

— Ne znam. I don’t know.

The verb znati know is one of a very few verbs which shift their stress to ne¨ even in

the ‘western’ scheme, since its pres-3 has only one syllable (zna). I’ve indicated it

with an underline under ne¨. (People feel it’s pronounced differently than other ne¨

+ verb combinations, so you’ll see sometimes non-standard spellings as one word

i.e. neznam.)


________

® In Serbia, where “Ekavian” forms prevail, verbs like vidjeti have inf videti, but the

pres-3 is just vidi.

Instead of kruh, hljeb is used in most of Bosnia, and in the “Ekavian” form hleb in

Serbia; instead of vlak, voz is common in these countries.

Standard Serbian spelling allows only case-bases suc- and svec-.

In most of Serbia, Kruno has forms like Marko, so it would rather be ne poznajem

Kruna, but the name is really rare in Serbia.

The form šta is Standard in Serbia and most of Bosnia.


If you think this system is weird and complicated, you might be interested that

Russian has the same system. For instance, Russian words for brother and horse are

identical to Croatian ones, they are just spelled with Cyrillic letters as брат and конь

(Russian spells Croatian nj as n + special ‘softening’ character ь). In the accusative

case, they get the same ending, -а, since they belong to people and animals.

And then the Russian complications begin. You would expect A коньа, but Russian

spells the combination ь + а as a special character: я. So it’s rather коня, despite

that being really just adding an а, exactly like in Croatian...

It’s not all: the stress in the Russian word for horse shifts to the added -а, making the

first o unstressed and pronounced similar to а, despite the spelling. But the stress in

брат doesn’t shift: you have to learn by heart which nouns shift the stress... so

Croatian is not that bad after all.

Of course, this Russian stress shift corresponds to a change of tone in the Standard

Croatian word for horse (falling in N, rising in A), but we can ignore tones in

Croatian.

• Examples

Putujem I’m traveling, a pop song from Yammat – a Croatian band, despite its name

– uses a really simple grammar in most verses:

Svaka priča ima kraj Every story has an end

Svaki kamen zavičaj Every stone a homeland

More ili planina A sea or a mountain

(Saša Ljiljak)

The words svaka and svaki are different forms of the adjective svaki every, each.

Adjectives are quite adaptive in Croatian; they will be introduced in 10 Gender.

The word zavičaj (which roughly translates as homeland, but the meaning is more


local) is in A, which is equal to N for it, according to the rules above. The following

verse has a negation:

Putujem i ne mislim I’m travelling and I’m not thinking

putovati

na tebe about you

The construction na tebe is the preposition na on + pronoun in A; we literally say

‘think on something-in-A’. Use of pronouns with prepositions will be introduced

later, in 34 Stressed Pronouns.

You can listen to it on YouTube.

• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below, using the following nouns:

čaj tea

nož knife

Pijem ________(a). I’m drinking tea.

Čekamo ____________(b). We’re waiting for Damir.

Trebam ________(c). I need a knife.

______(d) poznajem ____________(e). I don’t know Dario.

Čujem ________________(f). I can hear a donkey.

Čekam ________________(g). I’m waiting for Kruno.

Damir ____________(h) čita ____________(i). Damir is reading the letter again.

Čitam ____________(j). I’m reading a book.

Igor ne ________(k) ________(l). Igor doesn’t drink beer.

Complete the following questions:

________(m) Ana ________(n)? What is Ana reading?

________(o) ________(p) Goran? What is Goran doing?

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 06 Desnaons 34 / 600

06 Destinations

With the knowledge of the accusative case and a few verbs, we can talk about

travel and express destinations. The useful verbs are:

dolaziti come, arrive

putovati (putuje) travel

ići (ide) go

odlaziti leave

There are couple of nouns that we can use with verbs to demonstrate use of

destinations:

Amerika America

bolnica hospital

hotel hotel

Hrvatska Croatia

grad city

kafić cafe bar

kino cinema ®

park park

Split (a city)

restoran restaurant

škola school

Zagreb (a city)

To express destinations, we have to put the preposition u¨ in front of the noun in

accusative, and then we can make sentences like these:

Ana odlazi u Ameriku. Ana is leaving for America.

Ivan putuje u Hrvatsku. Ivan is traveling to Croatia.

Idem u Zagreb. I’m going to Zagreb.

Goran ide u bolnicu. Goran is going to hospital.

We again see the two dots, introduced with ne¨; their meaning is the same (the

word is pronounced with the following word, stress moves to it in some words, for

some speakers.).

However, I won’t specially mark words and forms where stress moves to u¨, as it

putovati

ići

ići

would be too complicated; besides, this feature doesn’t completely overlap with the

standard stress area. You can just leave the stress on the noun, but be prepared to

hear the stress moved from some speakers (e.g. u + vodu = u vodu.)®

While English leave usually uses for instead of to, Croatian verbs use the same

prepositions.

The expression ide u školu can mean somebody is a school student, i.e. ‘goes to

school’:

Goran ide u školu. Goran goes to school.

However, if you go to an island or mountain, you must use the preposition na¨

instead of u¨. There are names of bigger Croatian islands:

Brač

Cres

Hvar

Korčula

Krk

Lošinj

Pag

Rab

Vis

ići


For instance:

Ana putuje na Krk. Ana is traveling to the island of Krk.

putovati

Odlazim na Korčulu. I’m leaving for the island of Korčula.

Of course, this applies to the following nouns as well:

otok island ® planina mountain

The preposition na¨ is used for all destinations that are perceived as surfaces, or

when the destination is on top – it’s usually translated as onto or on: you would use

it for roofs, tabletops, walls, etc.

Next, it would be great if we could say not just I’m... but also we’re! It’s quite

simple: Croatian again prefers not to use personal pronouns (I, we...) but a special

verb form, 1st person plural present (for short, pres-1pl). It’s a form quite simple to

make, just add an -o to the pres-1 form (one that ends in a -m):

idem I’m going → idemo we’re going

For instance:

Putujemo na Lošinj. We’re traveling to the island of Lošinj.

putovati

Odlazimo u Ameriku. We’re leaving for America.

The preposition na¨ also applies to the following popular destinations:

plaža beach trg (city) square

For example:

Idemo na plažu. We’re going to the beach.

ići

The preposition na¨ must be used with the cardinal points when used as directions:

sjever north

zapad west

istok east

jug south

For example:

Putujemo na jug. We’re traveling south.

The preposition na¨ is used with many metaphorical destinations (or rather,

activities):

na fakultet to university

na more to the seaside

na posao to work

na praznike to holidays

na put on a trip

na selo to countryside

putovati

(I’ve listed nouns in the phrases above in the accusative case; the form praznike is in

accusative plural, a form that will be explained later.) For instance:

Ana ide na posao. Ana is going to work.

ići

Idemo na more. We’re going to the seaside.

ići


(Some of these destinations can be used also with u¨ – it makes their meaning

literal, e.g. u more means literally into the sea, to swim or dive, throwing something

into the sea, etc. Nouns that require the na¨ are marked in the Core Dictionary.)

The metaphorical na¨ includes all activities usually done in company, such as meals,

meetings and sport events:

na čaj to have a tea

na kavu to have a coffee ®

na koncert to a concert

na nogomet to football game ®

na odmor to vacation/break

na pivo to have a beer

na ples to dance

na ručak to lunch

na sastanak to a meeting

na večeru to supper

When you say na kavu, it requires motion to a destination (where you will have a

coffee or more than one), not just drinking coffee wherever you are. The

‘destination’ na nogomet means both playing football or just watching a game (this

applies to other sports and public performances as well).

The same holds for celebrations and parties:

na feštu to a local feast/party

na rođendan to a birthday party

na zabavu to a party

For instance:

Idem na kavu. I’m going to have a coffee.

ići

Idemo na sastanak. We’re going to a meeting.

ići

If it’s a bit confusing what ‘activities usually done in company’ are, they are simply

not literally places. Consider this:

not true places

concert

dinner

football

meeting

movie premiere

true places

concert hall

restaurant

playground

meeting room

cinema

You’ll later see that the preposition na¨ can be regarded as the default preposition in

Croatian.

Finally, the ‘destination’ na sunce usually doesn’t imply taking a spaceship, but

rather going to an open space, to get exposed to the sunlight:

na sunce in the sun na zrak to (fresh) air ®

Pay attention: everything I’ve explained here are destinations, and not locations.


If you say idemo na plažu, you aren’t describing where the action takes place,

but where you’re heading to (and you may get there or not). To help you

distinguish locations vs destinations, consider the following sentences:

I’m running to the gym.

(You aren’t in the gym,

just want to get there.)

I’m running in the gym.

(You are in the gym,

and running there.)

= a destination

= a location

If you feel that the word to is a better fit in English, it’s definitely a destination.

Confusingly, English uses on in e.g. going on vacation, when you’re actually not on

vacation yet – but Croatian treats this case as a destination too. While English

sometimes uses the same grammar for both, Croatian strongly distinguishes

destinations from locations.

So, what about locations? You will have to wait a while, since we have to learn

another noun form to express them. Destinations come cheap, if you know how

to make the accusative case.

The sentences above can be made more precise if we add one of the following

useful adverbs of time:

sad(a) now

danas today

sutra tomorrow ®

uskoro soon

prekosutra day after tomorrow

sljedeće godine next year

sljedeći mjesec next month

sljedeći tjedan next week ®

(As in English, you can talk about events in future and still use the present tense.)

Such words and expressions are often used to begin sentence with:

Sutra idem na sastanak. I’m going to a meeting tomorrow.

Danas idemo u kino. We’re going to cinema today.

Sljedeće godine putujemo na Hvar. We’re traveling to the island of Hvar

next year.

Finally, there are the following often used generic directions:

blizu close, near

daleko far away

dalje further, away

unutra inside

ovamo here

natrag / nazad back

van outside ®

tamo / onamo there

ići

ići

putovati


For example:

Ana uskoro dolazi ovamo. Ana is coming here soon.

To ask where to something or someone goes/travels, just start a question with:

kamo where... to

Nothing else except this word is needed, there’s no change of word order:

Kamo Ana ide? Where is Ana going to?

ići

— Na posao. To work.

— Ide na posao. She’s going to work.

ići

It’s normal to answer with just a destination, leaving the verb out; you can include

the verb if you want to emphasize it. In colloquial communication, especially in

some regions, you will hear e.g. gdje or kuda instead of kamo in such questions.®

As you can see, the accusative case is not used only for objects. In fact, almost all

cases in Croatian have more than one use. If you find somewhere on the Internet a

table where each case has one use, and even better, where each case “answers to

questions”, bear in mind that explains only a small part of the real use. I will

introduce other uses of accusative gradually.

________

® The following words or phrases are usually not used Serbia and most of Bosnia;

words or phrases pointed by arrows are used instead:

kava → kafa

kino → bioskop

nogomet → fudbal

otok → ostrvo

van → napolje

zrak → vazduh

sljedeći tjedan → sljedeće nedjelje / sljedeće sedmice

In Bosnia, in parts where Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) live, kahva is used for coffee

as well.

The word napolje is heard in parts of Croatia as well.

The stress moves to prepositions like u¨ and na¨ – only with specific nouns! – in

Bosnia, parts of Croatia (Dalmatia and Slavonia), and western parts of Serbia (not

including Belgrade) and western parts of Montenegro.

Instead of sutra, a slightly different form, sjutra, is used in Montenegro.

In Bosnia and Serbia, kuda is usually used to ask for destinations, kamo is not used.

Also, especially in speech, gdje (in Serbia gde) is frequently used in these countries.


Using prepositions with the accusative case to indicate where something is moving

to is not uncommon: German uses the same system.


You’ve maybe noticed that the ending -mo for the 1st person plural looks a lot like

what’s used in Spanish and Portuguese, and the same as in Italian. All these

languages descend from Latin, which had a lot of similarities with Croatian (and

other Slavic languages). For example, we’re eating is edimus in Latin.

It’s puzzling that some languages that are not considered related to Croatian have

similar forms: for example, in Finnish, we’re eating is syömme, where -mme is the

ending.

• Examples

This billboard in Zagreb advertises bus lines to various seaside towns and cities, with

a line Idemo na more! We’re going to the seaside!:

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of nouns, adverbs and other words:

Idemo u __________(a). We’re going to the cinema.

Danas ne idemo na ____________(b). We’re not going to the beach today.

__________(c) putujemo u ________________(d). We’re traveling to Dubrovnik

tomorrow.

__________(e) ________(f) idem na ________(g). I’m not going to work tomorrow.

Fill in the right preposition (either u or na) and noun:

Ivan odlazi ____(h) ________(i). Ivan is leaving for a beer.

Putujemo ____(j) Split. We’re traveling to Split.

Idemo ____(k) kafić. We’re going to a cafe bar.

Ana vozi ____(l) ______________(m). Ana is driving north.

Goran ide ____(n) __________________(o). Goran is going to a birthday party.

Idem ____(p) __________________(q). I’m going to lunch.


Idemo ____(r) __________________(s). We’re going to the park.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 07 Verbs with Obligatory Objects 41 / 600

07 Verbs with Obligatory Objects

Verbs like čitati read have an optional object: you can either just read or read

something. What you actually do is the same in both cases: it’s just not specified

what you read in the first case (is it a book, newspaper, contract...)

However, there are many verbs where it’s not so, where you can either do

something to somebody (or something), or you can do it to yourself. For instance,

you can shave somebody else, or you can shave yourself. If you just ‘shave’,

Croatian treats would such sentences as ambiguous! Croatian requires an object

with such verbs.

This is an instance where something is implied in English – if you just shave, it’s

implied you do it to yourself – but not in Croatian. (There are few English verbs that

have a similar property, e.g. enjoy: you can either enjoy something or yourself – but

you have to express always what you enjoy.)

Some verbs like that are:

brijati (brije) shave

buditi waken

oblačiti put on (clothes)

prati (pere) wash

svlačiti take off (clothes)

vraćati return

With verbs brijati (brije) and prati (pere) you can shave someone or wash something

(or someone, e.g. a child):

Ana pere majicu. Ana is washing a shirt.

prati

Ana pere lice. Ana is washing her face.

prati

(Notice it’s just lice face: it’s always implied that a body part belongs to the subject.)

However, if you shave or wash yourself, you must use a special word – the ‘particle’

se. With these two verbs, it means ‘him/herself’:

Ana se pere. Ana is washing ‘herself’.

prati

Brijem se. I’m shaving.

brijati

Instead of gender specific himself and herself, Croatian has only one word: se.

However, the word a bit special, as it cannot be freely moved around, it must be the

second word in a sentence, if possible! There are more words like that in Croatian. I

will mark them with a small 2 (²), to indicate their strange behavior (e.g. se²). This

mark is similar to another mark I’ve already introduced:

¨ — glued to the following word

² — fixed to a position in a sentence

Such second-position words are usually pronounced together with the word

preceding it – there’s no pause between Ana and se² in the example above — but

are always considered separate words and spelled as separate words.®


Sometimes two words are counted as ‘one unit’ and occupy the first position

together. One example is ne¨ + verb:

Ne brijem¹ se². I’m not shaving.

brijati

This applies to all words preceded by a word ‘glued’ to it (e.g. u¨, na¨) – they

together count as ‘one unit’. (Words marked with ¨ have a fancy name – proclitics,

and ones marked with ² are also called enclitics.)

This can also happen if you have two words that are frequently used together, e.g.

skoro nikad almost never – they together occupy the first position:

Skoro nikad¹ se² ne brijem. I almost never shave.

brijati

However, you will see sometimes that even such groups are split. Such ‘strict

placement’ occurs mainly in formal writing and formal speech (e.g. on the news

service of the public TV and radio):

Skoro¹ se² nikad ne brijem. (seen sometimes in writing)

brijati

Similar verbs are oblačiti and svlačiti. They correspond to two verbs in English. First,

you can either put on (or off) something:

Ana oblači majicu. Ana is putting a shirt on.

However, when these verbs get a person (or an animal, Croatian treats them more

or less always in the same manner) as their object, they get mean dressing (or

undressing) someone:

Ana oblači Gorana. Ana is dressing Goran.

Finally, if you want to express that Ana is dressing herself, you must use a se², as she

does it on her own, to herself, not to anyone else:

Ana se oblači. Ana is dressing.

The verb buditi is usually translated as wake (up), but it does not have a meaning be

awake, only stop sleeping. You can wake someone up, and in Croatian it sounds like

this:

Ana budi Gorana. Ana is waking Goran up.

But if wake up on your own, you must use a se²:

Ana se budi. Ana is waking up.

Finally, the verb vraćati means that you either return something, or you return

yourself, i.e. come back. You must use a se² for the second meaning:

Ana vraća knjigu. Ana returning a book.

Ana se vraća. Ana is coming back.

Next, there are some verbs that must be used with an object, but when used with a

se², their meaning shifts a bit. Often used ones are:


zabavljati entertain zvati (zove) call

When they are used with people as objects, they have the meanings I listed above:

Ana zabavlja Gorana. Ana is entertaining Goran.

Zovem Ivana. I’m calling Ivan.

zvati

But with a se², their meaning changes:

Ana se zabavlja. Ana is having fun.

Zovem se Goran. ‘I call myself Goran.’ = My name is Goran.

zvati

The second sentence, zvati (zove) + se² is the normal way to say in Croatian what

your name is. Please pay attention that the name is in nominative, no changes to it

are made. If you know some French, Italian or Spanish, such sentences should be

very familiar to you:

(French)

(Italian)

Il s’appelle Goran.

Lui si chiama Goran. lit.

(Spanish) Él se llama Goran.

On se zove Goran.

‘He calls himself Goran.’

In all four languages, the verbs themselves mean call, but the meaning shifts when

they’re used with the so-called ‘reflexive’ pronoun (underlined in the examples

above). (Also, Spanish has the verb divertir that’s very similar to zabavljati.)

Unfortunately, English doesn’t use this pattern at all.

We can list these meanings in a nice table:

verb used with meaning

čitati (A) read

prati (pere) A wash

A entertain

zabavljati

se² have fun

A call

zvati (zove)

se² + N ... name is ...

The first verb has a non-mandatory object; the second one mandatory, and the last

two shift meaning.

Actually, if you consider again the verb return, there was also a small change in

meaning: it’s not the same to return something and to come back! There are more

such verbs where the meaning changes when they are used without an object.

Consider the following:

Goran opens the window.

The window opens.


While in the first sentence, Goran does something to the window, in the second

sentence, the meaning is completely shifted, as if the window is a subject that ‘does’

something. For all similar verbs (e.g. break, warm, close etc.) you have to use a se² in

the sentences of the second type:

Goran otvara prozor. Goran opens the window.

Prozor se otvara. The window opens.

Another common example:

Ana is cooking the soup.

The soup is cooking, the meat is roasting.

Again, in the second sentence, obviously the soup is not standing by the stove:

English verbs here are used in the alternative meaning. When these sentences are

translated to Croatian, the se² is mandatory:

Ana kuha juhu. ®

Juha se kuha, meso se peče.

peći

(After a comma in Croatian, word-counting restarts: both se²’s are in the second

position.)

This use of se² is common when the action described in a sentence is not performed

by the subject (e.g. juha above) but by someone else, or just happens "on its own"

(e.g. somebody just left the soup to cook). (Also, this explains why se² is used when

someone wakes up on their own.)

This can be summed up as a simple rule: if in English meaning of a verb shifts

when used without an object, when you use the verb without an object in

Croatian, you have to use a se².

If you know any Spanish, everything so far most likely sounded very familiar to you.

There are three important differences, though: while in Spanish the ‘reflexive’

pronoun can be either me, te or se, in Croatian it’s always se².

The second difference is that se² must go to a fixed place in a sentence in Croatian.

The third difference is that in Spanish, the ‘reflexive’ pronoun is often spelled with

the verb when it appears after it (e.g. lavarse = ‘wash themselves’), the same holds

in Italian (e.g. lavarsi) and some other languages. However, the se² is always a

separate word in Croatian.

These are the basics of se². I’ll explain details a bit later, in 64 The Door Opens: Fun

with se².

Finally, there’s a rather strange verb that must use an object or a se²:

igrati play

You can use it with nouns (as objects, of course, put to accusative) meaning games

(or sports):


košarka basketball

nogomet football (soccer)

šah chess

tenis tennis

For example:

Ana igra šah. Ana plays chess.

Ivan igra košarku. Ivan plays basketball.

However, if someone does not play some sport, or a game, but plays on their own

(e.g. with toys...) you must use a se²:

Goran se igra. Goran is playing.

The verb igrati is not used for "playing" musical instruments. For that, another verb is

used, svirati. This is the same difference as Spanish jugar vs. tocar.

There are more verbs that use the se². Some of them, like nadati hope have always

a se² with them, so they are usually listed as nadati se². Another such verb is smijati

(smije) se² laugh ®. You will discover more such verbs as you go.

________

® You’ll later see an example where Standard Serbian spells some second-position

words not as separate words.

Instead of juha, the word supa is used in Serbia, most parts of Bosnia, and in some

regions of Croatia as well.

In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely dominates in Serbia, the verb

smijati (smije) se² has the unexpected form smejati (smeje) se²; there are more

verbs which behave like that; this alternation is not predictable – such verbs must be

learnt by heart, if you want to know both pronunciations.


In many grammars, verbs that have the particle se² are called reflexive. I’m not using

that term, since it’s not a property of the verb, it just has the ‘reflexive’ particle with

it. More precisely, the whole construction could be called ‘reflexive’. However, in

many languages, there are uses of such particle (or pronoun) that are not ‘reflexive’

at all. You can check examples in Wikipedia (Reflexive verb) and you’ll see how

Croatian examples nicely correspond to Spanish, French, Italian, German and

sometimes Danish ones. Unfortunately (for learners) English grammar is quite

different in this aspect.

Words behaving like se² – fixed to the second place in the sentence – are called

second position clitics. Besides Slavic languages, they appear in a number of Iranian,

Native American, Native Australian languages, and some others. Some older

languages also had them, including Latin, Ancient Greek, Sanskrit and Hittite.

Languages with second position clitics are typically quite flexible and have no articles


(words like the), as observed by linguist Željko Bošković.

• Examples

Smijem se I laugh is a pop song by Jinx, a pop band from Zagreb (note a very non-

Croatian name). The song uses a lot of grammar we haven’t covered yet, but these

lines are simple:

I kada letim, kada sanjam And when I fly, when I dream

Kad se dižem, kada padam When I get up, when I fall

dizati

The verb dizati (diže) means lift, raise (something), but when you lift, raise yourself,

i.e. get up, you have to use a se², like in the last line. The word kad(a) when has an

optional vowel, and both versions are used in the verses above. We’ll learn more

about this word in the next chapter.

The chorus has some grammar which will be covered later, but it’s not too

complicated to understand:

Samo smijem se i smiješ se I just laugh and you laugh

smijati se

i sve je isto kao prije and everything is the same as before

zamišljam [da ničega se I imagine [I don’t

više ne sjećam]

remember anything anymore]

(Gordan Muratović)

We see again se², but in the first line we have actually two statements joined by i¨

and, so two second positions. In the third line, the da and everything after it is a kind

of sentence-within-a-sentence, so-called clause, and the word da holds the 1st

position in it; the word se² would normally come right after, but here the word

ničega is put to the 2nd position, likely for rhythmic reasons. I have put the clause

into square brackets. Clauses will be explained in later chapters.

The word ničega is nothing, but in a case we haven’t explained yet: while most verbs

use objects in A, some, like sjećati se² remember want objects in other cases – this

verb demands the so-called genitive case, which will be introduced later.

Note the više + negation: not anymore.

You can find various performances on YouTube. Check the performance on the

Croatian public TV show A strana A Side and the original clip by Jinx.

Note that the song uses the Standard stress.


• Exercise

Use the following verbs:

grijati (grije) warm hladiti cool

To fill sentences below:

Ivan igra ________________(a). Ivan is playing football.

Juha ____(b) ________(c). The soup is cooling.

________(d) ____(e) Ivana. My name is Ivana.

____(f) ________________(g) ____(h). I’m not having fun.

Dario ____(i) ________(j) svaki dan. Dario shaves every day.

__________(k) ____(l). I’m playing (a game).

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 08 Weather and General Statements 48 / 600

08 Weather and General Statements

Let’s take a look how you can express general statements in Croatian, such as it’s

cold in English. Such statements are often used for weather conditions.

In English, such sentences use ‘dummy’ it and the 3rd person present of the verb to

be (is), and that’s mostly shortened to it’s.

In Croatian, no pronouns can be used in such sentences, only the 3rd pers. present of

the Croatian version of the verb to be. It’s quite irregular:

biti (je² +) be

I have written a plus sign after je to indicate that other present tense forms cannot

be obtained by the usual rules – the forms of this verb must be learned, as in English.

(For example, the 1st person form isn’t "jem" but sam.)

There are useful words (called adverbs) that can be used with je² in such

expressions:

dosadno boring

hladno cold

kasno late

lijepo beautiful

mračno dark

oblačno cloudy

rano early

sunčano sunny

toplo warm

vedro clear

vruće hot

zabavno entertaining

There’s another important point: as you can probably see from the mark ², the word

je² behaves like se² and wants to be at the second place:

Hladno je. It’s cold.

Danas je hladno. It’s cold today.

Hladno je danas. (the same meaning)

Word order in Croatian is quite free – as you can see, words hladno and danas can

be exchanged – but it does not apply to some words like se² and je² that must go to

a predefined place in a sentence! (Therefore, I have introduced a special mark for

such words in 7 Verbs with Obligatory Objects.)

The adverb vedro is opposite of oblačno – it means the skies are clear.

There are a couple of useful words (adverbs of intensity) that can be placed before

adverbs above, and a prefix (not a separate word, but something that gets fused

with the word following it):

malo a bit

jako very (not formal) ®

vrlo very (more formal)

prilično considerably

dosta quite

stvarno really

pre- too


They must not be placed after the adverb, and are usually placed right before it. For

example:

Danas je jako hladno. It’s very cold today.

Jako je hladno danas. (the same, less common order)

Prevruće je. It’s too hot.

The adverb vrlo is a bit formal, it’s mostly used in formal writing, it’s less often heard

in spoken communication.

In the Standard stress scheme, when pre- is added to a word, the stress shifts to it;

in the ‘western’ scheme, it doesn’t: therefore prevruće. You will sometimes see the

prefix pre spelled as a separate word: that’s not standard.

There are two more adverbs of intensity often used in colloquial, spoken

communication:

strašno

užasno

terribly

For example:

Užasno je dosadno. It’s terribly boring.

What if you want to say it’s not cold? The rule is a bit different than for ordinary

verbs: you should add ni- to the front of je². The resulting word – nije – is not

restricted to the second position and is, in fact, usually placed before the adverb:

Nije hladno. It isn’t cold.

Uopće nije hladno. It isn’t cold at all.

Danas nije hladno. It isn’t cold today.

Nije hladno danas. (the same meaning)

There are useful words to express where your statement applies:

ovdje here

svugdje everywhere

tamo there

tu here

unutra inside

vani outside ®

In everyday, colloquial communication, ovdje and tu are used in the same meaning.

These words are often put to the front of sentences:

Ovdje je toplo. It’s warm here.

Vani je oblačno. It’s cloudy outside.

If you want to say it’s raining or it’s snowing, normally you should use the following

verb:

padati fall

And these nouns:


kiša rain snijeg snow

Therefore, you actually say (in Croatian) the rain is falling or the snow is falling.

Words can go in any order, and it’s actually more common to put the verb at front:

Pada kiša. ‘Rain is falling.’ = It’s raining.

Kiša pada. (the same meaning)

Pada snijeg. ‘Snow is falling.’ = It’s snowing.

Snijeg pada. (the same meaning)

(Don’t forget ije in snijeg is pronounced by most people in Croatia as just je,

according to the normal pronunciation rules outlined before.)

There’s a similar expression about wind, using the noun vjetar (vjetr-) wind and the

following verb:

puhati (puše) blow ®

Again, words can go in any order, but the verb comes often at front:

Puše vjetar. The wind is blowing.

puhati

Vjetar puše. (the same meaning)

puhati

When it’s obvious what you’re talking about, you can use just a verb:

Pada. ‘It’s falling.’ (either rain or snow).

Puše. The wind is blowing.

puhati

You can use adverbs of intensity (except for vrlo) to express intensity of rain, snow

and wind:

Malo pada. ‘It’s falling a bit.’ (either rain or snow).

Jako puše. The wind is blowing strong.

puhati

The adverb jako with expressions for rain, wind and snow also corresponds to

English heavily. You can use the same adverbs (but not vrlo!) to express intensity of

any action where it makes sense:

Jako volim čokoladu. I ‘strongly’ love chocolate.

In Croatian, you can usually use the present tense to talk about future events (like in

English we’re leaving tomorrow). However, with weather expressions, you cannot

use the present tense in such a way (it’s hard to do it in English as well). However,

you can use adverbs of frequency to talk about things that happen anytime:

Često puše vjetar. The wind blows often.

puhati

If you want to ask about the weather, you should use:

Kakvo je vrijeme? What’s the weather like?

— Hladno. Cold.

It can be answered with just an adverb, as above. Such short comments are normal


in casual, even in formal communication. It’s also possible to comment on any such

sentence:

Stvarno je vruće... It’s really hot...

— Nije jako. lit. ‘Not very.’ = It isn’t very hot.

In Croatian, short comments contain only the difference to what the comment is

on. For example, since it’s a comment on vruće, it’s not necessary to repeat that

word.

If you want to ask a more generic questions, that can be answered with ‘boring’, you

should ask just:

Kako je? How is it?

________

® In Bosnia and Serbia, the adverb mnogo is used in meaning very as well; for

instance, you can hear and read mnogo je hladno in these countries.

Instead of vani, napolju prevails in Bosnia and Serbia, and is also occasionally heard

in parts of Croatia. Besides puhati (puše), duvati is also used in Serbia.


You’ll maybe come across two Croatian verbs which work exactly like the English

verbs rain and snow: kišiti and sniježiti. However, these verbs are very rare in speech

and casual writing, including the Internet: pada kiša is some 20 times more common

than kiši, according to Google.

• Exercise

Fill in the missing words:

Danas ____(a) ________(b) ______________(c). It’s very cloudy today.

Ovdje ________(d) ________(e). It’s raining here.

________(f) ____(g) dosadno. It’s boring there.

______________(h) je __________(i). It’s terribly hot.

________(j) ________(k) snijeg. It’s snowing heavily.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 09 Numbers and Time 52 / 600

09 Numbers and Time

Let’s introduce numbers in Croatian. They are actually a diverse group of words,

some of them behave like adjectives, others like nouns, most like adverbs. I will

show just the simplest use, how to express 59 or some time in a day.

The numbers 0-9 are:

0 nula

1 jedan

2 dva

3 tri

4 četiri

5 pet

6 šest

7 sedam

8 osam

9 devet

The number 0 is never pronounced like the letter o, unlike in English. Numbers 10-19

are:

10 deset

11 jedanaest

12 dvanaest

13 trinaest

14 četrnaest

15 petnaest

16 šesnaest

17 sedamnaest

18 osamnaest

19 devetnaest

They are basically just 1-9 + -naest, with četiri shortened a bit. Most people

pronounce just an e in sequences -ae- in the words listed above.

Then, there are special words for 20, 30, etc, made in a similar pattern (but note the

stress marks):

20 dvadeset

30 trideset

40 četrdeset

50 pedeset

60 šezdeset

70 sedamdeset

80 osamdeset

90 devedeset

To express numbers like 35, use the following construction with i¨ and:

35 trideset i pet

It’s often shortened so these two numbers just get ‘glued together’:

35 tridesetpet

We can use those numbers to tell time. If you want to say that something happens

or will happen at some time, use just u¨ + number that specifies the hour:

Vlak dolazi u tri. The train comes at three o’clock. ®

You can, as in English, use the present tense for things that will happen in the near

future, especially if their time is known.

To specify where a train/bus/airplane is going to, use the preposition za¨ + A


(specifying the destination) just after the noun meaning train/bus/airplane:

Vlak za Rijeku odlazi u pet. The train to Rijeka leaves at five o’clock.

Autobus za Split odlazi u sedam. The bus to Split leaves at seven o’clock.

If you want to use more precise time, you can specify minutes:

Vlak dolazi u tri i dvadeset. The train arrives at 3:20.

Officially, Croatian uses 24-hour system, that is, 3 pm is 15:00. In schedules, and

radno vrijeme working hours, time is usually shown as 15:20 or 15.20, sometimes

with appended h. Sometimes, in handwriting, time is written as 15 20 , that is, with

minutes in superscript:

Colloquially, people would just use tri 3 even without telling is it in the morning or

afternoon.

To ask what the time is, use the following expression. It’s normal in Croatian to give

a quite short answer:

Koliko je sati? What’s the time? (lit. ‘How many hours is it?’)

— Tri i dvadeset. It’s 20 minutes past three.

— Šest. Six o’clock.

Such short, basic answers or short comments are very common in speech, and I will

explain them regularly. They are not impolite.

The word koliko is also frequently pronounced with stress on the first syllable

(koliko).

The word skoro can be used before any time (or more generally, any measure). For

example:

Koliko je sati? What’s the time?

— Skoro pet. Almost five.

(It’s interesting that Standard Croatian prefers another word, gotovo, instead of

skoro which completely prevails in speech and casual writing!)

It’s, of course, possible to ask when something will happen; to ask, just put the

following word to beginning of a sentence, nothing else is needed:

kad(a) when


For example (you should always include a preposition when you answer such

questions):

Kada dolazi vlak za Osijek? When does the train to Osijek arrive?

— U četiri i dvadeset. At 20 minutes past four.

There are two common adverbs you can use with time expressions:

tek not earlier than, only

već already

The adverbs relate to expectations: tek is having more time than one would expect,

while već is having less time than one would expect (i.e. already). For example:

Vlak dolazi već u dva. The train arrives at two o’clock already.

Vlak dolazi tek u osam. The train arrives not sooner than at eight o’clock.

These two words normally cannot be placed after the words standing for time (e.g.

u dva).

If you don’t know the precise time, you can use the preposition oko¨ instead of u¨:

Vlak dolazi oko dva. The train arrives around two o’clock.

A short answer to the previous question could be:

— Oko dva. Around two o’clock.

If you want to emphasize that some time is exact, add točno exactly ® before the

usual expression:

Vlak dolazi točno u tri. The train arrives at exactly 3 o’clock.

There are words for noon and midnight:

podne noon ponoć midnight

Again, use u¨ + A to specify something happening at that time (for both words A =

N):

Autobusʷ¹ odlazi u podne. The bus leaves at noon.

You can simply say:

Ponoć je. It’s midnight.

Sad je podne. It’s noon.

Točno je podne. It’s exactly noon.

Of course, the word sad(a) is optional. The word točno cannot be right before the

time here, since they don’t make a closely connected expression, so the word je²

occupies the second position. You cannot use any personal pronouns in such

sentences; in fact, podne serves as the subject.

What if you want to tell it’s almost midnight, or already midnight? Again the word


je² will come between two words:

Skoro je ponoć. It’s almost midnight.

Već je ponoć. It’s already midnight. (not earlier)

Tek je podne. It’s only noon. (not later)

As you can see, već here really means you have less time available (you lost track of

time, and expected it’s only 11 or so). The same happens when it’s used with time

references in the future, e.g. već u dva at 2 o’clock already – you expected it leaves

later, you have less time available than you expected.

Of course, the same holds if you use pet 5 instead of ponoć, etc.

Colloquially, time is often expressed in halves:

Brod dolazi u tri i pol. The ship comes at half past three. (‘three and a half’)

(In colloquial speech, there are several quite different ways to express time by

halves and quarters, and there are different ways according to region; see 58

Colloquial and Formal).

Here are days of week in Croatian:

ponedjeljak (ponedjeljk-) Monday

utorak (utork-) Tuesday

srijeda Wednesday

četvrtak (četvrtk-) Thursday

petak (petk-) Friday

subota Saturday

nedjelja Sunday

The week always starts on Monday. Days of week are normal nouns in Croatian,

they are not always capitalized as in English. (As other nouns, they change according

to their role, by means of case endings!)

We can simply say:

Danas je srijeda. Today is Wednesday.

If you want to say that something happens or will happen on a weekday, use again

u¨ + A:

U srijedu se vraćamo u Zagreb. We’re going back to Zagreb on Wednesday.

Kada Ana odlazi u Split? When is Ana leaving for Split?

— U subotu. On Saturday.

This quite familiar word can also be used:

vikend weekend

If something is going to happen on/over the weekend, use za¨ + vikend:

Idemo na Brač za vikend. We’re going to the island of Brač over the weekend.


Finally, if you’re curious how to say e.g. the train is leaving in 5 minutes, a small

disappointment: it requires some word forms (that, is cases) I haven’t introduced

yet. We still don’t know how to say three apples, actually – it will be explained in 30

Three Beers: Less than 5 Things – but I can give you a preview for minutes and hours:

Vlak odlazi za... The train is leaving in...

jednu minutu 1 minute jedan sat 1 hour

dvije minute 2 minutes dva sata 2 hours

tri minute 3 minutes tri sata 3 hours

pet minuta 5 minutes pet sati 5 hours

deset minuta 10 minutes pola sata half an hour

Please don’t draw too many generalizations from these examples, as you’ll see later

that the word sat hour behaves a bit specially. Relative references to future time will

be explained in 49 For 7 Hours: Definite Periods, but you have to cover the ground in

between first. And I’ll introduce an important feature dividing the words minute and

hour right in the next chapter.

________

® In Serbia and often in Bosnia, a slightly different word tačno is used. Instead of

vlak, voz is common in these countries.

• Exercise

Complete the following sentences:

Ana se vraća __(a) ________(b). Ana is coming back at four o’clock.

Autobus ____(c) Zadar odlazi sutra __(d) ________(e). The bus to Zadar is leaving

tomorrow at one o’clock.

Vlak dolazi __(f) ________(g) i ________________(h). The train arrives at 7:12.

__________(i) ____(j) __________(k). It’s almost noon.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 10 Gender 57 / 600

10 Gender

In many languages, including Croatian, each noun is assigned a gender. This is a

slightly misleading term – it simply means what forms of other words you must use

whenever you refer to a noun.

For example, in English, when referring to a noun, you must use either he, she or it,

depending on the noun, but there’s no difference for most other words.

In German, you must use not only different pronouns, but also different articles (der,

die, das) and you have to adapt adjectives (kleiner, kleine, kleines) in some

situations.

In Spanish, you have to use different pronouns, different articles (el, la) and different

forms of adjectives (rojo, roja).

Since there are three different forms of pronouns in English, and three different

forms of articles in German, we can say that English and German have three genders

(in singular, there’s no difference in plural). There are two different forms of articles

and adjectives in Spanish, therefore Spanish has two genders.

There are four genders in Croatian, but the difference between two of them is very

small (and there’s no difference in plural). The gender in Croatian is similar to gender

in Spanish: it’s usually assigned according to the last letter of a noun. For instance,

kuća house is ‘feminine’ (since it ends in -a) in the same way as Spanish casa!

If you are familiar only with genders in English, this might be a bit surprising.

Consider genders simply the way nouns are grouped. Houses are not feminine in real

world. The gender that kuća house and sestra sister belong to is called ‘feminine’

simply because a lot of words for really feminine beings (e.g. for woman, sister,

daughter) happen to belong to it.

It’s straightforward to tell gender of a noun for almost all nouns in Croatian. The

rules are:

noun ends in gender some exceptions

feminine (f) tata m Dad

-a

e.g. riba fish Luka m (name)

-o or -e

neuter (n) auto m car ®

e.g. pivo beer Marko m (name)

masculine (m) kost f bone

consonant

e.g. stol table ® noć f night

But there are four genders, right? Well, for masculine nouns there’s an additional

division. It will be important a bit later.

(In case you’re surprised that one gender is called neuter – that’s a fairly standard


name for a gender that’s neither male nor female.)

There are exceptions – e.g. names Luka and Marko look as if feminine and neuter;

in fact, both are masculine, and frequent male names. All personal names (for

people and animals) are either masculine or feminine (names ending in -o are

typically masculine).

Another exception – the noun tata – is actually masculine, it means Dad.

It’s actually only important to remember (and indicate) gender for exceptional

nouns, and there are only 50-100 such nouns used in everyday life. For example:

most bridge — masculine as expected, no need to indicate gender

kost f bone — feminine, contrary to the common rules, so we must indicate its

gender (f)

The biggest group of nouns that have unexpected gender are feminine nouns not

ending in -a. Almost all of them end in a consonant. Common ones are:

bol f pain ®

bolest f disease

jesen f fall, autumn

kost f bone

krv f blood

ljubav f love

noć f night

obitelj f (close) family ®

ponoć f midnight

riječ f word

sol f salt ®

večer f evening ®

To help you with nouns that have unexpected gender, they will be underlined with

a bluish line, and their gender will be printed on the right margin. (If more that one

hint appears on the right margin, they will be separated with a vertical line.) For

example:

Vidim krv. I see blood.

Vozim auto. I’m driving a car.

Gender of words for people normally matches their natural sex (there are some

exceptions, though). Consequently, many terms represented by only one noun in

English have two nouns in Croatian: one for male and one for female (the same

holds in Romance languages like French, Italian or Spanish):

male female

English friend

French ami amie

Spanish amigo amiga

Croatian prijatelj prijateljica

In Croatian, main words that must adapt to noun gender are adjectives – words that

indicate properties like big, red. In Croatian, adjectives also include words like my

f

m


and Ivan’s. They all must adapt to noun gender and case.

So, what forms of adjectives do we need to use in each gender? In simple sentences

like the house is big, nominative forms of adjectives are used, and they are very

simple:

gender adj. N example

feminine -a velika riba big fish

neuter -o (some -e) veliko jezero big lake

masculine optionally -i velik(i) stol big table ®

You probably notice that there are two possible endings for the neuter gender. Most

adjectives use -o; adjectives that need -e will be shown a bit later. Here’s a list of

often used adjectives:

brz fast

čist clean

dubok deep

dug long

gotov ready, done

jak strong

jeftin cheap

lijep nice, beautiful

mali small, little

mlad young

nov new

poznat well-known

pun full

slab weak

skup expensive

spor slow

star old

širok wide

suh dry ®

velik big

visok high, tall

zdrav healthy, in good health

We can use them to assemble sentences like these:

Riba je velika. The fish is big.

Velika riba jede kruh. The big fish is eating bread.

jesti

Sunce nije jako. The sun isn’t strong.

Jezero je duboko. The lake is deep.

Ana je zdrava. Ana is healthy.

Restoran nije skup. The restaurant isn’t expensive.

Visoka je. She’s tall.

You can see that adjectives got an -o regardless of nouns having the final -o or -e:

it’s only gender that matters, and both jezero and sunce are neuter.

In Croatian (like in other Slavic and Romance languages) adjectives always adapt to

the noun, even if they are not right next to the noun. In German, adjectives in

sentences like The fish is big don’t adapt. That’s one detail where Croatian requires

words to change and German doesn’t. This makes pronouns mostly redundant, and

consequently not used, as in the last sentence, where ona she is implied by the form

of the adjective. Pay attention that in Croatian, kuća house and pizza are also she,


so it could be a statement about a house!

It’s possible to put the adjective first in sentences "X is Y", which emphasizes it:

Duboko je jezero. The lake is deep. (really deep)

One more detail is still not answered: adjectives have an optional -i in the masculine

gender. It’s not used when you use adjectives on their own, but it’s usually used

when an adjective is placed before a noun:

Hrast je star. The oak is old.

Stari hrast još raste. The old oak is still growing.

We have here used the verb rasti (raste) grow; the verb is not used to grow

something (i.e. cultivate).

Some adjectives (e.g. mali small, little) have always the -i in masculine, regardless

where they’re used, and they’re listed so. Its feminine form is mala and so on.

The adjective gotov is used to express that something is prepared or ready, e.g.:

Ručak je gotov. The dinner is ready.

The adverbs of intensity are also used with adjectives, and must be placed right

before them (or fused, in case of pre-):

Riba je jako velika. The fish is very big.

Jezero je dosta duboko. The lake is quite deep.

Restoran nije preskup. The restaurant isn’t too expensive.

Sunce je stvarno jako. The sun is really strong.

Vlak je strašno spor. The train is terribly slow. (colloq.)

The adverb of intensity jako is exactly the same as the neuter form of the adjective

jak strong, but its meaning is not equal. More about that in the next chapter.

Don’t forget: nouns and adjectives really don’t have the same endings. And you

should always keep in mind that there are couple of nouns having unexpected

genders (from their endings, at least):

Tata je zdrav. Dad is healthy.

Noć je duga. The night is long.

rasti

________

® In southern parts of Croatia (i.e. in Dalmatia) and parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina,

auto car is very often neuter in colloquial speech, so you’ll sometimes read and hear

novo auto.

The noun stol table has the form sto (stol-) in Serbia and most of Bosnia, but it’s still

masculine. Consequently, it’s velik(i) sto in Serbia.

The noun bol f pain is almost always masculine in Serbia, and is often understood as

m

f


masculine in Bosnia as well.

Instead of obitelj, words familija and porodica are common in most of Bosnia and

Serbia, and in some parts of Croatia.

The noun sol f salt has the form so (sol-) in Serbia and most of Bosnia; its gender and

case endings are the same.

The noun večer f evening has the form veče (večer- f) in Serbia and often in Bosnia,

with an additional twist: it’s considered neuter in the nominative case (since it ends

in -e), and feminine whenever any ending is attached to it (as indicated by an f after

its case-base)! It changes like other feminine nouns not ending in -a.

Instead of suh, suv is used in Serbia, and parts of Bosnia and Croatia (it’s nonstandard

in Croatia).


Some people think everything in a language serves some purpose. There has to be

some benefit from gender, from case marked by endings, and so on.

However, I don’t think so. There was maybe a purpose once for many features, but

now we are just left with relics. For instance, why would the word noć night be

feminine? We know it’s inherited from very ancient times, since many related

languages have a similar word, and it’s usually feminine: German Nacht, Latin nox,

Greek νύξ nýx, Albanian natë, Lithuanian naktis etc. Therefore, the matching word

was almost certainly also feminine in the common ancestor of all these languages.

But we have no idea why it was feminine at all. Many things in languages are just so,

and we don’t know why.

In a case you will read a grammar published in Croatia, names of genders in Croatian

are muški rod (masc.), ženski rod (fem.) and srednji rod (neut.); for some unknown

reason, they are always listed in that order. Unfortunately, Croatian textbooks and

grammars written for general population always mention only three genders...

It’s interesting that some Croatian style/grammar manuals (i.e. books and websites

suggesting what is “correct”) suggest that bol, when meaning physical pain, must be

masculine. This advice is ignored by virtually everyone, including government

websites, textbooks, newspapers, scientific papers, etc. This is just in case you find

such an advice somewhere: just ignore it.

A small remark: Croatian nouns ending in -a, regardless of gender, are also called a-

nouns; feminine nouns not ending in -a are also called i-nouns.


• Examples

This list of side dishes from a small restaurant in Zagreb contains a number of

adjectives:

As you can see, all items are translated to English. Interesting ones are:

zelena salata literally means green salad – we don’t have a special noun for lettuce,

this phrase is used instead. Since salata is feminine (it ends in -a) the adjective zelen

green must go to the feminine form.

ljuta mljevena paprika – again, paprika is feminine by the usual rule, so both

adjectives before it get an -a. It’s interesting that the adjective ljut means both

angry and hot (spice). We don’t use words related to heat to describe how spicy

something is!

svježi kupus is literally fresh cabbage; the adjective is usually used to distinguish it

from the fermented cabbage, i.e. sauerkraut (kiseli kupus). The adjective svjež fresh

here got at -i before a masculine noun, which is, strictly speaking, not mandatory,

but extremely common.

kiseli krastavci is literally sour cucumbers, the noun is here in plural, which will be

described later (however, this noun simply gets an -i, as the adjective before it).

urnebes (ljuti/blagi) is likely a specialty of the restaurant. The noun means roughy

mayhem, pandemonium; the adjectives after it are still attached to the noun, so

both – the second one means mild – get that -i. Although adjectives normally

precede nouns, you will see them after nouns once a while, especially in menus.

ajvar is a condiment made of baked red peppers, common in Balkan cuisine. Also,

kajmak is not simply cream, but something specific for Turkish-influenced regions,

all the way to Central Asia and Mongolia (check the Wikipedia entry).


• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below, using right forms of adjectives, and adverbs of intensity,

where needed:

Soba je ____________(a). The room is big.

Hotel je ____________(b). The hotel is full.

Svjetlo je ____________(c). The light is weak.

Restoran je ____________(d) ________(e). The restaurant is really expensive.

Knjiga je ____________(f). The book is well-known.

Jezero je ____________(g). The lake is deep.

Riječ je ________(h). The word is long.

Čaša je ________(i). The glass is full.

Plaža je ________(j) ____________(k). The beach is very nice.

Doručak je ____________(l). The breakfast is ready.

Zima je ____________(m). The winter is long.

Pivo je ____________(n). The beer is cheap.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 11 Colors, More Adjecves and Adverbs 64 / 600

11 Colors, More Adjectives and Adverbs

Words for colors are adjectives as well. The main color adjectives in Croatian are:

bijel white

crn black

crven red

ljubičast violet

narančast orange ®

plavi blue

siv gray

smeđ brown ®

zelen green

žut yellow

For example:

Jabuka je crvena. The apple is red.

List je zelen. The leaf is green.

The adjective smeđ is one of adjectives that get an -e in neuter instead of the usual -

o:

Oko je smeđe. The eye is brown.

There’s a simple but effective rule to determine which adjectives get an -e: ones that

end in a Croatian-specific letter, that is, a letter that’s not pronounced like in English

or even does not exist in English. Beside smeđ, often used adjectives that get an -e

are:

loš bad vruć hot

(You’ll encounter more such adjectives as you go.)

If you want to say that something is e.g. dark green, put tamno- to the front of the

color adjective – the result is one, long word. Likewise, light + color is expressed

with svjetlo-:

Majica je tamnocrvena. The shirt is dark red.

Auto je svjetlozelen. The car is light green.

Two color adjectives have a specific meaning with some nouns, quite different from

usage in English:

plava kosa blond hair

crno vino red wine

Literally, in Croatian, wines can be ‘black’, and blond-haired people have ‘blue’ hair.

(If you want to know why, the adjective plavi meant pale thousand years ago.)

There’s another adjective for "color" that’s frequently used in Croatian:

šaren multicolored, motley

It doesn’t really translate into English: it’s used when in English you would describe

something having colored stripes or many colors, especially bright, live colors:


Majica je šarena. The shirt is multicolored. (has bright colors)

There are two adjectives for colors that are used colloquially. Both have a special

behavior – they don’t change their form at all, neither in plural, nor in gender, nor in

cases. They have only one form. Such words are called indeclinable (indecl. for

short). They are:

lila pale violet

roza pink ®

colloquial &

indeclinable

(The colloqual adjective for pink exists also as a normal adjective rozi.)

With colors and some similar adjectives, you can use the following adverbs that

stress completeness:

potpuno

sasvim

completely, fully

The adverb potpuno is much more common in speech. For example:

Soba je potpuno bijela. The room is completely white.

You can also combine colors: the first one is always in neuter N, and the second one

changes; they are usually spelled with a hyphen between:

crno-bijeli televizor black-and-white TV set

crno-bijela majica black-and-white T-shirt

crveno-plava zastava red-and-blue flag

Some adjectives have a slightly different form in the masculine nominative (which is

the dictionary form) and whenever anything is attached to them (e.g. when they get

an -a for the feminine gender).

For instance, the adjective dobar good has the feminine form dobra, that is dobr +

a. Other forms that have any ending are also formed as dobr + ending.

In the same way as for some nouns, can say that dobr- is the case-base of the

adjective dobar and list it together with the dictionary form. For most adjectives

their case-base is the same as their masculine form, so we list it only when it’s

needed. A good Croatian dictionary should list it too (or something equivalent to it,

e.g. the feminine form).

Often used adjectives that have a specific case-base are:

dobar (dobr-) good

gladan (gladn-) hungry

hladan (hladn-) cold

mokar (mokr-) wet

mračan (mračn-) dark

opasan (opasn-) dangerous

prazan (prazn-) empty

sladak (slatk-) sweet

sretan (sretn-) happy ®

strašan (strašn-) terrible

taman (tamn-) dark

tužan (tužn-) sad

umoran (umorn-) tired

važan (važn-) important


ružan (ružn-) ugly

žedan (žedn-) thirsty

You see that two adjectives have meaning dark. The adjective mračan (mračn-)

means not well-lit, or gloomy (e.g. movie), while taman (tamn-) means something

painted in a dark paint, or having a dark color (e.g. hair).

The ‘case-base’ usually looks like nominative masculine form without the last a, but

sometimes there are other kinds of alternations:

bolestan (bolesn-) sick topao (topl-) warm

Warning. Some books give a rough rule that -a- is always lost, whenever anything

is added. This is true for most adjectives with more than one syllable – but not

for all. Also, it’s not the complete rule, as you can see from additional consonant

changes that sometimes apply.

Let’s put the adjectives above to use:

Ivana je žedna. Ivana is thirsty.

Ivan je žedan. Ivan is thirsty.

As I have already explained, adjectives usually get an -i before masculine nouns,

especially colloquially; but it doesn’t happen with all adjectives, e.g. dobar (dobr-)

good is almost always used without -i:

On je dobar prijatelj. He’s a good friend.

Compare this with:

On je stari prijatelj. He’s an old friend.

Other adjectives with a specific case-base are often used without -i before

masculine nouns as well.

The following adjectives are used a bit differently than in English:

debeo (debel-) thick

lagan light(weight), ‘easy’

kratak (kratk-) short

mastan (masn-) fat

nizak (nisk-) low

težak (tešk-) heavy, ‘hard’

Croatian uses težak heavy and lagan light in the literal sense:

Kamen je težak. The stone is heavy.

Kutija je lagana. The box is light.

Croatian also uses these two adverbs to indicate difficulty, in a quite different

fashion than in English (the word dosta is here just to practice adverbs a bit):

Knjiga je dosta teška. The book is quite ‘heavy’. (= hard)

Problem je lagan. The problem is ‘light’. (= easy)

Next, the adjective nizak (nisk-) low is used to specify low height of things in

Croatian:


Polica je niska. The shelf is low.

Unlike English, it’s also used for short people (who are ‘low’ in Croatian):

Ana je niska. Ana is ‘low’. (= short)

The adjective kratak (kratk-) short is used in Croatian only to describe movies,

bridges, roads, pieces of wood, etc.

In a similar fashion, books and people can be debeo (debel-) thick:

Knjiga je debela. The book is thick.

Ivana je debela. Ivana is ‘thick’. (= fat, plump)

Furthermore, Croatian has two adjectives corresponding to English free:

besplatan (besplatn-) free (of charge)

slobodan (slobodn-) free (of restrictions), unoccupied

You would use the first adjective only when something is offered without payment,

e.g. a free sample, free show etc., and the other adjective in all other

circumstances. This is basically the same difference as German kostenlos vs. frei, or

Spanish gratuito vs. libre.

You will notice that neuter forms of adjectives are often used as adverbs, i.e. words

that modify verbs and other adjectives. For example, the adjective spor slow in the

neuter form sporo means slow (before a neuter noun, or when describing it) or

slowly when used without a noun:

Ana vozi sporo. Ana drives slowly.

Many adjectives are used like that, and it usually corresponds to English -ly, e.g.

užasno is the neuter form of terrible, but also stands for English terribly.

However, some adjectives when used as adverbs change meaning. They are best

remembered as separate words. The most often used ones are:

adjective adverb

jak strong jako very / very much

pun full puno a lot ®

For instance, the first sentence contains an adjective, but the others contain adverbs

of intensity:

Vino je jako. The wine is strong. (about vino wine = a noun)

Jako je vruće. It’s very hot. (about vruće hot)

Auto je jako brz. The car is very fast. (about brz fast)

m

Goran jako voli čokoladu. Goran likes chocolate very much. (about the verb)

When used with another adverb or adjective, jako corresponds to English very (e.g.

very hot); with a verb, it corresponds to very much.


There’s one more useful, but very colloquial word, mostly used by younger people. It

can be used as an adjective and as an adverb of intensity with another adjective or a

verb. (Its use with verbs is very colloquial!) When used as an adjective, it’s

indeclinable:

super (colloq.)

adj. indecl. great, excellent, superb

adv. super, very

For instance, you’ll hear and sometimes read:

Imam super majicu. (colloq.) I have a great shirt.

Auto je super brz. (colloq.) The car is super fast.

m

Ana super pjeva. (colloq.!) Ana sings great.

Finally, there’s one very useful word used for comparisons:

kao like, as

While English has two words used to compare against something else, Croatian has

one multipurpose word. It’s used like this:

More je hladno kao led. The sea is cold as ice.

The word kao doesn’t affect the case of the following word, and never changes case

etc. In speech, it’s often shortened to ko, spelled also as k’o.

________

® Instead of narančast, a slightly different adjective is used in Serbia: narandžast.

It’s also common in Bosnia. Besides smeđ, there’s another, but indeclinable

adjective for brown, used in Bosnia and Serbia: braon. It completely prevails in

Serbia, where smeđ is really only used to describe eyes, hair and color of pets.

Instead of roza, a slightly different word roze is common in Serbia and Bosnia. It’s

very uncommon in the regularized form rozi there.

Instead of sretan (sretn-), a slightly different word srećan (srećn-) is used in Serbia

and most of Bosnia.

Some style guides in Serbia discourage using puno as an adverb and advise mnogo is

used instead.


• Examples

This sign at the parking lot near an entrance to the Krka National Park says that the

parking is free of charge:

The noun parking is simply taken from English, and understood as masculine,

according to the default rules.

Another example: this label on a package of cut ham says super cijena great price:


• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below:

Riba ____(a) ______________(b). The fish is gray.

Knjiga je ______________(c). The book is good.

Goran je ______________(d). Goran is happy.

Ines ____(e) ______________(f). Ines is happy.

More je ______________(g). The sea is cold.

Film je __________________(h) ______________(i). The movie is quite short.

Kutija ____(j) ______________(k). The box is heavy.

Kava je ________(l) ____________(m). The coffee is very sweet.

Fill in the missing words, using med honey and lubenica watermelon:

________________(n) ____(o) slatka ______(p) ______(q). The watermelon is

sweet like honey.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 12 Simple Conversaons 71 / 600

12 Simple Conversations

Let’s see how a simple conversation looks in Croatian. First, when you meet

someone, enter a shop, etc. you should greet people. The formal greetings are:

dobro jutro good morning

dobar dan good day/afternoon

dobra večer good evening ®

f

The noun večer f evening is a feminine noun ending in a consonant, so the feminine

form of adjective should be used. (You will also often hear a slightly corrupted form

dobar večer, and other worn out variants; in Dalmatia, you’ll often hear dobro

veče.)

The informal greetings vary. The most common ones are:

bok (Zagreb, Northwestern Croatia) ®

ćao (coast, other areas)

ej (Dalmatia, other areas)

haj

Warning. These words are not colloquial: they are informal, i.e. used among

friends and in the family. You cannot enter a random shop and address people

working there with bok. You can use informal words only with people you’re

close with.

The conversation would proceed depending on the level of familiarity. For example,

you can greet your grandmother with a formal dobar dan, but proceed in the

familiar mode.

Croatian has two second person forms of the verb and two pronouns: one for

(familiar) singular and another for plural. The forms are easily obtained from the

pres-3; the forms for the verb biti (je² +) are listed as well:

pres-2 pres-2pl

regular verbs -š -te

biti (je² +) be si² ste²

For example:

Čekaš vlak. You’re waiting for the train. (one person)

Čekate vlak. You’re waiting for the train. (a group, or with respect)

When you are talking formally to persons you don’t know very well, to your

superiors, etc., you should address them in plural, as if you were talking to a group.

You can then ask about how is someone doing. This is a real question, not just

formal as English how do you do:


Kako si? (fam.) Kako ste? (resp./group)

(Colloquially, you’ll often hear other questions with this meaning, e.g. šta ima, kako

ide, di si etc., depending on the region.) You can answer with e.g.:

Dobro, hvala. Fine, thank you.

Since the word hvala is very common in speech, it’s often simplified to fala.

It’s common to ask about family and close persons; the usual way is:

Kako je … (N) ? How is … doing?

This is quite simple, since you don’t have to do anything with the name of person

you are asking about – the nominative, default case is used. You can answer with a

short sentence, giving just the most important information, or a whole story:

Kako je Damir? How is Damir doing?

— Dobro je. He/she’s fine.

— Bolestan je. He’s sick.


To ask back (after you have answered) you have to use personal pronouns (I will

explain them fully in the next chapter):

Kako si ti? (fam.) Kako ste Vi? (resp./group)

Why do you have to use personal pronouns now? It’s mandatory when you switch

the subject, and someone else becomes the subject. It’s also common to start such

back questions with A kako… (actually, the word a emphasizes the change of topic).

English has only one pronoun for both meanings – you – and verb forms are always

the same. However, English once had such a difference, but it was lost. Southern US

varieties have now colloquially you (singular) vs. y’all (plural). It’s important to

remember that Croatian vi is used also to address single people you respect or

you’re not familiar with, while ti is used only for individuals you’re close with.

You can use the word kako to ask about someone’s name. The sentence uses the

same grammar as French, Italian or Spanish, and it’s actually simpler – se² is always

used:

(French) Comment t’appelles-tu?

(Italian) Come ti chiami?

lit.

(Spanish) ¿Cómo te llamas? ‘How do you call yourself?’

Kako se zoveš?

All sentences above are informal, of course: you would use them with e.g. children.

For adults you’re not familiar with – and you wouldn’t ask for their name if you were

familiar with them – you need plural: kako se zovete.

zvati

You can comment how somebody looks. The most common way is to use the verb:


izgledati (izgleda) appear, seem, look

This verb has – only in the Standard scheme – a different syllable stressed in the

present compared to the infinitive: one syllable to the left. Actually, such shift in the

present tense happens to many verbs, about 13% of verbs listed in the Core

Dictionary.

Since it would be too much to list all pres-3 forms that differ from infinitives just by

a stress mark, I’ve invented the following shorthand notation: instead of writing a

completely regular pres-3 form with just a shifted Standard stress, I’ll simply write

the symbol «:

Shorthand for Standard stress shift

instead of izgledati (izgleda)

I’ll write just izgledati («)

That symbol means: in the Standard scheme, the stress moves one syllable left in the

present tense forms, compared to infinitive. In the ‘western’ scheme, the stress does

not move (I personally pronounce it on the same syllable in both inf and pres-3).

Therefore, I’ll list such verbs simply as:

izgledati («) appear, seem, look

The verb izgledati («) is used with adverbs or adjectives in neuter singular (they are

quite similar in Croatian anyway). For example:

Izgledaš odlično. You look great. (fam.)

More adverbs that are commonly used with this verb are super (colloq.) great,

lijepo nice and umorno tired.

If you are asking someone to give you something, you should use the verb moliti

kindly ask (which covers English meaning please):

Molim te… (fam.) Molim Vas… (resp./group)

After that, a word in accusative should be used, e.g.:

čašu vode a glass of water

jedan čaj a cup of tea

jednu kavu a cup of coffee

jedan sendvič a sandwich

kartu za vlak a train ticket

kartu za Zadar a ticket to Zadar

(I listed words and phrases in A, for convenience; some of them use grammar

features that will be explained a bit later. Also, forms te and Vas above are

accusatives of ti and Vi; they will be explained in the next chapter.)

When you are introduced to someone, you can say:

Drago mi je. I’m glad (to meet you).


When you are in company, and the others are about to start eating, you can say:

Dobar tek. (like French bon appétit) ®

If you are giving a thing to someone (a gift, whatever) you should use one of the

following words:

Izvoli. (fam.) Izvolite. (resp./group)

The word izvolite also means how can I help you. For instance, if you come to a

bank, a clerk will use the word to ask you what he or she can do for you. The same

word will be used by a waiter in a bar, restaurant, etc.

If you are given something, you should respond with:

Hvala. Thank you.

It’s often strengthened and made even more polite with lijepo (sometimes lijepa) or

a bit more colloquially, puno:

Hvala lijepo. Thank you. (politely)

If you want to say that someone is welcome, use the following expressions (they

depend on the gender of the person you’re talking to, unless you’re talking formally

or to a group:

Dobro došao. (to a male you’re familiar with)

Dobro došla. (to a female you’re familiar with)

Dobro došli. (to someone you aren’t familiar with, or to a group)

(The words došao, etc. are adjective-like forms of the verb, which are otherwise

used to form the past tense; it will be explained a bit later.)

If you want to express where someone is welcome to, use destinations, i.e. u¨ / na¨

+ A (English uses to, i.e. destinations as well):

Dobro došli u Hrvatsku! Welcome to Croatia! (to a group / not fam.)

You will often see the two words are spelled together, e.g. dobrodošao and like.

When leaving, you can use the following farewells:

do viđenja goodbye

laku noć good night

The farewell do viđenja – often spelled as doviđenja – is quite formal. The

following expressions are a bit less formal:

vidimo se see you

čujemo se (the same, but over the phone)

pozdrav bye

The following words are quite informal:

bok (Zagreb, Northwest Croatia)


ćao (coast, other areas)

adio (Dalmatia, other areas)

(These geographical differences are not absolute, you will hear ćao occasionally

from people in Zagreb, bok in Dalmatia, etc.)

If someone is not just leaving, but departing, that is, he or she will travel, you should

always use:

sretan put nice journey (French bon voyage)

________

® Instead of dobra večer, dobro veče is common in most parts of Bosnia and Serbia,

and heard in Croatia as well; zdravo is a common greeting in these countries, and

sometimes it’s heard in Croatia as well. The greeting ćao is very common in Serbia.

Instead of dobar tek, in Serbia and Bosnia usually prijatno is used, also heard in

some parts of Croatia.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 13 She Loves Me: Pronouns and Properes 76 / 600

13 She Loves Me: Pronouns and Properties

Let me introduce more pronouns and continue with uses of adjectives and of the

verb biti (je² +) be.

We have learned some personal pronouns (ti, vi, on...) but not all. Also, we’ve seen

only their subject forms, i.e. the nominative case. What if we want to use pronouns

as objects? What if we want to say I am? How to say I love you? How to say she

loves me?

As in English, the forms of pronouns are not regular and have to be learned.

Fortunately, they are not too complicated (and two of them are similar to English

pronouns). Here are the forms for the first two persons (I, you, we):

singular plural

pers. N A N A

1st ja me² mi nas²

2nd ti te² vi vas²

To help you learn various forms of pronouns, they will be underlined with a pale

blue line, and information about them will be printed on the right margin (e.g. 2 =

2nd person, 2pl = 2nd person plural, 3f = 3rd person, feminine gender).

Like the word se², personal pronouns in accusative must be put to the second

position in a sentence (check 7 Verbs with Obligatory Objects.) For example:

Ana¹ me² čeka. Ana is waiting for me.

1

As usual, the second position should not be understood mechanically. Two or more

words, if they form a phrase, can occupy the first position. It’s normal to say:

Moj prijatelj¹ te² čeka. My friend is waiting for you.

2

(I’ll explain the possessive adjective moj my in the next chapter. It’s a bit special, e.g.

it never gets an -i in masc.)

Again, you’ll find sometimes in books and newspapers that the second position is

forced, even splitting combinations adjective + noun. That’s never used in speech

(except maybe in very formal speeches, e.g. in the news on the public radio, or in

some rural areas):

Moj¹ te² prijatelj čeka. (the same meaning, very formal, in writing)

2

Then, of course, there’s the famous example:

Volim te. I love you. (to someone you’re familiar with)

2

As I’ve already explained, Croatian vi/vas stands both for plural (y’all, you guys) and

respect (you sir/madam). The second use is usually distinguished by using a capital V


in writing:

Ana vas čeka. Ana is waiting for you (guys).

Ana Vas čeka. Ana is waiting for you (sir/madam).

(There are also longer, ‘stressed’ forms of personal pronouns, but they are used only

in specific circumstances, and will be introduced later.)

And here are the forms in the 3rd person singular (he, she, it):

3rd person

N A

fem. ona je² / ju²

neut. ono

masc. on ga²

As you can see, the 3rd person accusative pronouns have one form for all genders

except the feminine. You’ll see that pronouns have much fewer forms than you have

maybe expected. For example:

Volim ga. I love him/it. (depending on the context)

3m/n

Ona ga ne poznaje. She doesn’t know him/it. (depending on the 3m/n | poznavati

context)

The accusative case of ona she has two forms which are used interchangeably ®.

For example, if you’re talking about a knjiga book – a feminine noun – both are

acceptable and used:

Čitam je. I’m reading it. (lit. ‘reading her’)

3f

Čitam ju. (the same meaning)

3f

(Since the form of pronoun je² coincides with the pres-3 of biti (je² +) be, it’s

avoided when the verbal je² appears in the same sentence; we’ll see such sentences

a bit later).

Pay attention: the noun knjiga book is feminine. The same goes for voda water

and kuća house. And the same goes for noć night and obitelj family. You have to

use feminine pronouns (ona, ju², je²) when referring to them, as you would use

for your sister.

Likewise, nož knife and auto (aut-) car are masculine nouns. You have to use

same pronouns to talk about a knife, a car and your brother.

Pronouns are often used to describe what something is. Both what’s described and

the description should be in the default, dictionary form – the nominative case. For

example:

Ivan je student. Ivan is a (university) student.

2pl

2pl


On je student. He’s a (university) student.

English has only one word – student – for both male and female students. For most

such roles, Croatian has two words, one for male, another for female.

There’s no straight rule how male and female words relate, but most often, the

word for female is made by adding -ica to the word for male (the suffix -ica has

other uses as well):

male female

singer pjevač pjevačica

professor profesor profesorica ®

(univ.) student student studentica ®

teacher učitelj učiteljica

For example, if a female person is a student, you would say:

Vesna je studentica. Vesna is a (university) student.

Croatian has two words that correspond to English man:

čovjek man/human

muškarac (muškarc-) man (focus on masculinity)

You would use čovjek in all normal circumstances (you can and should use it in

generic sense, for someone you don’t know sex of), and the other word is used only

when it’s important that someone is male, e.g. when talking about how he looks:

Ivan je marljiv čovjek. Ivan is a hard-working man.

On je zgodan muškarac. He’s a handsome man.

For most animals (humans included) the default gender is masculine: you can use

masculine nouns when you have a mixed group, if you simply don’t know someone’s

sex or you want to speak about people or some animals in general. The masc.

gender is so generic that it can be sometimes used for women too:

Ana je dobar čovjek. lit. ‘Ana is a good man/human.’

Ona je novi profesor. She’s the new professor.

It’s all nice, but how to say I’m a student (male or female)? For that, we need

another personal pronoun introduced above (the N form, of course), and the right

verb form:

biti (je² +) be → pres-1 sam²

For example:

Ja sam student. I’m a student. (male)

Ja sam studentica. I’m a student. (female)


Croatian does not use personal pronouns as subjects often, but in such sentences,

they are used.

However, when you are describing a condition at the moment, something that can

change in any minute, using adjectives, pronouns are usually omitted. Instead of ja

sam..., this is the most often used form:

Gladan sam. I’m hungry. (male)

Gladna sam. I’m hungry. (female)

Pay attention: although ja and ti don’t distinguish gender, you still have to adjust

the adjective to the gender ‘hidden’ behind them. This is similar to Romance

languages like Italian and Spanish:

(Sp.) Estoy cansado. I am tired. (male)

(Sp.) Estoy cansada. I am tired. (female)

If you know some Spanish, it could interest you that the use or dropping of personal

pronouns in Croatian sentences like I am... basically matches Spanish verbs ser vs.

estar (but there are some exceptions):

Spanish

Soy estudiante.

Estoy cansado.

Croatian

Ja sam student.

Gladan sam.

If you would add an adverb (i.e. opet again, možda maybe, jako very etc.), it never

behaves as attached to the adjective, so second position words easily come in

between.

Goran je jako gladan. Goran is very hungry.

Jako sam gladan. I’m very hungry. (male)

(Normally the adverb comes left from the adjective, but it can be tweaked too to

emphasize the adverb.)

What about saying you’re not hungry? The same principle works as for other forms

of present of the verb biti – just add ni- ®; the resulting form is not restricted to the

second position and in fact, usually comes before the adjective (but adverbs

modifying the adjective usually come in between):

Nisam gladan. I’m not hungry. (male)

Uopće nisam gladna. I’m not hungry at all. (female)

Nisam jako gladna. I’m not very hungry. (female)

The second person pronoun is ti in singular and vi in plural (also used for polite

addressing). The corresponding forms of verb biti we have already learned.

Nisi gladan. You are not hungry. (male)

Gladna si. You’re hungry. (female)


Gladna si. You’re hungry. (female)

In nominative plural, adjectives get ending -i in the masculine gender, for mixed-sex

groups, but also in all polite sentences, regardless of the real gender of person

you’re addressing:

Gladni ste. (all-male group)

Gladni ste. (mixed group)

Gladni ste. (politely to one person, male or female)

All sentences above, of course, translate to English as just you’re hungry. Feminine

plural adjectives get -e in nominative; it’s used only for groups where all members

have feminine gender:

Gladne ste. (all-female group)

The same rule works for 1st person plural (we are) where the personal pronoun is mi

and the verb to be has the following form:

biti (je² +) be → pres-1pl smo²

(This is an exception to the rule that pres-1pl is simply pres-1 + o.)

For instance:

Umorni smo. We’re tired. (all-male group)

Umorni smo. (mixed group)

Umorne smo. (all-female group)

________

® In Serbia and usually in Bosnia, the accusative form ju² is used only if there’s the

pres-3 form je² in the same sentence.

In Serbia, instead of profesorica and studentica, profesorka and studentkinja

prevail, but učiteljica is used everywhere.

In Montenegro, negative present tense forms of the verb biti (je² +) be have always

nije-, i.e. nijesam, nijesi etc., but the 3rd pers. is just nije.


It’s not a coincidence that Croatian words ja and me are similar to their English

counterparts I and me: English and Croatian are distant cousins. Even more similar

are Latin 1st and 2nd pronouns in A – they’re almost identical to Croatian ones:

pers. A (sg.) A (pl.)

1st mē nōs

2nd tē vōs

(This can help you remember Croatian pronouns if you already know Latin, and help


you learn Latin pronouns if you know Croatian and decide to learn Latin one day.)

But it’s surprising how many languages in Europe and Asia have first pers. pronouns

starting with m- and 2nd person with t-. You can find more in this map in the World

Atlas of Language Structures: M-T Pronouns.

The particle se² comes historically from a pronoun in A.

Second-position pronouns are pronounced with the word before them, but spelled

as separate words. It means čeka te he/she’s waiting for you is pronounced exactly

the same as čekate you (guys) are waiting. Therefore, some people will mix them up

in spelling, usually spelling verb endings as separate words, since they are taught that

spelling separate words together is a mistake. Be prepared.

• Exercise


Vidim ______(a). I can see her.

Ne __________(b) ______(c). I can’t hear you. (with respect, to someone you’re not

familiar with)

______(d) ________(e) voli. She loves me.

Vidim ______(f). I see it. (it = the train)

Ne __________________(g) ______(h). I don’t know him.

Ana ______(i) ______(j) voli. Ana doesn’t love him.

__________(k) ______(l). We’re waiting for you. (a single person familiar with)

Vozim ______(m) ______(n) __________(o). I’m driving you (guys) to the seaside.

____(p) je __________________(q). She’s a professor.

______(r) ______________(s). You’re not thirsty. (to a female)

______(t) ______(u) još __________(v). We’re still young. (all-male or mixed group)

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 14 My and Adjecves in Accusave 82 / 600

14 My and Adjectives in Accusative

We now know how to say:

Jedem jabuku. I’m eating an apple.

jesti

Jabuka je crvena. The apple is red.

But we still don’t know how to say I’m eating a red apple! If you want to put an

adjective before a noun in accusative, you have to put the adjective into the

accusative as well. To put an adjective into the accusative case, you have to take

into the account the gender of the noun beside it. Jabuka is feminine, so what’s the

feminine accusative ending for adjectives? Not really complicated, it’s -u, so we

have:

Jedem crvenu jabuku. I’m eating a red apple.

jesti

In this example, the adjective gets the same ending as the noun, but consider it a

coincidence. If you would take a weird feminine noun that ends in a consonant (e.g.

krv f blood) the adjective would still get the -u:

Imam crvenu krv. I have red blood.

This is what gender means: what adjective or pronoun forms you have to use.

Nouns have fixed gender – jabuka is ‘feminine’ because its default, nominative form

ends in -a, and krv blood just simply is – but adjectives adapt to the ‘class’ the noun

belongs to, and that ‘class’ is called ‘gender’ by tradition.

And now we’re going to see the four genders in Croatian. The masculine gender is

really two genders: one for masculine people-and-animals, another for everything

else masculine. Adjectives for masculine people-and-animals will get -og:

Imam crnog psa. I have a black dog.

These are all accusative adjective endings you need to remember. For neuter nouns,

and masculine other than people-and-animals, adjectives are the same as in the

nominative – of course, the N form depends on the gender. This table summarizes

the scheme (I’m here using p/a for ‘people and animals’):

gender adj. A example

fem. -u

veliku ribu

big fish

neut.

same as veliko jezero

nominative big lake

masc.

(not p/a)

same as

nominative

velik(i) zid

big wall

masc.

(p/a)

-og

(some -eg)

velikog konja

big horse

f


Usually, the two masculine genders are called masc. animate (the gender for

masculine people and animals) and masc. inanimate (the gender for everything else

‘masculine’).

You might ask: why is the gender of nouns like zid wall called ‘masculine’ at all, when

it has no people or animals in it? How is a wall masculine? Name of that gender is

simply a tradition; also, looking at the endings in the nominative case, adjectives

referring to these nouns get the same endings as for the nouns konj horse and brat

brother. The pronoun referring to a table will be on, usually translated as he.

If your brain still short circuits because of the term masculine inanimate, shorten it

to just ‘inanimate’.

Strictly speaking, the gender of masculine people and animals includes also beings

that are neither, e.g. gods, angels, ghosts, all creatures from Lord of the Rings,

snowmen – and robots! It’s important that something is perceived as having its own

will (or mind), even if it’s a microscopic worm. Such ‘genders’ are not at all

uncommon among world languages.

Something interesting: only in accusative (singular) adjectives have different endings

for all 4 genders. In most cases – I will introduce them later – there’s one adjective

ending for the feminine gender, and another for everything else. This makes

everything much simpler than it could be.

Examples for all 4 genders:

Imam crnu mačku. I have a black cat.

Vozim crni auto. I’m driving a black car.

m

Vidim crnog konja. I see a black horse.

Vidim žuto sunce. I see the yellow sun.

(The noun auto, despite ending in -o, is a masculine inanimate noun, one of

exceptions I have already listed when I introduced genders.)

Since in the masculine inanimate gender adjectives have the same form in N and A,

the -i is optional in A as well – but it’s almost always used when adjectives are

placed before nouns, as here. (Standard Croatian insists on a small difference in

meaning between adjectives with -i and without; it will be described later.)

There’s an alternative ending in masculine-people-and-animals (-eg). It’s attached to

adjectives that get an -e in the neuter nominative (and accusative) – i.e. to

adjectives that end in a Croatian-specific letter:

Vidim smeđeg konja. I see a brown horse.

You will sometimes see (in books and newspapers) adjectives having the ending -oga

or -ega instead of -og or -eg. There’s no difference in meaning: it’s just an older

form that’s sometimes still preferred in writing.®

As promised, here are the exact rules for the accusative case of nouns (instead of


As promised, here are the exact rules for the accusative case of nouns (instead of

‘same as nominative’, or ‘no change’, I wrote just ‘= N’):

noun type (N)

A

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -u

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) = N

masculine (not p/a) = N

not in -a (p/a) add -a

fem. not in -a (e.g. noć) = N

(They differ from the previous, approximate rules only for a few nouns, e.g. kokoš f

hen and zvijer f beast – the approximate rules didn’t take the gender into account.)

I’ve included the approximate rules (≈) for gender in the table, e.g. nouns that end in

-a in N are usually feminine, etc. The important criteria have nothing to do with the

approximate rules: all nouns than end in -a change it in A to -u. As some masc.

nouns end in -a, I’ve stressed that the masc. endings apply only to nouns not ending

in -a.

I will introduce here a very useful adjective, moj my. This is simply an adjective in

Croatian, but it’s not so in English. For example, you can say:

the red apple; the apple is red

If you try to replace the word red in the sentences above with my, you’ll see the

problem. Not so in Croatian, where you simply say:

moja jabuka

Jabuka je moja.

While moj is used as any other adjective, it still has two peculiarities:

First, unlike other adjectives, it never has the optional -i in masc. N.

Second, in masculine (also in neuter gender, we’ll see later) it has special, shorter

forms. There’s absolutely no difference in meaning, use, you can use longer or

shorter forms wherever you like, but shorter forms are much more frequently used:

gender N A

fem. moja moju

neut. moje = N

masc.

= N

(not p/a)

masc.

(p/a)

moj

mog

mojeg

There’s nothing special about forms for the feminine gender, they are in the table


above just for completeness sake. (There’s nothing special about neuter forms

either, since j is Croatian-specific.)

In fact, you’ll see that some adjectives and adjective-like words in Croatian tend

to have specific forms, but never in the feminine gender: all specific forms of any

adjective are limited to masculine and neuter genders.

For example:

Ana vozi mog brata na posao. Ana is driving my brother to work.

Ana vozi mojeg brata na posao. (the same meaning, but rarely used)

(As with other adjectives, you will sometimes find the form in A mojega, and the

shorter form moga – there’s no difference in meaning, such forms are just a bit

archaic.)

In the previous chapter, I’ve explained how there are two words for man in

Croatian. It’s interesting there’s only one word for both woman and wife:

žena woman, wife

If you use that word with a possessive adjective like moj (or any of the possessive

adjectives we’ll learn later) it’s understood as wife:

Vidim ženu. I (can) see a woman.

Poznaješ moju ženu. You know my wife.

poznavati

There is a word meaning precisely wife in Croatian, but it’s very formal and used

only in official records, in very formal speech and so on.

If this all sounds overwhelming to you, here are nouns and adjectives in a nutshell –

just learn this like a poem:

gender example N A

fem. big fish velika riba veliku ribu

big lake veliko jezero

neut.

big sea veliko more no change

m. inan. big wall velik(i) zid no change

m. anim. big brother velik(i) brat velikog brata

There’s an interesting rule:

If the majority of nouns (in a gender) have the same form in two or more cases,

adjectives (in the same gender) have identical forms as well. If they have different

forms, adjectives have different forms as well.

For instance, neuter nouns have the same form in N and A. Therefore, the adjectives

in neuter gender have the same form in N and A (you can check the table above).

Masculine nouns representing people and animals have different forms (they get an


-a in A), so adjectives in masculine gender for people and animals have different

forms in N and A (they get -og in A).

You’ll later see that nouns ending in -a – by and large feminine – have the same form

in nominative plural and accusative plural. Therefore, you can immediately conclude

that adjectives in the feminine gender have the same form in nominative plural and

accusative plural.

Adjectives follow the pattern (but not the endings) of the majority of nouns in a

given gender. For instance, feminine nouns in a consonant (e.g. noć f night, sol f salt)

have some cases identical (e.g. N and A singular), but it has absolutely no effect on

the pattern of adjectives, since such nouns are really a minority.

(You’ll often see that in textbooks only three genders are mentioned and the

difference in the accusative case is not called gender. The division to four genders is

the simplest explanation, in my opinion at least.)

Finally, you’ll see sometimes, in writing, that certain adjectives in A have endings like

nouns, e.g. vidim crna konja. This is never used in everyday life and casual writing.

Such indefinite adjectives will be briefly described in 99 Aorist Tense and Other

Marginal Features. You can safely ignore them for now.

________

® Such longer endings are extremely rare in Serbia and Bosnia.


The word rak means both crab and cancer, but when it refers to an animal, it’s

treated as masculine animate, and when it refers to the disease, it’s masculine

inanimate.

However, the name of a football club from Split, Hajduk, is usually treated as

masculine animate, even when referring to the club: it means highwayman, outlaw.

Very few Croatian grammars treat gender in Croatian in a consistent way, by having

4 genders. It’s much more common in Czech grammars (Czech is a close cousin to

Croatian, with essentially the same system). However, Russian (which has essentially

the same system as well) is always described with three genders. There are even

people who claim that there have to be three genders, since it’s ‘natural’, and ‘this is

what we were taught in schools’.

If we want to be precise, we can say there are basically 6 types of nouns in Croatian,

based on how they change (i.e. what endings they get) and what forms of adjectives

and pronouns they require:


pron. adjectives nouns noun endings

ona

N -a, A -u

noć night

pattern α

(‘i-nouns’)

‘feminine’

voda water pattern β

N (-i), A -og tata dad (‘a-nouns’)

‘masc. animate’ konj horse pattern γ

on

N = A (-i)

zid wall pattern δ

‘“masc.” inanimate’

N = A -o, -e

ono, to

‘neuter’

jezero lake pattern ε

Forms of adjectives are called ‘genders’ by tradition (the problem is, many people

usually consider only forms in N, so they see only 3 genders), and patterns of noun

endings are called ‘declension classes’. While everyone heard about gender, very

few people are aware of declension classes. They are much less clear-cut than

genders: for instance, nouns like konj horse and sin son seem to belong to the same

class, but we’ll see they form plural a bit differently. Should we split them to two

classes? It depends on your viewpoint.

(I’ve invented the names of patterns in the table above, I’m quite sure nobody ever

used Greek letters for these patterns. You’ll find various names in various books:

they are ultimately unimportant. However, i-nouns and a-nouns are worth

remembering.)

• Examples

Crno-bijeli svijet Black-and-White World is one of the most popular songs by Prljavo

kazalište Dirty Theater, a rock band from Zagreb. The song opens with the famous

line:

Moje ime je Davorin Bogović My name is Davorin Bogović

a ovo sve oko mene

and all this around me

to je crno-bijeli svijet... it’s a black-and-white world...

Crno-bijeli televizori

Black-and-white TV’s

rijetki noćni tramvaji rare night trams

moja bijela djevojka

my white girlfriend

uvozni ekskluzivni program imported exclusive shows

mama, tata, pas i kravata... Mom, Dad, a dog and a tie...

(Jasenko Houra)

See how moj N my and other adjectives adapt to the gender of nouns after them. All

the forms are in N, just different genders.

The second line has ovo sve, lit. these all; such forms will be explained later. It also


uses oko mene, where the form mene will be explained later (it’s in the so-called

genitive case).

The fourth and the fifth line use plural forms, which are not yet explained, but for

masculine adjectives and many masculine nouns, it’s simply -i in N plural.

The sixth line has no racist implications whatsoever: everything around the guy is

black and white, no colors – and colors are perceived as good, i.e. color TV’s were

new and better than old black-and-white ones – and the girlfriend is just a part of

the black-and-white world, i.e. she isn’t anything extraordinary. The seventh line

uses program which can mean many things; my translation as (TV) show is only one

possibility.

You can find various performances on YouTube. Check the performance on A

strana A Side and the original clip.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of adjectives and other words (a hint: all forms use the

accusative case):

Čekamo ______(a) ________(b). We’re waiting for my sister.

Sutra idemo ____(c) __________(d) ________(e). We’re going to a big beach

tomorrow.

Ivan pije __________(f) ______(g). Ivan is drinking cold beer.

Damir ima ________(h) ________(i). Damir has a little brother.

Imamo ________(j) __________(k). We have a black cat.

Ana __________(l) ________(m) auto. Ana is driving my car.

Idemo ____(n) ______(o) __________(p). We’re going to my apartment.

Jedem ____________(q) ____________(r). I’m eating a cold pizza.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 15 Locaons 89 / 600

15 Locations

We are able to say that we are going to school or to work, but what about being in

school, or at work?

It turns out we again need the prepositions u¨ and na¨, but with another noun form

– the dative or locative case (just DL for short) ®. Most books list them as separate

cases, but they are really the same in all everyday situations. (There’s a difference in

tone of some words in Standard Croatian, but most people don’t have it in their

speech.)

This table summarizes rules to put nouns into the DL case, starting from the

nominative (dictionary) form:

noun type (N)

DL

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -i

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) -o or -e → -u

masc. nouns not in -a add -u

fem. not in -a (e.g. noć) add -i

As you can see, all nouns get an ending now, and there’s no distinction for people

and animals – that applies only to the accusative case. There are again only two

endings to remember: one for nouns in -a and feminine nouns not in -a, and another

for all other nouns. Let’s take the following nouns:

kolač cake

kuća house

kuhinja kitchen

ladica drawer ®

ormar closet, wardrobe ®

peć f oven, furnace

soba room

stan apartment

With them, and other nouns we have already learned, can make sentences like

these:

Ana je u kući. Ana is in the house.

Ivan je u Zagrebu. Ivan is in Zagreb.

Spavamo u hotelu. We sleep in a hotel.

Riba pliva u moru. A fish is swimming in the sea.

Ivan je u školi. Ivan is at school.

Kuhamo u kuhinji. We’re cooking in the kitchen.

Kolač je u peći. The cake is in the oven.

Of course, we can use objects as well:

Kuham čaj u kuhinji. I’m cooking tea in the kitchen.

Gledamo televiziju u sobi. We’re watching TV in the room.


You will find this verb useful:

živjeti (živi) live

Verbs having infinitives ending in -jeti have almost always -i in their pres-3, so they

are not really irregular. Let’s put it to use:

Ana živi u Zagrebu. Ana lives in Zagreb.

Živim u Splitu. I live in Split.

As you hopefully remember, some nouns when used as destinations require na¨

instead of u¨. When they are used as locations, you still have to use na¨ with them:

Živimo na Braču. We live on the island of Brač.

Ivana je na plaži. Ivana is on the beach.

Ana je na trgu. Ana is on the (main) town square.

With locations, Croatian u¨ roughly translates as in, and na¨ as on or at. Here are a

couple of ‘activities’ – you finally know how to say on vacation or at university:

Ivan je na fakultetu. Ivan is at university.

Ana je na odmoru. Ana is on vacation.

Goran je na večeri. Goran is on dinner/supper.

Ivan je na putu. Ivan is on a trip.

Don’t forget that certain Croatian nouns require na¨ where English uses in (the Core

Dictionary marks such nouns). For example (nouns are here listed in DL, of course):

na nebu in the sky

na slici in the picture

na svijetu in the world

na ulici in the street

It also applies to appearing on electronic media, including movies and phone:

na filmu in the movie

na radiju on the radio

na telefonu on the phone

na televiziji on TV

The preposition na¨ also applies to weather conditions – being exposed to blowing

wind, sun, etc:

na hladnoći in cold

na kiši in rain

na snijegu in snow

na suncu in sun, exposed to sun

na vjetru exposed to wind

na zraku in (fresh) air

Some nouns can be used with both u¨ and na¨ – then the u¨ gives an ordinary

meaning, and na¨ a derived, metaphorical one:

u moru in the sea (below surface / swimming)

na moru at the seaside; on the sea (sailing)

u selu in the village

na selu in countryside

So, when you tell in Croatian that someone’s na moru he or she can be just on


vacation; when somebody is u moru, it’s swimming or diving.

What about at work? Again, we use na¨ with activities like these:

posao (posl-) m work, job

ručak (ručk-) lunch

sastanak (sastank-) meeting

For example:

Ivan je na poslu. Ivan is at work.

Ana je na sastanku. Ana is in a meeting.

Damir je na ručku. Damir is at lunch.

Croatian doesn’t distinguish in a meeting from at the meeting. In fact, Croatian

doesn’t have anything similar to English at – it’s always ‘in the park’, ‘on the beach’

etc.

To ask where something or someone is, just start a question with the following word

(this word varies a lot in everyday speech, e.g. you can hear di colloquially in some

parts of Croatia, including cities of Zagreb, Split and Rijeka):

gdje where ®

Nothing else is needed, there’s no change of word order; as usual in Croatian, it’s

normal to answer with just a location, or you can give a longer answer if you want

to emphasize the rest of the sentence:

Gdje je Ivan? Where is Ivan?

— Na putu. On a trip.

— Na putu je. He’s on a trip.

Gdje je Damir?

— Na telefonu. On the phone. (i.e. talking)

Standard Croatian (and many people in speech) always distinguishes gdje where

from kamo where... to, but many people in speech use gdje where for both.

If you have examined the sentences above very carefully, you might have noticed

that the stress of fakultet changed in DL. The same happens to kolač, telefon, and

to many other nouns:

N

kolač

fakultet

telefon

koncert

+ DL ending

kolaču

fakultetu

telefonu

koncertu


That’s the rule for virtually all nouns ending in a consonant that have the ‘western’

stress on the last syllable and the Standard stress on the last but one (e.g. fa-kultet):

whenever they get any ending (e.g. the DL ending -u), the Standard stress shifts

right, to the ‘western’ position.

You can recognize such nouns easily – they have their last two vowels underlined in

this course. However, if such nouns end in two consonants (e.g. koncert concert),

there’s no stress shift. (Since it’s completely predictable, I will not specially mark it in

a way I do it for verbs.)

There’s another change in DL that applies only to nouns that end in -ka or -ga. For

most of them, their ending changes to -ci or -zi, but only in DL. For example:

Živimo u Americi. We live in America.

Ivan je na slici. Ivan is in the picture.

Goran ima ranu na nozi. Goran has a wound on his leg.

It does not apply to all nouns, there’s no such change in personal names and family

terms like baka grandmother. (Note again how we used just the noun noga, and

English always likes a possessive, e.g. his, before parts of body.)

Unfortunately, we are still not able to say that we’re in Croatia, but I will explain it in

a short while, don’t worry.

________

® In informal speech in Montenegro, locations are often formed as destinations, i.e.

with A. For example:

Zoran živi u Podgoricu. (A) Zoran lives in Podgorica.

This is not standard in Montenegro, but you will find it in popular songs, movies and

writing.

While ladica is used in Serbia as well, the word fioka is much more common there

for the drawer.

Besides ormar, orman is also used in Bosnia, Serbia and parts of Croatia, mostly in

speech.

In Montenegro, the form đe where prevails and is used as standard.


Some people claim that dative and locative are really two cases, despite having

identical forms, since they have different functions. However, the accusative case

has more than one function as well, but nobody wants to split it into several cases.

(We’ll later see that other cases have more than one function too.)

Still, in all modern Croatian grammars published in Croatia (the same holds for

Serbian grammars published in Serbia) the dative and locative cases are listed


separately in tables of noun and adjective endings. I mean, really separately – D is in

the third row, and L in the sixth row. (In Serbia, L is often in the last, seventh, row!)

Incredibly, even some web pages intended for foreigners who try to learn Croatian

list these cases separately, having maybe just a small remark somewhere “these two

cases have the same endings”.

It’s as if some people are trying to make the language more complex than it really is.

For instance, this table I found on the Internet has the D and L cases separately, but

it also has an error – it says that the D of nouns in -a (‘Class II’ in the table) has the

ending -u, which is, of course, wrong (it has -i):

Also, ‘functions’ listed in the table are quite misleading in many ways. (Just in a case

somebody might find this table here and share it, I’ve added the overlay don’t use

this.) Such things are some of reasons I’ve decided to write this small ‘course’.

It’s also interesting that this distinction of D and L applies to modern grammars. In

Institutionum linguae illyricae libri duo – a grammar published in 1604 by

Bartholomaeus Cassius, usually known in Croatia as Bartol Kašić – there’s only one

case listed in singular.

Swedish also distinguishes where (var) from where... to (vart).

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of adjectives and other words:

Igor živi ____(a) ________(b). Igor lives at the seaside.

Ana kuha ____(c) ____________(d). Ana is cooking in the kitchen.

Mi ____(e) ____(f) __________(g). We’re at the beach.

________(h) ________(i) Goran? Where’s Goran?

Slušam pjesmu ____(j) ____(k). I’m listening to a song on the radio.

Dubrovnik ____(l) ____(m) ________(n). Dubrovnik is in the south.

Mi smo ____(o) __________(p). We’re at lunch.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 16 Giving to Someone, Going to Someone 94 / 600

16 Giving to Someone, Going to Someone

There’s another use of the dative/locative case (DL), but without any prepositions:

you can state recipient of some action, for instance if you write a letter to someone,

you must express someone in DL in Croatian:

Ana N piše pismo A Ivanu DL . Ana is writing a letter to Ivan.

Ana N piše pismo A Ivani DL . Ana is writing a letter to Ivana.

When you rearrange words in English, you don’t need to use to anymore, but case

pisati

pisati

forms in Croatian don’t change at all:

Ana N piše pismo A Ivanu DL . Ana is writing a letter to Ivan.

Ana N piše Ivanu DL pismo A . Ana is writing Ivan a letter. (a bit less common

order)

Since words can be shuffled, to help you recognize cases, there are offline versions

(i.e. PDF and Kindle file) which mark cases in examples with superscript letters (N,

A, DL...) – they are recognized by ‘an’ in the file name. There are also versions

without these additional marks. Pick the version you prefer. Online, cases are

marked by colors.

Such use of DL is quite common with the following verbs, where something is given

(or shown, or offered) to someone:

davati (daje) give

nuditi offer

pokazivati (pokazuje) show

The following nouns are also useful:

čestitka (DL -ci) greeting card

dar gift

poklon gift

prodavati (prodaje) sell

vraćati return

slati (šalje) send

poruka (DL -ci) message

razglednica (picture) postcard

pisati

pisati

The verbs are used simply: what goes/is offered/shown to another person (gift,

postcard, whatever) is put in the accusative case, and the recipient in DL:

Ana N šalje čestitku A Ivanu DL . Ana is sending a greeting card to Ivan.

slati

Ana N daje poklon A Goranu DL . Ana is giving a gift to Goran.

davati

Croatian has two more verbs that have a very similar meaning to davati (daje), but

with them what’s given is a gift, possibly for a special occasion:

darivati (daruje)

make a gift, donate

poklanjati

The verb poklanjati is a bit more common in speech, and the other verb in formal

writing and newspapers. For example:

Ana N poklanja knjigu A Goranu DL . Ana is giving a book to Goran (as a gift).


There’s a very rough but often effective rule: when an English verb takes two objects

– and you order them without the word to – the first object corresponds to the

Croatian DL case, and the second one to the A case:

I’m writing Ana a letter.

He told Ivan the truth.

She will buy Goran a new bike.

I wish you a nice day.

In Croatian: DL A

Of course, I haven’t explained past and future tenses yet, and I haven’t shown forms

of pronouns in various cases – but it doesn’t matter, case use doesn’t depend on the

tense, and whether you use nouns or pronouns. It’s always the same scheme.

There are two more useful verbs that use DL, but it does not have anything to do

with receiving something – it’s just the way the verbs are. They are:

pomagati (pomaže) help

pripadati belong

For example:

Ana N pomaže Goranu DL . Ana is helping Goran.

pomagati

Auto N pripada Ani DL . The car belongs to Ana.

(German uses here the same grammar as Croatian: German verbs gehören and

helfen use the German Dative case. However, keep in mind that German cases are

really not identical to Croatian cases!)

The DL case is used in thanking, which is useful when you get something. The phrase

is:

hvala na¨ + DL thanks for

Croatian za¨ usually corresponds to English for, but not in this phrase. For example,

you could say:

Hvala na... Thanks for the...

... čestitci DL . ...greeting card.

... poruci DL . ...message.

... poklonu DL . ...gift.

... pomoći DL . ...help.

f

Here we’ve used another feminine noun that doesn’t end in -a: pomoć f help,

assistance.

The DL case is also involved with possession, especially with body parts and related

people (e.g. family or friends). I already explained how in Croatian, words like my


are less often used and possession is implied:

Ana N pere kosu A . ‘Ana is washing hair.’ (= her hair)

prati

However, if she’s washing someone else’s hair, a common way – very common in

speech – to express it, is to add the person in the DL case:

Ana N pere Goranu DL kosu A . Ana is washing hair ‘to Goran’. (= Goran’s hair) prati

This is the preferred word order in such sentences – it’s, of course, possible to

rearrange words if you want to stress something. This is the same structure as with

the verb send or write – Goran will ‘get’ his hair washed, in the same way as he will

get a message, letter or gift.

Pay attention that in the sentence above, kosu is in A – it is the object, after all –

while Goranu is in DL. These two words are not attached to each other, don’t

depend on each other: this is just the most common word order in such

sentences.

Croatian has possessive adjectives – I’ve already shown moj my, others will be

shown a bit later – but with body parts, this is the preferred way. If you are familiar

with German, you’ll notice it uses the same system: the sentence above would

translate exactly as Ana wäscht Goran die Haare. Dutch and Romance languages do

it in the same way.

In fact, English is famous for using a lot of possessive adjectives, while a great

majority of European languages use them much less often. In most languages,

possession of body parts and many other things is simply implied – it’s expressed

only if something belongs to someone else, often by dative or something equivalent.

If your brain is spinning now failing to comprehend how DL can mean possession

of a body part, here’s another way to look at the sentence above: Ana is washing

the hair, and doing it to Goran.

The accusative case of neuter nouns is equal to their default, nominative form. It’s

not so for the DL case, and it becomes important that some neuter nouns have

specific case-base as well, not shortened (like masculine ones) but lengthened:

dijete (djetet-) child pile (pilet-) chicken

Pay attention how ije in dijete changes to je in its case-base (such alternations are a

cause of misspellings for many native speakers).

The next two verbs have a obligatory se² always with them (as explained already, it

must be the second word, if possible):

diviti se² marvel, admire

smijati (smije) se² laugh ®

For example:

Goran N se divi Ivanu DL . Goran marvels at Ivan.


Ana N se smije Goranu DL . Ana is laughing at Goran.

smijati se

So in Croatian – if the DL case kind of corresponds to English to — you literally

‘marvel to someone’ and ‘laugh to someone’... (which sounds wrong in English, of

course).

There’s another, completely different use of the DL case. It is possible with verbs of

motion:

ići (ide) go trčati (trči) run

If you are going or running to someone, it’s expressed in Croatian ® with DL:

Ana N ide Ivanu DL . Ana is going to Ivan. (where he is)

Trčim mami DL . I’m running to my Mum.

(You see again that it’s implied whose Mum it is.)

It’s often used when you go to some shop or office held by someone, e.g.:

frizer hairdresser zubar dentist

For example:

Ivan N sutra ide zubaru DL . Ivan is going to the dentist tomorrow.

As with other masculine nouns that have two last vowels underlined (in my

notation), the stress moves – you can see it in the example (zubar → zubaru).

As a very special use, the DL of the noun kuća house can be used as destination: it

means home, even if you live in an apartment:

Ana N danas ide kući DL . Ana is going home today.

The same meaning, especially in western and northern regions of Croatia, can be

expressed with the following adverb:

doma home (as destination)

There’s yet another use of the DL case, with certain nouns and adjectives. For

ići

trčati

example, this adjective is often accompanied by a noun in DL (this again corresponds

to English to):

sličan (sličn-) similar

For example:

Višnja N je slična trešnji DL . Sour cherry is similar to cherry.

In the previous sentence, trešnja cherry was put in DL.

________

® In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely dominates in Serbia, the verb

smijati (smije) se² has the unexpected form smejati (smeje) se².

ići

ići


The use of DL of persons to express destinations seems to be much less common in

Serbia, especially in speech.


There is a common idea that Croatian and similar languages can reorder words

almost freely (like in the examples above, Ana piše pismo Ivanu or Ana piše Ivanu

pismo) because they have case markings, so it’s obvious what you write and who

will get it.

However, e.g. Icelandic has case endings that distinguish accusative and dative, but

such reordering is not possible in Icelandic! It just seems that Germanic languages

are rigid in various ways, for an unknown reason. Most languages in the world are

much less rigid than e.g. English.

• Examples

You’ll often see the message hvala na posjeti written in restaurants, cafe bars and

hotels, literally thanks for the visit. For example:

The noun posjeta visit is considered somewhat colloquial by many language

manuals (i.e. books and web pages telling Croatians how they should speak) but it’s

very widely used.


• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below, using right forms of nouns (A or DL case):

Goran piše ____________(a). Goran is writing to his grandma.

Goran čeka ____________(b). Goran is waiting for his grandma.

Ana sutra ide ____________(c). Ana is going to the hairdresser tomorrow.

Danas idemo ________(d). We’re going home today.

Knjiga pripada ________(e). The book belongs to Ana.

Ivan čeka ____________(f). Ivan is waiting for Ana.

Ivan piše ______________(g). Ivan is writing a message.

Ivan šalje ______________(h). Ivan is sending a message.

Ivan piše __________(i). Ivan is writing to Ana.

Goran pomaže ____________(j). Goran is helping Marko.

Hvala na ______________________(k). Thanks for the (picture) postcard.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 17 Adjecves in Dave/Locave 100 / 600

17 Adjectives in Dative/Locative

If we want to use adjectives with nouns in dative/locative (DL), we must put them to

the DL form as well. Their endings are quite simple, but really different from the

noun endings:

gender adj. DL example

fem. -oj

velikoj ribi

big fish

velikom jezeru

neut.

-om big lake

(some -em) velikom zidu

masc.

big wall

As I wrote before – there’s no difference between the two masculine genders (one

for people and animals, one for others) – it applies to accusative only. Actually, in

most cases (N and A are exceptions), there are only two forms of adjectives: one for

feminine gender, another for all others. So, adjective forms are much simpler than

they could be: you need to remember only two endings for adjectives in DL.

For example:

Ivan N živi u maloj kući DL . Ivan lives in a small house.

Ana N živi u velikom stanu DL . Ana lives in a big apartment.

The ending -em applies to adjectives that end in a Croatian-specific letter, in exactly

the same way as in the accusative case, and neuter nominative.

As in other cases of adjectives, you’ll see sometimes, in writing, longer endings: -

omu, -ome and -emu.®

The ending -oj is very specific for fem. DL: if you see it on an adjective, you can be

quite sure that it – and the nouns following it – are in DL. Of course, there are few

nouns that end in -oj in N (e.g. broj number, stroj machine, etc.)

Like in A, the possessive moj my, besides the expected form mojem in the masc.

and neut., has a shortened form mom, which is much more frequent, without any

difference in meaning.

Bus and train stations and stops are frequently used locations: terms for them in

Croatian combine an adjective (sometimes left out if it’s obvious what kind of

station it is) and a noun:

autobusniʷ¹ adj. bus ®

željeznički adj. train

kolodvor station, terminal ®

stanica stop

They are always used with the preposition na¨. For instance:


Čekamo na autobusnomʷ¹ kolodvoru DL . We’re waiting at the bus station.

The train terminal in Zagreb is called Glavni kolodvor (Main station, again adj. +

noun), and a tram stop is tramvajska stanica. Instead of stanica, the word postaja is

sometimes used, especially in official announcements.

We can finally solve the mystery of how to say in Croatia in Croatian! The problem is

that the word Hrvatska is really an adjective. It’s used as a country name, but it still

changes like an adjective (put to the feminine gender). Therefore, we should say:

Ana N živi u Hrvatskoj DL . Ana lives in Croatia.

Some other countries that have a name that’s really a (feminine) adjective are:

Češka Czech Republic

Engleska England

Francuska France

Grčka Greece

Irska Ireland

Mađarska Hungary

Nizozemska Netherlands ®

Njemačka Germany

Poljska Poland

Španjolska Spain ®

Švedska Sweden

Švicarska Switzerland ®

For instance:

Madrid N je u Španjolskoj DL . Madrid is in Spain.

This applies to all country names that end on either -ska, -čka or -ška. Such nouns

are historically just shortened forms of e.g. poljska zemlja Polish country. Not all

countries have such names, many behave as normal nouns:

Bosna Bosnia

Brazil Brazil

Italija Italy

Kina China

Rusija Russia

Srbija Serbia

Certain place names in Croatia and neighboring countries behave like adjectives,

e.g.:

Makarska → DL Makarskoj

Novi Vinodolski → DL Novom Vinodolskom

Occasionally, a name can consist of two adjectives (e.g. the seaside town Novi

Vinodolski above).

Some countries (and cities!) have names that consist of an adjective + a noun. Each

will get specific endings. Such names are e.g. Crna Gora Montenegro and Velika

Gorica, a city next to Zagreb:

Ivana N je u Velikoj Gorici DL . Ivana is in Velika Gorica.

Predrag N živi u Crnoj Gori DL . Predrag lives in Montenegro.

Names of lakes, seas and oceans in Croatian are also often made of an adjective

and a noun:

Jadransko more Adriatic sea → u Jadranskom moru


Atlantski ocean Atlantic ocean → u Atlantskom oceanu ®

There are more nouns in Croatian that are (historically) adjectives and therefore

change as adjectives. For example, the name of the month of November in Croatian

changes as an adjective. To inform you about it, I will indicate such behavior with

(adj.) after the noun:

studeni (adj.) November ®

Another very frequent use of nouns-that-are-actually-adjectives are names of

languages. The full name of a language is e.g.:

engleski jezik the English language

talijanskiʷ¹ jezik the Italian language

They are very often shortened just to adjectives (e.g. engleski, talijanskiʷ¹) which

keep the gender of the noun jezik – masculine inanimate. Such adjectives that stand

for countries of origin and languages are:

češki Czech

engleski English

francuski French

hrvatski Croatian

njemački German

ruski Russian

srpski Serbian

španjolski Spanish ®

švedski Swedish

talijanskiʷ¹ Italian

If you compare them to the country names above, you can verify that the country

names are actually just feminine versions of these adjectives. For a comprehensive

list of country names and associated adjectives, check L2 Countries and

Nationalities.

To say that something is in some language, you should use na¨ + adjective in masc.

DL:

Knjiga N je na njemačkom DL . The book is in German.

If you want to ask how to say some word on some other language (including

Croatian) you should use a sentence like this:

Kako se kaže „carrot” N na hrvatskom DL ?

(Such sentences exactly correspond to Italian come si dice and Spanish cómo se dice,

so you will find another similarity to those languages.)

If you want to say that you speak or don’t speak a language, you should use the verb

znati know:

Učim hrvatski A . I’m learning Croatian.

Znam engleski A . I ‘know’ English. (= I speak

Ana N ne zna ruski A . Ana doesn’t ‘know’ Russian. (= doesn’t speak)

(I hope you remember that this verb shifts the stress to ne¨ in both Standard and

‘western’ stress scheme.)


Adjectives in the three sentences above were in the accusative case; it’s here

identical to the nominative, since the noun jezik is a masculine noun, not standing

for an animal or people (parts of people don’t count!) so it has accusative identical

to the nominative case.

Adjectives listed above can be used anywhere where you want to express that

something belongs or originates from a country, e.g.:

Amélie N je francuski film N . Amélie is a French movie.

Adjectives like njemački are often used with the preposition na¨, to mean language

lessons: either as directions (going to) or locations (attending):

Goran N je na engleskom DL . Goran is in the English class/lesson.

Sutra idem na engleski A . I’m going to the English class/lesson tomorrow. ići

The usual distinction of na¨ + A vs. na¨ + DL applies, of course, and adjectives are in

the masculine inanimate gender.

However, such adjectives cannot be used on their own to describe persons, you

cannot use the word hrvatski for people (e.g. for Croat, or Croatian, a person from

Croatia)! Croatian uses specific nouns for that. Here are just ones for Croat, Bosnian

and Serb; as you maybe expect, there are specific words for males and females:

male

female

Croat Hrvat Hrvatica

Bosnian Bosanac (Bosanc-) Bosanka

Serb Srbin Srpkinja

For a comprehensive list of names of persons of various nationalities, check L2

Countries and Nationalities.

________

® Such longer endings of adjectives are extremely rare in Serbia and Bosnia.

Instead of autobusniʷ¹, a slightly different adjective is used in Serbia: autobuski.

Both forms are used in Bosnia.

The word kolodvor is specific to Croatia: in Bosnia and Serbia, just stanica is used.

Instead of ocean, a slightly different word okean is used in Serbia and most of

Bosnia (note that Croatian c is a completely different sound than k).

The word studeni for the month of November is used only in Croatia (rarely in

Bosnia).

Instead of Nizozemska, Španjolska and Švicarska, words Holandija, Španija and

Švajcarska are used in Serbia and most of Bosnia, and the first two words behave as

normal nouns; instead of španjolski, adjective španski prevails there.


• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of words, observing destinations vs. locations (i.e. prepositions

+ A vs. DL):

Janet ________(a) u ______________(b). Janet lives in Scotland.

Ana putuje ____(c) __________________(d). Ana is traveling to France.

Mi ____(e) u ________________(f). We’re in America.

Pismo je ____(g) ________________(h). The letter is in English.

Sarajevo je ____(i) ____________(j). Sarajevo is in Bosnia.

Berlin je ____(k) ________________(l). Berlin is in Germany.

Mi smo ____(m) ____________(n) __________(o). We’re at the big beach.

Knjiga ____(p) u ____________(q) __________(r). The book is in my room.

Pismo je u ____________(s) džepu. The letter is in my pocket.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 18 This and That 105 / 600

18 This and That

Croatian has three useful demonstrative adjectives. Let’s list them and compare with

not only English, but also Spanish demonstratives (as they are more similar to

Croatian); I’ll list with them another adjective with a related meaning:

Croatian English Spanish

ovaj (ov-) this este/esta

taj (t-) that ese/esa

onaj (on-) that over there (yonder) aquel/aquella

drugi other otro/otra

They can be used as normal adjectives:

Ona kuća N je velika N . That house is big.

Marko N živi u ovom stanu DL . Marko lives in this apartment.

Unlike most other adjectives, the three adjectives listed above – ovaj (ov-), taj (t-)

and onaj (on-) – cannot get -i in masculine nominative singular. (Recall that the

same restriction applies to moj my).

As in English, it’s quite common in Croatian to use certain adjectives on their own,

without any noun, as pronouns (compare to English each, others, and so on).

However, regardless how they are used, words that are originally adjectives still

change as adjectives, that is, get case endings for adjectives.

Demonstrative adjectives, in the neuter gender (i.e. ovo, to, etc.) are often used as

generic pronouns, in questions, explaining things, etc.; the adjective-used-aspronoun

to is frequently translated with English it:

To N je mačka N . It’s a cat.

Ovo N je pas N . This is a dog.

I’ll call such sentences demonstrative. They behave a bit strange: nouns in them (e.g.

mačka, pas) are subjects, so the verb biti (je² +) be agrees with them. It applies to

using to with another pronoun as well:

To N sam ja N . It’s me. (lit. ‘It I am.’)

If you use to + adjectives, it’s a different type of sentence: you are talking about

something else, already known. Now the word to is the subject, be careful that you

use the neuter gender of adjectives:

Ovo N je teško N . This is heavy/hard.

This is completely different from how e.g. pronouns ja I or ti you (singular) behave:

with them, you have to think what the pronoun represents, and adjust the gender

accordingly. With to you have to use the neuter gender, regardless of what the


pronoun represents!

This is very often used to express that something belongs to someone, using

possessive adjectives:

To N je moje N . It’s mine.

(Recall that moj gets -e in neuter, since it ends in a Croatian-specific consonant.)

Croatian has the 3rd person neuter pronoun ono it, but demonstrative

adjective/pronoun in the neuter gender – to – prevails in use instead.

You can use to (or ovo, etc.), with the verb zvati (zove) call + se² to express what is

the name or word for something:

Ovo N se zove džep N . This is called a pocket.

zvati

To ask what is something called, use kako how (again, as in Spanish or Italian):

Kako se to N zove (na hrvatskom DL )? What is that called (in Croatian)?

zvati

Although Croatian has no articles – words like English the, a or an – you can use taj

(t-) or onaj (on-) as an adjective, if you want to emphasize that something is strictly

defined, already known:

Čekam taj vlak A . I’m waiting for that train.

Ona žena N je ovdje. That/The woman is here.

The opposite can be expressed with two adjectives that express that something is

not really known:

jedan (jedn-) one neki some

For instance:

Neka žena N je ovdje. A woman is here. (or some woman...)

The adjective jedan (jedn-) one also serves as a number – for instance, you can say

that you have one son (recall, masculine nouns standing for people or animals

change in accusative):

Imam jednog sina A . I have one son. (or a son)

In Croatian, demonstrative and possessive adjectives can be combined freely, unlike

in English, so you can say:

jedna moja knjiga one of my books (lit. ‘one my book’)

jedan moj prijatelj one of my (male) friends (lit. ‘one my friend’)

ta moja knjiga lit. ‘that my book’

The last phrase is hard to translate, but the meaning is obvious: a specific book that

belongs to me. For example:

Poznaješ jednog mog dobrog prijatelja A . You know a good friend of poznavati

mine. (lit. ‘one my good friend’)


The normal order of adjectives in such phrases is demonstrative-possessivedescriptive,

but it can be changed in principle.

There’s another, very subtle way to express indefiniteness of the subject in

sentences without objects – put the subject after the verb:

Dolazi vlak N . A train is coming. ®

(This explains the common order of words in sentences like pada kiša lit. ‘a rain is

falling.’)

The adjective drugi is often translated as English another. While English e.g. another

apple is a bit ambiguous, Croatian drugi means not this one, and Croatian uses još +

jedan (jedn-) in meaning one more:

Želim drugu olovku A . I want another pencil. (a different pencil)

Želim još jednu A olovku A . I want another pencil. (one more)

We have used here the following noun and verb:

olovka pencil željeti (želi) want

The adjective jedan (jedn-) one can be negated, by appending ni-:

nijedan (nijedn-) + negation not even one

Like with other negative words starting with ni-, the verb must be negated too:

Nemam nijednu olovku A . I don’t have a single pencil. (lit. ‘I don’t have not even one

pencil.’)

Ne znam nijednu riječ A . I don’t know a single word. (lit. ‘I don’t know not even f

one word.’)

While jedan (jedn-) usually translates as one, Croatian has no “noun” like English

one. When you would use this one, another one in English, only the adjective-aspronoun

corresponding to this or another is used in Croatian – but don’t forget to

adjust its case and gender! For example:

Želim ovu jabuku A . I want this apple.

Želim ovu A . I want this one. (lit. ‘this’, fem. A)

Želim drugog učitelja A . I want another teacher.

Želim drugog A . I want another one. (lit. ‘other’, masc.anim. A)

Želim još jedno pivo A . I want one more beer.

Želim još jedno A . I want one more. (lit. ‘one’, neut. A)

This is one instance when it’s clear why adjectives show gender in Croatian – they

are more specific when used without nouns.

The words jedan (jedn-) and nijedan (nijedn-) are often used in short replies, buy

pay attention that they of course adjust to the gender of the thing they refer to

(here olovka pencil = feminine):


Trebam olovku A . I need a pencil. ®

— Imam jednu A . I have one.

— Nemam nijednu A . I don’t have any. (lit. ‘I don’t have not even one.’)

The neuter form to (properly changed for case, of course) is also used to refer to

facts, statements, events and actions:

Kuham čaj A . I’m making tea. (lit. ‘cooking tea’) ®

— To N je dobro N ! That’s good!

Here, the word to refers to what is previously said. Only to can be used in such

references, ovo or ono cannot be used.

Croatian has specific demonstrative adverbs for manner (how) and quantity (how

much/many) that don’t have exact English counterparts:

manner

ovako in this way, like this

tako in that way, so

onako in that way, like that

quantity

ovoliko this much/many

toliko so much/many

onoliko that much/many

Out of them, ovako, tako and toliko are most often used. For example:

Ovaj auto N je tako brz N . This car is so fast.

m

In fact, Croatian has a wide array of demonstrative adverbs, covering every category

of adverbs: destination, origin, reason, location, time, etc. Some of them are

frequently used, others less so.

However, certain meanings are expressed with a demonstrative + noun, and the

whole phrase gets a special meaning. The noun put (meaning way on its own) is

often used in such phrases:

ovaj put this time (around)

taj put that time

Croatian has also demonstrative adjectives corresponding to quality and size:

ovakav (ovakv-) such, like this

ovolik this big

Don’t forget these words are adjectives, that is, change in gender, case and number.

For example:

Imam ovakvu majicu A . I have such a shirt.

Other forms are derived in the same way as for other types of demonstratives, i.e.

by replacing ov- with t- or on-.

Don’t worry too much about the difference between ovakav (ovakv-) and takav

(takv-) – they are often used interchangeably by Croatians.


(takv-) – they are often used interchangeably by Croatians.

English has specific time adverbs for ‘on, during this day’ (today) and ‘this night’

(tonight). Croatian has a bit expanded scheme. They all end in -s:

danas today

noćas tonight

jutros this morning

večeras this evening

For example:

Večeras idemo u restoran A . We’re going to the restaurant this evening.

ići

The word to is also used in the phrase to jest (where jest is an archaic form of je²,

the pres-3 of biti).

Another demonstrative, tako, is used in another frequent phrase, i tako dalje. Both

are very common expressions, so they have standard abbreviations (the periods are

mandatory; matching English abbreviations are also given):

phrase

to jest that is

i tako dalje and so on

abbreviated

tj. i.e.

itd. etc.

________

® Instead of vlak train, the word voz is used in Serbia and most of Bosnia. Instead of

kuhati, the form kuvati is used in Serbia, and in parts of Bosnia and Croatia

(however, it’s not standard in Croatian).

In Serbia, instead of trebam olovku, the construction treba mi olovka is used. It’s

also used in Croatia. It will be explained in the following chapters.


English the is basically just a worn down, reduced version of that that somehow

became obligatory before many nouns and so became an ‘article’. Many languages,

from Croatian to Hindi and Korean, have no articles whatsoever. This map in the

World Atlas of Language Structures illustrates the distribution of languages with and

without articles: Definite Articles.

In Italian, you have to use an article before my friend – either indefinite un mio

amico or definite il mio amico. Overall, Croatian grammar is much closer to

Romance languages than to English.


• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of words:

Ona živi u ____________(a) __________(b). She lives in that house.

Imam __________(c) auto. I have such a car.

Vidim __________(d) pticu. I see one bird.

Ovo ____(e) __________(f) __________(g)! This is so expensive!

To ____(h) ____(i). That’s us.

Želim ______(j) __________(k) sendvič. I want one more sandwich.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 19 Your, Ana’s: Possessives 111 / 600

19 Your, Ana’s: Possessives

We know how to say the red apple, even my apple, but not your apple or Ana’s

apple. So, let’s learn it.

As I have already explained, words like my (or Ana’s) are simply adjectives in

Croatian (more accurately, possessive adjectives). They are not adjectives in English,

where you cannot say the my apple, but you can say the red apple. That’s one

example where Croatian is simpler than English.

As the rule, possessive adjectives never get the optional -i in masc. N.

Each possessive adjective corresponds to one pronoun. There are three sets of

pronouns with similar forms; the first set is:

pronoun possessive

ja I moj my

ti you (sg.) tvoj your

— svoj

All three end in -j, so they get -em and -eg instead of -om and -og, but, like moj, the

other two adjectives above have additional, shortened forms in neuter and

masculine genders as well:

alt. endings for moj, tvoj, svoj

masc. / neut. DL: -ojem = -om

masc. p/a A: -ojeg = -og

You can use them as any adjective:

Čekamo tvog brata A . We’re waiting for your brother.

Čekamo tvojeg brata A . (the same meaning)

Pišem poruku A tvojoj sestri DL . I’m writing a message to your sister.

pisati

The following two adjectives don’t have any special forms, they change as normal

adjectives (of course, since they end in an -š, they get -em and -eg in neuter and

masculine):

pronoun

mi we

vi you (pl./resp.)

possessive

naš our

vaš your (i.e. y’all’s)

The last set contains the 3rd person pronouns. Here Croatian does not distinguish

neuter from masculine possessive:


pronoun

ona she

ono it

on he

one they (f)

ona they (n)

oni they (m)

possessive

njen her

njezin her ®

njegov its/his

njihov their

For example:

Knjiga N je njihova N . The book is ‘their’. (= theirs)

Čitam njegovu poruku A . I’m reading his message.

There are two possessive adjectives that correspond to ona she. Both are used, you

can use any you like.®

If you were careful, there was a mysterious possessive svoj. It should be used when

something belongs to the subject of the sentence. For instance, if Ana is writing a

letter to her brother, you would use it:

Ana N piše pismo A svom bratu DL . Ana is writing a letter to her (= Ana’s) pisati

brother.

In real life, it’s not always used in 1st and 2nd person, so you will hear and

sometimes read e.g.:

Pišem pismo A mom bratu DL . (colloq.) I’m writing a letter to my brother. pisati

The main purpose of svoj is distinguishing between two or more possible possessors

in a sentence – it always points to the subject:

Ana N vraća Ivani DL svoj ključ A . Ana is returning her (= Ana’s) key to Ivana.

Ana N vraća Ivani DL njen ključ A . Ana is returning her (= Ivana’s) key to Ivana.

The reflexive possessive svoj doesn’t distinguish owner’s gender and number, i.e. it’s

the same in masc. and fem., singular and plural – and that elegantly solves a classic

problem in English, obvious in these three sentences:

Everyone loves his mother. or

Everyone loves his or her mother. or

Everyone loves their mother. ?

The first option is problematic since everyone includes women too; the second

option is too long, and the third option is condemned by some. Croatian simply uses:

Svatko N voli svoju majku A .

(The indefinite pronoun svatko will be explained in 41 Somewhere, Nobody,


Everything...)

How to make possessives out of names? In English, you just add ’s, but it’s slightly

more complicated in Croatian. It’s simplest for names ending in -a: just replace it

with the -in, and (usually) you’re done. It works also for nouns in -a standing for

people (e.g. tata Dad):

Ana → Anin

Ivana → Ivanin

Luka → Lukin

mama Mom → mamin

sestra sister → sestrin

tata Dad → tatin

For nouns and names that end in -ca, the c changes to č when -in is added:

Anica → Aničin

prijateljica friend (f) → prijateljičin

The noun majka mother also has a change in consonants, but not other nouns

ending in -ka:

majka mother → majčin

baka grandmother → bakin

What about male names that change as if ending in -a, like Ante? They also make

possessives with -in:

Čekamo Antinu sestru A . We’re waiting for Ante’s sister.

This also usually applies for female names that don’t end in -a and therefore don’t

change at all (however, some people use alternative methods, to be described a bit

later), e.g.

Doris → Dorisin Ines → Inesin

For male names ending in a consonant or names like Marko, you should add an -ov

(or -ev after Croatian-specific letters). It works for nouns standing for people as

well:

Goran → Goranov

Ivan → Ivanov

Marko → Markov

Hrvoje → Hrvojev

sin son → sinov

prijatelj friend (m) → prijateljev

If a noun ends in -c (or its case-base), it turns to č when -ev is added:

otac (oc-) father (formal) → očev

princ prince → prinčev

All these words are adjectives, they change in case and gender! For example:

Čekamo Aninu sestru A . We’re waiting for Ana’s sister.

Sjedim u Hrvojevoj kuhinji DL . I’m sitting in Hrvoje’s kitchen.

Ana N je Goranova mama N . Ana is Goran’s mom.

Since they are adjectives, they are more flexible than English possessives:


Auto N je Anin N . The car ‘is Ana’s’. (= belongs to Ana)

m

I’ve already explained that possession of body parts is usually expressed with the DL

case. Is there any difference in meaning when possessive adjectives are used?

Usually, there’s no difference, and DL is preferred with such nouns. However, here’s

a difference in some circumstances: DL implies a kind of close possession, while

possessive adjectives don’t. Compare these sentences:

(1) Ana N pere Goranu DL kosu A . Ana is washing Goran’s hair. (lit. ‘washing the prati

hair to Goran’)

(2) Ana N pere Goranovu kosu A . (lit. ‘washing Goran’s hair’ – the same

prati

meaning?)

They don’t mean exactly the same. The sentence #1 implies that the hair is growing

from Goran’s head, while the sentence #2 could also apply to cut hair being washed

for whatever reason.

This is a very fine distinction not important in most circumstances. (The ‘close

possession’ is sometimes called ‘inalienable’, but the name is not precise – the hair

can be cut.)

Pay attention: in the DL possession, used for body parts, the noun for person is

simply in DL (Goran → Goranu). When you use a possessive adjective – which

you have to do to express possession of a ball, dog, house etc. – you have first to

turn the person into a possessive (Goran → Goranov) and then add the right

ending for case and gender to it (e.g. Goranov → Goranovu for feminine A).

With relatives, it’s normal to use poss. adjectives, as above (check the sentence

about Ana’s sister). I’ll explain later when it’s more common to use DL for relatives

as well.

Possessives in Croatian are often used in street names, for example Branimir street

– one of major streets in Zagreb – is actually Branimirova ulica Branimir’s street.

The word ulica street is often dropped when it’s obvious what we’re talking about.

(With specific streets, you should use the preposition u¨):

Ivan N živi u Branimirovoj ulici DL . Ivan lives on ‘Branimirova’ street.

Ivan N živi u Branimirovoj DL . (the same meaning, but shorter)

There’s just one problem: you can create a possessive adjective in Croatian from a

single noun only. In English, you can just turn the last word into a possessive, but not

so in Croatian. Here’s what I mean:

mačka cat → mačkin cat’s

crna mačka black cat → ? black cat’s

Croatian uses a completely different construction for the latter phrase, and we’ll

learn it immediately.

________


® The possessive adjective njezin is considered archaic outside Croatia.


Now you know why so many last names in Russia end in -ov, -ev or -in: they are just

former possessive adjectives. Such last names are common in Croatia too, but even

more common is to add -ić, which will become clear later.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of nouns:

Čitam ____________(a) knjigu. I’m reading his book.

____________(b) ____________(c) je ovdje. Hrvoje’s sister is here.

Poznajem __________(d) __________(e). I know Ana’s brother.

Auto pripada ________(f) ________(g). The car belongs to my son.

Imam ________(h) tanjur. I have my plate.

Kišobran je ____(i) __________(j) autu. The umbrella is in your car.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 20 At My Friend’s: Genive 116 / 600

20 At My Friend’s: Genitive

There’s another case to learn, and it’s a very useful case. It’s used in constructions

like my sister’s apartment and car keys, but also in measuring, counting, with many

prepositions, etc. It’s called genitive (just G for short). In some other languages (e.g.

German) the genitive case is mainly associated with possession. In Croatian,

expressing possession is just one of many uses of the genitive case, and it’s not its

main use!

Nouns get the following endings in genitive:

noun type (N)

G

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -e

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) -o or -e → -a

masc. nouns not in -a add -a


As for the DL case, the endings of most masc. nouns and or neuter nouns are the

same, and there’s no distinction for people and animals.

We can put it immediately to use. First, it’s used when English uses something-ofsomething,

e.g.:

kraj filma end of the movie

The second word is always in G, regardless of the role the whole phrase gets. If you

use the phrase when e.g. the DL case is required, only the first word changes:

To N je na kraju DL filma G . That’s at the end of the movie.

This construction is frequently used when something ‘belongs’ to something, but it’s

not possession:

broj telefona phone number

vlasnik bicikla bicycle owner

ključ auta car key

vrh planine mountain top

While in such expressions in English, phone and car are used like adjectives, in

Croatian they are nouns in genitive (lit. number of the phone, top of the mountain,

etc.) If you want to describe a noun (e.g. vrh peak) with an adjective, you need to

adapt the adjective to the noun gender and case, and normally place it in front of

the noun (in poetry and some other circumstances, the adjective can be after the

noun):

visoki vrh (N, N)

na visokom vrhu (DL, DL)

But if you describe a noun with another noun, you should put it after the noun, in the

G case, and it stays in the G case, no matter what! (Another way is to turn the noun


into an adjective and follow the previous procedure: it’s described in 33 School Yard:

Relational Adjectives):

vrh planine (N, G)

na vrhu planine (DL, G)

Now, there’s a problem. The form planine also means mountains (that is, plural, as

you’ll see very soon). So, is it on the top, followed by the plural noun mountains, or

the noun + G construction on the top of the mountain? In such cases, always assume

it’s noun + G, of course, if it makes sense.

The G case is also used by several verbs. The often used ones are:

bojati (boji) se² be afraid

sjećati se² have memories, remember

The first verb always uses the particle se². For example:

Goran N se boji mraka G . Goran is afraid of dark.

bojati se

Perhaps the most common use of the genitive case in Croatian is with prepositions.

In fact, only a limited number of prepositions in Croatian demand cases other than

G. You’ll see that the genitive case is the default case if a preposition, adverb or

number is used before a noun. A very common preposition is:

kod¨ + G (roughly) at/by

This preposition covers many meanings. It’s very often used to specify location by a

prominent feature, or someone’s home, shop or office:

Čekam Anu A kod mosta G . I’m waiting for Ana by the bridge.

Ana N je kod zubara G . Ana is at the dentist’s.

Goran N je kod tete G . Goran is at his aunt’s. (place)

If you refer to someone’s house or apartment as a location, it’s normal just to use

such an expression, without stating is it a kuća house or a stan apartment, or

something else. In this manner, the Croatian preposition kod¨ is very similar to the

French chez.

Also, if you know some German, you’ll see it’s also very similar to e.g. German beim

Zahnarzt; however, the German preposition bei requires the German Dative case –

Croatian and German cases are not equivalent in some constructions.

When kod¨ is used before people, the ‘location’ can be understood figuratively –

including inside someone’s pocket or purse – so it sometimes corresponds to English

have:

Ključ N je kod Ane G . (roughly) Ana has the key.

However, this can be used only for temporary possession of movable things. You

cannot use such expression to say Ana has a brother or Ana has a new house, but

you can use it for e.g. cars:


Tvoj auto N je kod Ane G . (roughly) Ana has (= is using) your car.

There’s a special phrase kod kuće – it means simply at home, regardless if you’re

living in a house or not:

Nisam kod kuće G . I’m not at home.

We must not forget adjectives in G; they get quite different endings:

m

gender adj. G example

fem. -e

velike ribe

big fish

neut.

velikog jezera

-og big lake

masc.

(some -eg) velikog konja

big horse

The endings -og vs. -eg in neut. and masc. follow the usual rule as in other cases in

neut. and masc. genders. Again, you will sometimes see longer endings -oga and -

ega, mainly in writing.

The G case is used when something is related to descriptions or teaching a language.

Recall that languages are usually referred to simply by adjectives:

gramatika španjolskog Spanish grammar

udžbenik hrvatskog Croatian textbook

With nouns rječnik dictionary and gramatika grammar you can also use just

adjectives before them – then adjectives change case as nouns do:

španjolska gramatika Spanish grammar

The possessive adjectives similar to moj my have a specific, shortened form in neut.

and masc. genders in the G too:

gender N G

neut. moje mog

masc. moj mojeg

This example combines a preposition, possessive adjective and a noun:

Ana N je kod moje sestre G . ‘Ana is at my sister’s.’

We can finally say your sister’s apartment. In Croatian you can make a possessive

only out of single nouns. If you want to express possession by something expressed

by more than one word, you must put them to G, regardless of the case of the

possessed noun and place them after the possessed noun. Here tvoja sestra your


sister (G tvoje sestre) owns the apartment:

Ovo N je stan N tvoje sestre G . ‘This is an apartment of your sister’ (= your sister’s

apartment)

Ivan N je u stanu DL tvoje sestre G . Ivan is in your sister’s apartment.

Observe how changing case of stan apartment doesn’t affect the words tvoje sestre

at all. Here I’ve put the matching Croatian and English possessive phrases in square

brackets:

Ivana N je sestra N [moje žene G ]. Ivana is [my wife]’s sister.

Čekam sestru A [moje žene G ]. I’m waiting for [my wife]’s sister.

Pišem poruku A sestri DL [moje žene G ]. I’m writing a message to [my wife]’s sister.

(Croatian has precise words for wife’s sister etc. but you can always use expressions

like these.)

There’s something interesting with street names. We have already encountered

Branimirova ulica, lit. Branimir’s street. However, the official name of the street is

Ulica kneza Branimira (knez is a title, roughly prince).

People are talking about the same street either as Branimirova – often leaving out

ulica – or as Ulica kneza Branimira, e.g. when writing their address, even business

address, some people prefer one form over another. If you’re not aware of the

grammar behind it – as foreigners often aren’t – you can get an impression these are

two different streets! Here I took a photo of a shop door and an official street sign

few meters away from it:

There’s one more issue: with possessives (e.g. Anin), you could say:

Auto N je Anin N . The car ‘is Ana’s’. (= belongs to Ana)

m

You cannot do it when something belongs to someone expressed by more than one

word (e.g. moja sestra). There are two other ways.

The formal way is to use the verb pripadati belong (introduced in 16 Giving to

Someone, Going to Someone). You can use it with any expression that stands for

possessor. Keep in mind that this verb requires the DL case:


Auto N pripada mojoj sestri DL . The car belongs to my sister.

Auto N pripada Ani DL . The car belongs to Ana.

Another universal way – but very colloquial – is to use the verb biti (je² +) be with the

preposition od¨ + G:

Auto N je od moje sestre G . (colloq.!) The car ‘is of my sister’.

m

Auto N je od Ane G . (colloq.!) The car ‘is of Ana’.

m


In Croatian and Serbian grammatical traditions, the G case is always listed second,

after the nominative case. In some Serbian grammars, it’s even called ‘the second

case’. When the traditional N-G-... order of listing cases in primary school textbooks

in Croatia was changed to N-A-... – about a decade ago – a lot of Croatians

complained: they have learned the N-G... order in school, often memorizing it like a

song (and mostly not thinking what the cases really are, which is expected for 11-

year-olds).

The use of kod¨ + G for possession is kind of opposite of using DL (or possessive

adjectives), and it’s really a different kind of possession: kod¨ + G indicates really

having something (e.g. tickets in the pocket), while D indicates some intrinsic bond –

body parts, personal items, especially when “on” someone. Different kinds of

possession can be combined, as in tvoj auto je kod Ane – the car is yours, but Ana

has it (at the moment). In Russian, the first way – a preposition + G (Russian uses the

preposition u) – is the main way to indicate any kind of possession, including having

brothers. The Russian verb meaning have is rarely used.

• Exercise


Goran ____(a) ______(b) ________(c). Goran is at his mother’s place.

Mačka ____(d) ________(e) ________(f). The cat is afraid of water.

Tražim __________(g) ______________(h). I’m looking for the key of the wardrobe.

____________(i) je kod ______(j). Ana has the book.

Ivan je ______(k) vrhu ____________(l) ______________(m). Ivan is on the top of a

high mountain.

Goran se boji ____________(n) ________(o). Goran is afraid of the black dog.

Ne sjećam ____(p) ____(q) ________(r). I don’t remember that night.

Nismo ______(s) ________(t). We’re not at home.

Check answers here.

m

m

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 21 Origins 121 / 600

21 Origins

We continue with uses of the genitive case (G), with more prepositions. There are

several prepositions that indicate origins, where something or someone comes or

came from – opposite to destinations.

The following two prepositions are opposites to u¨ + A and na¨ + A – they represent

origin of motion:

iz¨ + G from, off (opposite to u¨ + A)

s¨ / sa¨ + G off of, from (opposite to na¨ + A)

If you express going to a destination with u¨ + A, you should use iz¨ + G for a motion

in the opposite direction:

Goran N ide u školu A . Goran is going to school.

Goran N dolazi iz škole G . Goran is coming from school.

This preposition is often used to express someone’s origins:

Josip N je iz Rijeke G . ‘Josip is from Rijeka.’ (i.e. born and raised there)

However, if you express a destination with na¨ + A, you must express the opposite

direction with s¨ / sa¨ + G:

Idem na posao A . I’m going to work.

Idem s posla G . I’m going from work.

Odlazimo na plažu A . We’re leaving for the beach.

Vraćamo se s plaže G . We’re coming back from the beach.

This preposition has 2 forms: the longer form is used before words starting with s-,

š-, z- or ž- (in colloquial Croatian, that rule is not always respected, you will hear and

read sa¨ before other words as well).

If you’re now scratching your head, guessing how to pronounce s posla, the s¨ is

normally pronounced with the following word, e.g. ‘sposla’, but always written

separately.

(German has also two ‘from’ prepositions – von and aus; however, they are not

really equivalent to Croatian ones; besides, they use the German Dative case.

Croatian uses the genitive case much more often than German.)

English has another possibility – the preposition off, expressing simply that you’re

not at some location. Croatian has no such preposition, you’ll have to use negation:

Nisam na poslu DL . I’m off work.

There’s yet another preposition used in a very similar meaning:

od¨ + G from

It’s used if you’re going from someone, actually from a location that’s described

ići

ići

ići


with kod¨ + G:

Ana N odlazi od zubara G . Ana is leaving the dentist’s office.

To ask where from something or someone goes/comes, just start a question with

one of these two words:

odakle / otkud(a) where... from

As usual, nothing else except this word is needed, no change of word order:

Odakle si? Where are you from?

— Iz Rijeke G . From Rijeka.

Odakle dolazi ta buka N ? Where is that noise coming from?

— S plaže G . From the beach.

This table nicely summarizes three types of destinations, locations and origins, and

the various question-words:

u¨ + A

u sobu A

to the room

na¨ + A

na plažu A

to the beach

DL

zubaru DL

to dentist’s

kamo...?

where... to?

u¨ + DL

u sobi DL

in the room

na¨ + DL

na plaži DL

at the beach

kod¨ + G

kod zubara G

at dentist’s

gdje...?

where... ?

iz¨ + G

iz sobe G

from the room

s¨ / sa¨ + G

s plaže G

from the beach

od¨ + G

od zubara G

from dentist’s

odakle...?

otkud(a)...?

where... from?

You will hear quite often kod¨ + G used colloquially ® for destinations as well

instead of just DL:

Ana N ide kod zubara G . (colloq.) Ana going to the dentist’s.

ići

There’s an often used adverb of space standing for a specific origin:

odavde from here

It’s always used to express that meaning, you cannot say "od ovdje".

Prepositions od¨ and do¨ are frequently used to indicate start and end points. They

are also used to indicate when something starts and when ends, that is, origin and

end in time:

Radim od osam do četiri. I work from 8 to 4.

With time adverbs, there are the following very often used combinations for time


origins:

otkad(a) ‘since when‘, from what time

odsad(a) from now, now on

otad(a) from then

odavno since a long time ago

odnedavno recently (since a recent moment)

You will sometimes see the first three spelled separately – od kada, od sada, od

tada – that’s not strictly standard in Croatian, but often used.®

The adverbs odavno and odnedavno have no exact English equivalents, but they

are easy to understand – something started either a long time ago or a short time

ago (of course, the ‘short time’ depends on the context).

The question-word otkad(a) has also no exact English equivalent: it’s used when we

want to ask when something ongoing has started (such questions are much more

precise than generic "how long", so Croatian prefers them):

Otkada Goran N spava? lit. ‘Since what time is Goran sleeping?’

— Od podneva G . Since noon.

Here, we used the noun:

podne (podnev-) noon

It’s sometimes used as indeclinable, so you’ll hear also od podne.

There are matching time end points as well:

dokad(a) ‘until when’

dosad(a) until now

dotad(a) until then

donedavno until recently

(As for origins, the first three adverbs are sometimes spelled separately.) For

example:

Odavno ne jedem meso A . I haven’t been eating meat ‘since long time ago’. jesti

Dokad radiš? lit. ‘Until which time do you work?’

The adverb odavno points to a start point in time. The action or state might still be

ongoing: Croatian uses the present tense then.

The second sentence cannot be translated to English without rephrasing: it simply

asks for the end point in time for raditi work... Even the first sentence sounds

awkward for many English speakers – for a long time is preferred. Croatian,

however, has a single word meaning "from a distant moment in the past", so it’s

often used.

There’s another, very frequent use of the preposition od¨ – to indicate material

(understood broadly) something is made of. English uses nouns-as-adjectives


frequently for that purpose, but Croatian does not. For example:

Ovo N je sok N od jabuke G . This is apple juice.

Kuća N je od kamena G . The house is of stone.

There are two more very useful words (they can be used on their own, but also with

nouns in G):

word + G on its own

prije before earlier

poslije after later

The word poslije is an exception from the usual pronunciation rules: many people

pronounce it pos-lje. Both words are very common:

Poslije plaže G idemo na večeru A . After the beach, we’re going to supper.

Jedem doručak A prije posla G . I eat breakfast before work.

Instead of poslije, the word nakon can be used, but it’s always used with a noun in

G, while poslije can be used on its own:

Poslije idemo na večeru A . Later, we’re going to supper.

Note: these words don’t completely correspond to English before and after. I’ll

explain the details later, in 49 For 7 Hours: Definite Periods.

________

ići

jesti

® Use of kod¨ + G for destinations is standard in Serbia and Bosnia. Spelling od sada,

as two words, is acceptable in Standard Serbian.


In Russian, which is a close cousin to Croatian, there’s basically the same three-way

table; of course, some prepositions have a bit different shape. Besides, the dative

case (D) is not equal to locative (L) in Russian – and the locative case is usually called

‘prepositional’:

kuda

where... to

gd’e

where

otkuda

where... from

v + A v + L iz + G

na + A na + L so + G

k + D u + G ot + G

I have here just spelled Russian using Croatian Latin characters, to show you how

similar the system is. You can find more in this link: Motion and Location.

ići


There is the preposition k¨ in Croatian as well – used with DL – but it’s mostly

obsolete, especially in speech.

• Exercise


Josip se vraća ____(a) ______________(b). Josip is returning from Zagreb.

Goran je u školi ____(c) ______(d) ____(e) ______(f) . Goran is in school from eight

to two.

Ana dolazi ____(g) ________________(h). Ana is coming from a meeting.

Goran se vraća ____(i) __________(j). Goran is coming back from school.

Vraćamo se ____(k) ________________(l). We’re coming back from the concert.

Idemo ____(m) __________(n). We’re going from the park.

Ivan putuje ____(o) __________(p). Ivan is traveling from the island of Krk.

Na ________(q) smo ____(r) ______________(s). We’re at the seaside until Sunday.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 22 Here I am: More Pronouns 126 / 600

22 Here I am: More Pronouns

Let’s check now the pronouns in genitive (G) and dative/locative (DL). It’s less to

learn than it might seem, since the forms for the genitive case are identical to the

accusative forms, with one partial exception. And we’re going to learn pronouns in

plural. In all, 8 pronoun forms to learn.

Here are the personal pronouns for the 1st and 2nd persons in singular. Since forms

for the genitive and accusative cases are identical, I have grouped them to a single

column:

pronouns in singular

person N A, G DL

1st (ja) me² mi²

2nd (ti) te² ti²

The DL forms in singular have just a different end vowel.

I’ve put forms in the nominative case into parentheses to remind you that they

aren’t actually often used. In fact, they can be considered stressed forms – you use

them only if you want to emphasize the subject (or sometimes, you have to use

them, e.g. in constructions like ja sam Amerikanac I’m American).

Here are the forms for plural:

pronouns in plural

person N A, G DL

1st (mi) nas² nam²

2nd (vi) vas² vam²

Again, the DL forms have just a different final consonant.

Bear in mind that A, G and DL forms of pronouns must be placed in the second

position:

Pišem ti DL pismo. I’m writing a letter to you.

pisati | 2

Ana N nas A čeka. Ana is waiting for us.

1pl

Now, you’re maybe scratching your head: how to distinguish e.g. ti (you, singular, N)

from ti² (the same pronoun, but in DL)? How to tell mi (we, N) from mi² (I, DL)? How

to understand this:

Ti mi pišeš. ???

Look at the verb. The verb is in the second person singular (-š) therefore ti is a

subject pronoun. Since there can be only one subject, mi must be in some other

pisati


case, and the only other form is 1st person DL.

Another clue that ti in the sentence above cannot be anything else than N is its

place: if it would be in any other case, it would be in the second position. It’s not, so

it’s in N. The sentence means you’re writing to me.

Finally, here are the 3rd person forms. They are quite unlike forms for the 1st and

2nd person:

3rd person pronouns

gender N A, G A DL

f ona je² ju² joj²

n (ono)

ga² mu²

m on

f pl. one

n pl. (ona) ih² im²

m pl. oni

You can see it’s again only feminine against everything else in G and DL, and in plural,

genders are not distinguished at all (except in N). While the 3rd person feminine A

was either je² or ju², in the genitive case, only je² is used.

Maybe you have noticed a small problem: what if someone uses two secondposition

pronouns? I mean, something like this:

Šaljem ti DL ga A . I’m sending it to you.

slati | 2 | 3m/n

In such sentences, the word order is always such that pronouns in DL come before

ones in the accusative or genitive case!

There’s one more fine point. You noticed that neuter pronouns are in brackets.

That’s because they are used not often: it’s much more common to use

demonstrative adjectives (i.e. ovo, to...) instead.

This is maybe a convenient place to introduce two very similar verbs:

razumjeti (razumije) understand ®

shvaćati understand ®

The first verb has inf like živjeti, but a special form in the present tense – there are

only few verbs like that.

They are usually used interchangeably, except when you don’t understand

something because of the bad phone line, you are not familiar with the word, or you

poorly know the language – you cannot use shvaćati then. Only razumjeti includes

recognizing of words and sounds, either spoken or written. (You’ll see later that

razumjeti behaves a bit specially in some aspects.)


For example:

Ne razumijem te A . I don’t understand you.

razumjeti | 2

Ne shvaćam pitanje A . I don’t understand the question.

In the second sentence, speaker really says I understand the words, but the whole

question doesn’t make sense to me. You could use razumjeti in the second sentence

as well – but shvaćati is more specific in this case.

The DL of personal pronouns is often used when you say thanks to someone:

Hvala ti DL . Thank you. (to someone you’re close with)

2

Hvala Vam DL . Thank you. (to someone you’re not close with)

2pl

There are two special constructions which frequently use pronouns. Both use the

genitive case. The first one is:

evo + G here’s / here are

It’s used when you want to emphasize that something is now ‘here’, visible, e.g.

when you show up somewhere, or when you find something. The word starts a

sentence and it followed by a noun (with optional adjectives) or a pronoun in

genitive:

Evo moje sestre G . Here’s my sister!

The most common use is when you see someone or you come somewhere where

you’re expected. It’s used mainly in spoken language:

Evo me G . Here I am!

1

Evo ga G . Here he/it is!

3m/n

Evo Ane G . Here’s Ana!

It’s also used when you give something to someone, but it’s neither formal nor

polite, it’s used only when you are quite familiar to someone:

Evo piva G . Here’s the beer!

(You will sometimes even hear eto + N in the last use, when giving something to

someone.) Similar words are eto and eno, used for more distant things, but they are

much less often used.

Another construction expresses there's no...; it uses negative pres-3 of imati have

with genitive:

nema + G there’s no

For example:

Nema piva G . There’s no beer.

Nema soli G . There’s no salt.

f

This construction is much more versatile than the English one: like with evo, you can


use personal names, any nouns and pronouns, but they always have to be in G:

Nema Ane G . lit. ‘There’s no Ana.’

Nema moje knjige G . lit. ‘There’s no my book.’ = My book isn’t here.

Nema ga G . lit. ‘There’s no him.’ = He’s not here. (or it, depending on the 3m/n

context)

Nema ih G . lit. ‘There’s no them.’ = They’re not here.

3pl

This is the negative existential construction. These sentences don’t say really here,

but there’s no way to translate them accurately to English (if you know, please tell

me). It always uses nema in the present tense (check the last sentence).

This construction is used in several frequent phrases. One of them is:

never mind

nema veze

it doesn’t matter

The word veza normally means connection, so this is clearly a non-trivial meaning.

(This phrase can be also used within larger constructions that will be explained

later.)

How to distinguish two possible meanings of nema ga – there’s no him/it and he/she

doesn’t have him/it? The first meaning is impossible if there’s a subject. So, people

use on ga nema (or ona ga nema) to avoid confusion.

You cannot use the pronoun forms above with prepositions. If you want to use

prepositions with pronouns, you have to use the stressed forms, explained in 34 For

Them: Stressed Pronouns.

________

® “Ekavian” forms, which dominate in Serbia, apply to the verb razumjeti (razumije)

understand: its “Ekavian” form is razumeti, and the verb is fully regular.

Instead of shvaćati, a slightly different form of the verb, shvatati, is used in Serbia

and most of Bosnia.

• Examples

The song U svakom slučaju te volim In any case, I love you, performed by Ibrica

Jusić (a masculine name, despite ending in -a) is, without any doubt, among the very

best love songs from Croatia in the last 100 years:

Volim te A uvijek

I always love you

2

I kad se budiš

I kad na licu DL šminke G nemaš

Even when you’re waking up

Even when you don’t wear any makeup

I kad si ljuta N

Even when you’re angry

I kad se čudiš

Even when you’re wondering

(Luko Paljetak)


The first two verses use grammar and words I’ve already explained. Almost each

verse starts with i kad, literally and when. The third verse translates literally as and

when you don’t have any makeup on your face: it uses G instead of A (i.e. šminke

instead of šminku) – it’s a way to express any, i.e. indefinite quantity. Such use will

be described in 45 Quantities and Existence.

Uvijek te A volim

Always I love you

2

hoću da znaš I want you to know

Volim te A

I love you

2

ne znam kako da odolim I’m unable to resist

U svakom slučaju DL te A volim In any case, I love you

2

The construction hoću da znaš I want you to know uses a so-called desire clause.

Such things will be described in 56 Desires and Demands. (It uses the verb htjeti

want, which has irregular pres-1).

The part ne znam kako da odolim literally translates as I don’t know how to resist.

Such expressions will be also described later.

Check how in the verse u svakom slučaju te volim the word te² is actually the

fourth word – the first three words count as one, they form a closed phrase. The

word slučaj case is one of few nouns that can shift stress in DL – to the second

syllable from the end – when used with a preposition. The adjective svaki means

actually each, every, but often corresponds to English all or any.

Putting the word uvijek to the first place is emphasizing it.

The next verses contain the DL form mi²:

Volim te A uvijek I always love you

2

I kada sanjaš Even when you’re dreaming

Kad ne pišeš mi DL When you don’t write to me

pisati | 1

Kad te G nema When you’re not here

2

The word mi² is here in an unusual place (there’s a lot of liberty in poetry). In speech,

you will only hear kad mi ne pišeš.

Both kad and kada are used in this song for rhythmic reasons – there’s no difference

in meaning.

The last verse uses the negative existential construction, explained above.



• Exercise


Ana ______(a) čeka. Ana is waiting for them.

______(b) ______(c). Here we are!

Marko ______(d) šalje poruku. Marko is sending a message to her.

Pišem ______(e) pismo. I’m writing a letter to him.

Evo ______(f)! Here’s Ana!

________(g) ____(h). She’s not here.

________(i) ____(j)! Here are they!

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions 132 / 600

23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions

Croatian has a special way of expressing feelings and subjective opinions that’s quite

unlike how it’s done in English. However, if you know some German, this will all

likely be very familiar to you.

First, we can start with a general statement, such as:

Hladno je. It’s cold.

It’s a general statement, it’s simply cold. This statement is impersonal.

But what if someone (e.g. Ana) feels it’s cold? Croatian then adds one who feels

something into such sentences, but in the dative/locative case (DL):

Ani DL je hladno. ‘It’s cold to Ana.’ = Ana is cold.

The one who feels it, the ‘experiencer’ (here: Ana, DL Ani) is usually put to the

beginning of the sentence, as above.

In such sentences, pronouns in DL are very often used, when you want to express

what you personally feel:

Hladno mi DL je. ‘It’s cold to me.’ = I’m cold.

1

If you pay attention, you might have noticed that we again have two words trying to

get to the second position: mi² and je² (the pres-3 form of the verb biti). If

something like that happens, je² always comes after any pronouns.

Such words with fixed second-place position always come in a ‘block’ and cannot be

rearranged:

Često mi DL je hladno. ‘It’s often cold to me.’ = I’m often cold.

1

Gramatically, the sentence is still impersonal: there’s no subject anywhere. The

‘experiencer’ is in the 1st person, but the verb is the 3rd person, singular. The verb

je² doesn’t change, regardless of who feels cold:

Hladno nam DL je. ‘It’s cold to us.’ = We’re cold.

1pl

This use of impersonal je² with DL is frequently seen with the following adverbs:

bučno noisy

dosadno boring

hladno cold

lijepo nice

loše bad (see below)

toplo warm

vruće hot

zabavno entertaining

These words don’t adapt to the gender of subject. Actually, there’s no subject in

such sentences – they have quite different form in English and Croatian:

Dosadno mi DL je. ‘It’s boring to me.’ = I’m bored.

If you would translate literally from English, you could say something completely

1


different:

Dosadan sam. I’m boring. (not how you feel!)

With the adverb loše, there’s a slightly shifted meaning when used with DL:

Ani DL je loše. Ana is sick.

It’s interesting that German uses exactly the same construction: in sentences like

these, the pronoun mir is in the German Dative case, and the verb is in the 3rd

person:

Mir ist kalt.

Mir ist langweilig. (German)

Mir ist schlecht.

All three sentences translate word-for-word from Croatian, the only difference is

word order, which follows quite different rules in German.

You can freely use adverbs of intensity, including the prefix pre-:

Prevruće nam DL je. It’s too hot ‘to us’. (= for us)

1pl

Jako mi DL je dosadno. I’m very bored.

1

There's also a verb that means feel:

osjećati feel

When used just with an object in A, it means feel something, an object, or something

more abstract, e.g. pain. But when used with a se² and an adverb, it describes how

someone feels:

Ana N se osjeća odlično. Ana feels great.

Osjećam se grozno. I feel terrible.

This verb with se² is used only for internal states. You cannot say “osjećam se

bučno” if you’re in a loud environment, but you can say osjećam se loše if you don’t

feel well. Note that for some feelings, there is more than one way to express them:

Umoran sam. I’m tired.

Osjećam se umorno. I feel tired.

To ask how someone feels, use kako, but don’t forget se²:

Kako se osjećaš? How do you feel?

— Dobro. Alright. (‘Good.’)

There’s an interesting way to ask about ‘situation’:

Kako je? lit. ‘How is it?’

Kako ide? lit. ‘How is it going?’

ići

Such questions mostly mean how are you (doing). However, if we add a place, then

we’re asking about a general information somewhere:


Kako je na poslu DL ? How is it going at work?

Kako ide na poslu DL ? (more or less the same meaning)

ići

An answer can be a general description, what is done there, nothing necessarily

personal. But if we add a person in DL, the questions become specific, about

someone’s experience there:

Kako ti DL je na poslu DL ? How are you doing at work?

2

Kako ide Ani DL na poslu DL ? How is Ana doing at work?

ići

It seems to me there’s a subtle difference in these two questions: ones with ići (ide)

go are more specific about the work done, while ones with biti are a bit more about

everything, (e.g. co-workers, salary, etc.). The sentences are impersonal, verbs are

always in the 3rd person, singular, no matter what we add in DL (if anything):

Kako im DL ide na poslu DL ? How are they doing at work?

3pl | ići

There are two often used expressions that cannot be used without someone in DL:

Drago mi DL je. I’m glad.

1

Žao mi DL je. I’m sorry.

1

Of course, instead of mi², other pronouns and nouns in DL can be used:

Ani DL je žao. Ana is sorry.

The first expression is used when you are introduced to someone (like I’m glad to

meet you) and the second one is the usual way to express that you are sorry (when

something bad happens to someone else).

This construction with DL is used only for statements that can be either general or

subjective. For instance, you cannot say gladno mi je since there’s no statement

gladno je – hunger is not an objective, external situation (at least in Croatian

language).

However, it’s possible to take statements like these:

Obitelj N je važna N . The family is important.

Knjiga N je dosadna N . The book is boring.

Majica N je lijepa N . The shirt is nice.

And convert them into personal opinions, using DL in the exactly same way:

Obitelj N mi DL je važna N . The family is important to me.

Ani DL je knjiga dosadna N . The book is boring ‘to Ana’. = Ana finds the book boring.

Majica N mi DL je lijepa N . (colloq.) The shirt is nice ‘to me’. = I find the shirt nice.

While English uses such expressions only with certain adjectives (e.g. important) in

Croatian, they are much more widely used, especially in the spoken language. (It’s

seen less often in formal writing, with adjectives like lijep beautiful, nice, such use of

DL is regarded as colloquial.) We again see that the Croatian DL case often

corresponds to English to + noun or pronoun.

f

f | 1

1


Such expressions are often used to express what English expresses with favorite:

Ovo N je omiljena knjiga N . ‘This a beloved book.’

Ovo N mi DL je omiljena knjiga N . This is my favorite book. (‘beloved to me’)

Ani DL je ovo N omiljena pjesma N . This is Ana’s favorite song.

The adjective omiljen doesn’t really mean favorite, it’s more beloved, popular,

preferred.

You can express the same using a possessive adjective, but it’s less common in

speech:

Ovo N je Anina omiljena knjiga N . This is Ana’s favorite book.

Instead of the adjective omiljen, you’ll hear also these adjectives in this role:

najbolji best najdraži most liked, most dear

For example:

Ovo N mi DL je najdraža pjesma N . This is my most favorite song.

(The use of najbolji best in these expressions is quite colloquial. These two

adjectives, starting with naj-, are superlatives; they will be described in 63 Bigger and

Better: Comparatives.)

There are a couple of verbs that behave kind of similar to expressions above. The

most important one is:

trebati need/should

When used with the meaning need, it can be used simply as any verb that uses the

accusative case:

Trebam čašu A . (A) I need a glass.

However, it’s a bit more common to use this verb with what you need as the subject

(in N) and one who needs in DL:

Treba mi DL čaša N . (N) (the same meaning!)

Observe how the verb in the second sentence is in the pres-3 form, since čaša glass

is its subject!®

Then, there are two verbs which express something or somebody is lacking or

missing:

nedostajati (nedostaje)

faliti (colloq.)

lack/miss

The verb faliti is quite colloquial, but you’ll see it in fiction books. These verbs are

used with what is missing as the subject:

Jedan dio N nedostaje. A part is missing.

nedostajati

1

1

1


Both are very often used with experiencers in DL, one who feels something is

missing, or is affected by it:

Jedan dio N ti DL nedostaje. You’re missing a part.

2 | nedostajati

Nedostaje mi DL Igor N . I miss Igor.

nedostajati | 1

What or who is missing is always the subject, in N (which is usually not expressed, if

it’s a pronoun), which is completely unlike in English:

Nedostaješ mi DL . I miss you. (you = one person)

nedostajati | 1

Fališ mi DL . (the same, but colloquial)

1

Nedostajete joj DL . She misses you. (you = group/formal to one nedostajati | 3f

person)

Falite joj DL . (the same, but colloquial)

3f

This is the same as in French, where the verb manquer also uses what is missed as

the subject. The same happens with the Italian verb mancare. In German, the verb

fehlen behaves in the same way:

(French) Tu me manques.

(German) Du fehlst mir.

(Italian) Mi manchi.

Nedostaješ mi. I miss you.

German here uses the Dative case (mir), which matches the Croatian grammar

exactly. However, in French and German, subject pronouns are mandatory, while

Italian is more like Croatian. The French verb manquer also covers meanings miss

the bus, miss the chance; the Croatian verb doesn’t.

Finally, there’s a way to express that there’s enough of something, or too little or

too much:

dosta je² + G there’s enough G

previše je² + G there’s too much G

premalo je² + G there’s too little G

This is used mainly with uncountable nouns (e.g. salt, sugar, coffee) and persons. For

example:

Previše je šećera u kavi. There’s too much sugar in the coffee.

Again, you can add who feels it in DL. The expression dosta je + DL usually translates

as had enough (of):

Ani je dosta kave. Ana had enough (of) coffee.

As in English, this also implies negative emotions:

Ani DL je dosta Damira G . Ana had enough of Damir.

Dosta mi DL ga G je. I had enough of him.

1 | 3m/n

Pay attention how words mi² (DL), ga² (G) and je² (a verb) are ordered in the second


sentence – there’s only one possible order.

For countable nouns, the same expression will work, but you must use genitive plural

– the form I didn’t explain yet. (Such use of the genitive case is explained in a greater

detail in 45 Quantities and Existence; for the genitive plural, see 44 Genitive Plural.)

So far, we have seen three uses of the DL case (without prepositions, on its own).

One was a recipient of something (1), another was person who is somehow involved

in the action, usually because he or she is connected to the object (a body part, a

personal item, kin) (2), and this one is about personal impressions and feelings (3):

(1) Ana N daje šalicu A Goranu DL . Ana is giving a cup to Goran. ®

(2) Ana N pere Goranu DL kosu A . Ana is washing Goran’s hair.

(3) Goranu DL je hladno. Goran is cold.

As you can see, in all these uses, DL represents a person who is not causing

davati

prati

something to happen, but who is somehow affected while not being really an object.

(The object in (1) is a cup, and the object in (2) is the hair.)

______

® Using trebati with DL seems preferred in Standard Serbian.

Instead of šalica, in Serbia and Bosnia, šolja and šoljica are used for cup.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of pronouns and other words:

Žao ______(a) je. We’re sorry.

Nije ______(b) hladno. I’m not cold.

__________(c) je vruće. Goran feels hot.

__________(d) ______(e) je. We’re glad.

______________(f) ____(g) umorno. I feel tired.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 24 Past Tense 138 / 600

24 Past Tense

The past tense is completely different than the present tense in Croatian. First, it’s

always formed from two words, the past form of the verb and present of the verb

biti (je² +) be. The past form varies according to the gender of the subject and

whether it’s singular or plural.

The endings of the past form (also known as past participle, or l-participle) are not

too complicated:

gender past past pl.

fem. -la -le

neut. -lo -la

masc. -o ® -li

For example, here are the past forms the verb čitati read:

gender past past pl.

fem. čitala čitale

neut. čitalo čitala

masc. čitao ® čitali

(I have dropped the underline on the first vowel, since it’s only important for the

present tense anyway.)

Again, there’s no difference between the two masculine genders. Even better, the

past forms are simply created by adding their endings to a verb after the -ti is

removed. It works for many verbs with ‘irregular’ presents as well – their past is

perfectly regular. It holds even for the verb biti (je² +) be:

verb past-f past-m

biti (je² +) be bila bio

pisati (piše) write pisala pisao

piti (pije) drink pila pio

plesati (pleše) dance plesala plesao

slati (šalje) send slala slao

trčati (trči) run trčala trčao

Also, for almost all verbs, past forms are stressed on the same syllable as the

infinitive, e.g. izgledati → izgleda-la.

Past forms are similar to adjectives, and for few verbs, they can be used as true


adjectives: then they get case endings, etc.

How to use it? Well, you take the right past form and the right form of the present

of biti (je² +) be (keeping in mind that it should go to the second position):

Ana N je plesala. Ana was dancing.

Ivan N je čitao knjigu A . Ivan was reading a book.

You can use personal pronouns as subjects, but it’s common not to use them:

Spavali smo u hotelu DL . We were sleeping in a hotel.

There’s nothing special about the verb biti (je² +) be in the past – its past is formed

as for any other verb:

Ana N je bila gladna N . Ana was hungry.

Even if you are talking in the 1st or 2nd person, you must respect the gender of the

subject (as with adjectives, the principle is identical):

Spavala sam. I was sleeping. (I = female)

Spavao sam. I was sleeping. (I = male)

Bila sam umorna N . I was tired. (I = female)

Bio sam umoran N . I was tired. (I = male)

Bili smo umorni N . We were tired. (we = males/mixed)

Since the past form indicates gender of the subject, even if pronouns are omitted in

the 3rd person, we know the subject gender:

Spavala je. She was sleeping.

Spavao je. He was sleeping.

If there are personal pronouns in A, G or DL that require the second position, of

course they somehow clash with forms of the verb biti (je² +) be that require the

same position. The rule is that present forms of the verb biti come first, except in

the 3rd person, where je² comes last in the chain of second-position contenders:

Čekao sam ga A . I was waiting for him. (I = male)

3m/n

Čekala si ga A . You were waiting for him. (you = female)

3m/n

Čekala ga A je. She was waiting for him.

3m/n

If there’s a particle se², it behaves like other pronouns in A (me², ga², etc.). There’s a

special rule: if je² (pres-3 of biti) would come after se², it’s almost always left out:

Bojao sam se. I was afraid.

Goran N se je bojao. Goran was afraid.

Goran N se bojao. (this form is usually used)

The verb je² – when used to form the past tense – is sometimes left out in

newspaper headlines, on billboards, etc.

Don’t think about the past tense as čuo sam and like. Think about it as čuo +


sam², where the auxiliary verb goes to the second position, and the past form

can, in principle, be anywhere:

Goran N je jednog hladnog zimskog dana G čuo... On a cold winter day, Goran

heard...

(Expressions like jednog hladnog zimskog dana will be explained later.) When

you see an auxiliary verb, the matching past form (or an adjective) can be

sometimes far away!

You have to be careful with the impersonal use of verbs. That’s whenever English

uses “dummy” it, but also in impressions. From now on, I will mark all impersonal

verbs in the present tense with a small circle (°):

Hladno je°. It’s cold.

Hladno mi DL je°. I’m cold. (lit. ‘It’s cold to me.’)

1

Drago nam DL je°. We’re glad. (lit. ‘It’s dear to us.’)

1pl

Dosta mu DL je°. He had enough.

3m/n

All such sentences in the past tense always use neuter singular past forms:

Bilo je hladno. It was cold.

Bilo mi DL je hladno. I was cold. (lit. ‘It was cold to me.’)

1

Bilo nam DL je drago. We were glad. (lit. ‘It was dear to us.’)

1pl

Bilo mu DL je dosta. He has had enough.

3m/n

Now you see why I have marked impersonal verbs in present tense with a °: it

reminds you that you have to use the neuter singular in the past tense – a form that

ends in -o. Of course, this is just a reminder I’ve invented for this work, nobody else

uses it. Please don’t use it when you write Croatian words and sentences!

I repeat: impersonal sentences have no subjects. There have no nouns or

pronouns in the nominative case. The last sentence translates literally as ‘it was

enough to him’. They are always in neuter singular in the past tense. As there’s no

subject, the past form defaults to its neutral, kind of genderless form.

The following sentences at the first glance look impersonal too, but they aren’t:

Ponoć N je. It’s midnight. (lit. ‘Midnight is.’)

f

Jutro N je. It’s morning. (lit. ‘Morning is.’)

While English sentences are impersonal, Croatian ones aren’t: in these sentences,

subjects are ponoć f midnight and jutro morning, so in the past tense, past forms

will get gender of subjects:

Bila je ponoć N . It was midnight. (lit. ‘Midnight was.’)

f

Bilo je jutro N . It was morning. (lit. ‘Morning was.’)

Another likely unexpected behavior is for sentences of the form ovo je..., to je... +

noun. In such sentences, the subject isn’t to, but the noun, so the past tense adjusts


to its gender:

To N je mačka N . It’s a cat.

→ To N je bila mačka N . It was a cat.

To N je problem N . That’s a problem.

→ To N je bio problem N . That was a problem.

To negate sentences in the past tense, just use the negative forms of present tense

of biti (that is, nisam, nisi, nije, etc.):

Ana N nije bila gladna N . Ana wasn’t hungry.

Nisam spavao. I wasn’t sleeping. (I = male)

Nije nam DL bilo dosadno. We weren’t bored.

As usual, forms nisam and so on are not restricted to the second position and are

commonly found right before the past form.

A special case is the negative existential construction. While it uses impersonal

nema in the present tense, in the past tense, impersonal nije bilo is used:

Nema° piva G . There’s no beer.

→ Nije bilo piva G . There was no beer.

Nema° ih G . They aren’t here/there.

→ Nije ih G bilo. They weren’t here/there.

There are useful adverbs of time often used with verbs in the past tense:

davno a long time ago

jučer yesterday ®

malo prije moments ago

nedavno recently

nekad(a) some time ago

ranije earlier

The adverb nedavno means that some action or state happened at a recent period;

the adverb odnedavno means start something started at a recent moment (and

might still be ongoing).

For example:

Ivan N je jučer bio u kinu DL . Ivan was at the cinema yesterday. ®

Sadly, some verbs are irregular even in the past tense; this includes all verbs having

infinitives ending in -ći and most with inf. in -sti. Therefore, when such verbs are

listed, they will have past-m forms listed as well after their pres-3:

jesti (jede, jeo) eat

plesti (plete, pleo) knit

(I will list the past-m and not e.g. past-f simply due to tradition of listing verb forms,

and because you will find past-m’s listed in printed and online dictionaries.) The

past-f is listed if it cannot be regularly obtained from the past-m; luckily, all other

past forms can always be deduced from the past-f. That’s how most verbs in -ći are

listed:

1pl

3pl

3pl


ići (ide, išao, išla) go

peći (peče, pekao, pekla) bake

vući (vuče, vukao, vukla) pull

Some verbs with infinitives in -sti have a bit specific past-f form as well:

gristi (grize, grizao, grizla) bite

rasti (raste, rastao, rasla) grow

Verbs like vidjeti see – actually, all verbs ending in -jeti, including razumjeti

understand – always have the following forms in the past: ®

inf past-m past-f

see vidjeti vidio vidjela

understand razumjeti razumio razumjela

For instance:

Vidio sam Anu. A I saw Ana. (I = male)

Vidjela sam Anu A . I saw Ana. (I = female)

Razumio sam ga A . I understood him. (I = male)

3m/n

Nismo ih A razumjeli. We didn’t understand them.

3pl

This is yet another instance where past forms are more regular then the present

tense. I will normally list the past forms for such verbs too, but sometimes I omit

them and write just ... to make the text more compact.

Once in a while, you’ll see and hear another past tense, the aorist tense ®. It’s most

common used in the first person, and its forms are just one word; for instance, the

1st person aorist form is usually obtained by replacing the infinitive -ti with -h, e.g.

vidjeh I saw. For a fuller description, see 99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal

Features.

For a full discussion of various verb types, check A3 Verbs.

Finally, there are many verbs in Croatian which mean some action was brought to

completion. Such verbs are rarely used in the present tense, since present tense is

understood as ongoing, but they are frequent in the past tense. For example, the

verb pročitati means read completely. In the past tense, such verbs usually

correspond to simple English tenses, while normal verbs often correspond to

continuous tenses:

Čitao sam knjigu A . lit. ‘I was reading the book.’

Pročitao sam knjigu A . lit. ‘I’ve read the book completely.’

Such verbs – implying completion – are called perfective: they will be explained in

depth in 37 Complete Reading: Perfective Verbs and later chapters. You will

encounter some of them in examples in the following sections. For now, it’s enough


to keep in mind they aren’t normally used in the present tense.

________

® The endings for past forms listed above are Standard Croatian (and Serbian,

Bosnian, Montenegrin). In the colloquial use, many people pronounce past-m forms

that end in -ao (e.g. čekao, išao, and so on) with only -o (that is, čeko, išo, etc.). You

will hear such forms, and see them spelled sometimes with an apostrophe (i.e.

ček’o, iš’o).

In many regions, especially in smaller towns and villages, there are other forms of

past-m, e.g. ending in just -l; for more information, check A8 Dialects.

Instead of jučer, a slightly shortened juče is used in Serbia and Bosnia. Instead of

kino, the word for cinema used in Serbia and Bosnia is bioskop.

“Ekavian” forms, which dominate in Serbia, are much simpler for verbs in -jeti: from

e.g. videti, past forms are video, videla, from razumeti – razumeo, razumela, etc.

In parts of Croatia and Bosnia, you often hear (and sometimes read) generalized

“Ikavian” forms, where such verbs have all past endings in -i-, e.g. vidio, vidila, vidili,

etc.

The aorist tense is much more common in Bosnia and Serbia.

• Examples

Imala je lijepu rupicu na bradi She had a nice little hole on her chin is a popular song

from 1980’s performed by late Oliver Dragojević, a very popular Croatian pop

singer. Most songs he performed were in various “Ikavian” dialects, but this basically

standard.

Observe how the name of the song implies she from using the past-f form imala.

The song is basically all in the past tense. The first verse contains osobit particular

transformed into an adverb osobito particularly. The second verse contains druge,

which is the feminine plural form of drugi other, another, here used as a pronoun

(like other ones) but feminine, which cannot be exactly translated to English: it can

be understood as other women, other girls, basically other female ones (recall 18

This and That). Plural forms will be explained in the next chapter.

Nije bila osobito lijepa N

She wasn’t particularly beautiful

ali nije bila kao druge N

but she wasn’t like other women

pa je ljubav N , kao uvijek slijepa N so love, blind as always

f

zbog nje G razne A prelazila pruge A crossed various tracks because of her

The third verse literally has ‘like always blind’. The fourth verse has razne pruge

various tracks split by the verb! This is not common in speech, but not

ungrammatical; it’s here for rhythmic reasons. You know the adjective refers to the

noun since they match in gender (feminine), number (plural) and case (A). The word


pruge means stripe, but also track (e.g. railroad). This verse has also zbog nje

because of her, where a stressed form of the pronoun is used. Stressed pronouns

will be explained in the following chapters.

In the chorus, the word rupica means small hole (while rupa is just hole): Croatian

has many words for small versions of things. They will be described in 85 Small and

Cute: Diminutives.

Imala je lijepu rupicu A na bradi DL She had a nice little hole on her chin

znala je da grebe, znala je da gladi she used to scratch, she used to stroke

imala je lijepu rupicu A na bradi DL she had a nice little hole on her chin

drhtali smo složno, smeteni N i mladi N we shivered in unison, confused and young

(Momčilo Popadić)

The phrase znala je da grebe is a bit ambiguous; it would be more common to say

znala je grebati, which is still ambiguous; the intended meaning is likely she used to

scratch; this will be explained in 32 Love and Like.

You can find various performances on YouTube.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of verbs and pronouns:

Ana ____(a) __________(b). Ana was sleeping.

Goranu ____(c) __________(d) hladno. Goran was cold.

______(e) ____(f) ____(g) žao. They were sorry.

Ivan ____(h) jučer __________(i) juhu. Ivan cooked a soup yesterday.

______(j) ____(k) dosadno. It was boring.

____________(l) ____(m) ____(n). We were waiting for you. (we = all male/mixed)

____________(o) ____(p) kiša. It was raining.

________(q) ____(r) noć. It was night.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 25 Plural 145 / 600

25 Plural

So far we have learned three cases (apart from the default, nominative case, where

there’s nothing to learn). All forms we have seen were in singular: we couldn’t say

I’m eating apples or birds are singing.

Let’s now see how nouns look in plural. We’ll start with the simplest possibility:

nominative and accusative plural for nouns ending in -a and for neuter nouns (that

is, more or less all nouns that end in -o or -e).

The rules are very simple:

jabuka apple → jabuke apples

pismo letter → pisma letters

more sea → mora seas

Couple of feminine and neuter nouns exist only in their plural forms; they will be

indicated with their gender and "pl.":

gaće f pl. underpants

hlače f pl. pants, trousers ®

naočale f pl. eyeglasses ®

novine f pl. newspaper(s)

škare f pl. scissors ®

traperice f pl. jeans ®

kliješta n pl. pliers

leđa n pl. back(s)

pluća n pl. lung(s)

vrata n pl. door(s)

usta n pl. mouth(s)

Some English nouns, including translations of the Croatian nouns listed above have

the same property – there are only scissors and pliers.

So we now know how to make the nominative form in plural, but what about the

accusative case? It turns out that for such nouns, the accusative plural is equal to

the nominative plural! So we can say:

Jedem jabuke A . I’m eating apples.

Pišem pisma A . I’m writing letters.

There are couple of neuter nouns that don’t have regular plurals; if you want to

express plural you will have to use something called mass noun that will be

explained a bit later. Often used nouns with such problem are:

dijete (djetet-) child

janje (janjet-) lamb

pile (pilet-) chick

štene (štenet-) puppy

Such nouns are easy to distinguish: they all get an additional t in their case-base.

Four frequently used neuter nouns shift their stress in plural forms:

ime (imen-) name → imena

jezero lake → jezera

rame (ramen-) shoulder → ramena

jesti

pisati


vrijeme (vremen-) time/weather → vremena

A few neuter nouns have alternative, more expressive and poetic, longer plural

forms in -esa; the most common is:

nebo sky → nebesa

Unfortunately, we still don’t know how to say birds are singing: we need to make

plural of the first Croatian verb form we have learned, pres-3. How to make it? The

rules are a bit more complicated than for other verb forms, it depends of the last

letter of the pres-3:

pres-3 pres-3pl example

-a -aju pjevati sing → pjevaju

-i -e voziti drive → voze ®

-e -u ® jesti (jede) eat → jedu

It’s interesting that pres-3pl for any verb ends in either -u or -e. For example:

Ptice N pjevaju. Birds are singing.

Many verbs that end in -a in pres-3 have – in the Standard scheme – the stress in the

pres-3pl on the same syllable as in the inf, regardless of stress in other present

forms. This is a rather small detail, and even if you’re trying to learn the Standard

stress, you might just ignore it.

If we want to express what more than one subject is doing (or their state) we can

link them with the following word:

i¨ and

For example:

Ana N i Goran N pjevaju. Ana and Goran are singing.

Ivan N i Damir N jedu. Ivan and Damir are eating.

jesti

There’s a common way to express mutual action, corresponding to English each

other – just use se²:

Ana N i Ivan N se vole. Ana and Ivan love each other.

As you can see, here se² is actually the fourth word, since the words Ana i Ivan are

treated as one ‘unit’.

This use explains farewells like vidimo se and čujemo se – they mean we see each

other (later, again) and so on. If you know a Scandinavian language, e.g. Swedish,

you’ll notice it has exactly the same construction:

(Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) Vi ses! = Vidimo se!

This literally translates as we see-s, where the appended -s means each other. A


difference is that Croatian uses a separate word se², and of course, Swedish, Danish

and Norwegian have (like English) mandatory pronouns with verbs.

We can also say (we use oni for an all-male or mixed group):

Oni N se vole. They love each other.

There’s another way to express the mutuality, by a small phrase jedan drugog (all

male/mixed) or jedna drugu (all-female). Both literally mean one another:

Ana N i Ivan N vole jedan drugog. Ana and Ivan love one another.

We would use the plural form one only for all-female groups.

This is maybe the right place to describe ‘impersonal plurals’ – like in the English

sentence they’re building a new road. This is exactly the same in Croatian, but you

have to leave the pronoun out:

Grade novu cestu A . They’re building a new road. (cannot add oni)

If you would add oni, it would then be a reference to some particular, known group

of people, e.g. when you see a group of workers and explain what they’re doing. In

the past, use masc. pl.:

Gradili su novu cestu A . They were building a new road.

What about expressing states and properties, like birds are beautiful? We must first

be able to put adjectives to plural as well, both to nominative and accusative! Since

adjectives always follow the noun pattern, accusative will be equal to nom. (we can

list both together as NA-pl). Even better, for feminine and neuter adjectives, endings

will actually be the same as for nouns:

gender adj. NA-pl example

fem. -e

velike ribe

big fishes

neut. -a

velika jezera

big lakes

Then, we need the pres-3pl form of the verb to be:

biti (je² +) be → su²

So now we can say:

Ptice N su lijepe N . Birds are beautiful.

Pisma N su duga N . The letters are long.

And we are able to say:

To N su ptice N . These are birds. (lit. ‘birds are that.’)

Pay attention that in demonstrative sentences, to stays in singular, unlike in English.


There are few verbs – otherwise irregular – that have a bit irregular pres-3pl as well.

They end in -ći in infinitive, have pres-3 in -če, but the pres-3pl in -ku. Common ones

are:

peći (peče) bake → peku

teći (teče) flow → teku

tući (tuče) beat, smack → tuku

vući (vuče) pull → vuku

If a verb has pres-3 in -če, but its infinitive ends in -ti, there’s no such complication:

the pres-3pl is completely regular:

vikati (viče) yell → viču

What about feminine nouns in a consonant? It’s quite simple – they just get an -i in

their N-pl, and the accusative is the same as nominative:

Noći N su duge N . Nights are long.

f

Now, there’s a small problem. Croatian has usually specific words for male and

female people/animals – pairs like prijatelj friend (m) and prijateljica friend (f).

How do you call a group of friends, if some of them are male, some female?

Croatian has then a notion of default gender. For most terms, the default gender is

masculine. You simply use the masculine noun in plural, but the meaning is rather

generic or mixed.

However, for some animals, the default gender is feminine. Such animals are:

feminine masculine

cow krava

bik bull

vol ox

fox lisica lisac (lisc-)

cat mačka mačak (mačk-)

duck patka patak (patk-)

(There are more.) So, if you see a bunch of cats, either of mixed sex, or you don’t

know their sex, you simply refer to them as if all were feminine.

Let’s summarize changes of feminine (and all nouns that end in -a) and neuter nouns

in plural:

noun type (N)

NA-pl

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -e

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) -o or -e → -a



Plural of masculine nouns and the corresponding adjective forms are a bit more

complicated, so they will be explained a bit later.

________

® In Serbia, and often in Bosnia, the following nouns are used instead of the nouns

listed above (forms used there are given after arrows); they have plural forms only

as well:

hlače → pantalone

naočale → naočare / naočari

škare → makaze

traperice → farmerke

In Dalmatia, you’ll sometimes hear and read -u in all verbs, for example from trčati

(trči) run, pres-3 is trču; this not standard.

In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely dominates in Serbia, there’s a

small group of verbs which have another pattern. The most common is razumeti

understand: its pres-3 is regular, but pres-3pl has a specific pattern:

pres-3 razume → pres-3pl razumeju

You can think about them in this way: verbs which change -e to -u in pres-3pl also

change vowel from inf to pres-3; they are all kind of ‘irregular’. However, the

“Ekavian” verb razumeti is completely regular, as e.g. čitati read which gets -ju in

pres-3pl, it just has a different vowel before it.

In the “Ikavian” pronunciation (which is used colloquially in parts of Croatian coast,

including Split), such verbs behave usually like other verbs in -iti (i.e. the verb is

razumiti).


The rules above apply to all nouns. English sometimes borrows plural forms along

singular forms, so some people use e.g. singular bacterium vs. plural bacteria. Not so

in Croatian: the singular is bakterija and the plural is only the expected form

bakterije.

• Examples

Mirno teku rijeke Rivers flow peacefully is a song from 1959. It starts with simple,

but poetic verses:

Mirno teku rijeke N

mirno žita N šume

Rivers flow peacefully

wheat hisses peacefully

teći

svjetlo N njiše misli A

misli N njišu šume A

the light sways thoughts

thoughts sway forests

njihati | f

f | njihati

The verb teći (teče, tekao, tekla) flow is one of few verbs having pres-3 in -ku,

already mentioned above. The verb šumiti means boom, but the English likes hiss


with sounds of grain and tall grass. Using žito corn, grain in plural is unusual: it’s here

forced to make the corresponding verb plural, so it can rhyme with the plural of

šuma forest.

The noun misao (misl-) f thought is one of feminine nouns not ending in -a, and

maybe the only one ending in -o. Note the verb misliti think is clearly related to this

noun. The verb njihati (njiše) means rock, sway.

In the last verse, both nouns (misli and šume) could be in either N or A – these forms

coincide in plural. So it falls back to the word order (the same as in English) to

understand what sways what.

The following verses have some weird features which are rare in speech. The form

ptica is genitive plural – it looks the same as N in writing for this noun – a case which

will be introduced later: normally, it would be let ptica flight of birds, but the word

order noun-noun-in-G is inverted here, which is almost never done in speech and

normal writing:

Ptica G let N šara svod A

Flight of birds scrawls the vault

pršti pjev N u jasni vedri dan A singing frizzles on a bright clear day prštati

jasni dan N , vedri smijeh N clear day, cheerful laughter

vedar čovjek N nikad nije sam N a cheerful man is never alone

The verbs šarati scribble, scrawl and prštati (pršti) sputter; fizzle, sizzle are not really

common. The construction u jasni vedri dan uses u¨ + A because it’s about time

(recall u srijedu etc.). The adjective jasan (jasn-) is precisely clear (and then

obvious), while vedar (vedr-) means without clouds (and then cheerful), but this word

play is impossible to translate to English.

The following verses start with maštom – it’s the word mašta imagination in a case

which is yet not introduced (the instrumental case):

Maštom I takneš

With imagination, you touch

taknuti

svaku travku A , cvijet A each blade of grass, each flower

tu si velik N ti N , i tvoj N je svijet N you’re big here, and the world is yours

Onda mir N , samo mir N

Then peace, only peace

rijeka N , šuma N , plavi svod N i ti N the river, the forest, the blue vault and you

(Drago Britvić)

Observe the inversions velik... ti and tvoj... svijet, to make it rhyme with cvijet

flower.

The verb taknuti (takne) touch is essentially a perfective verb, but it’s nevertheless

used here in the present tense (poetry...).

You can find various performances on YouTube; check this performance on A

strana.

This song launched the career of Vice Vukov, one of the most important Croatian


singers – whose life story is worth reading.

• Exercise

Fill in the right form of nouns and verbs:

Hlače ______(a) __________(b). The pants are black.

Gledamo __________(c). We’re watching birds.

Čitali ______(d) __________(e). We were reading the letters.

________(f) ____(g) ovdje. They are here. (a mixed group)

____(h) ____(i) mačke. These are cats.

Ne __________________(j) ____(k). They don’t understand us.

____________(l) kruh. They are baking bread.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 26 Yes or No? 152 / 600

26 Yes or No?

The simplest questions are those where one just answers with a yes or no. Such

short answers are, by the way, acceptable in Croatian. In the Standard Croatian, the

recipe for such simple questions is quite simple: move the verb to the beginning, if it

isn’t already there, and then insert a particle li² to the second position (before all

other second-position words):

Ideš u školu A . You’re going to school.

ići

Ideš li u školu A ? Are you going to the school?

ići

— Da. Yes. / — Idem. I’m going.

ići

— Ne. No. / — Ne idem. I’m not going.

ići

If the verb in a sentence is present form of the verb biti be (that is, je², sam², etc.)

the verb cannot be simply put to the beginning, since it must be in the second

position!

Therefore, there are extended (or stressed) forms of the present of the verb biti (je²

+), used when the verb must be the first word in a sentence. The forms are:

pers. sing. plur.

1st jesam jesmo

2nd jesi jeste

3rd je jesu

They are quite simple: just add je- to the beginning of usual forms, and you have the

forms you need! Again, je² is an exception – it looks exactly the same in its normal

and extended form. We can then ask:

Gladni N ste. You’re hungry. (to a group/someone you respect)

Jeste li gladni N ? Are you hungry?

— Da. Yes. / — Jesmo. We are.

— Ne. No. / — Nismo. We aren’t.

Je li žedna N ? Is she thirsty?

— Da. Yes. / — Je. She is. ®

— Ne. No. / — Nije. She isn’t.

— Možda. Maybe.


As you can see, you can answer with either da or ne or with the verb in its extended

form. There are no special extended/stressed negative forms – the usual negative

forms of biti (je² +) are already stressed.

Note also how she is implied by the feminine form of the adjective (žedna).

Now for the past tense. The past tense is made from two words, but for purpose of


making questions, the auxiliary verb – the present tense of biti (je² +) be – is the

important word. Grammatically, the past form behaves like a kind of adjective and

has no role in making questions. Therefore, we need to move the auxiliary (je², sam²,

and so on):

Gledala si film A . You watched the movie. (to a female)

Jesi li gledala film A ? Did you watch the movie?

— Da. Yes. / — Jesam. I did.

— Ne. No. / — Nisam. I didn’t.

If je² is left out due to se², it must reappear in questions:

Bojao se. He was afraid.

Je li se bojao? Was he afraid?

Everything described so far was in the Standard Croatian. Colloquially, you will also

hear and often read other ways of making such questions. The first one, and quite

common, is to just put da li to the front, nothing else is changed, no verbs are

moved, the present forms of biti (je² +) don’t get extended, etc:

Da li ideš u školu A ? (colloq.) Are you going to the school?

ići

Da li ste gladni N ? (colloq.) Are you hungry?

Da li si gledala film A ? (colloq.) Did you watch the movie?

Da li se bojao? (colloq.) Was he afraid?

I used the abbreviation (colloq.) to remind you that these are colloquial sentences in

Croatian ®. It’s very often seen and heard, e.g. on the wall in a (fancy) bakery:

This translates as Have you ever tasted a fresher sandwich? – the word kad, in

yes/no questions, can mean ever as well (this will be explained in more detail in 41

Somewhere, Nobody, Everything...).

You will sometimes hear and read questions with these two words contracted to

dal, or spelled together as dali.

Another option is to use the standard way, but without li:

Jesi gledala film A ? (colloq.) Did you watch the movie?

Yet another quite colloquial option is to put je li to the front, frequently contracted

to just jel (also spelled as je l, je l’):

Jel ideš u školu A ? (colloq.) Are you going to the school?

ići

Jel ste gladni N ? (colloq.) Are you hungry?

Jel si gledala film A ? (colloq.) Did you watch the movie?


Jel se bojao? (colloq.) Was he afraid?

Also, colloquially, it’s possible to turn normal sentences into a question just by

changing their intonation – sentences end on a higher tone, and are spoken faster –

no rearrangement of any kind is needed:

Ideš u školu A ? (colloq.)

ići

Gledala si film A ? (colloq.)

Bojao se? (colloq.)

However, with just the present forms of biti (je² +), there are questions like this

often heard:

Jeste gladni N ? (colloq.)

All the ways of making questions described above are used in real life, unlike some

formal terms that actually nobody uses (e.g. formal hladnjak vs. colloq. frižider

fridge). For example, here are some statistics (by Google search) from the

Croatian discussion site, forum.hr:

form hits

jesi li gledala 3280

da li si gledala 1420

jesi gledala 11800

There’s another, special type of questions, asking for advice or an opinion. In English,

such questions begin with Should I... or something like it. In Standard Croatian, you

can start such questions with da li da + present, but that works for the present tense

only:

Da li da gledam taj film A ? Should I watch that movie?

In the past tense, you have to use the verb trebati need/should + verb in infinitive;

questions follow the same pattern as any other yes/no question:

Jesam li trebala gledati taj film A ? Should I have watched that movie?

(How to use infinitives will be explained a bit later.)

Colloquially, da li is very often left out in such opinion questions, and you’ll most of

the time hear and see just:

Da gledam taj film A ? (colloq.) Should I watch that movie?

Sometimes you’ll hear jel instead of da li even in opinion questions:

Jel da gledam taj film A ? (colloq.) Should I watch that movie?

Such opinion questions are often answered with conditionals and imperatives – verb

forms I haven’t introduced yet. (For conditionals, check as 39 Would, Could:

Conditionals; for imperatives, see 53 Giving Orders.)


Conditionals; for imperatives, see 53 Giving Orders.)

________

® In Serbia and parts of Bosnia, affirmative answers using the verb biti (je² +) be in

the 3rd person can be also jeste (besides je). However, this additional stressed form

is not used when forming questions – it’s used only in answers and sometimes in

regular sentences, meaning roughly is really.

The way of making questions using da li... is considered standard in Bosnia and

Serbia, and it’s often considered (or was often considered) standard in Croatia as

well.


Most languages in Europe usually use short responses meaning yes and no; English

and Celtic languages are unique in preferring short answers with generic verbs (e.g. I

do, I am.)

Some people in Croatia hate other people using questions (and other constructions

derived from questions) starting with da li..., for reasons they are often unable to

explain (they usually claim it’s “not Croatian”). However, such constructions are very

common in speech.

• Examples

This song from 1970’s, Piši mi by Drugi način – still quite popular – nicely illustrates

various ways to ask yes/no questions: each verse uses another form! (It also uses a

couple of constructions and forms I haven’t explained yet; the proposition pored

beside requires the genitive case.)

I dal još svirate

And do you still play

noću pored rijeke G at night by the river

Sad je došlo lijepo vrijeme N Now nice weather has come

doći past-n

Pjevate li

Do you sing

A

Da li ponekad

one naše pjesme

Do you sometimes

those songs of ours

sretneš moju dragu A

Jel još uvijek onako lijepa N

come across my darling

Is she still so beautiful

sresti

Pita li za mene A

Does she ask about me

i dal me A čeka and is she waiting for me

1

(Fikret Kurtović)


Note how there’s no ona she in the verse Jel još uvijek onako lijepa, but the

adjective lijepa is in the fem. N sing., and that’s enough: we know who he’s talking

about. We again see the form još uvijek.


The verbs sresti (sretne, sreo) meet, come across and doći (dođe, došao, došla)

come, arrive are two more perfective verbs; I will explain them a bit later, in 37

Complete Reading: Perfective Verbs.

The various forms of questions are here purely for rhythmic reasons.

• Exercise

Fill in the right words:

______(a) ____(b) __________(c) film? Did you watch the movie? (to a single female

person)

______(d) ____(e) __________(f) film? Did you watch the movie? (to a mixed group)

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 27 Body 157 / 600

27 Body

Croatian sees body parts and what’s felt in them in a quite different way than

English. Let’s check words for body parts first:

glava head

jezik tongue

koljeno knee

kost f bone

lakat (lakt-) elbow

leđa n pl. back

noga leg/foot

nos nose

peta heel

prst finger, toe

rame (ramen-) shoulder

ruka hand/arm

trbuh stomach (belly) ®

usta n pl. mouth

vrat neck

zub tooth

Words leđa and usta we have already encountered: they exist only in plural. Both

words are neuter. The noun rame belongs to a small group of neuter nouns with

case-base extended with an n.

The word jezik tongue means also language.

It’s interesting that Croatian doesn’t distinguish arm from hand or leg from foot!

There’s only one word for both arm and hand.

Now, there are two very useful and often used verbs:

boljeti (boli,...) hurt svrbiti / svrbjeti itch

The verb boljeti has past forms like živjeti and other verbs on -jeti, so I have omitted

them, and wrote only periods. The verb svrbiti has another infinitive form, svrbjeti –

it’s more formal – but the present forms are the same; for more, see 58 Colloquial

and Formal.

Now, the English verb itch can be used in two ways:

My leg itches.

The shirt itches me.

Both Croatian verbs are always used in the second way. Something (a body part,

shirt...) always does something (itches, ‘hurts’) to someone. In Croatian, the first

sentence translates as:

Svrbi me A noga N . ‘The leg is itching me.’ = My leg itches.

1

One who gets affected is in accusative, and the body part or anything else that

causes feelings is the subject of the sentence, and therefore in nominative. What is

the source of feelings is often put to the end.

This, a bit unexpected use of cases, is sometimes called inverse assignment. What

you expect to be a subject actually isn’t, at least grammatically.


If you use personal pronouns, they of course must be at the second place, but if you

use general nouns or names, they are usually put to the first place. They must be in

accusative, since they are really objects: legs, shirts, etc. are itching them:

Anu A svrbi noga N . ‘The leg is itching Ana.’ = Ana’s leg itches.

Such placement is common in Croatian: if you express someone’s feelings or

experience, it’s normal to put him or her to the front, regardless of case. Recall this

example:

Ani DL je bilo dosadno. (DL) Ana was bored.

Pain is expressed in exactly the same way:

Boli me A zub N . ‘The tooth is hurting me.’ = My tooth hurts.

1

Note how in both sentences, the subject (a body part, here noga, zub) comes after

the verb. This is the default word order in such sentences; you can tweak it to

emphasize the body part by putting it first.

You must bear in mind that leđa and usta are always in plural, despite everyone

having just one. Since they are subjects, verbs must be put into plural as well:

Leđa N me A bole. ‘The backs are hurting me.’ = My back hurts.

1

Usta N me A svrbe. ‘The mouths are itching me.’ = My mouth itches.

1

We haven’t learned plural of masculine nouns yet, but for both prst and zub, it’s

simply made by adding an -i:

Gorana A bole zubi N . Goran’s teeth hurt.

All sentences above were in the present tense. Examples for the past tense (keep in

mind that the body part is the subject in such sentences):

Anu A je svrbila noga N . Ana’s leg itched.

Leđa N su me A boljela. My back has hurt.

1

Gorana A su boljeli zubi N . Goran’s teeth have hurt.

There are two more body parts, and both are quite special: their plural form is not

only irregular, it’s in different gender:

noun

oko eye

uho ear

plural noun

oči f pl.

uši f pl.

For example:

Anu A boli oko N . Ana’s eye hurts.

Anu A bole oči N . Ana’s eyes hurt.

The gender switch is visible in the past tense:

f


Anu A je boljelo oko N . Ana’s eye has hurt.

Anu A su boljele oči N . Ana’s eyes have hurt.

f

If you can’t (or don’t want to) tell what hurts, you should make an impersonal

sentence, i.e. without a subject – and consequently, neuter singular in the past tense

– but don’t forget the object:

Boli° me A . It hurts.

Boljelo me A je. It has hurt.

The next interesting thing is what grows from the body – hair. While English has only

one word, Croatian strictly distinguishes these two terms:

kosa human hair growing from the scalp ®

dlaka facial hair, body hair, animal hair

The word kosa is used in singular only – it stands for any amount of hair. Such nouns

are called mass nouns. Similarly, English hair can refer to a single hair or any amount

of it. The word is reserved for human hair growing from the top of the head.

Everything else is dlaka, which can be used in either in singular or in the plural dlake

to describe any amount of such hair. It’s interesting that French has the same

distinction: cheveu vs. poil – but they both refer to single hair, you have to use plural

in most circumstances. Italian does it too: capello vs. pelo.

When talking about body parts, it’s common to express possession somehow. Recall

it’s normal, when you use body parts as objects, to express possession by DL:

Ana N pere Goranu DL kosu A . Ana is washing Goran’s hair.

prati

The DL case is also used, usually in speech, to express possession of a described

body part as well, that is, when a body part is the subject of the verb biti (je² +) be.

We start from these sentences:

Kosa N je čista N . The hair is clean.

Noge N su prljave N . The feet are dirty.

Lice N je prljavo N . The face is dirty.

Here the nouns kosa hair, noga leg/foot (in plural noge) and lice face are the

subjects. Then we add the person in DL, and change the word order a bit, as usual

(but the body parts are still subjects):

(1) Goranu DL je kosa N čista N . Goran’s hair is clean.

Goranu DL su noge N prljave N . Goran’s feet are dirty.

Lice N ti DL je prljavo N . Your face is dirty.

2

We can shuffle words around, e.g. ... čista kosa and so on.

There’s another way: you can usually express possession with the verb imati have.

Now the body parts and any adjectives describing them are in A:

(2) Goran N ima čistu kosu A . Goran has clean hair.

1

1


Goran N ima prljave noge A . Goran has dirty feet.

Imaš prljavo lice A . You have dirty face.

There’s something very interesting. The way #1 to describe a body part – using DL

for possession of it – is limited to temporary properties. Using it to express more

permanent properties (e.g. color) is very rare.

The same holds for clothes. If a T-shirt is dirty – and especially if someone is wearing

it – you can say:

Majica N ti DL je prljava N . Your T-shirt is dirty. (The T-shirt you’re wearing)

Prljava N ti DL je majica N . (the same meaning, emphasis on prljav dirty)

But nobody would use that expression to express that the shirt is red, as this is a

permanent property.

Of course, there’s yet another way to express possession: with possessive

adjectives, like Goranov or moj my. It can be used for both kinds of properties.

However, it’s much less often used in speech, the two ways above are preferred.

Frequency of these expressions is not the same in all regions: the first way is less

common in western and northern Croatia, the verb imati have is preferred in wider

Zagreb and Rijeka regions, especially in small towns and villages. Using DL in such

sentences gets more common further you go to the southeast. This table sums up

the three possibilities (using the 1st person):

Ways to say my hair is dirty

is it common?

Kosa N mi DL je prljava N .

Prljava N mi DL je kosa N .

DL yes (for temporary prop.)

Imam prljavu kosu A . verb have yes (esp. western areas)

Moja kosa N je prljava N . possessive not really

There’s another way to look at this feature. Temporary properties – wet, dirty, clean

etc. affect the person. It’s something he or she maybe doesn’t know. Everyone

knows he or she has a long or brown hair, or a red shirt. This is yet another example

where DL = the affected person. Therefore, the form with the DL is not used to

express that something is new.

I admit – this is a rather fine point. If you are going to use possessive adjectives or

the verb imati in all circumstances, you will still be understood, of course, and not

sound weird. Just be prepared to hear such expressions from native speakers.

________

® Instead of trbuh, the noun stomak is common in Serbia and Bosnia; it also means

stomach.

In parts of Croatia not too far from the Slovene border, you will encounter –

2

2


specially in smaller towns and villages – lasi f pl. used colloquially instead of kosa.


A reader has pointed out that Croatian has specific words for hand and foot: šaka

and stopalo. However, these words are limited to very narrow contexts, e.g. when

you describe where a muscle or a tendon is, or you speak about an injury or surgery.

The word šaka is also used (mainly in sport, but also when talking about physical

fights) where English uses fist.

When we talk about washing, holding, raising, busy, dirty, clean hands, only ruka can

be used.

Many languages consistently distinguish arm vs hand, but many other languages, like

Croatian, don’t. This map in The World Atlas of Language Structures nicely illustrates

the diversity of languages regarding this feature: Hand and Arm.

• Examples

Krunoslav Slabinac, usually known under the nickname Kićo, performs – with a

traditional band Slavonske lole – a traditional song Crne oči Black eyes. The song is

from Šokadija, a part of Slavonia, a historical region of Croatia, where Šokci live.

They speak a specific, a bit archaic dialect, which is only partially featured in this

song. It’s mostly “Ikavian”, i.e. there’s i in many places where standard Croatian has

ije or je:

Crne oči N dobro vide Black eyes see well

f

Di u mraku DL dvoje N side Where two people are sitting in the dark

Jedno N drugom DL progovara One starts speaking to another

Di je naša ljubav stara N Where is our old love

f

(traditional; author unknown)

The song starts with an easy to understand line. The next line has di for where,

which is not just “Ikavian”, but used colloquially in many parts of Croatia. Another

“Ikavian” form in that line is side instead of sjede they sit.

Each pair of lines is sung twice. The last line has the adjective stara after the noun,

which is common in traditional songs (but note the adjective naša, before the same

noun).

You can listen to it on YouTube. Note that the stress is not standard in this song

(the present tense is progovara) – it’s more similar to the ‘western’ stress.


• Exercise

Fill in the words (use DL for possession of body parts when needed):

______________(a) ______(b) oči. My eyes are itching.

Boli ____(c) __________(d). My knee hurts.

Puna ____(e) ____(f) __________(g). My mouth is full.

________________(h) ____(i) ____(j) koljeno. Your knee has hurt.

______________(k) ____(l) ____(m) oči. My eyes were itching.

Kosa ____(n) ____(o) ________________(p). My hair is dirty.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 28 Asking Who and What 163 / 600

28 Asking Who and What

Let’s learn how to make simple questions like who is driving? or what do you read?

I’ve explained some simple questions already, but this will explain it deeper.

English has two question words (who and what). Croatian has essentially the same

two words, however they change in cases. Here are forms for the Croatian

equivalent of who:

people

(who)

N A, G DL

tko kog(a) kom(e)

The final a in koga and e in kome can be dropped, but the longer versions are used

quite often. Colloquially, especially in certain regions, tko is simplified to just ko .®

The question-words are placed to the first position and must be put into the exact

case, for instance:

Ivan N je vozio. Ivan was driving (Ivan N)

Tko N je vozio? Who was driving?

For the accusative case (contrasted with the question about the subject in N):

Goran N čeka Anu A . Goran is waiting for Ana. (Anu A)

Koga A Goran N čeka? Who is Goran waiting for? (A)

Tko N čeka Anu A ? Who is waiting for Ana? (N)

English questions could also be written with whom (whom is Goran... ) – that’s

recommended by many use guides, but increasingly rare in real life. You could think

about whom as an almost extinct object case form of who, corresponding to

Croatian A and DL.

Examples for the DL case:

Ana N je pisala Ivanu DL . Ana was writing to Ivan. (Ivanu = DL)

Kome DL je Ana N pisala? Who was Ana writing to?

Knjiga N pripada Ani DL . The book belongs to Ana. (Ani = DL)

Kome DL pripada knjiga N ? Who does the book belong to?

There’s no special placement of verbs or any other words in Croatian questions,

except that the question word must be at the first position.

If you are asking about something that’s obviously not a person, you would use

another question word (I’ve already introduced its nominative form):

things

(what)

N, A DL G

što čemu čega


As said before, in many regions, šta is used colloquially instead of što.®

Pay attention how with tko, A = G, while što has A = N (as with neuter nouns and

adjectives in neuter gender!)

Ana N je pisala pismo A . Ana was writing a letter. (pismo = A)

Što A je Ana N pisala? What was Ana writing? (što = A)

Ivan N se boji mraka G . Ivan is afraid of dark. (mraka = G)

bojati se

Čega G se boji Ivan N ? What is Ivan afraid of? (čega = G)

bojati se

When answering such questions, you can answer with just one word, but in the right

case:

Kome DL je Ana N pisala? Who was Ana writing to?

— Ivanu DL . To Ivan. (DL)

Što A je Ana N pisala? What was Ana writing?

— Pismo A . A letter. (A)

Koga A Goran N čeka? Who is Goran waiting for?

— Anu A . Ana. (A)

Čega G se boji Ivan N ? What is Ivan afraid of?

bojati se

— Mraka G . Dark. (G)

It’s possible to ask questions about any "slot" in a sentence, normally occupied by a

noun, including one after prepositions. Then the preposition will be before the

question word (like in a kind of ultra-formal English):

Bili smo kod Ane G . We were at Ana’s house/home. (kod¨ + G)

Kod koga G smo bili?

— Kod Ane G . At Ana’s house/home.

Now, you have to answer with the right preposition and the noun in the right case!

Since tko and što can be used as subjects in questions, what forms of verbs and

other words do we have to use with them? It turns out to be quite simple and like in

English (and unlike in Spanish, where quiénes is used to ask about plural):

tko = masculine sing., 3rd person

što = neuter sing., 3rd person

Therefore, even if you are asking about someone who is obviously female, or if the

answer is obviously more than one person, you should always set up the question in

the masculine gender, singular:

Tko N je bio ovdje? Who was here?

Tko N je gladan N ? Who is hungry?

For things:

Što N je to bilo? What was that?


That’s very similar to English, where you ask in singular even if it’s obvious the

answer will be more than one person.

Another example: to ask about which body part hurts, you have to use što as the

subject, since body parts are subjects in such sentences, while the person feeling the

pain is grammatically the object (in A). Consequently, in questions, past forms must

be neuter singular, and in answers the body part is in N:

Što N te A boli? lit. ‘What hurts you?’ = Where does it hurt you?

2

— Zub N . A tooth.

Što N je boljelo Anu A ? lit. ‘What did hurt Ana?’ = Where did it hurt Ana?

— Ruka N . Hand/arm.

The word što is a pronoun, it cannot be attached to a noun. You cannot use it to ask

e.g. What movie are you watching?. For such purposes, Croatian uses another word,

adjective koji, explained in 57 Whose, What Thing and What Like.

The question-word što is used to ask for additional information about what

someone is, e.g. what profession:

Što N je Ivan N ? What is Ivan?

— Liječnik N . Doctor.

What about animals? For general animals, you should use što, but for animals you’re

familiar with (e.g. pets) tko is often used.

Recall that što is used for generic questions where we know the subject, but not the

verb:

(Ana N spava. Ana is sleeping.)

Što A Ana N radi? What is Ana doing? (lit. ‘working’)

— Spava. She’s sleeping.

For general questions what is/was going on – nothing is known – the following two

verbs are used (the first one is a bit colloquial)®:

dešavati («) se²

događati («) se²

go on, happen

For example:

Što N se događa ovdje? What is going on here?

Since Croatian has only one present tense, it’s very common to add the all-purpose

demonstrative to that after question words, usually before the verb, to stress that

you’re asking something present, ongoing right now, what or who can be seen:

Što A to Ana N radi? What is Ana doing? (right now)

Što A to radiš? What are you doing?

Šta A to radiš? (the same meaning, but colloquial) ®


Što N se to događa? What is going on? (right now)

Tko N je to N ? Who’s that?

Kome DL to pišeš? Who are you writing to? (I see you’re typing a message) pisati

Observe that between the question words and to second-position words may

appear. This removes the ambiguity of the present tense, as this question is also

about someone’s job, depending on the context:

Što A radiš? What are you doing? / What do you do?

Such to is optional, of course, but makes the question really specific. Even adding

sad(a) now wouldn’t remove the ambiguity, since sad(a) can stretch to days, weeks,

months – depending on the context.

If you are puzzled what to is in such questions, it behaves rather as an adverb or

particle, and never changes its form.

Finally, it’s possible to ask questions what should be, or what should you do, that is,

ask for advice or an opinion. There’s a special construction where da is put right

after the question-word:

Što A da pišem? What should I write?

pisati

Koga A da čekamo? Who should we wait for?

Što A da radim? What should I do?

(Google for što da radim or šta da radim and you’ll see it’s a very frequent

expression.)

The main verb should be in the present tense, as in other questions of this type (gdje

da..., kada da... etc.):

Kamo da idemo? Where should we go?

The verbs must be in the present tense to use such form. If you are asking about

what should have been, use the verb trebati in the past tense with another verb in

inf:

Što A sam trebao raditi? What should I have been doing?

________

® The variants ko and šta are considered standard in Bosnia and Serbia. In Serbia,

and especially Bosnia, što is often used with meaning why.

The verb dešavati («) se² is considered standard in Serbia and most of Bosnia.


The to in š-to, not appearing in other cases, comes historically from forms like

these:

Što to radiš? What are you doing?


An older version of the question word was something like ča (it’s still used in some

regions of Croatia). The word to was so much used after the older question word

that it eventually fused with it, and lost its meaning. Later the word to was

introduced again.

Various versions of the question-word what are used as traditional criteria for

dividing various dialects in Croatia.

Russian, a not-so-distant relative of Croatian, still spells the question word что –

which is just čto, but in Russian Cyrillic script. (However, it’s pronounced što, the

same as in Croatian!)

The same happened in tko – the older form was kto, i.e. k + to. Again, Russian has

still the older form, while certain regions in Croatia have only ki.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of question words (and verbs, where necessary):

Ivan čeka Anu. Ivan is waiting for Ana.

________(a) Ivan čeka? Who is Ivan waiting for?

Ivan čeka vlak. Damir is waiting for a train.

________(b) Damir čeka? What is Damir waiting for?

________(c) čeka vlak? Who is waiting for a train?

Marija je pisala pismo. Marija was writing a letter.

________(d) je ________(e) pismo? Who was writing a letter?

________(f) je Marija ____________(g)? What was Marija doing?

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 29 Plural of Masculine Nouns and Adjecves 168 / 600

29 Plural of Masculine Nouns and Adjectives

If the world were a simple place, Croatian masculine nouns would have their

nominative plural made just by adding an -i, and accusative plural just by an -e. Well,

it’s almost so, but there are few twists.

Most masculine nouns do simply get an -i in nominative plural:

krevet bed → kreveti beds

prozor window → prozori windows

tanjur plate (to eat from) → tanjuri plates ®

What about the accusative case? It has just an -e instead of -i:

Goran N pere zube A . Goran is ‘washing’ his teeth.

prati

(Yes, in Croatian, teeth are ‘washed’ and not ‘brushed’.)

And now, a few complications.

A few masculine nouns shift their stress in plural. One such noun is quite common:

mjesec moon/month → mjeseci

A couple of nouns that get simply an -i in nom. plural undergo a consonant change if

they end in either k, g or h. It does not happen in the accusative plural, only when an

-i is added (that is, in the N-pl):

N N-pl A-pl

putnik traveler putnici putnike

razlog reason razlozi razloge

uspjeh success uspjesi uspjehe

prozor window prozori prozore

However, most one-syllable nouns (that is, nouns that have only one vowel) get a

longer ending; most of them -ovi:

brod ship → brodovi

grad city → gradovi

lijek cure → lijekovi

sin son → sinovi

vrt garden → vrtovi ®

zid wall → zidovi

(I hope you remember that e.g. lijek is just a spelling convention, the word is actually

pronounced as ljek, and therefore has only one syllable, so it gets longer endings for

plural.)

The consonant alternations described above (e.g. k → c) do not happen if the noun

gets longer endings in plural:

vlak train → vlakovi ®


If such short nouns end in a Croatian-specific letter, they get -evi instead:

broj number → brojevi

ključ key → ključevi

miš mouse → miševi

nož knife → noževi

(It’s the same principle as for -om vs. -em for change of adjectives in masc. and

neuter genders.)

If one-syllable nouns end in a -c (it’s a Croatian-specific letter!) it turns into a č

before -evi:

princ prince → prinčevi

zec rabbit, bunny → zečevi

A few one-syllable nouns do not end in a Croatian-specific letter, but get -evi

nevertheless:

car emperor → carevi sir cheese → sirevi

A couple of nouns often have -evi in everyday, colloquial communication, but

according to the rules of Standard Croatian, -ovi is preferred (I personally use -evi)®:

kut angle, corner ®

nos nose

pojas belt

put way

(The noun pojas belt, despite having two syllables, gets longer endings; more nouns

like that are listed below.)

Furthermore, there are a few exceptions: certain common one-syllable nouns get

simply an -i; they are listed here:

crv worm

đak pupil

dan day

gost guest

gumb button ®

keks biscuit

konj horse

mrav ant

pas (ps-) dog

I haven’t listed prst finger/toe and zub tooth since we have already learned them.

The noun đak gets the same alternation as putnik, so its N-pl is đaci.

There’s a quite odd noun that has different plural forms depending on its meaning:

sat hour → sati hours

sat clock, watch → satovi clocks, watches

The noun bol pain is usually feminine ®, but in plural, the masculine bolovi is quite

frequent, while regular boli is usually used for non-physical pains, and in poetry:

bolovi m (physical)

bol f pain → pl.

boli f (emotional, poetic)

There are nouns that have two syllables in nominative, but a one-syllable case-base.

Most such nouns get short endings, like any other two-syllable nouns:

glumac (glumc-) actor → glumci


lonac (lonc-) pot → lonci

nokat (nokt-) fingernail/toenail → nokti

However, a few such nouns get longer endings, as one-syllable nouns do; the only

option is to remember them (the list below is not exhaustive):

bubanj (bubnj-) drum → bubnjevi

češalj (češlj-) comb → češljevi

dio (dijel-) part ® → dijelovi

lakat (lakt-) elbow → laktovi

otac (oc-) father → očevi

vjetar (vjetr-) wind → vjetrovi

There are several two-syllable nouns that usually get longer endings. Notably, they

include bird species:

galeb gull golub pidgeon labud swan

(The Core Dictionary lists all unusual plural forms of nouns included in it.)

The accusative case for longer plural again has just -e instead of the final -i:

Gledam brodove A . I’m watching ships.

One masculine noun has a completely irregular plural, and one more has no real

plural but something else that will be explained a bit later:

čovjek man/human → ljudi people, men and women

brat brother → ?

The noun ljudi has a slightly different meaning than čovjek, it’s more generic, and

can be often translated as people. It also corresponds to the English phrase men,

women and children used to describe a mixed group. In a more narrow sense, it

corresponds to men and women (i.e. all adults). If you attempt to translate men and

women as ljudi i žene, it would sound extremely sexist – you would basically say

that women are non-human.

Unfortunately, there’s more: some nouns in N-pl have a bit unexpected – and

unsettled – spelling. They have case-base in -tk-; for example:

redak (retk-) line of text

početak (početk-) beginning

From everything you have learned so far, you would expect the forms:

N DL N-pl A-pl

redak retku retci retke

početak početku početci početke

However, since the sequence tc in N-pl is normally pronounced just as c, it was


traditionally spelled without the t. On the contrary, more recent Croatian

orthography manuals mandate writing tc – and here’s a crazy thing – dc if the N has

a d! So, be prepared to see all possible variants®:

N DL N-pl A-pl

redak retku

reci

retci retke

redci

početak početku počeci

početci

početke

The most recent Croatian orthography manual allows also c-only forms for some

frequent nouns, such as:

gubitak (gubitk-) loss

ostatak (ostatk-) remainder

početak (početk-) beginning

predak (pretk-) ancestor

trenutak (trenutk-) moment

zadatak (zadatk-) task

But the noun redak (retk-) is not one of them! I expect there will be more changes in

the future regarding this group of nouns. (Google for forms preci, pretci and

predci on the .hr domain, to check frequencies. Don’t forget that the most regular

form – pretci – is non-standard, according to the latest manual.)

What about adjectives? They are much simpler – they just get the following endings

(equal to short endings for nouns) without any complications:

adjectives N-pl A-pl

masculine -i -e

This applies to past forms of verbs as well. For example:

Gledam velike brodove A . I’m watching big ships.

Goran N ima prljave laktove A . Goran has dirty elbows.

Psi N su bili gladni N . Dogs were hungry.

________

® Instead of tanjur plate, a slightly different word tanjir is used in Serbia and most of

Bosnia. In the coastal areas of Croatia, you’ll often hear pjat or pijat for plate.

Instead of vrt garden, the word bašta is much more common in Serbia for garden,

and it’s used alongside vrt in Bosnia.

Instead of vlak train, the word voz is used in Serbia and most of Bosnia. Instead of

kut, the word ugao (ugl-) is used for angle, corner in Serbia. That word is used in

Bosnia too, but you can find also kut in Bosnia.

Instead of gumb, the word dugme (dugmet-) is used for button in Bosnia and


Serbia. In the coastal areas of Croatia, the word botun is common for button.

The form nosevi is accepted as standard in Serbia, besides nosovi.

The masculine singular form bol m pain is much more frequent in Serbia.

In Serbia, the word dio (dijel-) m part has an unexpected “Ekavian” form deo (del-)

m; the plural is the expected delovi.

Serbian standard orthography allows only spellings like reci, preci, etc.

• Examples

For example, you can see here the plural of ruksak backpack – ruksaci:

(The term školske torbe is N-pl of školska torba school bag; školski is an adjective

derived from škola school; forming such adjectives will be explained in 33 School

Yard and Bunk Bed: Relations. Yes, the English phrase is an original part of the

poster.)


If you’re puzzled why almost all one-syllable nouns get -ov- in plural, the likely

answer is this: 1400 years ago, there was a small, but frequently used group of

masculine nouns, called u-nouns. Nouns sin son and dom home were among them

(they had a bit different shape back then). They had special case endings, some of

them containing -ov-.

From these nouns, the inserted -ov- in plural has spread to almost all one-syllable

masculine nouns.

Croatian standard language manuals universally condemn forms like noseve (A-pl of

nos), despite that form being 7 times more common (on the Internet) than nosove,

since they break the rule when the e-endings are used. In speech, forms nosevi and

noseve prevail almost completely. This is a textbook example of language

prescriptivism, i.e. forcing a rule that’s not respected in the language as it’s really


used.

Spelling of nouns such as predak, sudac as so on is a matter of endless debate and

small differences in various spelling manuals published by various institutions in

Croatia.

Do you still think Croatian spelling is phonetic, obvious and simple?

• Exercise


______________(a) ____(b) žedni. People are thirsty.

Goran gleda ________________(c). Goran is watching swans.

Ana reže __________(d). Ana is cutting (i.e. trimming) her nails.

Čekamo __________(e). We’re waiting for the guests.

Tražimo __________________(f). We’re looking for the keys.

________(g) trče. Dogs are running.

______________(h) su u vlaku. The travelers are in the train.

____________(i) su u ladici. Knives are in the drawer.

To su bili ________(j) ________________(k). These were my beginnings.

______________(l) su rijetki. Successes are rare.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 30 Three Beers: Less than 5 Things 174 / 600

30 Three Beers: Less than 5 Things

We’re now able to say two, able to say apples, able to say beers... but do we really

know how to say two apples or two beers in Croatian? Sadly, not really. So let’s

learn it!

Surprisingly, Croatian uses two different ways of counting things: one for numbers 2-

4, and another for larger numbers! I’ll show how to count less than 5 things first.

Words for some numbers adapt to the gender of the noun you count:

fem. neut./masc.

both

obje oba

obadvije obadva (colloq.)

2 dvije dva

3 tri

4 četiri

I have included the Croatian words for both, since they behave identically as the

words for two. The alternative forms obadvije and obadva are considered a bit

colloquial (opinions vary).

But what form of nouns comes after the number? If you have expected N-pl, you’ll

be surprised. It’s genitive singular (although it’s more than one thing). We can count

apples and ships now!

dvije jabuke two apples

dva broda two ships

dva prijatelja two friends

But what about using them in a sentence? Do they change as single nouns, e.g. in

accusative, etc.? No, such forms number-noun normally not change at all:

Imam dvije jabuke 24 . I have two apples.

Vidim dva broda 24 . I see two ships.

(Standard Croatian insists that numbers also change according to case. That’s very

rare in speech. If you’re interested, check 99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal

Features.)

What about using adjectives (red, my) with counted nouns? Somehow, a special

thing happens – adjectives get special endings:

gender adjectives (2-4)

fem. -e

neut./masc. -a


It’s simple to remember, since the endings are identical to noun endings for the

majority of nouns, and to the end vowels of the number two:

Imam dvije crvene jabuke 24 . I have two red apples.

Vidim dva crvena broda 24 . I see two red ships.

Of course, the endings are different if you take masculine nouns in -a or feminine

nouns in a consonant:

Ovo su dvije duge riječi 24 . These are two long words.

f

You are maybe puzzled: why adjectives get the special endings? Why not just G

forms? Why genitive singular at all?

Actually, I oversimplified things a bit. After these numbers, nouns and adjectives

really have a special, so-called ‘dual’ form (also called ‘paucal’ form). It historically

had specific endings, but today its endings – for nouns – look like G endings.

However, if we were paying attention to vowel length, we’d see that the G ending

for nouns ending in -a, e.g. kod žene is a long vowel e, while the ending in e.g. dvije

žene is a short e. The forms just look the same in writing. However, since many

people in Croatia don’t distinguish short from long vowels, these endings often

coincide in speech as well. But ‘deep down’, the forms after numbers 2, 3, 4 and

both are not plain G forms. Adjectives still have specific endings.

When such counted nouns are subjects, verbs come in plural:

Dva prijatelja 24 me A čekaju. Two friends are waiting for me.

1

Since past forms of verbs are really a sort of adjectives, they get special endings as

well:

Dva prijatelja 24 su me čekala. Two (male) friends were waiting for me.

1

Dvije prijateljice 24 su me čekale. Two (female) friends were waiting for me. 1

As in English, possessives often come before the number; since they are really

adjectives, they must get special endings as well:

Tvoje dvije knjige 24 su kod Ane G . Your two books are at Ana’s place.

Moja tri prijatelja 24 su ovdje. My three friends are here.

This implies that plural is used in Croatian less than in English. For example:

dva čovjeka two men

tri djeteta three children

dva brata two brothers

četiri broja four numbers

As you can see, you talk about children and brothers without using their plural forms

(which are yet unexplained) if there’s not more than four of them:

Imam dva brata 24 i jednu sestru A . I have two brothers and a sister.

However, numbers are mandatory. If there’s no number 2 to 4, you have to use

plural forms.


Sometimes you don’t know the exact number, it could be 2, it could be 3; one way

to express it is by joining numbers:

Imam dva-tri piva 24 . I have two or three beers.

Imam dvije-tri jabuke 24 . I have two or three apples.

You will see this written with a comma instead of hyphen, e.g. dva, tri. It’s also

common to join numbers 3 and 4 (tri-četiri).

There’s a twist: I’ve written above that numbers adapt to the gender of the noun.

And I’ve written that dva prijatelja means two friends. That’s not the full story.

Numbers described above cannot adapt in some circumstances.

In the case of mixed groups of people, where masculine nouns are used as a default

(e.g. when you use prijatelji friends for a group of friends of mixed sex), you cannot

use the numbers I have just described! This restriction holds even for četiri, a form

common for both genders.

That’s because Croatian has a specific set of numbers used for mixed groups or

people: they are described in detail in 47 Of Flowers, Thorns and Counting Children.

Therefore:

(both male) dva prijatelja 24 two friends

(both female) dvije prijateljice 24 two friends

(mixed) ? → will be explained

However, if you are talking about animals, you can and should use the numbers

above even for mixed groups. For example, konji horses can mean an all-male

group, or a mixed group, so you’re free to say:

dva konja two horses (all-male or mixed)

Now, there’s a word that’s quite common in Croatian: još. We have seen it long ago.

It’s also used with numbers: you can place if before any quantity, to indicate it’s an

additional quantity:

Želim dvije jabuke 24 . I want two apples.

Želim još dvije jabuke 24 . I want two apples more.

Don’t forget, if you place it before a verb, it has another meaning – still:

Još želim dvije jabuke 24 . I still want two apples.

There are two more useful words that are often used before quantities:

bar / barem at least

čak even, as much as

There’s no difference between bar and barem. For example:

Trebam bar dvije čaše 24 . I need at least two glasses.

Imam čak tri tanjura 24 . I have even three plates.


So, you can finally order food and drink (basically all waiters in Croatia speak English

as well, so you could do it without any knowledge of Croatian as well). The most

common conversation would be something along these lines:

Imate li (A) ? Do you have...?

— Imamo. We have. / — Nemamo. We don’t.

Što imate? What do you have?

Molim Vas A (A) I’d like...

For example, the last line could be:

Molim Vas A dvije kave 24 . Two coffees, please.

Molim Vas A tri mala piva 24 . Three small beers, please.

Molim Vas A jedan hamburger A . One hamburger, please.

Molim Vas A dva čaja 24 . Two cups of tea, please. (lit. two teas)

Molim Vas A tri velike pizze 24 . Three large pizzas, please.

Normally, we don’t say cup of coffee, bottle of beer etc. when we are ordering food,

because there’s no other option. But when ordering food that’s served on the plate,

and it’s not pizza, the word porcija serving, portion is often used. Of course, what

you are ordering comes after porcija, in G, while the word porcija changes to A or to

the 24 form:

Molim Vas A (jednu) porciju A piletine G . One serving of chicken, please.

Molim Vas A dvije porcije 24 piletine G . Two servings of chicken, please.

The number one is optional, but it’s often used in such sentences.

The same holds for wine, you can sometimes order it by glasses:

Molim Vas A (jednu) čašu A vina G . A glass of wine, please.

Of course, you can always order more:

Molim Vas A još dva piva 24 . Two more beers, please.

Finally, it’s interesting that the verb moliti has two objects in such sentences, and

both are in A: the person asked, and what is asked.

There’s another way of asking for (and offering) food and drink, and it will be

introduced in the following chapter.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of verbs and pronouns:

Imam ______(a) ____________(b) ________(c). I have three big glasses.

Dva ______________(d) su __________(e). Two men were singing.

Check answers here.

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

2pl

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 31 First, Second: Ordinals 178 / 600

31 First, Second: Ordinals

We have just learned how to count things – at least up to 4 things. But there’s

another way of counting, with words first, second etc. They are usually called

ordinals or ordinal numbers, and behave as adjectives in Croatian. Their forms are:

1 prvi first

2 drugi second

3 treći third

4 četvrti fourth

5 peti fifth

6 šesti sixth

7 sedmi seventh

8 osmi eighth

Of course, the adjective drugi also means other.

For higher numbers, you should just add -i to them, if they consist of only one word:

17 sedamnaest → sedamnaesti

40 četrdeset → četrdeseti

If a number consists of more than one word, just change the last word into the

ordinal form; if a number is in a compact form (without the i) just change the last

part:

31 trideset i jedan → trideset i prvi

31 tridesetjedan → tridesetprvi

Pay attention that all ordinals are adjectives, i.e. they change case, gender and

number when needed:

17th sedamnaesti (masc. N)

sedamnaestom (masc. DL)

sedamnaestu (fem. A) etc.

One thing the ordinal numbers are used for in Croatian is for dates. In Croatian, e.g.

the year 1932 is understood as the ‘1932nd year’ or just the ‘thirty-second’ year.

In Croatian, when you want to say that something happened (or happens, or will

happen) on a given day, month or year (expressed as a date), you should put the

date in the genitive case.

Bilo je to N trideset i druge G (godine G ). lit. ‘It was in the 32nd (year).’ = It was in

thirty-two.

Also, days in a month are referred to as the first, the second (the same is in English,

but in the genitive case), and Croatian treats months in the same way: the first

month (in a year), the second... ®. Normally people would just say:

Rođen N sam petog osmog G . ‘I am born on the fifth of the eighth.’ = I am born on the

fifth of August.

Of course, both petog and osmog are genitives of ordinal adjectives peti and osmi

(in masc.), since it’s just short for petog dana and osmog mjeseca – and both dan


(in masc.), since it’s just short for petog dana and osmog mjeseca – and both dan

and mjesec are masculine.

In the Croatian writing of numbers, ordinal numbers are abbreviated to just number

+ a period, so it’s usually written:

Rođen N sam 5. 8.

This is the word used to describe a specific date:

datum date

If you want to talk about a date related to an event, you add the event in the

genitive case:

datum rođenja date of birth

To say that something happened/happens sometime in a given month, use u¨ + DL:

Rođen N sam u osmom mjesecu DL . I’m born in August.

The word mjesec is sometimes abbreviated as mj.; colloquially, even mjesec month

can be left out:®

Idemo na more A u sedmom DL . We’re going to seaside in July. ®

ići

There are also names of months in Croatian, but they are mostly used in formal

writing, books, etc.; they are normally not capitalized (similar to days of week):®

1 siječanj (siječnj-) January

2 veljača February

3 ožujak (ožujk-) March

4 travanj (travnj-) April

5 svibanj (svibnj-) May

6 lipanj (lipnj-) June

7 srpanj (srpnj-) July

8 kolovoz August

9 rujan (rujn-) September

10 listopad October

11 studeni (adj.) November

12 prosinac (prosinc-) December

Of course, they must be also put to genitive when used in the above meaning (when

something happened/happens):

Rođen N sam petog kolovoza A . (formal) I am born on the fifth of August.

Rođen N sam u kolovozu DL . (formal) I am born in August.

When the date is the subject, the first word should be in nominative, but the rest of

the date must stay in the genitive case, since you are actually talking about the Xth

day of some month of some year and all those of’s correspond to the Croatian

genitive case:


Peti N kolovoza G je bio vruć N . (formal) The fifth of August was hot.

Again, the expression above is actually about peti dan the fifth day – therefore, the

past form is in masculine.

If you want to talk about decades (i.e. the seventies) you can simply use ordinal

adjectives in feminine plural (since you’re really talking about godine years, and it’s

feminine plural).

Sedamdesete N su bile davno. The seventies were long ago.

If a decade is the subject, as above, the verb goes into plural, and past forms and

adjectives are feminine, as expected. Decades are often written as a combination of

a number and a case ending, connected by a hyphen:

70-e N su bile davno. The 70’s were long ago.

Another very frequent use of ordinal numbers is talking about levels in a building.

Croatian uses the same scheme as British English – the floor above the ground level

is the first floor:

tavan

potkrovlje

attic

...

drugi kat the second floor ®

prvi kat the first floor

prizemlje the ground floor

podrum basement

The word kat ® means only storey, level in a bulding, not surface you walk on (the

other meaning of English floor). For surfaces, the word pod is used.

If you use only na katu (or direction na kat), the first floor is assumed:

Kupaonica N je na katu DL . The bathroom is on the first floor. ®

For prizemlje and podrum, you should use the preposition u¨; for all levels above,

the preposition na¨ is used:

Kutija N je u podrumu DL . The box is in the basement.

Ured N je na drugom katu DL . The office is on the second floor. ®

Igračke N su na tavanu DL . The toys are in the attic.

For attic, there are two terms: potkrovlje is more formal.

The adjective prvi is often used in spatial arrangements, when English usually uses

front instead:

prvi red front row (lit. ‘first row’)


prva crta front line (lit. ‘first line’)

There’s one instance when ordinals are used less than in English: when you just

enumerate things in no particular order, e.g. when you talk about your sisters:

Imam tri sestre 24 . I have three sisters.

Jedna N radi u banci DL . One works in a bank.

Druga N studira. Another is in university.

Treća N je još u školi DL . The third one is still in school.

The first word is just an numeral adjective (used as a pronoun). The second one

means both another and second. After it, there’s no other option but to use ordinal

adjectives. The point is: there’s no first sister. But there’s the third one. You’ll find

out that native speakers prefer also speaking about one son and the other one,

rather than about the first son and the second one, and so on. You should use the

ordinal prvi first only when you want really to say that someone or somebody is at

the first position. After it, it doesn’t matter, since there’s no difference in Croatian.

The opposites of prvi first are:

posljednji

last

zadnji

(The adjective posljednji is a bit more formal.) An example for zadnji:

Ana N živi na zadnjem katu DL . Ana lives on the top floor. (lit. ‘last floor’)

While in English, you can just use first as an adverb (e.g. first, you mix flour with

eggs...), in Croatian you must use its ‘adverbial’ form, that is, neuter singular prvo.

Instead of posljednje, the form na kraju is used in meaning finally.

However, in English, finally can also mean after so much time, after a long wait and

so on, like in we’re finally done. In that meaning, Croatian uses another word:

konačno finally (after a long time)

na kraju finally (as the last step)

This corresponds to Spanish por fin (konačno) vs. finalmente (na kraju).

________

® In Serbia, ordinal numbers are usually not used for months (except when reading

dates written as numbers); specific names – different than Croatian – are used even

in the colloquial speech:

1 januar January

2 februar February

3 mart March

4 april April

5 maj May

6 jun / juni June

7 jul / juli July

8 avgust August

9 septembar (septembr-) September

10 oktobar (oktobr-) October

11 novembar (novembr-) November

12 decembar (decembr-) December


As you can see, these names are similar to the English names. Those names also

prevail in Bosnia and Montenegro, and are sometimes used in Croatia too. Ordinal

numbers for months are infrequent in Bosnia and sometimes used in Montenegro.

The following words are less often used in Serbia and Bosnia (words more common

there are listed on the right side of arrows):

kat → sprat

kupaonica → kupatilo

ured → kancelarija

• Examples

These banners on the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb advertise an exhibition

about the sixties:

You can also see how the dates of the exhibition are written on the banners.

The song Moja prva ljubav My First Love, also known as Djevojke u ljetnim

haljinama volim Girls in Summer Dresses I like was a hit by Haustor, a band from

Zagreb. The song has very short lyrics:

Djevojke A u ljetnim haljinama DL volim Girls in summer dresses I like

Ljubim ih A u leđa A

mirišu na smolu A

I kiss them in their back

they smell of resin

3pl

mirisati

N N dobio luku A

moj je grad večeras evening

my town got a port this

Ulje N je na vodi DL

There’s oil on the water

to N je, to N je...

that’s, that’s...

moja prva ljubav N

my first love

f

(Srđan Sacher)

The first verse contains a case yet unexplained: DL in plural. The verb mirisati


(miriše) can mean either pleasant or unpleasant smell, and what something smells of

is expressed with na¨ + A. If you’re puzzled by imagery in this song, it’s from a

perspective of someone living inland and imagining his town became a seaside town

for a while, with the smell of resin from pine trees and oil from boats in the port.

Note how the verb ljubiti kiss uses a destination.

The song has unusual word order in some verses: normally, you would put the verb

first in the first verse. The fourth verse has moj grad my town (or my city) split by

strict placement of the verb je².

The verb dobiti (dobije) get is another perfective verb.

You can listen to the song on YouTube, but there aren’t many videos for copyright

reasons. Check a great performance by young singers on the Croatian public TV

show A strana A Side, which are joined by the original singer (Darko Rundek).

• Exercise


________(a) stan ____(b) ____(c) ______________(d) ________(e). Our apartment

is on the third floor.

To je bilo ____(f) ______________(g) mjesecu. It was in April.

Kutija je ____(h) ______________(i). The box is in the basement.

Sjedili smo ____(j) __________(k) ________(l). We were sitting in the front row.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 32 Love and Like 184 / 600

32 Love and Like

There are two most common verbs used to express that you love or like something:

voljeti (voli, volio, voljela)

sviđati se²

love/like

The first verb is about lasting emotions (you love a person, a city) and the second

one about impressions, e.g. when you eat something and you like it, but also when

you feel someone attractive.

The first verb is straightforward to use, the object is in the accusative case, as usual:

Goran N voli Anu A . Goran loves Ana.

Ana N voli sladoled A . Ana likes ice-cream.

However, the second verb is a bit more complicated: the thing one likes is the

subject of the sentence, and who likes it comes in DL. For instance, if you’ve just

eaten a soup and you liked it, you could say:

Sviđa mi DL se juha N . I like the soup. ®

1

If e.g. Ana feels attraction or affection to someone (e.g. Ivan) – and it’s not

necessarily erotic, you can just like someone’s personality – one could say:

Ani DL se sviđa Ivan N . Ana likes Ivan.

This is probably quite familiar to you if you know some German, French, Italian or

Spanish, since all these languages have verbs that express like that behave exactly

the same (and use a form that corresponds to the Croatian DL):

(Spanish) Me gusta el libro.

(Italian) Mi piace il libro.

(French)

(German)

Le livre me plait.

Das Buch gefällt mir.

Knjiga mi DL se sviđa.

All five sentences above mean I like the book, but the book is the subject in all five

sentences, and the person who likes (I, emphasized in the sentences) is not the

subject. Therefore, all five verbs – Spanish gustar, Italian piacere, French plaire,

German gefallen and Croatian sviđati se² – are above in the 3rd person. The only

real difference is the word order, which follows quite different rules in Spanish,

Italian, German and Croatian (the French word order is here quite similar to the

Croatian order, though).

As with such sentences, in Croatian, what you’re talking about comes first: if you are

talking about Ana, she comes before the verb, but Ivan (or a book) is really the topic,

it can sometimes come to the first position in such sentence. (Of course, second

position words are always placed in the second position.)

1


Since what you like is the subject, and subjects are usually left out, this sentence can

have multiple meanings, depending on the context:

Sviđa mi DL se. I like it/him/her.

1

The same holds for Spanish (me gusta) and Italian (mi piace), since both languages

usually omit subjects, if known from the context.

If you like something in plural, the verb, of course, must come in plural:

Sviđaju mi DL se cipele N . I like the shoes.

1

Sviđale su mi DL se cipele N . I liked the shoes.

1

Of course, you can also say:

Sviđaš mi DL se. I like you.

1

Sviđaš se Ani DL . Ana likes you.

Sviđala si mi DL se. I liked you. (you = female)

1

The last sentence is in the past tense, and implies that it’s no more: something has

changed (either ‘you’ has died, or ‘I’ doesn’t like ‘you’ anymore).

You have a lot of freedom of what you can like with sviđati se² – it includes places

and times, which simply are used as subjects:

Ani DL se ovdje ne sviđa°. Ana doesn’t like it here.

Sviđa° mi DL se na moru DL . I like being at the seaside.

1

English here usually has to use either it or some form of the verb to be, but Croatian

does not (recall, there are no dummy pronouns in Croatian).

Since these subjects are not nouns or pronouns, verbs are impersonal, 3rd pers.

singular, and past forms must be in neuter singular:

Ani DL se ovdje nije sviđalo. Ana didn’t like it here.

Sviđalo mi DL se na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside.

1

Liking places and times is also often expressed with the adverb lijepo nice + DL + je²:

Lijepo mi DL je° na moru DL . I like being at the seaside.

Bilo mi DL je lijepo na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside.

Bilo mi DL je lijepo jučer. I liked it yesterday.

The verbs are again impersonal.

You can like doing something: you should then put the right verb into the infinitive

and place it after one of the two verbs listed above, usually voljeti (voli,...):

Ana N voli trčati. Ana loves to run. ®

The verb in infinitive can have an object, and so on:

Ana N voli voziti bicikl A . Ana likes to ‘drive’ bicycle. (= ride) ®

It’s interesting that we don’t ‘ride’ bicycles, but ‘drive’ them: jahati (jaše) ride is

1

1

1


reserved for horses and other animals.

To express that somebody generally likes running (which can imply just watching

others running, not running themselves), other words, so-called verbal nouns or

gerunds should be used:

Ana N voli trčanje A . Ana loves running.

You can find more about verbal nouns in 66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns.

You can use adverbs of intensity with all such expressions, mostly jako and stvarno

to strengthen expressions, using the usual placement rules for such adverbs (the

intensifying adverb usually comes before the verb, but 2nd position words can

intervene):

Jako mi DL se sviđa juha N . I like the soup very much.

Bilo mi DL je jako lijepo na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside very much.

Ana A stvarno voli trčati. Ana really likes to run.

It’s interesting that the more formal word vrlo cannot be used to strengthen verbs.

There’s another often used verb:

zanimati («) be interesting to

This verb is used in a similar way; however, the person who feels interest is

expressed in A:

Gorana A zanima nogomet N . Goran is interested in football. ®

This Croatian sentence could also be translated as football is interesting to Goran

(it’s interesting that English here kind of follows Croatian).

This verb is used in a very common expression, used when you want to express that

you don’t really want to hear about something (the expression is not really polite,

however):

Ne zanima me A . I’m not interested.

Another verb is very similar to voljeti (voli,...) but stands for an even stronger

feeling:

obožavati («) adore, be fan of, really like

It can be used for people you really love, but also for actors, sports, food, activities

(including verbs in infinitive), etc.:

Igor N obožava kavu A . Igor ‘adores’ coffee.

Ana N obožava plivati. Ana ‘adores’ swimming.

The verb with the meaning opposite to love and like is:

mrziti hate ®

It’s used in the same ways as voljeti (voli,...):

1

1

1


Ana N mrzi te cipele A . Ana hates these shoes.

Goran N mrzi čistiti kuću A . Goran hates to clean the house.

Another verb that’s frequently used with another verb in inf is:

znati (+ inf) know how ®

This verb with a normal object in A means just know, but with inf it covers also

knowledge how to do something:

Ana N zna plivati. Ana knows how to swim.

Ne znamo plivati. We don’t know how to swim. = We can’t swim.

Actually, Croatian uses only znati in many instances where English would use can,

i.e. can read, can sing would be always expressed with znati in Croatian.

Colloquially, znati is also used for things that are done occasionally, or are known to

happen occasionally, like English may:

Snijeg N zna padati i u desetom mjesecu DL . (colloq.) Snow may (is known to, does

sometime) fall in October as well.

(The use of i¨ to express as well will be explained in 67 Only, Except, Too: Inclusion

and Exclusion.)

There’s a fine difference: while moći implies just a possibility, znati implies that

something is known to happen (you see the connection with the verb know). It’s

possible not in principle, but because it does happen. This use is a bit colloquial, but

common.

There are more verbs that use other verbs in infinitive, you’ll encounter them later.

________

® In Serbia, infinitives are much less often used: in speech, the form da + present

prevails. For instance, such sentences would be much more common in Serbia:

Ana N voli da trči. Ana loves to run.

Ana N voli da vozi bicikl A . Ana likes to ‘drive’ bicycle.

Knowledge of doing something is usually expressed in parts of Bosnia and

Montenegro with the verb umjeti (umije, umio, umjela) know how. In Serbia, the

same verb has the “Ekavian” form umeti. So, the sentences about knowing how to

swim would be like this in Serbia:

Ana N ume da pliva. Ana knows how to swim.

Ne umemo da plivamo. We don’t know how to swim. = We can’t swim.

The verb is fully regular, and like “Ekavian” razumeti understand, its pres-3 is umeju:

Ne umeju da plivaju. They don’t know how to swim. = They can’t swim.

This verb is also used in Serbia to express that something happens occasionally,


besides znati.

In Serbia and most of Bosnia, instead of juha and nogomet, supa and fudbal are

used.

In Serbia, the verb mrziti hate has the unexpected “Ekavian” form mrzeti (mrzi).


If we could travel back in time to the 15th century, we would find that the English

verb like behaved then exactly like Croatian sviđati se². For example, Thomas

Malory wrote in 1485 if it like you I will speak with them. You can find both uses in

Shakespeare’s works, but after him, the old way went into oblivion.

• Exercise


Ana ______(a) čaj. Ana likes tea.

________________(b) ______(c) ______(d) hlače. I like the pants.

Marko ______(e) __________(f) mlijeko. Marko doesn’t like milk.

Ne __________(g) ______(h) ______(i) to. I don’t like it.

__________(j) ____________(k) ______________(l). I like to watch movies.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 33 School Yard and Bunk Bed: Relaons 189 / 600

33 School Yard and Bunk Bed: Relations

Croatian contains a big number of adjectives derived from nouns (and sometimes

from other words too) that are often represented in English as nouns-used-asadjectives.

Here’s what I mean:

school yard

Here school is actually used as an adjective, it describes what kind of yard it is, what

it belongs to. Such adjectives are sometimes called relational or quasi-possessive

adjectives. It’s interesting that such adjectives in English cannot have a comparative

(you cannot say more school) or even cannot be used as a property (you cannot say

the yard is school).

In Croatian, you cannot simply use nouns as adjectives – you have to turn them into

adjectives. It holds for some nouns in English too: you cannot use e.g. person as an

adjective (e.g. ‘person space’) you have to turn it into an adjective – personal.

The main way to turn nouns into adjectives in Croatian is to append -ski as if it were

a case ending (it’s not a case ending!):

brod ship → brodski

grad city → gradski

more sea → morski

škola school → školski

The resulting word is an adjective, so it must adapt to the noun case and gender.

Since dvorište yard is neuter (as expected) we have to use it accordingly:

Ovo N je školsko dvorište N . This is a school yard.

Bili smo u školskom dvorištu DL . We were at the school yard.

In some words that add -ski, the s gets fused with neighboring consonants and

vowels, and we sometimes get -ški, -čki or even -ćki, or other irregularities:

pošta post → poštanski postal

putnik passenger → putnički

Adjectives for cities, regions and countries are often irregular (and they are not

uppercase):

Bosna → bosanski

Dalmacija → dalmatinski

Istra → istarski

Slavonija → slavonski

Zagreb → zagrebački

Zagorje → zagorski

For countries, islands and cities that end in -s or -z, the final consonant is usually

assimilated into -ški:

Pariz Paris → pariški ®

Teksas Texas → teksaški ®

Tunis Tunisia → tuniški ®

Vis (an island) → viški

Relational adjectives are also created for cities having more than one word (e.g.

Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia-Herzegovina) and foreign ones, respelled according to


pronunciation:

Banja Luka → banjalučki New York → njujorški

(You will also see mixed spellings, e.g. newyorški.) You can find adjectives derived

from countries in L2 Countries and Nationalities, and adjectives derived from cities

and towns in L3 Cities and Towns.

Country adjectives (many of which are used as country names) such as danski

Danish, irski Irish etc. are also historically derived with the suffix -ski.

Recall, words like Hrvatska Croatia or Njemačka Germany are already adjectives,

just used as nouns – there’s no need to make adjectives from them.

All countries and cities derive relational adjectives by -ski (unless they are already

adjectives) – but, generally, not all words do. Many words add -ni instead, and

there’s no real rule which noun uses what ending, as you can see for adjectives

derived from seasons – you have to remember it:

jesen f autumn → jesenski

zima winter → zimski

proljeće spring → proljetni ®

ljeto summer → ljetni

Common adjectives that are derived with -ni are:

cvijet flower → cvjetni

kiša rain → kišni

kuća house → kućni

ljubav f love → ljubavni

osoba person → osobni ®

rad work → radni

rat war → ratni

soba room → sobni

stol table, desk → stolni ®

voće fruit(s) → voćni

vrt garden → vrtni

zid wall → zidni

Observe that adjective cvjetni has just je instead of ije. Consonants change before

this ending, e.g. k or c → č and so on, as in these examples:

brak marriage → bračni

krug circle → kružni

mlijeko milk → mliječni

ruka hand → ručni

noga leg → nožni

oko eye → očni

trbuh belly → trbušni

ulica street → ulični

(English has specific adjectives personal, marital and circular, but there’s no specific

adjective for many other nouns in English, e.g. hand is simply used as an adjective in

hand brake. English usually has specific adjectives if a noun is of French or Latin

origin, since these two languages have specific adjectives). Adjectives derived from

cardinal directions also follow this pattern:

sjeverni northern

zapadni western

istočni eastern

južni southern

A few adjectives in -ni have specific meanings; the most common one is:

glava head → glavni main


It’s interesting that relational adjectives cannot be derived from days of week,

except for Sunday:

nedjelja Sunday → nedjeljni

(You will occasionally see and hear adjective subotnji adj. Saturday, but it’s quite

rare.)

It’s very useful to learn relational adjectives derived from time nouns (like English

day → daily, month → monthly); some of them are quite irregular:

dan day → dnevni

noć f night → noćni

jutro morning → jutarnji

večer f evening ® → večernji

mjesec month → mjesečni

godina year → godišnji

For the nouns tjedan (tjedn-) week, ponoć f midnight and podne (podnev-) noon,

adjectives are derived regularly by adding the -ni. For example:

Ovo N je moj mjesečni prihod N . This is my monthly income.

Kupi neke dnevne novine A . Buy a daily newspaper.

The adjective godišnji annual is used in a common phrase:

godišnji odmor annual leave, paid vacation

The phrase is often – in speech and casual writing – shortened to just godišnji: the

noun odmor is assumed. So, you’ll often hear (and read):

Ivan N je na godišnjem DL . Ivan is on (paid) vacation.

Sutra idem na godišnji A . I’m going on (paid) vacation tomorrow.

ići

Of course, even when used on its own, the word godišnji behaves like any adjective

and keeps the gender of the omitted noun (here: masculine inanimate). Therefore, it

got the DL ending -em in the first sentence (for "activity as location") and the A

ending in the second (for "activity as destination").

It’s also possible to derive relational adjectives from many adverbs, e.g. sad(a) now,

jučer yesterday, gore up and so on: they will be explained in 76 Inner and Outer and

Step by Step: More on Space and Time.

Few nouns have relational adjectives on -ji, again with (specific) consonant

alternations; they include most animals:

djeca coll. children → dječji ®

mačka cat → mačji

miš mouse → mišji

ptica bird → ptičji

riba fish → riblji

zec rabbit → zečji

There are frequently used adjectives to indicate what kind of meat something is

made of:

goveđi adj. beef

janjeći adj. lamb

pileći adj. chicken

teleći adj. beef (veal)


Since relational adjectives cannot be simply derived from nouns, they will be listed

with nouns in the Core Dictionary.

The -ski is the default suffix for relational adjectives: new words that are adopted

into Croatian use it (translation for the words below is, I hope, not necessary):

atom → atomski laser → laserski

However, nouns ending in -s or -t will likely get the suffix -ni:

balet → baletni virus → virusni

There are probably more rules on -ski vs -ni, but I don’t know them at the moment.®

Certain terms in Croatian are not expressed in this way, especially when we describe

the purpose of something, e.g. where something is applied or where it’s used. Then,

the preposition za¨ + a noun in A are put after the noun. Common examples are:

čaša za vino wine glass

četka za kosu hair brush

krema za ruke hand cream

lak za nokte nail polish

pasta za zube toothpaste

šalica za čaj tea cup ®

Such constructions are used even in many cases when there seems to be an

appropriate relational adjective. For example, hand towel is only ručnik za ruke,

despite the relational adjective existing and being used in ručna kočnica hand brake,

ručni alat hand tool, and some others. Also, there is an adjective čajni, but it’s

basically used only in the expression čajni kolutić, which is a type of tea biscuit

(some 80% of appearances of čajni on the Internet are followed by kolutić: try it

yourself).

On the other hand, some of these terms have alternative versions, with relative

adjectives (e.g. zubna pasta toothpaste), but versions with za are more common in

speech.

Certain types of nouns, e.g. gerunds like čitanje reading don’t have relational

adjectives at all. To express reading glasses in Croatian, you have to use the same

construction:

naočale za čitanje reading glasses ®

štap za pecanje fishing rod

(More about gerunds in 66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns.)

Another way of expressing relation which does not use a relational adjective is with

na¨ + A, mostly placed after a noun, used as a predicative, or used as a kind of

(secondary) object. First, it can describe basically sources of power and energy:

peć na drva A wood stove

f

svjetiljka na baterije A battery-powered lamp

igračka na navijanje A wind-up toy

Note how Croatian is more precise here. English wood stove is in principle


ambiguous. Is it maybe a proverbial stove made of wood? Croatian distinguishes peć

od drva (made of wood) from peć na drva (running on wood).

It can be also used with the verb raditi work, do describing how something works:

Fen N radi na struju A . The hair dryer runs on electricity.

This preposition (with A!) is frequently used in parts of phrases that describe

something; it’s never about the material, but some other distinctive property. For

example:

krevet na kat A bunk bed (lit. ‘bed on floor/story’)

kupus na salatu A cabbage salad (lit. ‘cabbage on salad’)

plaćanje na rate A paying by installments (lit. ‘on installments’)

There are four very common, fixed combinations of na¨ + a noun in A, with nontrivial

meanings (except for one, which translates to English literally):

na primjer for example

na sreću fortunately, luckily

na vrijeme on time

na žalost unfortunately

All four are sometimes spelled as one word, e.g. naprimjer (both ways are

standard)®. The phrase na primjer is so common that is has a standard abbreviation

(the period is mandatory):

npr. = e.g.

This table summarizes various ways to express English ‘noun attributes’ in Croatian:

expression Croatian example

generic rel. adj. + školsko dvorište school yard

x of y + G

ključevi auta G car keys

ključevi od auta G (colloq.!)

material + od¨ G sok od jabuke G apple juice

purpose + za¨ A četka za kosu A hair brush

mode, power + na¨ A peć na drva A wood stove

All these constructions form phrases that can fill the first position in a sentence or

clause, and then second-position words normally come after them:

Naočale N za čitanje A su² na stolu DL . The reading glasses are on the table.

You will very rarely see these expressions split by second-position words, if ever.

(Also check A5 Word Order.)

________


® In Serbia, relative adjectives derived from Pariz, Teksas and Tunis have forms

pariski, teksaski and tuniski, while forms of these adjectives in -ški are rare and

considered non-standard in Serbia. This applies to most such nouns, but not to viški,

which is accepted also in Serbia. Conversely, forms like pariski are very rare in

Croatia.

Instead of proljetni, a more regular adjective proljećni is used in Serbia and

Montenegro, and sometimes in Bosnia; instead of osoba → osobni, lice → lični

covers that meaning in Serbia and Bosnia.

The noun stol table has the form sto (stol-) in Serbia and most of Bosnia, and the

derived adjective is a bit unexpected stoni.

The noun večer f evening has the form veče (večer- f) in Serbia and most of Bosnia,

but the derived adjective is the same, večernji.

Adjectives ending in -ji (e.g. dječji) have alternative forms ending in -iji (e.g. dječiji)

that actually prevail in Serbia and Bosnia and are accepted in standard there. They

are sometimes seen in Croatia as well.

Instead of šalica, the words šolja and šoljica are used in Serbia and parts of Bosnia.

Instead of naočale, words naočare and naočari are more common in Serbia and

most of Bosnia.

It appears that -ski is a bit more favored in Bosnia and Serbia: for example, from the

noun autobusʷ¹ there’s autobuski there, while there’s autobusniʷ¹ in Croatia.

Spellings such as naprimjer are not standard in Serbia, and are partially accepted in

Bosnia and Montenegro.


In Danish, the adjective Danish is dansk: you again see the -sk- to form adjectives. It

turns out that Croatian -ski, Danish (and Swedish and Norwegian) -sk, German -isch

and English -ish have a common origin. The -i- before -sk- was lost in Croatian, but

not before it had affected the preceding consonants: for instance, it had changed k

to č in putnik → putnički.

Each employee in Croatia has at least 4 weeks of godišnji, paid vacation, and often

more. For those who can choose when they want to use these days, there’s a whole

art of creating mini-vacations, by merging weekends with public holidays.

The adjective čajni is also used in čajna kobasica, literally tea sausage. This is often

shortened to just čajna, since the feminine form of the adjective is seldom used in

any other expression. However, it originally had nothing to do with tea; it seems it’s

a corruption of China.


• Examples

This sign shows directions to a dog beach, which is literally beach for dogs in

Croatian:

The construction with na¨ + A is, a bit paradoxically, used to express ways of

entering or leaving – which door to use – e.g. on this notice (I found it on a bakery)

that the entrance is through the other door:

This is a bit unexpected if you consider it a location. But it’s not – it’s how to enter,

and the ‘modal’ na¨ + A is used.

• Exercise

Fill in the missing words (relational adjectives):

Goran je na __________________(a) igralištu. Goran is at the school playground.

Sjedimo na ______________(b) obali. We’re sitting at the sea shore.

Ana pije ______________(c) sok. Ana is drinking fruit juice.

Ovo je ______________(d) film. This is a war movie.

(Hint: pay attention to the case of the noun after the relational adjective.)

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 34 Stressed Pronouns 196 / 600

34 Stressed Pronouns

Besides the forms of pronouns we have already learned, there are additional,

stressed forms of pronouns. They can be placed to any position in the sentence.

They are mostly optional, used when you want to emphasize them; however, they

must be used with prepositions and conjunctions. Their forms are similar to the

regular, ‘unstressed’ pronouns, but usually a bit longer:

1st & 2nd pers. pronouns in singular

person N A, G DL

1st ja mene meni

2nd ti tebe tebi

refl. — sebe sebi

Bear in mind that Croatian completely distinguishes 2nd person singular and plural,

while English has just you for both.

This example will illustrate their use when stressing objects:

Ana N čeka mene A . Ana is waiting for me.

You cannot join an unstressed pronoun and another word with e.g. conjunction i¨

and – stressed pronouns must be used:

Vidim tebe A i Anu A . I see you and Ana.

Despite the second position of tebe in the sentence above, the unstressed te²

cannot be used, since it cannot be joined with i¨ and with anything else.

When using stressed pronouns (which is not the default option in speech and

writing!) the order of words is more like English:

Želim vidjeti tebe A . I want to see you. ®

There’s the curious third row: A sebe, DL sebi, marked as reflexive. The word sebe is

the emphasized form of se². However, you cannot emphasize every se²: you can

emphasize it only when used in a specific meaning. Consider these sentences:

(1) Brijem se. I’m shaving.

(2) Oni N se vole. They love each other.

(3) Juha N se kuha. The soup is cooking. ®

(4) Vraćam se. I’m coming back.

(5) Zovem se Igor N . My name is Igor.

(6) Igram se. I’m playing.

(7) Bojim se. I’m afraid.

You can emphasize only the se² in the sentence #1, not in others:

brijati

zvati

bojati se


(1) Brijem sebe A . I’m shaving myself.

brijati

There’s a simple test to decide what you can emphasize: it can be done if you can

use myself and not you (or herself and not him, etc.) in English sentence. For

example, if you accidentally called yourself over the phone (e.g. your mobile phone),

you can emphasize it:

Zvao sam sebe A ! I called myself! (or dialed)

To put it simply, you can emphasize se² as sebe only if someone is really doing

something to themselves – e.g. shaving, washing and so on. Such use of se² is

sometimes called true reflexive.

In other words, sebe never shifts the meaning, where se² does shift the meaning of

some verbs. For example:

Zabavljam se. I’m having fun.

Zabavljam sebe A . I’m entertaining myself.

The form sebe must be used when prepositions, adverbs and conjunctions are

involved. For example, with the adverb (iz)van outside there’s an often used phrase:

(iz)van sebe pred. furious, mad, freaking out

This implies extreme excitation, you can be (iz)van sebe because you’re really

happy, but most often it just means you’re really angry:

Goran N je bio van sebe G . Goran was freaking out.

Such small phrases that can be used only with the verb biti (je² +) be are sometimes

called predicatives, abbreviated as pred.

Like other stressed forms, sebe must be used when you want to want to add

something to the object, e.g. use i¨ and. It also must be used whenever you refer to

subject and need the genitive case:

Bojao se sebe G . He was afraid of himself.

In the last sentence, the se² is the particle, and sebe is the object in genitive.

What about the DL sebi? It’s used when you send something to yourself, and with

prepositions. There’s a matching unstressed form si²:

Pišem si DL poruku A . I’m writing a message to myself. ®

pisati

Unlike svoj, this form is never replaced colloquially by mi² or like.

I’ve emphasized more than once that possession of body parts (and clothes worn,

etc.) is normally implied, and when they don’t belong to the subject, a possessor in

DL is usually added. In western regions of Croatia, especially in parts of Istria and

the Zagreb region, you’ll sometimes hear that even when a body part or a piece of

clothing belongs to the subject, a DL possession is nevertheless expressed by si² –

which is exactly the same construction as in German:


Perem si DL ruke A . (colloq.!, western parts)

Ich wasche mir die Hände. (German)

I’m washing my hands.

(Of course, it’s not required that you speak like that, but be prepared to hear and see

it occasionally in these regions. This feature is likely German influence.)

Here are the forms for plural – they’re almost identical to the unstressed forms:

1st & 2nd pers. pronouns in plural

person N A, G DL

1st mi nas nama

2nd vi vas vama

Finally, here are the 3rd person forms. They are mostly like unstressed forms with

added n- or nje-:

3rd person pronouns

gender N A G DL

f ona nju nje njoj

n (ono)

njega = A njemu

m on

f pl. one

n pl. ona njih = A njima

m pl. oni

With the stressed forms of personal pronouns, we are able to use prepositions. One

of them is za¨ for, requiring nouns or pronouns in the accusative case:

Sendvič N je za Anu A . The sandwich is for Ana.

Kolač N je za njih N . The cake is for them.

In the standard stress scheme, the stress shifts to unstressed prepositions (ones

marked with ¨), so it’s usually pronounced za mene.®

(In certain regions, you will maybe hear za me or za te, that is, using za¨ with the

unstressed 1st and 2nd person pronouns glued to them. It’s a bit archaic.)

It’s also quite common to use the preposition kod¨ + G with pronouns. The result is

a compact way to say where something is:

Knjiga N je kod mene G . The book is ‘at my place’.

This, as we have already seen, can mean that the book is in your house (even if

you’re not in the house at the moment!), your room, your backpack, or even pocket –

depending on the context. This is a convenient way to indicate temporary


possession of movable things.

Also, this is a very common way to express location ‘at our place’ (this corresponds

to German ‘bei uns’). Of course, this ‘us’ can imply your family, your friends, your

country – depending on the context:

Kod nas G pada kiša N . It rains ‘at our place’. (or here, etc.)

Goran N je bio kod nas G . Goran was at our house/home.

Another frequent use of stressed pronouns is in short responses to what others have

said. This is how it works:

Ovaj film N je dosadan N … This movie is boring…

— Meni DL nije. lit. ‘Not to me.’

— I meni DL . lit. ‘Also to me.’

The first sentence tries to be an ‘objective statement’, while the responses are

opinions (by adding a person in DL): what I feel/think. Even if you rearrange words,

you cannot use short forms of pronouns in such responses.

Then, the stressed pronouns (esp. sebe) are used in A and DL, with the preposition

na¨, where someone is understood as either a destination or location, meaning

what he or she is wearing:

Goran N ima samo majicu A na sebi DL . ‘Goran has only a shirt on himself’. = Goran is

wearing only a shirt.

This use is a bit colloquial. More about the word samo only in 67 Only, Except, Too:

Inclusion and Exclusion.

You’ll encounter later more situations where the stressed pronouns have to be used.

________

® In Serbia, infinitives are less used, da + present is more common, so the example

would rather be želim da vidim tebe.

In Serbia and most of Bosnia, instead of juha soup, supa is used. The verb kuhati

cook has the form kuvati in Serbia and parts of Bosnia, and colloquially in some

parts of Croatia.

In Serbia, the DL pronoun si² is less common (except in the Southeastern Serbia) and

it’s not considered standard.

In Serbia, the stress very rarely shifts from pronouns to prepositions, za mene is

much more common.


If you think there are too many forms of the stressed personal pronouns, here are

stressed personal pronouns of Standard Slovene, a next door neighbor of Croatian,


for your entertainment. They have specific, dual forms for two persons – you don’t

use plural then – and D and L are separate cases (of course, they also have

unstressed forms, the language is quite similar to Croatian)...

N A G D L I

1 jaz mene =A meni =D mano / menoj

2 ti tebe =A tebi =D tabo / teboj

f ona njo nje njej / nji =D njo

3 n ono

m on

njega =A njemu njem njim

refl. — sebe =A sebi =D sabo / seboj

1-du f medve naju =A nama =A =D

m midva

2-du f vedve vaju =A vama =A =D

m vidva

3-du f onidve njiju =A njima =A =D

m onadva

f me

1-pl

nas =A nam =A nami

m mi

f ve

2-pl

vas =A vam =A vami

m vi

f ona

njih /

3-pl n one

njih njim =G njimi

nje

m oni

This table includes the instrumental case (I) which we haven’t covered yet. The

interesting things is that some Croatian plural forms (e.g. njima) match Slovene dual

forms. In the history of Croatian, it happened that dual and plural have merged, and

some originally dual forms started being used even when there were more than 2

people, while the original plural forms were simply lost.

However, there are dialects in Croatia where some original plural forms are still

used. If your family is from certain parts of Croatia, some pronouns in the Slovene

table might better match the speech of your grandmother...


• Examples

This ambitious love song, Mjesto za mene A place for me, performed by Damir

Urban & 4 contains a lot of stressed pronouns:

Ti N zbog mene G , You because of me

ja N zbog sebe G me because of myself

Pitam se

I ask myself

ima li te G uopće are you there at all

2

Ima li tu

Is there

mjesta G za mene A a place for me

Sasvim mala rupa N je A really small hole is

dovoljna N enough

Da se ušuljam To sneak

u tebe A into you

(Damir Urban)


The preposition zbog because of requires a noun or pronoun in G; for more details,

see 50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons.

The adverb sasvim actually means completely, but I decided to translate it nonliterally.

Also, note that Damir Urban uses the Standard stress, or something very

close to it.

The questions ima li te and ima li tu mjesta use the verb imati have in existential

phrases; for more details, see 45 Quantities and Existence.

The verb ušuljati («) se² means sneak in. It’s another perfective verb. It’s preceded

by a da, which here translates as to; it’s a purpose clause (why is it enough?). For

more on purpose clauses, see again chapter 50.

• Exercise

Fill in the following sentences, using kod¨:

Ključ ________(a) ______(b) ________(c). You (sing.) don’t have the key.

Išli ______(d) ______(e) ______(f). We went to her home.

Fill in the following sentences:

Pas ____(g) boji __________(h). The dog is afraid of him.

____________(i) ____(j) za ______(k). The cakes are for you (guys).

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 35 Tools and Means, With and Without 202 / 600

35 Tools and Means, With and Without

It’s time to introduce one more case. It’s called instrumental (just I for short), and

among other things, it has to do with instruments and tools. We’ll learn it in singular

first. The endings are:

noun type (N)

I

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -om

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) add -m

masc. nouns not in -a add -om (some -em)


Some masculine nouns get ending -em instead of -om if they end in a Croatianspecific

letter – the same principle as for DL of adjectives. Two masc. nouns that get

plural on -evi despite not ending in a Croatian-specific consonant, get -em in

instrumental as well:

car emperor → carem put way → putem

This is often seen with other nouns in -r as well, but it’s optional for them. Most

nouns ending in -c get -evi as well:

otac (oc-) father → ocem stric uncle → stricem

There are many uses of the instrumental case – some quite surprising, involving time

and so on – but the use it got named after is for tools and means. For instance:

Pišem olovkom I . I’m writing with a pen.

Putujem vlakom I . I’m traveling by train. ®

These are often used nouns for means of transportation:

auto (aut-) m car

autobusʷ¹ bus

avion airplane

bicikl bicycle

brod ship

taksi (taksij-) m taxi

tramvaj tram

vlak train ®

pisati

putovati

For example:

Na posao A idem biciklom I . I go to work by bicycle.

ići

The instrumental case of noga foot is not used to express that you walk, it’s used

only as a ‘tool’, e.g. if you kick something with your foot. There are specific adverbs

in Croatian to express ‘by foot’, as a way of transport:

pješke / pješice by foot

There’s another way to express tools, mostly when you want to emphasize that you

used a tool, especially an unusual tool for the task:


pomoću + G using

Certain verbs use objects in the instrumental case. One of them is:

baviti se² be engaged in/with, pursue

This verb looks hard to translate, but it simply means you are doing something (often

regularly), either as your paid job, as a kind of duty, work at home, or as recreation.

For example:

Marko N se bavi sportom I . Marko is doing sports.

The personal pronouns have the following forms in the instrumental case (there are

no shorter and longer forms in instrumental, only one form exists):

pers. (N N ) I

1st (ja) mnom

2nd (ti) tobom

refl. (self) sobom

3rd f (ona) njom

3rd n (ono)

3rd m (on)

njim

The instrumental case of nouns and pronouns is often used with several

prepositions. Often used ones are:

pred¨ + I in front of s¨ / sa¨ + I with

This is the same s¨ / sa¨ as used with G, it just has a different meaning with I. It’s

often used with the following verbs:

igrati se² play

razgovarati («) talk, discuss

For example:

Ivan N razgovara s Marijom I . Ivan is talking to Marija.

Goran N se igrao sa mnom I . Goran was playing with me.

With the I of the pers. pronoun ja – mnom – the longer sa¨ is always used, and both

words are pronounced together, with the stress on the preposition: "samnom".

Otherwise, normal rules for s¨ vs. sa¨ apply; the rules are often violated in real life in

favor of sa¨, as on this (officially installed) parking sign in Zagreb:


Don’t forget that some words get -em in the instrumental case:

Ana N je razgovarala s prijateljem I . Ana was talking to her (male) friend.

The opposite meaning is expressed by another preposition with the genitive case:

bez¨ + G without

For example:

Goran N se igrao bez mene G . Goran was playing without me.

According to the rules of Standard Croatian, you shouldn’t use s / sa for tools, only

for company, but, colloquially, it’s not always so; you’ll often hear and read pišem s

olovkom.

Both prepositions can be used with other cases, and then they have other meanings:

pred¨ can be used with the accusative case, and then it stands for a destination.

The following two adverbs mean more or less the same, but skupa is a bit informal:

skupa

together

zajedno

For example (these words can go to any place in the sentence):

Gledali smo zajedno film A . We watched the movie together.

They are often used together with s¨ / sa¨ to emphasize something is done together

(with someone else), as English together with:

Gledao sam film A zajedno s prijateljem I . I watched the movie together with my

friend.

Then, there’s an adjective that’s opposite to company:

sam alone

Since it’s an adjective, it must adapt to the gender of the subject:

Goran N se igrao sam N . Goran was playing alone.

Martina N se igra sama N . Martina is playing alone.

Igramo se sami N . We play alone. (all male/mixed group)

Like in English, this adjective is not attached to the noun, it’s just a word in the

sentence (but it must change the case, gender and number in Croatian!). Such

additional adjectives are often called secondary predicates.

The preposition pred¨ refers to a location – simply in front of something (that goes

in the instrumental case):

Ana N je pred kućom I . Ana is in front of the house.

In the instrumental case, adjectives get the following (fairly simple) endings (you

might notice they are identical to endings of the 3rd person pronouns, and that


there are again only 2 endings to remember: one for feminine, another for

everything else):

gender adj. I example

fem. -om

velikom ribom

big fish

velikim jezerom

neut.

big lake

-im

velikim konjem

masc.

big horse

When you compare adjectives in DL, G and I, you see there are only two different

endings in singular:

gender adj. DL adj. G adj. I

fem. -oj -e -om

neut. -om -og

masc. (-em) (-eg)

-im

Therefore, Croatian adjectives have much fewer different endings than they could in

principle have!

Question-words tko who and što what have the following forms in instrumental (as

expected, as they change like adjectives):

N I

who tko kim(e)

what što čim(e)

To ask about means, you can use either kako how or čim(e):

Kako idete na more A ? How do you go to the seaside?

ići

— Autom I . By car.

With verbs of motion, such as trčati (trči) run, šetati (šeće/šeta) ® stroll, walk, etc.

the instrumental case can be used to indicate where the whole action happened. It’s

usually translated with through:

Trčali smo šumom I . We were running through the forest.

The preposition za¨ is used with the instrumental case, to indicate that you’re sitting

behind something or at something. It’s usually used with the following expressions,

and the verbs biti (je² +) be and sjediti sit:

za stolom at the table


za volanom behind the

za upravljačem (steering) wheel

(Both volan and upravljač mean steering wheel; the former noun is colloquial, the

latter is standard.)

With verbs of motion, za¨ + I indicates following something or someone:

Trčali smo za njom I . We were running after her.

Three final remarks: first, certain feminine nouns that don’t end in -a have

alternative I forms, e.g.

riječ word → riječju sol salt → solju

Both forms are standard, some people prefer the forms in -ju, but the forms in -i are

actually much more common in speech.

Second, masculine names in -io (which always have -ij- whenever anything is added

to them) have two possible I forms, and both are used:

Mario (Marij-) →

Mariom

Marijem

Third, according to Standard Croatian, most one and two syllable masc. nouns which

would get -em, but have the vowel -e- before it, get -om instead. Classic examples

are:

jež hedgehog → ježom

muzej museum → muzejom

However, in speech and casual writing, versions with -em are common too: you’ll

see and hear ježem as well, and muzejem is likely more common in speech. This

never applies to longer nouns (e.g. prijatelj friend), which get always -em, and

doesn’t apply to some two-syllable nouns as well – the feature is actually irregular.

________

® Instead of vlak, the word voz is used for train in Serbia and most of Bosnia. The

pres-3 form šeće is specific to Croatia; in Bosnia and Serbia, the form šeta is used.


If you search the Internet, you’ll find a number of pages discussing whether

muzejom or muzejem is ‘right’. The mere existence of such pages should inform

you there’s some variation in speech and writing, and you can expect both variants.

You won’t find any discussions about autom vs. autem – only one form is used.

• Examples

The song Jugo Southern Wind, is a very successful song performed by Giuliano Đanić


– whose name is pronounced like in Italian, and who performs just as Giuliano – and

Marijan Ban.

The following verse contains a phrase in instrumental to indicate where the sailing

happens: dalekim morem (the N would be, of course, daleko more). However, that

phrase is split by the adverb sad now, and with the verb, likely for rhythmic reasons.

It’s still grammatical, just uncommon:

Dalekim I sad plovim morem I I’m now sailing a distant sea

Zaboravljam naše zore A I’m forgetting our dawns

Ostaje mi DL samo more N Only the sea remains to me

1

I vjetar N što tuče u lice A i dušu A And the wind beating my face and soul

(Jasminka Ursić & Šime Gržan)

The phrase I vjetar što tuče u lice i dušu contains a relative clause (they will be

explained in 62 The Friend I Saw: Relative Clauses). Also, it says literally beating into

face and soul.

The verb ostajati (ostaje) stay, remain will be explained in depth later, with verbs

related to it.

You can listen to it on YouTube. You can get more information about jugo on the

Wikipedia.

• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below; you will find the following nouns useful:

nož knife

šunka ham

Režem kruh ______________(a) ______________(b). I’m cutting bread with a sharp

knife.

Putovali smo ______________(c) _________(d). We were traveling with his car.

Jedem sendvič ____(e) ______________(f). I’m eating a sandwich with ham.

Putujemo __________________(g). We’re traveling by bus.

Ana __________(h) za ______________(i). Ana is sitting at the table.

Goran trči ______(j) ______________(k). Goran is running after a bird.

Ivan je pred __________(l). Ivan is in front of the house.

Želio bih pizzu ____(m) __________(n). I’d like a pizza with cheese.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 36 Dave/Locave and Instrumental Plural 208 / 600

36 Dative/Locative and Instrumental Plural

We know now how to form the nominative plural of nouns, and how to form the

accusative in plural, but we still don’t know how to make the dative/locative plural

(DL-pl) or the plural of the case we introduced in the previous chapter, the

instrumental case.

Both cases are quite simple to form, and they are always equal in plural. Nouns get

the following endings:

noun type (N)

nouns in -a (≈ fem.)

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e)

masc. nouns not in -a

fem. not in -a (e.g. noć)

DLI-pl

-a → -ama

-o, -e → -ima

N-pl + ma

N-pl + ma

As you can see, all nouns end in either -ama or -ima in DLI-pl. There are no

additional sound changes in this case: if you know how to make N-pl, you know how

to make these two cases as well!

For example:

Putujemo rođacima DL . We’re traveling to our relatives.

putovati

Ptice N sjede na granama DL . Birds are sitting on branches.

Stojim pred vratima I . I’m standing in front the door.

stajati

(Recall that the noun vrata door exists in plural only.) In the following example you’ll

see how DL = I in plural:

Pišem poruku A prijateljima DL . I’m writing a message to my friends.

pisati

U kinu DL sam s prijateljima I . I’m in the movie theater with my friends. ®

Of course, we must be able to put adjectives into DLI-pl as well. It’s simpler than you

probably would expect:

gender adj. DLI-pl example

fem.

velikim ribama

big fishes

neut. -im

velikim jezerima

big lakes

masc.

velikim stolovima

big tables

What about pronouns? We have already seen DL case of personal pronouns, both in

singular and in plural, and instrumental case in singular. The instrumental case in


plural is identical to the DL-pl forms, but only stressed forms are used – there are no

unstressed forms of instrumental. Pronouns tko who and što what have singular

forms only anyway.

Something quite special happens with adjectives used as nouns or pronouns. For

example, the ‘noun’ mladi m pl. (adj.) is actually an adjective, short for mladi ljudi

young people or the young. Look what happens when it’s used in DLI-pl:

Na mladim ljudima DL svijet N ostaje. The world is left to the young people. ostajati

Na mladima DL svijet N ostaje. (the same meaning)

ostajati

The verb ostajati (ostaje) means remain. As you can see, if an adjective is used as a

noun, it gets an additional -a in DLI-pl, essentially giving it the same ending as any

masc. or neuter noun. This happens only in the DLI-pl.

The second, shorter sentence is a common proverb in Croatian, corresponding to

English the young shall inherit the earth.

An exception to this rule are ordinal numbers in plural that refer to decades. The

otherwise obligatory -a in DLI-pl is optional for them and often left out:

Beatlesi N su bili popularni N u šezdesetim DL . The Beatles were popular in the sixties.

U 80-im DL sam bio u vrtiću DL . I was in the kindergarten in 80’s.

(Note how the English name Beatles gets a Croatian case ending for N-pl.)

The following preposition is used with instrumental when you have more than one

thing, or a collective noun:

među among

For example:

Ptica N se skriva među lišćem I . The bird is hiding ‘among’ the leaves.

Tražim pismo A među papirima I . I looking for the letter among the papers.

The noun lišće is a collective noun, so we used instrumental singular (collective

nouns have no plural), but the noun papir paper is a regular noun so we used DLI-pl.

The preposition među can be used with A as well, then it stands for a destination.

This is maybe the right place to list prepositions using instrumental or accusative:

prepositions using I or A

nad¨ above

pred¨

među among

in front of

pod¨ under

(za¨)

behind

With these prepositions, you have to use I for locations, and A for destinations:

Idem pred publiku A . (A = dest.) ‘I’m going in front of the audience.’

ići


Idem pred . (A = dest.) ‘ ’

Plešem pred publikom I . (I = loc.) I’m dancing in front of the audience. plesati

However, za¨ + A usually means for, so za¨ + A is almost never used as a destination

– iza + G is much more preferred, while za¨ + I is used only in some set expressions,

or meaning following:

Trčim za tebe A . (A) I’m running for you. (not behind you)

Trčim za tobom I . (I) I’m running after you. (i.e. following)

trčati

trčati

These 5 prepositions are similar to u¨ and na¨ – which use DL for locations, and A

for destinations – and even more in plural, since the DL case (used for u¨ and na¨)

and the I case for the 5 prepositions above coincide then:

preposition loc. dest.

u¨ in, into

na¨ on, at, to

DL A

nad¨ above

pred¨ in front of

među among

pod¨ under

(za¨ behind)

I A

The 5 prepositions listed above have longer versions, which are used with G, and

don’t distinguish location vs. destination. The longer prepositions, starting with iz- or

is- are more common in speech and mean the same when talking about spatial

relations (i.e. locations and destinations):

longer prepositions (always use G)

iznad above

ispred

iza

između between

in front of

behind

ispod under

For example:

Auto N je iza kuće G . The car is behind the house.

m

However, there is an important difference between ispred + G and pred¨ + I/A: the

latter combination includes temporal and metaphoric relations as well, so it’s only

possible to use pred¨ in the following expressions (here expressing metaphorical

‘locations’, so using I):

pred publikom before the audience

pred sudom before the court

The same applies to other prepositions, e.g. you can only use pod¨ to express that

someone is ‘under pressure’ (pod pritiskom), while you can use both pod¨ and ispod

to express that something is under the bed – and ispod is more common in such


to express that something is under the bed – and ispod is more common in such

non-metaphorical uses.

Something different happens when using pred¨ in the temporal sense, like English

before, the accusative case must be used always:

pred jutro before the morning

pred kišu before the rain

pred zimu before the winter

(Strangely, some Standard Croatian manuals discourage use of pred¨ + A in the

temporal sense, but it has been used for centuries in speech and literature.)

There’s yet another difference: među is mostly used when there are more than two

things or persons (i.e. among) while između usually means between, i.e. when there

are two things or persons.

Now you know how to create almost all forms of nouns. There are only two cases

left unexplained: genitive plural and the vocative case. They will be explained in 44

Genitive Plural and 72 Addressing and Vocative Case.

(There are certain dialects in Croatia where DL is not equal to I in plural, actually,

where D, L and I are have different endings. They will be briefly summarized in the

section A8 Dialects.)

________

® Instead of kino, bioskop is used for cinema in Serbia and most of Bosnia.

• Examples

This blackboard in front of a restaurant in Opatija, Croatia lists their fall specialties:

The first specialty has is sa¨ + I-pl (the standard spelling demands s¨ here, but as I’ve


already explained, it’s often not respected).

The second one has od¨ + G-pl since vrganji penny bun mushrooms are the main

ingredient: the soup is literally made out of them. (The G-pl forms are yet to be

explained, but here it’s just -a.) The word krem is here used as an indeclinable

adjective added to juha soup (sometimes the whole thing is spelled as a compound,

e.g. krem-juha).

• Exercise

Complete the sentences below:

Goran je ______________(a) škole. Goran is in front of the school.

Bili smo na ______________(b) ______________(c). We were on nice beaches.

Imam vrećicu ____(d) __________________(e). I have the bag with the sandwiches.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 37 Complete Reading: Perfecve Verbs 213 / 600

37 Complete Reading: Perfective Verbs

I’ve already mentioned that some Croatian verbs stand for accomplishments, while

most verbs stand for processes (there are more types, but these two are the most

common). This distinction – an essential feature of Croatian verbs – is called verbal

aspect (or grammatical aspect).

The following two sentences illustrate the essence of verbal aspect:

Jučer sam čitala knjigu A . I was reading the book yesterday. (some of it)

Jučer sam pročitala knjigu A . I read the book yesterday. (completed it)

Now, the second sentence means that you completed the reading yesterday. You

could, in principle, have started earlier, but the essential part, the accomplishment,

was done yesterday. And this is constantly expressed in Croatian: whether there was

a completion of the action or not. Using the first sentence implies there was some

reading, but not if you completed it or not.

In previous versions of this ‘course’, I translated pročitati as read through. But that’s

not accurate: read through implies careful, close reading, when you pay close

attention, or look for errors. The verb pročitati has no such implications – it just

implies the reading is completed.

Therefore, one English verb (read) corresponds to two Croatian verbs: čitati and

pročitati. So, how to make perfective verbs?

Some perfective verbs are obtained from impf. verbs just by adding a prefix.

Unfortunately, not all verbs get the same prefix. Some get po-, for instance:

imperfective verb

jesti (jede) eat

piti (pije) drink

slati (šalje) send

perfective

pojesti (pojede)

popiti (popije)

poslati (pošalje)

Since it’s important to remember both verbs, the only option is to remember verbs

in pairs. I will indicate them with the impf. verb on the left, perf. on the right,

separated by a tilde (~):

impf.

↓

perf.

↓

čitati ~ pročitati read

piti (pije) ~ popiti (popije) drink

To simplify things even further, if a perfective verb differs just by a prefix, I’ll show

just the prefix, e.g.:

čitati ~ pro- read piti (pije) ~ po- drink


If the prefix has the stress mark, as above, it means that the stress will be on the

prefix in the Standard pronunciation. However, for almost all verbs, it will never be

on a prefix in the ‘western’ pronunciation: it will stay on the same syllable as in the

unprefixed verb.

Some verbs make their perfective verbs by prefixing na-:

crtati ~ na- draw, sketch

puniti ~ na- fill

slikati ~ na- paint (image)

hraniti ~ na- («) feed

pisati (piše) ~ na- («) write

učiti ~ na- («) learn

The stress in nahraniti, napisati and naučiti doesn’t move to the prefix in the

infinitive, but (only in the Standard pronunciation!) it does move in the present tense:

therefore, their present tense forms are nahrani, napiše and nauči. I will, as usual,

indicate such shift in the present tense with just a («).

Others use o- or pro-:

brijati (brije) ~ o- shave

prati (pere) ~ o- (») wash

buditi ~ pro- («) waken

gutati ~ pro- swallow

The stress – both Standard and ‘western’ – in oprati moves one syllable to the right

in the present tense: opere; I will abbreviate such stress shift with a (»), as above.

Other pairs have more complicated ‘relationships’. Here are the main types of pairs

(besides prefixing pairs). A common type involves a change of verb ending:

bacati ~ baciti throw primati ~ primiti receive

Within this scheme, most pairs always change the final consonant before the

ending:

plaćati ~ platiti pay

prihvaćati ~ prihvatiti accept ®

vraćati ~ vratiti return

(It’s worth remembering that, in such pairs, the impf. verb most often has a

Croatian-specific consonant, while the perf. verb has an ordinary consonant.)

Many verbs in this scheme also change the vowel before the final consonant, always

a vs. o:

odgađati («) ~ odgoditi («) postpone

otvarati («) ~ otvoriti («) open

Another scheme, used by many pairs, is that impf. verbs have -ava-, and the perf.

verbs just -i- or -a- (some pairs have change of consonant as well):

pokušavati («) ~ pokušati try

ukrašavati ~ ukrasiti («) decorate

Finally, there’s a very common scheme – likely, including the highest number of verb


pairs – where impf. verbs have -iva-, which changes in pres-3 to -uje, while perf.

verbs just -i- or -a- (again, some pairs have change of the consonant before all these

endings):

odlučivati (odlučuje) ~ odlučiti («) decide

uspoređivati (uspoređuje) ~ usporediti («) compare

Since such impf. verbs tend to be long, I’ll often list them just by showing change in

the variable part, and the constant and variable part will be split by a thin vertical

line ( ):

Shorthand for -ivati/-uje verbs

instead of uspoređivati (uspoređuje)

I’ll write just uspoređ ivati (-uje «)

The symbol « will be there to remind you of the stress shift in the present tense,

which here applies to both Standard and ‘western’ stress patterns.

There’s no need to learn these schemes now: they are here just to show you what

lies ahead. There’s no simple rule how to make a perfective verb – the pairs must be

learned, but most of them fall into the small number of schemes above.

When should you use perf. verbs?

Perfective verbs are almost never used in the true present tense, for an ongoing

action. However, it is possible to use perf. verbs in the present tense – if we use the

present tense to describe things that happened in the past and will happen in the

future, especially when adverbs često often and ponekad sometimes are used:

Ponekad napišem pismo A i ne pošaljem ga A . Sometimes I napisati | poslati | 3m/n

write a letter and don’t send it.

Why have I used perf. verbs, e.g. poslati (pošalje)? Because sending is not something

where any progress matters (e.g. even reading a few pages from a book can

matter). Sending is normally done in one go, not split into parts. So it’s only

important that the action was not completed. The first sentence talks about

accomplishments. Letters are completed, but not sent.

For most verb pairs, in the past tense, perf. verbs are usually used, unless the action

was interrupted, you describe what you were doing at some moment, or it’s not

clear what the outcome was. Also, you can tell how long something was happening

only if you use an imperfective verb, e.g. these adverbs of time can be used only

with imperfective verbs:

dugo for a long time kratko for a short time

For example:

Pala je noć N . The night fell.

pasti past-f | f


Pala je noć .

Kiša N je dugo padala. ‘The rain was falling’ for a long time.

Kiša N je pala. ‘The rain fell’.

pasti past-f

Perfective verbs are so often used in the past tense that some people would answer

that the past form of the verb padati is pao! Another example:

Platio sam piće A . I paid for the drink. (done)

Plaćam piće A . I’m paying for the drink. (right now or about to do it)

If you want to express that something has happened moments ago, you can use the

adverb sad(a) now with a perf. verb in the past tense:

Sad sam se probudio. I’ve just woken up.

Since perf. verbs stand for accomplishments, you must often tell exactly what you

did, even if you don’t have to with the impf. verb:

Čitao sam. I was reading (something).

Pročitao sam knjigu A . I have read the book. (must say what)

You should use perf. verbs if there’s an indication what was produced, absorbed or

consumed, even if the amount is not exact. In the sentence #1, it’s not clear at all

how much is consumed each time, the action is very generic:

(1) Ponekad pijem vino A . I drink wine sometimes.

piti

(2) Ponekad popijem malo vina G I drink little wine sometimes.

popiti

In the sentence #2, it’s stated how much is consumed, so we use a perf. verb (here

both verbs are in the present tense, since we’re talking about occasional events; but

this applies to all tenses).

Whenever there’s a focus on action – not on what was actually accomplished – you

should use impf. verbs in Croatian:

We were building houses. → impf. in Croatian

We built three houses. → perf. in Croatian

The first sentence has emphasis on action: what the result was isn’t said, what was

successfully built – if anything! Such a sentence will use an impf. verb in Croatian.

But the second sentence tells exactly what was accomplished, and such a sentence

uses a perf. verb in Croatian. Since people talk about both – what they were doing

and what they accomplished – Croatian (as all Slavic languages, from Russian to

Czech) treats it as different things, and has a different verb for each of them.

What about we built houses? If you imply that the houses mentioned were really

completed, it’s perf. in Croatian.

Sometimes, two verbs that make a pair are different in English as well:

Puno sam učila. I studied a lot.

Puno sam naučila. I learned a lot.


There’s another very rough rule: impf. verbs often correspond to English continuous

tenses (I was reading) while perf. verbs often correspond to simple tenses or perfect

tenses (I read, I’ve read). For example:

I was getting hungry. → impf. in Croatian

I got hungry. → perf. in Croatian

A major exception to this rule is that states, usually represented with noncontinuous

tenses in English (I am, I live, I love, I sleep), in Croatian always use impf.

verbs.

Also, although there are perfective counterparts of gledati watch and slušati listen –

for example, you just prefix po- to gledati – they are much rarer than you would

expect. Normally only impf. verbs are used to say or ask if someone watched or

listened to something.

When you use verbs with negation, the negated perf. verbs state that the action was

not complete, but it might be ongoing:

Nisam čitao knjigu A . I haven’t read the book (at all).

Nisam pročitao knjigu A . I haven’t read the book (completed it).

While the first sentence means you haven’t read the book at all, the second only

says you haven’t read the book in its entirety, haven’t completed it. It’s not stated if

you have read any part of it or not. So, both answers are possible:

Jesi li pročitao knjigu A ? Have you read the book (completed it)?

— Nisam, još je A čitam. No, I’m still reading it.

3f A

— Nisam ni počeo. I haven’t even started.

The verb početi (počne) is a perf. verb meaning start; it will be explained in the

following chapters. The word ni emphasizes the negation; it will be explained in 67

Only, Except, Too: Inclusion and Exclusion.

If you use the present tense for a future action, e.g. I’m leaving tomorrow, this is

(like in English) understood as an extension of the present moment, and

consequently, impf. verbs must be used. Again, English continuous tenses

correspond to Croatian impf. verbs.

There are a couple of impf. verbs that show some characteristics of perf. verbs;

important ones are:

čuti (čuje) hear

razumjeti (razumije,...) understand

vidjeti (vidi,...) see

perf-like

verbs

These verbs are ‘really’ perf. verbs, but are used as imperfective in most situations.

However, you cannot tell how long with these verbs (except in a specific

construction which will be shown later). You can use them in the present tense (and

they’re frequently used) but even English translation changes a bit in the present


tense:

Vidio sam te A . I saw you.

2

Vidim te A . I (can) see you.

2

I’ll explain various tips when to use perfective, and when to use imperfective verbs

as I introduce verbs and various constructions. We start immediately, in the

following chapter.

________

® In Serbia, the impf. verb prihvaćati is used in a slightly different form: prihvatati;

there’s no difference for the perf. verb.


If you were reading very carefully, and thinking about stress shifts, you maybe

noticed that the present tense form uči is weird: when you put ne¨ before it, the

standard stress stays put, but when you add prefix na-, the stress does move to the

prefix. Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to all verbs with an ‘underline’: the verb

čitati moves stress neither to ne¨ nor to a prefix.

Did I say the standard stress is quite complicated, even in my watered-down form?

• Examples

This pop song from the 1990’s, S dlana Boga pala si, performed by En face – a

Croatian band from Rijeka, despite its name – featuring Damir Urban, was a major

hit.

In the following verses, there are both perfective verbs (highlighted) and

imperfective verbs:

S dlana G Boga G pala si

From the palm of God you fell pasti past-f

I anđelu DL si krala mir A

And were stealing peace from an angel

krasti past-f

Kao kiša N rasula kapi sve A

U pehar A skupljam tvoje riječi A

Like rain, you scattered all the drops

Into a chalice I’m collecting your words

f

f

i pogled A i tvoj prah A and look and your dust

(Vlado Simcich Vava)

The two perf. verbs are:

pasti (padne, pao) perf. fall

rasuti (raspe) perf. scatter, spill around

The second verb has a quite unexpected present tense form. They represent events

in the past which are done, completed, no need to go into details. But there’s also

an impf. verb in the past tense in the verses:


krasti (krade, krao) impf. steal

Here the focus is on the process, and not on the completion. If the song had ukrala,

which is the past form of perf. steal, it would mean the angel lost the peace. I tried

to translate this difference with the English Past Continuous Tense. Pay attention

how the angel is in DL: literally, ‘stealing the peace to an angel’.

Besides, this song contains a number of poetic constructions which are very rare in

normal speech. For example, instead of expected sve kapi all drops, the order

adjective-noun is inverted; then, check the position of si² in the first verse, and so

on...


Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 38 Needs, Wishes and Intenons 220 / 600

38 Needs, Wishes and Intentions

Let’s now see how to say I want to sleep or Ana intends to go to Zagreb. Such

expressions are quite simple in Croatian. You should use one of verbs of desire and

intent:

morati must

namjeravati («) intend

planirati («) plan

pokušavati («) try

trebati need/should

željeti (želi, želio, željela) wish

All these verbs are imperfective, and have no perfective verbs related to

accomplishments. (You’ll see later that, in fact, there are a few weird perfective

verbs related to some of the verbs above, but they don’t stand for

accomplishments.) For example, if you wish/must/intend to eat an apple, you should

simply say:

Želim jesti jabuku A . I want to eat an apple. ®

Moram jesti jabuku A . I must eat an apple.

Namjeravam jesti jabuku A . I intend to eat an apple.

What you want/intend to eat is still in the accusative case: only the wished/intended

action is expressed in the infinitive form. Since the infinitive form is the form listed

in dictionaries, that’s not complicated at all.

Colloquially, there’s another verb that’s often used to express intentions:

misliti (+ inf) (colloq.!) intend

This verb literally means think, but with infinitives, it can be used like this:

Mislimo ići na plažu A . (colloq.!) We intend to go to the beach.

There’s nothing special about the past tense, just use the verb in the past instead of

present, the other verb stays in inf:

Željela sam jesti jabuku A . I wanted to eat an apple. (I = female)

Morao sam jesti jabuku A . I had to eat an apple. (I = male)

Now, if you intend to accomplish something, you should use a perfective verb in inf:

Želim pojesti jabuku A . I want to eat an apple. (the whole apple)

Želim pročitati knjigu A . I want to read the book. (the whole book)

Želim pročitati prvo poglavlje A . I want to read the first chapter. (the whole chapter)

Of course, if you don’t intend to read the whole book, or any defined part of it (like,

a chapter) but just engage in that activity, use the imperfective verb:

Želim čitati knjigu A . I want to read the book. (a bit of it)

Therefore, use of perfective or imperfective verbs makes such statements much

more precise in Croatian. With some actions, perfective verbs are basically always

used, such as:


kupovati (kupuje) ~ kupiti buy

For example:

Moram kupiti novu majicu A . I have to buy a new T-shirt.

It’s unlikely that you want to engage in buying, but not really buy a new T-shirt.

In the Standard Croatian, the infinitive always ends in -i. Colloquially, the final -i of

infinitives is very often left out, even in writing:

Želim jest jabuku A . (colloq.)

Moram pit vodu A . (colloq.)

Please pay attention how the English verb must behaves a bit differently than the

other two – it does not use to. English has a special group of ‘modal’ verbs that have

specific behavior – for example, it’s not he musts, but he must. Croatian has no

special modal verbs, the verbs above are like any others, except they permit another

verb in the infinitive as their ‘object’.

Warning. If the verb in inf has a pronoun as its object, it goes to the second

position (unless you use stressed forms, which will be explained a bit later):

Želim te A vidjeti. I want to see you. (!)

Here the pronoun te² (ti in A) is the object of the verb vidjeti see, and not of the

verb željeti want! (Verbs in inf cannot have subjects, so te² cannot be its subject.)

If you would mistakenly translate the last sentence word-for-word, you would

get:

(wrong translation!) I want you to see.

This is an example where the word order in Croatian is completely different than

in English, and it simply doesn’t carry the meaning English order does. (How to

express I want you to see will be explained in 56 Desires and Demands. If you’re

impatient, it’s želim da vidiš.) Check also the past tense:

Željela te A je vidjeti. She wanted to see you. (!)

You’ll sometimes see another construction, which uses verb + da + verb in the

present tense, both verbs in the same person. In such a construction, the word da

restarts word-counting and holds the first position:

Želim da jedem jabuku A . I want to eat an apple.

Želim da te A vidim. I want to see you.

Such constructions are more common in eastern parts of Croatia, but you will

encounter them in songs and literature as well.®

Of course, verbs like trebati can used simply with an object, but it corresponds to

English need, and when it’s used with another verb in infinitive ®, it’s like English

2

2

jesti

2


should.

There are two verbs that are not listed above, since they are irregular and need an

additional explanation. They are:

verb pres-3 pres-1 pres-1pl pres-3pl

htjeti want hoće hoću hoćemo hoće

moći can može mogu možemo mogu

The only surprising forms in present of these two verbs are pres-1 and pres-3pl

(check how their pres-1pl is completely expected, given the pres-3). It ends in -u for

both verbs, but the form is also otherwise irregular and must be remembered.

However, the pres-1 form of the verb moći can keeps its stress after the negation,

while all other forms – including the pres-3pl – shift the stress to negation in the

Standard scheme. (I’ve warned you that the Standard scheme is really complex, even

after I have watered it down!)

In some regions, in colloquial speech, present forms of htjeti are without the initial

h-, that is, oću, oćeš, etc. You will see it from time to time in casual writing and

popular songs.

Their past forms are expected for htjeti – like for other verbs in -jeti, e.g. vidjeti see

– but irregular for moći:

htjeti → htio, htjela

moći → mogao, mogla

(You’ll also occasionally see past-m htjeo.) ®

Both verbs are used like the others listed above:

Hoću jesti jabuku A . I want to eat an apple.

htjeti pres-1

Mogu jesti jabuku A . I can eat an apple.

moći pres-1

Možemo spavati. We can sleep.

moći pres-1pl

Mogla sam jesti jabuku A . I could eat an apple. (I=female)

moći past-f

However, the verb htjeti is considered a bit rude and impolite; željeti is a better

choice.

The verb moći is equivalent to both English can and may in everyday use. If you

would give someone a permission to do something, you would use moći.

Warning. In English, can has almost empty meaning with some verbs, like see,

hear, feel, taste (generally, ‘sense’ verbs):

I can see you. = I see you.

Croatian never uses moći in this way, for something really happening. If you play

hide and seek and see someone, you would say only:


Vidim te A ! I see you! = I can see you!

2

Colloquially, its pres-3 form može means something like ‘OK’, and this is another

way to ask for food and drink — but also to offer it to someone, e.g. your guests.

You can hear it in shops, cafes, at home, everywhere – conversations like this one

are very common:

Može čaj N ? (colloq.) Want some tea? (lit. ‘Is tea OK?’)

— Može. (colloq.) Yes. (lit. ‘OK.’)

moći pres-3

moći pres-3

Pay attention that the word after može is in nominative. This expression is used both

for asking for something (e.g. by a customer) and offering something (e.g. by a

waiter or host):

Može kava N ? (colloq.) ® moći pres-3

Want some coffee?

Can I/we get some coffee?

In both cases, an affirmative answer could be just može. However, keep in mind that

this is colloquial, people are not using it in very formal occasions.

If you want to express that you don’t want to eat an apple, just use a normal

negation, except for the verb htjeti want that has special negated present forms

where ho- is replaced with ne- (it’s similar to the verb imati have):

Neću jesti jabuku A . I don’t want to eat an apple.

htjeti neg. pres-1

(You’ll occasionally see negative present forms of htjeti want spelled as separate

words, e.g. ne ću.)

There’s another useful verb that’s often used negated:

smjeti (smije, smio, smjela) be allowed to ®

This verb corresponds to English may, and like it, it’s not really used in speech.

However, it is used in Croatian in negative sentences. This is how it and the other

verbs work when negated:

Ne želim jesti jabuku A . I don’t want to eat an apple.

Ne moram jesti jabuku A . I don’t have to eat an apple.

Ne mogu jesti jabuku A . I cannot eat an apple.

moći pres-1

Ne smijem jesti jabuku A . I’m not allowed to eat an apple.

smjeti

Pay attention that ne¨ + morati does not mean “must not” but “don’t have to”. If

you know some German, you’ll immediately see that it’s similar to German müssen.

This table summarizes various possibilities:


must

have to

morati

should

trebati

must not

should not

ne + smjeti ®

don’t have to

ne + morati

I must eat.

I have to eat.

Moram jesti.

I should eat.

Trebam jesti. ®

I must not eat.

I should not eat.

Ne smijem jesti.

I don’t have to eat.

Ne moram jesti.

There are more similarities with German. If you use the verbs above + ići go +

destination, in the spoken language, you can leave the infinitive ići out:

Moram ići na sastanak A . I have to go to a meeting.

Moram na sastanak A . (the same meaning, a bit colloquial)

There’s another verb that similar to pokušavati («) try:

probati (+ inf / A) perf. try

The difference is that this verb basically means try something, e.g. try a shirt on,

taste food, while its use with infinitives is a bit colloquial:

Ana N je probala hlače A . Ana tried the pants on.

Goran N je probao kolač A . Goran tasted the cake.

You should pay attention that the verb probati perf. try is a perfective verb, so it’s

normally not used in the present tense.®

On the other hand, pokušavati («) cannot be used with objects in A at all – with a

partial exception of pronouns like to.

This table summarizes which verbs can be used with what objects:

+ inf + A / inf

moći (...) can

htjeti (...) want

morati must

planirati («) plan

namjeravati («) intend probati perf. try

pokušavati («) try trebati need/should

smjeti (...) may željeti (...) wish

Now, it is possible to replace infinitives (and other things attached to them) with the

general pronoun to, to refer to something previously said or known, so the pronoun

to can be used, and is frequently used with verbs in the left column as well:

Ne mogu to A . I can’t do that.

moći pres-1


However, it’s common to use the verb raditi besides to, in its generic sense (do):

Ne mogu to raditi. (the same meaning)

moći pres-1

The verb trebati is often used impersonally, when used with another verb in inf. It

corresponds to using English generic words like one and men/people:

Treba° jesti zdravo. One should eat healthy.

Of course, as with all impersonal expressions, the verb will be in neuter singular in

the past: trebalo je...

What about intending/having to do something that in Croatian must use a verb with

a se²? You still must use the se², and place it at the second place in the sentence:

Goran N se želi igrati. Goran wants to play.

Moram se brijati. I have to shave.

There’s nothing special about questions – these verbs behave like any other verb, for

instance:

Hoćeš li gledati film A ? Do you want to watch the movie?

htjeti pres-2

Što A želiš jesti? What do you want to eat?

— Pizzu A . A pizza.

You can ask about desired actions using što – and answer with verbs in inf (+ objects,

if needed):

Što A želiš? What do you want?

— Jesti pizzu A . ‘Eat pizza.’

If you want to stress that the question is about an action, not a desired object, use

the verb raditi work/do:

Što A želiš raditi? What do you want to do?

— Igrati se. ‘Play.’

There’s one more possibility to express wishes and intentions, using nouns. The

common nouns used for this purpose are:

namjera intention

obaveza obligation

plan plan

potreba need

pravo right

želja wish

They are used as verbs above, what you wish/intend/need is expressed with a verb

in infinitive following the noun:

Ana N ima potrebu A spavati. Ana has a need to sleep.

If the verb in infinitive has a se², it usually follows the verb, but can be also placed

elsewhere, usual placement rules don’t hold:

Goran N ima namjeru A igrati se. ‘Goran has an intention to play.’


This way of expressing needs and intentions is seen more often in formal

communication, and sometimes in speech when you want to say something

expressive.

However, it’s not really polite to say simply želim + A to someone you’re not familiar

with. Consequently, there’s a way to ‘soften’ such expressions, and you’ll see it in

the following chapter.

________

® In Serbia, infinitives are less often used: in speech, the form da + present prevails

almost completely. For instance, the first sentence in Serbia would rather be

basically always Želim da jedem jabuku. You will sometimes hear such

constructions in Croatia and Bosnia as well.

Furthermore, Standard Serbian insists that the verb trebati cannot be used

personally at all with another verb, so instead of e.g. Trebam jesti jabuke, the only

standard option is:

Treba° da jedem jabuke A .

jesti

The past-m form htjeo is frequent in Bosnia.

Instead of kava, a slightly different word kafa is common in most parts of Bosnia

and Serbia. In Bosnia, the form kahva is used as well, especially in parts where

Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) live.

In Serbia, the verb smjeti (smije, smio, smjela) be allowed to is used in the “Ekavian”

form, which is just smeti; the verb is fully regular, but like “Ekavian” razumeti

understand, its pres-3 is smeju. Besides, it has an additional meaning dare.

In Serbia, it’s common to use the verb probati in the present tense as well, unlike in

Bosnia or Croatia.


• Examples

This web page I took screenshot of says I want to work in the Post — it recruits new

employees for Croatian Post. The word pošta means both post and mail:

The song Odjednom ti Suddenly You, performed by Massimo and Merita’s (again

two non-Croatian names!) contains a I can expressions, together with a lot of nouns

in the I case, both in singular and plural, all used as tools.

Mogu reći šutnjom I I can say it with silence

moći pres-1

Mogu prstima I I can with fingers

moći pres-1

I u pijesku DL stopama I And with footprints in sand

I u mraku DL usnama I And with lips in the dark

Mogu čuti srcem I

Mogu očima I

I can hear it with my heart

I can with eyes

moći pres-1

moći pres-1

Nekim novim mirisom I With a new scent

Nekim novim okusom I With a new taste

(I. Prajo & A. Kunštek)

The adjective neki is here used as an indicator of indefiniteness. There’s no

possessive adjective in Croatian verses for srce heart; it’s obvious whom it belongs

(but it could have been expressed as well).

The verb reći say is another perfective verb. It’s also quite irregular, and it will be

explained in later chapters.



• Exercise

Complete the following sentences (use tražiti as look for):

____(a) ______________________(b) ________(c) u restoranu. We don’t intend to

eat in a restaurant.

__________(d) ____________(e) cipele. I want to look for shoes.

Marko __________________(f) ________(g). Marko is trying to work.

Goran ______(h) __________(i) ______________(j). Goran couldn’t sleep.

______(k) ______________(l) ______________(m). You must not run.

________________(n) ____________(o). I’m trying to sleep.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 39 Would, Could: Condionals 229 / 600

39 Would, Could: Conditionals

In Croatian, there is a special verb construction called conditional ®. It represents

desires or things that might happen. For instance, phrases I would... (or you could)

are often represented by conditionals in Croatian.

Conditional is a compound form: it’s constructed from the past form, and a special

conditional verb, having with the following forms:

person sing. plur.

1st bih² bismo²

2nd

biste²

bi²

3rd

bi²

In everyday speech of many people, just bi² is used in all persons and numbers, but

it’s not standard. Just bi² is also quite frequent in casual writing – these are results

by Google on the .hr domain:

form hits

"mi bismo" 46800

"mi bi" 71000

Let’s compare the following sentences in present:

Jedem. I am eating.

Mogu jesti. I can eat. ®

With ones in conditional (as indicated by the superscript ², the conditional verb

jesti

moći pres-1

wants to be at the second position):

Jeo bih. I would (like to) eat.

jesti past-m

Mogla bih jesti. I could eat. (female speaking) ®

moći past-f

The English I could eat is ambiguous: it could mean that you had the ability in the

past, or that you’re thinking about it right now (conditional). Croatian does not have

such an ambiguity:

Mogla bih jesti. (now, conditional)

Mogla sam jesti. (past)

Croatian mogla bih actually corresponds to English I would be able to.

People use conditionals a lot when trying to be polite or soften expressions, but it

could be ironic as well:

Hoću jesti. I want to eat. (not polite)

Htio bih jesti. (much more polite)

moći past-f

moći past-f

htjeti pres-1


Another example:

Želim kupiti majicu A . I want to buy a T-shirt. (not polite)

Želio bih kupiti majicu A . (much more polite)

Kupio bih majicu A . (also polite)

Actually, most often desires are expressed using conditionals (these are examples

for the masc. gender in 1st person – I hope you are able to work out others):

Volio bih...

Htio bih... I’d like...

Želio bih...

As you see, the verb voljeti (voli,...) love shifts its meaning in conditional a bit –

there’s no real difference in meaning of the three verbs above in conditional. (I’ll

explain various ways to use the verb voljeti (voli,...) love in conditional in 56 Desires

and Demands.)

When the verb trebati need is put into conditional and used with another verb in

infinitive, it’s just a bit softened, and usually means should:

Trebala bih spavati. I should sleep. ®

Trebala bi spavati. You should sleep. (or She should...)

It’s possible to soften any verb with conditional:

Morao bih jesti. I would have to eat.

Sometimes, the conditional verb is used just like a regular verb, for every desire, not

just with verbs (it’s quite informal, children mostly talk like that):

Ja N bih čokoladu A . (colloq.) ‘I’d a chocolate.’ = I’d like a chocolate.

What if we have more than one second-position word? Then the conditional verb is

placed before everything else that also requires the second place (that is, words like

me², se², etc.):

Ivan N bi me A trebao zvati. Ivan should call me.

Goran N bi se igrao. Ivan would like to play.

If you want to express negative conditional, just place a ne¨ in front of the

conditional verb. These two words must then stay together and are usually found

right before the past form:

Ne bih mogla jesti. I couldn’t eat.

moći past-f

Ivan me A ne bi trebao zvati. Ivan shouldn’t call me.

1

Goran se ne bi igrao. Ivan wouldn’t like to play.

The negation with the conditional verb behaves like one word that can be placed

anywhere, despite being spelled as two words. Since the conditional verb is short

(one syllable) the stress shifts to ne¨ even in the ‘western’ stress scheme (as

indicated by the underlines above). As a result, you’ll sometimes see (non-standard)

1


spellings nebi and like.

To make questions in conditional, just use the normal methods. When the

conditional verb is used in questions, it can be placed at the first position.

Conditional is frequently used in short negative responses, when someone is asked if

he or she wants to do something:

Hoćeš u kino A ? Do you want to go to the cinema? ®

htjeti pres-2

— Ne bih, hvala. I wouldn’t, thanks.

There’s a construction in Croatian that corresponds to the English preference

construction:

cond + radije ... nego ... would rather ... than ...

Both parts – after radije and nego are in conditional, but the conditional verb is not

repeated in the second part. The word radije can be shuffled around a bit, but nego

cannot:

Radije bih čitao knjigu A nego gledao televiziju A . I’d rather read a book than watch

TV.

Pay attention how the verb after nego is also in past forms: both parts are in

conditional, just the second bih is left out.

In both Croatian and English, the verb in the second part is left out if it’s repeated,

however, you have to pay attention to use the right case in Croatian:

Radije bih pio čaj A nego kavu A . I’d rather drink tea than coffee. ®

You can even leave the verb completely if you would like to get something:

Radije bih čaj A nego kavu A .

This is also often used in short responses:

Želiš li kavu A ? Do you want coffee?

— Radije bih čaj A . I’d prefer tea.

Conditionals are also used in special, conditional sentences, corresponding to English

"if I were... I would". They are described in 70 If I Were: Conditional Sentences.

(There’s another form, so-called past conditional, but it’s very rare in everyday

communication. It will be covered in 99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal Features.)

________

® In Serbian grammars, the conditional is often called potential. The forms are the

same.

Instead of infinitives, in Serbia, especially in speech, da + present prevails, so

examples would usually look like:

Mogu da jedem. I can eat.

moći pres-1 | jesti


M gu da jedem.

Mogla bih da jedem. I could eat. (female speaking)

moći past-f | jesti

Standard Serbian insists that the verb trebati need/should must be used impersonally

with another verb, so the standard option in Serbia is only:

Trebalo bi da spavam. lit. ‘It’s needed that I sleep.’ = I should sleep.

However, in the real speech there’s much more freedom.

Instead of kino and kava, the words bioskop and kafa are used in Serbia and most

of Bosnia for cinema and coffee.

• Exercise


__________(a) ______(b) knjigu. I’d read a book.

Goran ____(c) ____(d) __________(e). Goran would like to play.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 40 Future Tense 233 / 600

40 Future Tense

We have learned how to make the present tense. We also know how to make the

past tense. But what about the future tense? It’s quite easy to make in Croatian.

First you need the infinitive form of the verb you want to use. That’s really easy,

since infinitive forms are found in any dictionary.

Next, you need forms of an auxiliary verb that’s simply made from present of the

verb htjeti (hoće +, htio, htjela) want by dropping the first syllable (ho). It requires

placement at the second position and looks like this:

pers. sing. plur.

1st ću² ćemo²

2nd ćeš² ćete²

3rd će² će²

For example:

Goran N će jesti. Goran will eat.

There’s a rather strange rule: if an infinitive on -ti is followed immediately by an

future auxiliary (ću², ćeš², etc.) the final -i in the infinitive is dropped:

Jest ću. I’ll eat. ®

This of course also applies to the verb biti (je² +) be:

Bit će hladno. It will be cold.

This doesn’t apply to verbs having infinitives ending in -ći:

Ići ćemo u školu A . We’ll go to school.

Colloquially, it’s quite common to leave out -i from the infinitive -ti always, so you’ll

hear quite often:

Goran N će jest. (colloq.) Goran will eat.

(You’ll also often see, mostly in casual writing, non-standard spellings where the

final -i is not dropped, e.g. biti ću, and so on.)

As all other verbal second-position forms – the only exception being je² – all the

forms ću², ćeš², će²... come before any second-position pronouns:

Bit će ti DL hladno. You’ll be cold.

2

Čut ćemo se. ‘We’ll hear each other.’ (i.e. We’ll be in touch over phone.)

The form će² is ambiguous – it doesn’t distinguish singular and plural:

Vidjet će me A . He/She/They will see me.

1

Of course, you can always add a subject pronoun if the meaning is not clear from


the context.

To express negation, use simply negative present forms of the verb htjeti, obtained

by adding ne- to the ću², ćeš², etc. The negative forms are not restricted to the

second position, they are rather placed before the verb in infinitive:

Neću jesti. I won’t eat.

Nećemo ići u školu A . We won’t go to school.

To ask questions about the future, you can use all usual ways to form questions. The

standard way of forming yes/no questions requires full forms of the auxiliary verb,

that is, putting back the ho:

Hoćemo li ići u školu A ? Will we go to school?

In colloquial speech, it’s possible to shorten the present of htjeti (hoću, hoćeš, etc.)

to just ću², ćeš²... to express that you want to get something right away:

Ja N ću pizzu A . (colloq.) I’ll take a pizza.

The negative existential construction – which is nema + G in the present tense – uses

the verb biti (je² +) be in the future tense instead (as in the past tense):

Neće biti piva G . There will be no beer.

There’s one more way of expressing future: with the verb ići (ide, išao, išla) go (in

the present tense) + infinitive:

Idem prati zube A . I’ll ‘wash’ my teeth right now. (= brush)

ići

(In Croatian, teeth are ‘washed’, not ‘brushed’.) Such expressions can only be used if

somebody is willingly and immediately intending to take an action: the very next

thing that person intends to do is grabbing a toothbrush.

This is completely different from the English ‘going-to’ future, which can be used in

e.g. it’s going to rain (as a prediction). Such predictions in Croatian can be expressed

only with the plain ću², ćeš²... future:

Padat će kiša N . It’s going to rain.

It’s also possible to use this kind of future tense in Croatian to suggest people what

to do right now:

Idemo piti pivo A . Let’s have beer now.

ići

As you can see, the Croatian sentence has a completely different structure than the

English one. Translating it word-for-word – we’re going to drink beer – misses its

meaning completely.


Another frequent use of the future tense is expressing things that will be done at

unspecified time, e.g. when the following time adverbs are used:

jednog dana one day

jednom once

kasnije

poslije

later

(The adverb poslije is a bit colloquial, when used on its own; the ending -ije in it is

usually pronounced as one syllable.) For example:

Reći ću ti DL kasnije. I’ll tell you later.

2

Here the verb reći (...) is a perfective verb meaning say, tell. Perfective verbs are

common in the future tense, if you want to accomplish something:

Sutra ću kupiti knjige A . I’ll buy the books tomorrow.

But if you want to engage in an activity, and don’t focus on any particular

accomplishment, you should use an imperfective verb:

Sutra ću kupovati knjige A . I’ll be buying books tomorrow.

Now, something unexpected. There’s a very special verb, although it has completely

regular forms. It’s an alternative to the verb biti (je² +) be. It has only present forms,

and its pres-3 is:

(bude) be (potential, ‘subjunctive’)

It’s impossible to translate it to English out of context; it’s often translated with get,

become, etc. and it’s (in the Standard Croatian) mostly used in some special

constructions (don’t worry, we’ll learn them soon). The verb (bude) is kind of

perfective; however, it’s not normally used in past or future tense, unlike other

perfective verbs, but it can be used in the present tense when we talk about things

that happen any time:

Često bude hladno ujutro. It’s often cold in the morning. (or It often gets cold...)

Therefore, Croatian has two forms of the present tense of verb biti: the irregular je²

standing for real states and events, and the regular bude used only in special cases

where it stands for potential, possible or desired states.®

Using this special verb, we can simply replace the forms of auxiliary je² in the past

tense with the forms of bude and create another tense – the potential future tense:

past tense

potential future

sam², si², je²...

+ past form

budem, budeš, bude...

+ past form

In the Standard Croatian, you cannot simply use the potential future tense or the

verb (bude): it can be used only in specific constructions.


In fact, there are some constructions in Croatian where you have to use the verb

(bude). They will be introduced a bit later.

In colloquial speech, especially in northwestern Croatia, including Zagreb, both are

often used in ordinary sentences, interchangeably with the standard future forms.

Then the verb (bude) is simply understood as the future form of the verb biti be. So

you will often hear (and sometimes read):

Budemo išli u školu A . (colloq. NW Croatia) We’ll go to school.

This is by no means standard, and such use is restricted to just a part of Croatia

(arguably, with about a half of the total population of Croatia).

One final remark: the potential future tense is usually, in textbooks, known as the

‘exact’ future tense or future II. I think these are quite confusing names, so I’ve

invented another name which makes more sense to me.

________

® You will sometimes see in Bosnia, occasionally in casual writing in Croatia, and

ići past-mpl

always in Serbia, that in such a case, these two words are spelled fused together and

the t is left out; verbs that end in -sti in infinitive change the consonant s → š:

Biće hladno. It will be cold.

Ješću. I’ll eat. (← jest + ću)

However, this is merely a (weird) spelling. Word order rules still apply, of course, so,

effectively, Serbian words like biće and ješću are limited to the first position in the

sentence!

It never happens anywhere (at least in standard languages!) to verbs having

infinitives in -ći.

Additionally, it’s very common in Serbia, usually in speech, to use da + present tense

instead of the infinitive:

Ana N će da jede. Ana will eat.

While the same forms of the verbs biti and (bude) are used in Serbia, Serbian

grammars traditionally classify bude as the present tense of biti, and present tense

forms (je²) as another verb (referred by the form jesam), having no infinitive.

While it’s true that bude-forms sometimes replace je²-forms, regarding je² as a verb

different than biti is just absurd. Unfortunately, some materials for foreigners on the

Internet repeat this bizarre approach.

A likely background for such approach is that when da + present tense is used

instead of the infinitive biti, bude is used instead of je²:

Ana N će da bude gladna N . Ana will be hungry.

You’ll later see the exact circumstances when bude-forms replace je²-forms.

jesti


• Exercise

Complete the following sentences in the future tense:

________(a) ________(b) pivo. We’ll drink beer.

____________(c) ____(d) film. I’ll watch a movie.

Kasnije ____(e) ____________(f) knjigu. I’ll read the book later. (don’t say you’ll

complete it)

____________(g) ____(h) novi ____________(i). I’ll buy a new car.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 41 Somewhere, Nobody, Everything... 238 / 600

41 Somewhere, Nobody, Everything...

There are couple of very useful words – usually called indefinite pronouns – that

generally derive from question-words by adding a ne-. They don’t mean negation,

but some-:

nekamo somewhere (destination)

negdje somewhere (location)

odnekud from somewhere (origin)

These words are used as generic locations, destinations or origins:

Auto N je negdje. The car is somewhere.

m

The next two indefinite pronouns change in the same way as the question-words

tko who and što what (introduced in 28 Asking Who and What):

netko someone nešto something

Both pronouns behave grammatically as the pronouns they’re derived from, that is,

netko as masc. sing., nešto as neut. sing.:

Netko N je bio tamo. Someone was there.

Nešto N je bilo tamo. Something was there.

Netko N spava. Someone is sleeping.

However, if you want to express just the opposite, that is, nobody is sleeping, in

Croatian, you have only one option: you have to use negation (that is, the verb must

be put to negative), and you must negate the pronoun as well. Croatian uses double

negation as a rule:

Nitko N ne spava. Nobody is sleeping.

It’s very simple to make negative forms of indefinite pronouns: if they begin with

ne-, change it to ni-. Unfortunately, there’s an irregularity: when ni- is prefixed to

što, the result is ništa:

Nemam ništa A . I don’t have anything. (lit. ‘I don’t have nothing.’)

There’s an often used phrase, used when you look you might be hurt, but you aren’t

(or just pretend you aren't):

Nije° mi DL ništa N . I’m fine. (lit. ‘It’s nothing to me.’)

1

Of course, instead of mi², you can use any noun or pronoun in the DL case. Since

ništa is really the subject, it behaves like što, therefore 3rd pers. neut. sing. is used in

the past tense:

Nije joj DL bilo ništa N . She was fine.

3f

To negate adverb-like indefinite pronouns, again replace ne- with ni-, moving it to

the beginning of the word:


nikamo nowhere (destination)

nigdje nowhere (location)

niotkud from nowhere (origin)

The next two adverbs stand for manner and are derived from the question-word

kako how:

nekako somehow nikako ‘nohow’

Again, all these ni-words require negation of the verb as well:

Nikamo ne idem. I’m not going anywhere. (lit. ‘I don’t go nowhere.’)

ići

To ask questions, it’s normal in Croatian to use the same pronouns as in usual

sentences:

Je li me A netko N tražio? Was anyone looking for me?

1

Je li negdje jeftinije? Is anywhere cheaper?

However, in writing, sometimes in formal speech, instead of indefinite pronouns in

such questions, questions pronouns can be used, with indefinite meaning:

Je li me A tko N tražio? (the same meaning as above)

1

Je li gdje jeftinije?

Actually, Standard Croatian prefers such use – sentences like je li me netko... are

considered colloquial in Standard Croatian!

Then, there are frequent combinations like somebody else, somewhere else, etc.

Croatian uses specific else-words (meaning other, elsewhere etc. when used on their

own) that must match the first word. Either both change in case, or neither one:

netko drugi somebody else → A nekog drugog

nešto drugo something else → I nečim drugim

negdje drugdje somewhere else (both words are adverbs)

Another type of indefinite pronouns is obtained by prefixing sva- (svu- for some

words), usually in meaning every. Again sva- + što = svašta:

svatko everyone

svašta things of all kinds

The pronoun svašta doesn’t mean everything! For example:

Vidjeli smo svašta A . We saw many different things.

The word svašta can also have negative implications, as all kind of (bad, strange)

things, depending on the context. It can also be used as a short comment, when

something is unexpected, illogical or meaningless.

Adverbs of this type are:

svakako in any case


svugdje everywhere

The adjectives is:

svaki every, each

The adjective svaki is quite often used. For instance:

Svaka soba N ima dva kreveta 24 . Each room has two beds.

Držim čašu A u svakoj ruci DL . I’m holding a glass in each hand.

držati

Finally, there’s a rather interesting adjective sav (sv- +) all. It has a bit specific

endings in singular – as if it ends in a Croatian-specific consonant; it also has

obligatory final vowels in endings for masc./neut. singular (normally optional for

most adjectives):

gender N A DL G I

feminine sva svu svoj sve svom

neuter sve = N

m. (not p/a) = N svemu svega svim

sav

m. (p/a) = G

As with other adjectives or pronouns having specific forms, the forms for fem.

gender are just plain forms, listed just for completeness sake. Also, like most other

adjectives with special uses, it never has the optional -i in masc. N.

The adjective can be used as any other adjective, mostly in plural, due to its

meaning:

Zovem sve moje prijatelje A . I’m calling all my friends.

zvati

However, the main use of this adjective is as a pronoun, and specific forms have

specific uses. Neuter singular forms (NA sve, DL svemu...) mean everything:

Vidio sam sve A . (A) I saw everything.

Dosta mi DL je° svega G . (G) I had enough of everything.

1

The second sentence is a frequent Croatian phrase (type it into Google).

Masculine plural forms (N svi, A sve...) are used in generic sense everybody:

Svi N su kod Ane G . Everybody is at Ana’s place.

You have to be careful that svi is plural, so when used as the subject, verbs come in

plural too, unlike English:

Svi N spavaju. Everybody is sleeping.

Bear in mind that adjectives – sav (sv-) is essentially an adjective – get an additional

-a in DLI-pl when used on their own, as nouns or pronouns. Therefore:


Hvala svima DL . Thanks to everyone.

Razgovarao sam sa svima I . I talked to everyone.

The first phrase, hvala svima, is the preferred way to thank a group of people.

Of course, when sav (sv-) is used as an adjective, it gets ordinary endings in DLI-pl:

Hvala svim mojim prijateljima DL . Thanks to all my friends.

Sometimes, feminine plural forms (N sve, A sve...) are used if you refer to women

only. You will sometimes hear (and read) forms with regular endings (svo, etc.) –

however, only when it’s used as an adjective – such forms are not standard, but

frequent in some regions, especially outside Croatia.

You will from time to time hear additional version of masc. A-pl: svih (like personal

pronouns, oni → njih). It’s widespread in parts of Croatia, but it’s not standard.

Of course, you can use svi drugi everybody else, etc.

There are more adjectives that are used as pronouns in this way: masc. pl. for

people, neut. sing. for things.

The words svi, nitko are similar to total adverbs (e.g. nikad). As will other such

words, you can loosen them a bit with the help of the adverb skoro almost:

Nemam skoro ništa A . I have almost nothing.

Skoro svi N spavaju. Almost everyone is sleeping.

• Examples

Hladno pivo (Cold beer) is a very popular punk-rock band from Zagreb. They

combine love songs with social commentary. This song, Nije sve tako sivo

Everything isn’t so gray, is a song about a guy just dumped by his girlfriend via a text

message (or SMS):

Zar nakon svega G

Are you really after everything

Joj DL nisi ni poziva G vrijedan N

A zbog nje G si prešo

na 091 A

Not worth a single call to her

And because of her you’ve switched

to 091

Nije sve N tako sivo N

Everything isn’t so gray

Kad imaš s nekim I

When you have someone

Otić na pivo A

To go for a beer

(Mile Kekin)


The song is not in the Standard Croatian, but fairly close to it.

The word zar enhances a question. The predicative:

prijeći past-m


vrijedan (vrijedn-) (G DL) pred. worth (of G to DL)

Is here used (if you unravel the sentence and add the right pronoun) as:

Ti joj nisi vrijedan ni poziva She thinks you’re not worth a single call

The pronoun joj is in DL – it’s her opinion. The particle ni¨ emphasizes the negation

(you see, Croatian has a lot of ‘emphasizing devices’). It will be explained in 67 Only,

Except, Too: Inclusion and Exclusion.

The preposition zbog because of requires the genitive case; for more details, check:

50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons.

The 091 mentioned in the third verse is a mobile network dialing prefix. He switched

the network for her, and yet she didn’t bother to call, she has just sent a text

message. The word prešo is shortened past form prešao, from the verb preći /

prijeći go across, switch to. The word otić is just infinitive otići leave without the

final -i. Both verbs will be explained in the next chapter.

The last two verses translate literally as ‘when you have with someone to go on

beer’. Words s nekim with someone are just the usual preposition + instrumental

case. As you can see, words in Croatian can be shuffled around a lot.

• Exercise


__________(a) __(b) zna __________(c). Nobody knows anything.

Ana je ____________(d). Ana is somewhere.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 42 Come In, Come Out, Go 243 / 600

42 Come In, Come Out, Go

Now I will introduce you to various verbs derived from ići (ide, išao, išla) go.

The verb is irregular in the pres-3 and past forms, and verbs derived from it are also

irregular. They have a wide range of meanings, some of them both a literal meaning

and metaphorical one.

There’s a very important difference compared to English. Take a look at the

following English sentences:

I went into the room.

I came into the room.

I entered the room.

English has a set of verbs (enter, leave, etc.) that are used with simple objects: you

just enter something.

Not so in Croatian: most motion verbs behave as go and don’t use objects, but

rather destinations or locations. For example:

Išao sam u sobu A . I went into the room.

Ušao sam u sobu A . I entered the room.

All verbs are organized into impf. ~ perf. pairs. Actually, all impf. verbs derived in

those pairs are perfectly regular. The two simplest verb pairs are:

dolaziti ~ doći (dođe, došao, došla) come

ulaziti ~ ući (uđe, ušao, ušla) enter, come into

As you can see, these two verb pairs have exactly the same forms, just one pair

ići past-m

ući past-m

starts with do- and another with u-. All verbs derived from ići have exactly the forms

like the verbs above, except for two verbs, so it’s much less to remember than it

seems.

This is a general characteristic of Croatian verbs: they are organized into families,

where all pairs have very similar forms, stress pattern, and usually just different

prefixes. An upside is that you can easily remember all verb pairs at once; a

downside is that you can sometimes mix pairs up.


Doći ćemo sutra. We’ll come tomorrow.

The stress patterns of verbs depend on the number of syllables in the prefix, e.g.

verbs derived with do- do not have the same pattern as ones derived with iza-.

The following verb deviates from the above pattern:

odlaziti ~ otići (ode, otišao, otišla) leave, depart

It’s a very frequently used verb pair. The impf. verb means depart, leave:


Odlazimo na plažu A . We’re leaving for the beach.

This perf. verb is a bit ambiguous. It stands for two things: departure (like the impf.

verb) and completing the whole motion:

Otišla je na plažu A .

otići past-f

(1) She has left for the beach. (departed)

(2) She has gone to the beach. (completed)

The meaning #2 is just perfective of ići (...) go: the motion is completed.

On the other hand, do- corresponds to English come/came:

Došli smo na plažu A . We came to the beach.

doći past-mpl

There are more Croatian verb families that show this opposition. Their pair with otor

od- is similar to one described above – a bit ambiguous perf. verb, often being

just perfective of the base verb, and another pair, derived do-, similar to come.

For both pairs, the place you’re going to is expressed as a destination.

When you want to express that you leave some place, you have to use origins (that

is, the right prepositions + G), and not objects:

Otišli smo iz Zagreba G . We left Zagreb.

otići past-mpl

This verb pair means only go somewhere or leave a place; there’s another Croatian

verb pair that means go and not take something (e.g. leave the wallet):

ostavljati ~ ostaviti leave (e.g. keys)

For example:

Ostavila sam novčanik A negdje. I left the wallet somewhere. (I = female)

This verb pair is also used when you intentionally leave things, e.g. for someone:

Ostavila sam ručak A za tebe A u frižideru DL . I left the lunch for you in the fridge.

If you know some Spanish, you can see these two Croatian verb pairs correspond to

two Spanish verbs: salir (leaving a place) and dejar (leaving a thing). The same

difference exists in French: partir vs. laisser, and in German: abfahren vs. lassen.

However, French laisser and German lassen have many generic meanings, while

ostavljati ~ ostaviti means only leave things or people.

Another verb also deviates from the above pattern:

izlaziti ~ izaći (izađe, izašao, izašla) come out, exit

It is used in a similar way to odlaziti, but mostly for closed spaces, e.g. rooms,

houses, etc. You have to use origins:

Izašla sam iz sobe G . I came out of the room.

izaći past-f

The perf. verb in this pair has also an alternative form, with izi- instead of iza-; it’s


actually preferred in Standard Croatian, but less often used in real life (e.g. about 5

times less common on the Internet).

The next three verbs have forms very similar to others. These verbs sound quite

alike, and their meaning is all about moving with respect to something else rather

than the destination or origin of motion. What is special about them is that they can

use prepositions with nouns, but also plain objects in A, without much difference in

meaning. Each verb uses a different preposition:

obilaziti ~ obići (obiđe, obišao, obišla) go around; visit

prelaziti ~ preći (pređe, prešao, prešla) cross, go over *

prolaziti ~ proći (prođe, prošao, prošla) go through; pass

The verb pair starting with pro- is used when you literally pass something; it’s used

with either A or kroz + A:

Prolazim kroz šumu A . I’m passing through the forest.

Prošao sam kroz šumu A . I passed through the forest.

Prošao sam šumu A . I left the forest behind.

As in English, this pair can be used figuratively, then things just pass, i.e. they are

there, and then they are not:

Vrijeme N prolazi. Time is passing.

proći past-m

proći past-m

Bol N će proći. The pain will pass.

f

Bol N je prošla. The pain has passed. = The pain is gone.

f | proći past-f

The past form of the perf. verb is used as a real adjective, in the meaning previous,

last:

Prošle godine G sam bila u Zadru DL . I was in Zadar last year.

The verb pair starting with pre- means cross; it can be used with either preko over +

G, or with just with an object in A:

Prešao sam preko mosta G . I crossed over the bridge.

preći past-m

Prešao sam most A . I crossed the bridge.

preći past-m

Prelazim most A . I’m crossing the bridge.

The perf. verb in this pair was listed above in a shorter, regularized form, which is

considered non-standard, unfortunately. The standard perf. verb has a bit irregular

infinitive and the present tense forms:

prelaziti ~ prijeći (prijeđe, prešao, prešla) cross, go over

You will encounter both forms in writing, and on the Internet, including newspapers

(Google for e.g. preći preko or pređem preko). The verb pair with preko + G is

also used metaphorically, to ignore, dismiss or not discuss something:

Ne mogu prijeći preko toga G . I can’t dismiss it.

Ne mogu preći preko toga G . (the same, but non-standard)

moći pres-1

moći pres-1


Another use of this verb pair is with na¨ + A, where it means cross to, switch to (as

means), get to, move on to (in conversation):

Prešli smo na drugu temu A . We have moved on to another topic. preći past-mpl

The verb pair starting with obi- means go around; one option is to use it with oko

around + G:

Obišao sam oko kuće G . I went around the house.

obići past-m

When used with just an object (in A) it mostly means visit, sight-see:

Obišla sam grad A . I visited (went around) the city.

obići past-f

Another verb pair is very similar to these three, but it’s used with DL (!) only:

prilaziti ~ prići (priđe, prišao, prišla) approach, come close

For example:

Prišla sam im DL . I approached them.

prići past-f | 3pl

Then, there are three verbs with completely unexpected meaning:

nalaziti ~ naći (nađe, našao, našla) find

pronalaziti ~ pronaći (pronađe, pronašao, pronašla) find, discover

snalaziti se² ~ snaći (snađe, snašao, snašla) se² manage, handle

The verb pair with na- is the main way to express this meaning in Croatian (the impf.

verb nalaziti is not often used). It’s used just with an object in A:

Našao sam ključeve A . I found the keys.

naći past-m

Naći ću ključ A . I’ll find the key.

This verb pair is not used in phrases like I find her attractive and I want to find out

about it. It’s only used if you physically ‘find’ some object that was unknown or lost.

The second verb pair, with prona-, has a very similar meaning to the previous one,

but it implies a longer search, and is used also when someone discovers something.

The third verb pair, with sna-, is also a kind of find: it’s used to when you manage

not to get lost, either in a city you visit for the first time, or metaphorically, in

something new you do, when you have to get quickly accustomed to new work,

people, any new or unexpected situation, especially if you do it on your own,

improvising, without assistance:

Nisam se odmah snašla u Zagrebu DL . I didn’t get accustomed to snaći se past-f

Zagreb immediately.

The verb pair with na-, when used with se², has meaning located, similar to English is

found or can be found (in this way, the impf. verb is often used):

Pivo N se nalazi u frižideru DL . The beer can be found in the fridge.

Rješenja N se nalaze na kraju DL knjige G . ‘Solutions’ (i.e. answer keys) are found at the


end of the book.

This combination is used only for physical location, you cannot use it in meaning

‘exist’ e.g. sponges can be found in different sizes – for that, you have to use

postojati (postoji) exist or some other way.

The following verb pair is similar to odlaziti ~ otići (...) but the focus is on starting a

journey.

polaziti ~ poći (pođe, pošao, pošla) depart

These two verbs are not often used, mostly used when talking about trains or buses.

The following table summarizes all the verbs I’ve introduced here:

prefix used with meaning

do- dest., origin come

iz- origin, dest. come out

u- destination come in

od- (oti-) origin, dest. leave, depart

obi- oko + G / A go around

pre- preko + G / A cross, go over

(prije-) na + A switch to, move on to

pro- kroz + A / A pass

pri- DL approach

A

find

nase²

be located

prona- A find/discover

sna- se² get accustomed

There are more verbs in this family, but they are less common, and will be explained

later.

• Examples

Balada iz predgrađa A Ballad from Suburbia, also known as Petrolejska lampa

Kerosene Lamp is a short poem by Dobriša Cesarić (1902–1980) – a male name,

despite ending in -a – who is considered one of the greatest Croatian poets. It has

been performed by many singers. Many lines contain various verbs derived from ići

(ide, išao, išla) go. I have left out first four verses:

I uvijek ista sirotinja N uđe And always the same poor people come ući

U njezinu svjetlost A iz mraka G Into its light from the dark

f

I s licem I na kojem DL su And with a face which


obično brige N usually has worries on

Pređe je A u par koraka G Crosses it in a couple of steps

prijeći | 3f

The third verse contains a relative clause; they will be explained in 62 The Friend I

Saw: Relative Clauses. The last verse contains the noun korak step, which one of a

few nouns which shift stress in G-pl.

The following verses contain a negative existential expression; jedne večeri is a

genitive temporal expression. The form moro is a shortened form of morao, past-m

of morati must, have to; the second verse has the shortened infinitive proć pass,

which is colloquial, but it rhymes with noć night:

G G A jedne večeri nekoga nema And one evening someone is not there

f

A moro bi proć

And he should have passed

I lampa N gori, i gori u magli DL And the lamp is burning, burning in the fog

I već je noć N

And it’s night already

f

The use of a¨ for and will be explained in the following chapters. For now, you

should just remember that both a¨ and i¨ correspond to English and.

The following verses are similar; the verb veli has only present tense forms; it will be

explained in 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses:

I nema ga G sutra And he’s not there tomorrow

3m/n

Ni prekosutra ne Neither the day after tomorrow

I vele da bolestan N leži And they say he’s lying sick

I nema ga G mjesec A And he’s not there for a month

3m/n

i nema ga G dva neither for two

3m/n

I zima N je već, i sniježi And it’s already winter, and it’s snowing

This is an example of the verb sniježiti snow being actually used; as said before, it’s

rare in speech.

The following verses contain the impf. verb prolaziti pass; note also use of maj for

the month of May. There are many negative existential expressions, some of them

shortened to just the verb nema, which is hard to translate to English:

A prolaze kao i dosada ljudi N And people are passing like before

I maj N već miriše

And May already smells sweet

A njega G nema, i nema, i nema And here’s not there, and again, and again

I nema ga G više

And he’s gone

3m/n

You can listen to various performances on YouTube.


• Exercise


________________(a) ______(b) rijeku. We have crossed the river.

Ana ______(c) __________(d) ______(e) ureda. Ana left the office.

Ušao ____(f) ____(g) ________(h). I went into the house.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 43 And, Or, But: Basic Conjuncons 250 / 600

43 And, Or, But: Basic Conjunctions

Croatian has basically two conjunctions that correspond to English and:

i¨ a¨

The conjunction i¨ is used when you want to join two words or two parts of

sentences:

Ivan N i Ana N rade. Ivan and Ana are working. (nouns)

Ana N je žedna N i gladna N . Ivan is thirsty and hungry. (two adjectives)

Sobe N su u prizemlju DL i na katu DL . The rooms are on the ground floor and on the

first floor. (two locations)

It’s possible to join two normal-type sentences (that is, two verbs) that have the

same subject:

Ana N jede i pije. Ana is eating and drinking.

jesti | piti

[Pijem čaj A ] i [čitam knjigu A ]. I’m drinking tea and reading a book.

piti

Here we actually join two clauses; a clause is kind of sentence-within-a-sentence (I

have put square brackets around each of them in the last sentence).

It’s also possible to join two subjective-experience-type sentences, if they have the

same experiencer (in DL):

Hladno mi DL je i dosadno. I’m cold and bored.

1

However, if you want to join two sentences that have different subjects (and usually

verbs too), you have to use the conjunction a¨:

Ana N čita knjigu A , a Goran N spava. Ana is reading a book, and Goran is sleeping.

When an a¨ is used, a comma always separates two clauses.

Now there’s a very interesting rule. If you have different subjects – and

consequently use a¨ – the subjects must be emphasized. That is, you have to use

them:

Ana N čita knjigu A , a ja N spavam. Ana is reading a book, and I’m sleeping.

You cannot use the previous sentence with just a spavam!

The same works for experiencers: they must be emphasized, that is, stressed forms

of pronouns must be used:

Ana N se zabavlja, a meni DL je dosadno. Ana is having fun, and I’m bored.

Again, you cannot use the previous sentence with just a dosadno mi je! Also, such

emphasized subjects are usually the in the leftmost position.

The conjunction a¨ is also used if there’s some opposition between two clauses, e.g.

Zabavljam se, a trebao bih učiti. I’m having fun, and I should study.


In such a case, when the subjects are the same in both clauses – as above – they are

not emphasized.

As other words marked with ¨, words i¨ and a¨ don’t count – second position words

cannot be placed after them:

Ana N je čitala knjigu A , a ja N sam² spavao. Ana was reading a book, and I was

sleeping.

Gledam film A i dosadno mi DL ² je². I’m watching a movie, and I’m bored.

1

An exception to the “rule of different subjects” is when the second clause is a

consequence of the first, then the emphasis of the subject of first clause is not

needed, and i¨ is used:

Pokucao sam i ona N je otvorila vrata A . I knocked and she opened the door.

Another example of this exception are weather phenomena: if everything is as

expected, use i¨, while a¨ is reserved for unusual and unexpected things, i.e. not

consequences:

Zima N je i pada snijeg N . It’s winter and it’s snowing.

Ljeto N je, a hladno je. It’s summer, and/but it’s cold.

The next conjunction – ili – is very similar to English or:

To N je patka N ili guska N . That’s a duck or a goose.

Unlike i¨ or a¨, ili is a word that counts, and all second-position words come right

after it.

When you have two subjects or objects (not necessarily in A) which you would link

with and in a negative sentence, you can use ni¨ instead of i¨ to either emphasize

negation, or when there’s no real connection between these two things:

Nemamo ulja G ni octa G . We have no oil and no vinegar.

This is always optional.

The conjunction ali usually corresponds to English but:

Hoću se tuširati, ali nema tople vode G . I want to have a shower, but htjeti pres-1

there’s no hot water.

Again, when an ali is used, a comma always separates two clauses. The major

difference in comparison to a¨ is that ali is a word that counts, and all secondposition

words come right after it.

Unfortunately, but is not always ali: there’s an interesting conjunction nego, which

kind of completely corrects what was said, but what was said must be negative. For

example:

Nismo išli u kino A , nego u restoran A . We didn’t go to the cinema, but to ići past-mpl

a restaurant.


This construction is more common in writing, a bit less in speech. The important

thing is that Croatian ali cannot be used in this construction. The same difference

exists in German and Spanish, which has been always a bit of a problem for native

English speakers:

English but

Croatian ali nego

German aber sondern

Spanish pero sino

While ali connects two clauses, with nego you don’t have to repeat anything from

the part before it, just state the ‘correction’ (of course, you can repeat the verb if

you want to).

However, there are cases when you can and must use ali (and Spanish pero) – when

you don’t completely correct what is said, but talk about an exception:

Ne volim serije A , ali mi DL se sviđa Westworld N . I don’t like (TV) series, but I like 1

the Westworld.

(Note how Croatian uses different verbs here; you could use voljeti (...) in both parts

too.)

Another example is a complete correction vs something just unexpected or

uncommon:

Janet N nije iz Hrvatske G , nego iz Kanade G . Janet isn’t from Croatia, but from Canada.

Janet N nije iz Hrvatske G , ali zna hrvatski A . Janet isn’t from Croatia, but she ‘knows’

Croatian. (i.e. speaks)

If you’re unsure about ali vs nego, there’s a simple test: if you can rephrase the

sentence with instead (e.g. we went to a restaurant instead) or with rather, you

should use nego instead of ali.

There’s a simple way to emphasize that all

subjects/actions/objects/places/whatever are involved, like in English both... and....

In Croatian, simply an i¨ is placed before each emphasized item:

I Ivan N i Ana N rade. Both Ivan and Ana are working.

Sobe N su i u prizemlju DL i na katu DL . The rooms are both on the ground floor and on

the first floor.

However, if you want to make an emphasis in a sentence where the verb is negated,

you should use negative conjunctions ni¨ instead, but the verb is still negated:

Ni Ivan N ni Ana N ne rade. Neither Ivan nor Ana are working.

Sobe N nisu ni u prizemlju DL ni na katu DL . The rooms are neither on the ground floor

nor on the first floor.


As you can see, this corresponds to English neither... nor..., but the major difference

is that the verb is negated in Croatian sentences.

To emphasize that only one option is possible, you can use ili... ili..., corresponding

to English either... or:

To N je ili patka N ili guska N . That’s either a duck or a goose.

The following conjunctions are used for time sequences, where one thing happens

after another, usually when the subject is the same, or there’s no subject:

pa

and (time sequence)

te (bookish)

Both can be replaced with i¨ when linking two parts of a sentence. For example:

Bila sam gladna N pa sam kupila sendvič A . I was hungry, and/so I bought a sandwich.

Both conjunctions count, i.e. second position words come right after them.

The word pa is also used in conversation, to emphasize that something is almost

obvious, that something need not to be said at all:

Žedan N sam. I’m thirsty.

— Pa popij malo vode G ! Well, drink some water!

It can be also used on its own, as a small (impatient) rhetorical question:

Pa? Well? / So? / So what?

In this use, pa corresponds to English well, but it’s not used as a “filler word” when

you try to fill a gap in your speech (... well, .... ). As fillers, words znači and dakle are

common.

The word te is a fancy conjunction that’s virtually never used in speech.

• Examples

This song, Najdraže moje Oh my dearest, was a big hit by Novi fosili, the most

popular Croatian pop group in late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The song is still quite

popular.

The song starts with a condition clause, which is not explained yet, but actually quite

simple to understand. The words najdraže moje are in the only case we haven’t

covered yet: the vocative case; it’s used to directly address someone. In that case,

adjectives usually come after nouns. Furthermore, the adjective najdraži dearest is

in the so-called superlative form; it will be covered in 63 Bigger and Better:

Comparatives.

Ako te A izgubim If I lose you

2

najdraže moje oh my dearest

Utopit će se zvijezde N The stars will drown


u valima DL tuge G in waves of sorrow

Normally, the plural of val wave would be valovi, but short plural forms are

sometimes used in poetry.

The verses above, and the following verses use several perfective verbs; one of

them is used in the present tense, but in an if construction, i.e. referring to possible

things in the future (such constructions will be explained later, in 70 If I Were:

Conditional Sentences). The pairs are:

gubiti ~ iz- («) lose

utapati («) ~ utopiti («) drown

nastajati (nastaje) ~ nastati (nastane) emerge, come about

The last pair is a member of an important ‘verb family’ which will be explained in 52

Stand, Become, Exist, Cease. The verb ugasnuti (ugasne) perf. go out, die out is very

rare, it’s even missing from some dictionaries.

The following verses use the same pattern. The part ni ptice ni ljudi uses ni... ni...

introduced in this chapter. Furthermore, the phase is in N, which means neither birds

nor people will be able to see. (In my English translation, it’s not clear if nobody can

see birds or what.)

Ako te A izgubim If I lose you

2

jednoga dana G one day

Ugasnuti će sunce N The sun will die out

i nastat će tama N and darkness will come about

Da ne vidi nitko N So that nobody can see

ni ptice N , ni ljudi N neither birds, nor people

Kad odem zauvijek When I leave for good

kad zauvijek odem when I leave for good

najdraže moje... oh my dearest...

otići

otići

Note the two lines where just words are in different positions, with a slight emphasis

on zauvijek in the second line (which I could maybe translate as really for good).

The following verses contain nikada više ljubavi nove which is actually the negative

existential nikada više neće biti nove ljubavi. The verb is left out, and the order of

noun and adjective is reversed to make the line sound better and have the same

rhythm as the other lines:

Nikada više Never again

ljubavi nove G a new love

f

najdraže moje oh my dearest

Tama N će odnijet Darkness will take away

sve želje A i snove A all wishes and dreams

(Dea Volarić)

The verb odnijeti (..) perf. take away will be introduced in 65 Carry, Bring, Drive:


Transport Verbs (its forms are quite irregular, so I won’t list them here).

Note the song is not completely in Standard Croatian: -i missing from some

infinitives, and and there is an -i in an infinitive before the future tense auxiliary,

both non-standard.

You can listen to it on YouTube (check this cover). Note that the song uses mostly

the western stress – Novi fosili were from Zagreb (e.g. izgubim and not izgubim, the

stress stays on the verb in ne vidi). The word zauvijek is once pronounced as

zauvijek, another time as zauvijek, most likely to conform to the rhythm.

• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below (don’t care about commas):

Ana hoda ____(a) Goran vozi bicikl. Ana is walking and Goran is driving his bicycle.

Hladno je ____(b) pada kiša. It’s cold and raining.

Ana ________(c) film ____(d) ________(e) ________(f) ____________(g). Ana is

watching a movie, and I’m bored.

In the following sentence, use the verb znati know to express knowledge of a

language:

____(h) __________(i) ____(j) španjolski ____(k) __________(l). I speak neither

Spanish nor Russian.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 44 Genive Plural 256 / 600

44 Genitive Plural

It’s finally the time to learn the genitive case in plural! Unfortunately, it’s not a

simple form to create. For start, nouns get the following endings:

noun type

G-pl

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -a* (or -i)

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) -o, -e → -a*

masc. nouns not in -a N-pl -i → -a*


For example:

Goran N se boji mrava G . Goran is afraid of ants.

bojati se

As this form coincides with G singular, the sentence could also mean Goran is afraid

of an ant.

In the beginning, I wrote I will disregard vowel length, i.e. differences between long

and short vowels, since many people in Croatia don’t have that difference in their

speech. However, those that keep the difference, and Standard Croatian, have the -

a in G-pl always long – while -a in other case endings is always short – so forms

mrava (G) and mrava (G-pl) are not really pronounced the same. That specific length

in G-pl is sometimes indicated in writing by putting a circumflex sign over the long

vowel: mravâ. It’s by no means mandatory, you will see it from time to time. (A

recent Croatian orthography manual recommends using a macron – a line over

vowel – instead, e.g. mravā; it’s still very rare.)

There are no twists for nouns ending in -a, -o or -e preceded by only one consonant:

nouns just get -a in G-pl.

Other nouns can get a kind of ‘lengthening’ (I indicated it by an asterisk).

How does it work? If a neuter or feminine noun would have two consecutive

consonants just before the genitive plural -a, an additional a gets inserted between

those consonants:

pjesma song → pjesama

sestra sister → sestara

zemlja ground, country → zemalja

carstvo empire → carstava

društvo society → društava

pismo letter → pisama

Some nouns (e.g. sestra sister and zemlja ground, country listed above) move the

stress to the inserted -a-. There’s only a small number of them, and a good

dictionary should list such stress shift.

Observe that before the two final consonants there may be more consonants (e.g.

sestra): they play no role here. Also, pay attention that lj, nj and dž are single


consonants.

This insertion never happens if those last two consonants are either st, št, šć, zd, žd

or žđ (so-called non-splittable sequences):

zvijezda star → zvijezda mjesto place → mjesta

Masculine nouns that get short plural endings, and end in a consonant, get the -a

always attached to their nominative form, even if they have a specific case-base:

kolač cake → kolača

magarac (magarc-) donkey → magaraca

pas (ps-) dog → pasa

vrabac (vrapc-) sparrow → vrabaca

This makes their G-pl form distinct from the singular genitive. For example:

Ana N se bojala pasa G . Ana was afraid of dogs.

Ana N se bojala psa G . Ana was afraid of the dog.

Few masculine nouns that end in two consonants which are not a non-splittable

sequence, get an additional a in the same way as feminine and neuter nouns:

bicikl bicycle → bicikala

koncert concert → koncerata

dokument document → dokumenata

However, masculine nouns that end in a vowel (in N) and get short plural endings,

only add an -a to their case-base, as in any other case (therefore, they have G =

G-pl):

anđeo (anđel-) m angel → anđela

auto (aut-) m car → auta

Some nouns on -a preceded by two or more consonants can have both -a in gen.

plural (with an additional a inserted) and -i. Both are used, but versions with -i

prevail in everyday speech, at least in larger cities in Croatia:

daska plank → dasaka / daski

karta card, map → karata / karti

olovka pen → olovaka / olovki

školjka shell → školjaka / školjki

voćka fruit tree → voćaka / voćki

These nouns can have both -a and -i but they never get an additional a inserted; they

mostly end in -nja; the ending -i is more common in spoken language:

nepravda injustice

pažnja care, attention

prijetnja threat

šetnja walk

The following often used nouns have just -i in G-pl:


bajka fairy tale

borba struggle

lopta ball

majka mother

maska mask

molba plea

palma palm

petlja loop

plahta bed sheet ®

tajna secret

torba bag, big purse

žalba complaint, appeal

This also applies to a couple of masculine nouns; a frequent example is (recall, it

shifts its stress in plural):

mjesec month/moon → mjeseci

The noun čovjek man/human has the irregular plural ljudi people; its G-pl is also just

ljudi.

The noun sat – when meaning hour – has G-pl sati.

Some nouns get an -u or something similar, instead of the endings listed above.

These three nouns get always -u:

noga leg ruka arm sluga m servant

This noun gets -iju:

gost guest → gostiju

The strange plurals of oko eye and uho ear get -iju as well:

oči f pl. eyes → očiju uši f pl. ears → ušiju

The following nouns can have both -a (or -i) and -iju:

kost f bone → kosti / kostiju

prst finger/toe → prsta / prstiju

nokat (nokt-) fingernail, toenail → nokata / noktiju

vrata n. pl. door → vrata / vratiju

Additionally, the following colloquial noun can get both -i and -iju, but the latter

ending is seen as very colloquial:

dečko (dečk-) m boy → dečki / dečkiju ®

All such unexpected forms in the G-pl are listed in the Core Dictionary.

Compared to all the twists I had to explain for nouns, the genitive plural forms of

adjectives are as simple as possible:


gender adj. G-pl example

fem.

velikih riba

big fishes

neut. -ih

velikih jezera

big lakes

masc.

velikih stolova

big tables

The adjective-often-used-as-pronoun sav (sv- +) has an alternative, non-standard

form that’s sometimes seen is G-pl: sviju, besides the expected svih.

We can review endings of adjectives in DL, G and I cases in both singular and plural:

adj. gender DL I G

fem. -oj -om -e

sing. neut. -om

-im

-og

masc. (-em) (-eg)

plur. all -im(+a) -ih

As you can see, they are much simpler than they could be in principle.

In the following chapters, we’ll see many uses of G-pl in counting and measuring.

________

® Besides plahta, words čaršav or čaršaf are often used in Bosnia and completely

prevail in Serbia, in meaning thin sheets, while plahta is used for thick covers.

The noun dečko is less common outside Croatia, and it’s not even used in some

Croatian regions; it’s most common in Zagreb and surrounding areas.


Many prescriptive manuals, dictionaries and grammars (i.e. books telling people how

they should speak) demand stress shift left in G-pl in words like:

policajac (policajc-) policeman → policajaca G-pl

Very few people use that stress in G-pl in real life – people say simply policajaca.

Consequently, the stress in G-pl of such words is a matter of dispute in Bosnia and

Serbia, where certain local “linguists” insist on the dictionary stress, which

consequently appears on the Public TV. This is much less debated in Croatia, where

most people don’t care much what dictionaries prescribe.


• Examples

The song Potraži me u predgrađu Look for me in the suburbia is a well-known ‘old

school’ Croatian pop song. It has not too complicated grammar. The form potraži is

not yet explained – it’s called imperative, and it’s used to form commands:

Potraži me A u predgrađu DL

Na ulici DL , na raskršću DL

Look for me in the suburbia

On the street, in the intersection

1

Gdje ti DL je jorgovan N rasuo perle A

Gdje nam DL je proljeće N dotaklo usne A

i pobjeglo

Where the lilac scattered your beads

Where the spring touched our lips

and ran away

2

2pl

The third and fourth line contain possessive DL, one time for perle beads (not

pearls), another time for usne lips. In the last three verses, perfective verbs from

these difficult pairs are used:

rasipati ~ rasuti (raspe, rasuo) scatter

doticati (dotiče) ~ dotaći (dotakne, dotakao, dotakla) touch

bježati (bježi) ~ pobjeći (pobjegne, pobjegao, pobjegla) run away

(You probably see now the case endings are not the most complex feature in

Croatian.)

Note that suburbia – especially at the time the song was written – was the poorer

outer part of cities in Croatia, with narrow, sometimes unpaved streets, and small

houses.

Potraži me A u predgrađu DL

Look for me in the suburbia

1

Kraj vlakova G što prolaze

Beside the passing trains

Bit ćemo sami N u svitanje DL dana G We’ll be alone in the dawn of the day

Bit ćemo sami N u pjesmama DL ptica G

ko nekada

We’ll be alone in songs of the birds

like long ago

The word kraj means beside when used with a noun in G; the same can be expressed

with pokraj. The construction vlakovi što prolaze means passing trains, literally

trains that are passing. The third and fourth line is of course the future tense. The

word ko is a colloquially shortened form of kao like, as.

The first line uses nouns rublje clothes, underwear and cvijeće flowers: they are socalled

collective nouns – they stand for a whole heap of things, but are in singular

(they will be explained in #47 Of Flowers, Thorns and Counting Children):

Drijemaju jedra N od rublja G i cvijeća G Sails of cloth and flowers nap

Čekaju vjetar A da nekuda plove They wait for the wind to sail somewhere

Čuješ li, naše N nas A predgrađe N zove Do you hear, our suburbia is calling us

1pl

Traže te A kuće DL i ulice stare N Old houses and streets are looking for you

2


(Drago Britvić)

The second line contains a so-called purpose clause – the part after da, explaining

intentions – which will be explained later. In the third line, naše predgrađe is split by

A nas²; this is kind of strict placement. The last line has an adjective after the noun,

which is not uncommon in poetry.

This song has been popular for five decades so far, and there are many

performances on YouTube. Check a performance on A strana, a cover from

1980’s, and performances from 1960’s by Lado Leskovar and Đorđe Marjanović

(which is partially “Ekavized”).

The song was composed by – at the time – a little known 21-year-old student of

electrical engineering from Split, a math lover and self-taught composer: Zdenko

Runjić. Over the following 40 years, he composed about 700 tunes, many of them

becoming major hits, today considered classics of Croatian popular music.

• Exercise


Nema ____________________(a). There are no documents.

On je prijatelj __________(b) ______________(c). He is my sisters’ friend.

Bojim se ____________(d) __________(e). I’m afraid of big birds.

Auto je kod __________(f). The car is by the palm trees.

Meso je ______(g) __________(h). The meat is without bones.

________(i) __________(j) ________(k) nebu. There are no stars in the sky.

Nema __________(l). There are no secrets.

Evo __________(m). Here are some glasses.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 45 Quanes and Existence 262 / 600

45 Quantities and Existence

Quantities (some water, many people) can be expressed in several ways in Croatian.

It’s important to make first a distinction between countable and uncountable nouns:

countable uncountable can be both

auto m car

jabuka apple

problem problem

prozor window

Ana (name)

...

kosa hair (on head)

sol f salt ®

sreća luck

vrijeme (vremen-) time

zrak air ®

...

kava coffee ®

kruh bread ®

papir paper

sok juice

voda water

...

In English, you can e.g. use few with countable nouns (few cars) but not with

uncountable ones (no few salt but rather little salt). And you cannot use numbers

with uncountable ones (that’s why they are called so). Finally, there are nouns, such

as water, which can be both countable and uncountable. But let’s look at the

simpler nouns first.

In Croatian, there’s a shortcut: if you want to express some quantity of an

uncountable noun, used as an object, you can use just the noun in the genitive case

(instead of A):

Imam soli G . I have some salt.

f

If you want to express the same thing, but for countable nouns, you should use the

genitive case in plural:

Imamo jabuka G . (G-pl) We have some apples.

Note how English uses the noun in singular in the first sentence, but the noun in

plural in the second sentence, exactly corresponding to the Croatian forms (except

for the genitive case, of course).

Of course, the verb imati have normally demands A. But using G instead of A is a

shortcut to express few or some of the object. This can be done with other verbs

as well, but it’s common with imati. A lot of meaning in Croatian is expressed

with just tweaking cases!

With nouns of the third type, you can use them in G, but also count them:

Imamo kruha G . We have some bread. ®

Imamo dva kruha 24 . I have ‘two breads’. (two loafs of bread)

Imam soka G . I have some juice.

Molim dva soka 24 . ‘I’m kindly asking for two juices.’ (Two bottles/glasses of juice,

please.)

As you can see, the meaning changes if you count them – they then refer to some


default ‘package’ of them.

When you use negation of the verb imati have, uncountable objects are normally in

G instead of A – meaning ‘any’:

Nemam vremena G . (G) I don’t have any time.

On nema sreće G . (G) He has no luck.

You will very, very rarely hear or see A of uncountable nouns with such negative

sentences – just check these results from Google (on the .hr domain):

form hits

"nemam vremena" (G) 109000

"nemam vrijeme" (A) 154

With some nouns that can be both uncountable and countable, you can use both A

and G in positive and negative sentences, expressing different meanings. The most

common examples are these nouns:

noun countable uncountable

mjesto place place (as space, room)

posao (posl-) m job work

For example:

Imam posao A . (A) I have a job.

Imam posla G . (G) I have some work. (i.e. I’m busy.)

Nemam posao A . (A) I don’t have a job.

The noun mjesto when used as countable, has an additional meaning: inhabited

place.

Even with countable nouns, you can use G-pl in negative sentences to express any:

it’s mostly used for things that are often found in large numbers, and, of course, it’s

optional:

Nemam jabuka G . (G-pl) I don’t have any apples.

Soba nema prozora G . (G-pl) The room has no windows.

This is virtually never done with things that always come in small numbers or are

individualized (parents, passport, husband, wife, forum avatar, etc.) – the plain old A

is used then.

Next, before nouns in genitive, you can place one of the following adverbs of

quantity:

malo a bit / few

dosta quite a few

premalo too little / few

previše too much / many


dovoljno enough nedovoljno not enough

While English distinguishes few (for countable nouns) vs. little (for uncountable

ones), not such distinction exists in Croatian – you can use the adverbs above for

both – but you still need to pay attention to put countable nouns in G-pl and

uncountable ones in G! Then, there are two words that mean the same:

puno

much, many, a lot of

mnogo

The word puno is more colloquial than mnogo. These words can be used with both

countable and uncountable nouns, but the nouns should be in genitive singular (if

uncountable) or plural (if countable):

Imamo premalo kruha G . (G) We have too little bread.

Imamo puno jabuka G . (G-pl) We have a lot of apples.

Such quantities – if only a genitive is used and if a quantity adverb is used – act as

being neuter singular, so verbs and other words must be set accordingly if such

quantities are used as subjects:

Puno ljudi G je bilo ovdje. A lot of people were here.

This is quite unlike English! You can use personal pronouns instead of nouns (again in

G-pl, there’s no change in grammar of other parts):

Puno ih G je bilo ovdje. A lot of them were here.

As you can see, you can use the short forms of pers. pronouns, but they must be at

the second position. Unlike English, words like puno a lot can be separated from the

nouns and pronouns, without much change in meaning:

Puno je ljudi G ovdje.

Ovdje ih G je puno.

3pl

It’s obvious that puno refers to ljudi and ih, since the noun and the pronoun are in

G-pl.

There are two more words, used to for indefinite amounts of countable nouns only;

they behave grammatically exactly as other quantity adverbs:

nekoliko several

par a couple of

For example:

Imamo nekoliko jabuka G . We have several apples.

Par ljudi G je bilo pred kućom I . A couple of people were in front of the house.

(Many Croatian language manuals condemn using par for anything than exactly two,

but, like in English, a couple of can be more than a pair. There’s also a noun par

meaning couple, pair, but these words don’t behave the same; more in the following

3pl


chapters.)

There’s another word reused to express small and indefinite quantities, like English

some:

nešto some (adverb) ®

The word nešto does not change in case when in this role, and behaves like malo,

but it emphasizes that the quantity is small and not really known. It can be used with

both countable and uncountable nouns:

Imam nešto kave G . (G) I have some coffee.

Imam nešto limuna G . (G-pl) I have few lemons.

Next, we’re able to express existence of any, usually indefinite amount of something

(e.g. there are some apples). While English uses dummy there, Croatian uses the

verb imati have in the impersonal form (without any subject, in the 3rd person

singular). The nouns are again in G-pl for countable nouns, G-sg for uncountables:

Ima° jabuka G . (G-pl) There are some apples.

Ima° vode G . (G) There is some water.

Pay attention that countable nouns always use G-pl in any constructions involving

quantities. The only exception is with numbers 2-4, neki and koji.

Since these sentences are impersonal (literally: it has some apples), as with any

impersonal sentence, the past tense forms must be in neuter singular. Like in the

negative existential construction, in the past and future tenses, you have to use the

verb biti (je² +) be instead of imati:

Bilo je jabuka G . There were some apples.

Bilo je vode G . There was some water.

Bit će krvi G . There will be blood. ®

f

We have already encountered negative existential constructions, which behave

exactly the same, but use negative forms. They include a very common phrase,

corresponding to English no problem (enter it into Google):

Nema° problema G . There are no problems.

Such sentences are no way limited to indefinite amounts ("some") – they can

express existence (or negation of existence) of any quantity:

Bilo je previše problema G . There were too many problems.

Ima° dosta ljudi G . There are quite a few people.

However, to express existence of a definite quantity of something countable, such

impersonal constructions are less used. This verb can be used instead:

postojati (postoji) exist

Another way is to use definite (i.e. counted) quantity, but in the nominative case


with the existential constructions – however, they have to be counted then, i.e. you

can’t omit even jedan (jedn-) one. For example:

Postoji (jedan N ) otok N gdje... There’s an island where... ®

postojati

Ima° jedan otok N gdje... (the same meaning, but jedan is mandatory)

You can use any expression (I personally prefer the first one). You can also use such

existential expressions to say that there’s someone (but I then prefer the exist verb

even more).®

If you want to express existence of indefinite quantity at some location, the neutral

expression is:

Ima° vode G u boci DL . There is some water in the bottle.

Bilo je vode G u boci DL . There was some water in the bottle.

The following expression specifically talks about what’s in the bottle, literally in

bottle is water (the noun voda is in the nominative case):

U boci DL je voda N . (N) There is water in the bottle.

If we change the word order, there’s a subtle change in meaning: we’re no more

talking about the bottle, we’re talking about the water, and where it is:

Voda N je u boci DL . The water is in the bottle.

The word order in Croatian is mostly such that what we’re talking about comes first,

and the information we want to give comes later. This is also a way of expressing

definiteness, since Croatian has no articles. Another example:

Ključevi N su u ladici DL . The keys are in the drawer. ®

U ladici DL su (neki N ) ključevi. N There are (some) keys in the drawer.

In the first sentence, we’re talking about where the keys are, but in the second,

we’re discussing what’s in the drawer, what we have found.

________

® In Serbia, and most of Bosnia, the following words and forms are used instead (on

the right side of arrows):

kava coffee → kafa

kruh bread → hljeb, hleb

otok island → ostrvo

sol f salt → so (sol-) f

zrak air → vazduh


for the drawer.

Using nešto as a quantity-adverb few, some is much rarer in Serbia, and using it to

express few people (nešto ljudi) is very rare there.

Recall that the future tense is not spelled bit će, but biće in Serbia and often in

Bosnia.


It seems that expressions like ima jedan prijatelj and like are much more common

in Bosnia and Serbia.

• Examples

This pop hit – Plešem sama I dance alone by Detour, a Croatian laid-back pop group,

contains two existential constructions:

A bit će teških dana G

I jutra G koja me A ne vole

I ne znaš gdje im DL je kraj N

And there will be hard days

And mornings that don’t like me

And you don’t know where they end

1

3pl

Nema te G

You’re not here

2

I sad plešem sama N And now I dance alone

plesati

Zatvorim oči A i sanjam I close my eyes and dream

f

(N. Borgudan)


The first existential construction expresses that there will be some amount of težak

dan i jutro; all this is put into G-pl.

The phrase koja me ne vole is a relative clause; the expression kraj je² + DL means

that something (expressed in the DL case) ends, ‘it’s the end to it’.

The second existential construction, nema te is a negative existential, introduced

long ago.

Using secondary predicates such as sam alone was introduced back in 35 Tools and

Means, With and Without. Here it reveals that the subject is female.

The verb zatvoriti («) close is from the pair:

zatvarati («) ~ zatvoriti («) close

Why is a perfective verb used in the present tense? Likely, the sentence doesn’t refer

to the present moment, as if onda then or ponekad then are somehow implied.

Observe that its object is just oči f pl. eyes: the possession of body parts is, as usual,

implied.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 46 More than Four Things 268 / 600

46 More than Four Things

Counting more than 4 items is quite simple: just use the number and put the noun in

genitive plural after it:

Imam pet jabuka G . I have five apples.

If you want to use one of adjectives that come before numbers (that is, determiners

as taj (t-) that or possessives), they should be in G-pl as well:

Imam ovih G pet jabuka G . I have these five apples.

If you use them as a subject, it behaves as neuter singular:

Pet jabuka G je bilo u kutiji DL . Five apples were in the box.

These table summarize use of various numbers in Croatian (for masc. nouns on the

left, for feminine on the right):

jedan

neki

svaki

dva

tri

četiri

pet

puno

nekoliko

čovjek

vrabac

čovjeka

vrapca 24

ljudi

vrabaca G

je pjevao

su pjevala

je pjevalo

jedna

neka

svaka

dvije

tri

četiri

pet

puno

nekoliko

sestra

ptica

sestre

ptice 24

sestara

ptica G

je pjevala

su pjevale

je pjevalo

You can see e.g. 30 minuta on a 30-minute Zagreb public transport short ride ticket

(karta):

Some numbers greater than 4 behave as numbers 1-4: it all depends on the last word

in the number:

21 dvadeset i jedan → behaves as jedan (jedn-)

53 pedeset i tri → behaves as tri

So, for such numbers, rules for using nouns and adjectives with numbers 1-4 apply:


Imam dvadeset i jednu jabuku A . I have 21 apples. (A)

Imam pedeset i tri jabuke 24 . I have 53 apples. (G)

In the same manner, rules for 1-4 don’t apply to numbers 11, 12, 13 and 14: they

don’t end with any of the words above, but with -naest, which makes them

behave like 5 or 10. (This applies to English as well: 12 is twelve – does it end in

two in speech?)

The number zero also behaves as a number greater than 4 (note that English requires

here plural as well!):

Imam nula jabuka G . I have 0 apples.

For numbers with decimal points (in Croatian, a comma is often used instead of the

decimal point) it again depends on the last word:

Imam dva cijela pet kilograma G . I have 2.5 kilos. (G-pl)

Imam dva cijela jedan kilogram A . I have 2.1 kilos. (A)

Instead of cijela, words točka dot and zarez comma ® are also used.

Now, we can finally say how old someone is. In Croatian, the primary way to specify

age is to say that someone ‘has years’:

Imam dvadeset i jednu godinu A . I’m 21 years old. (lit. ‘I have 21 years.’)

Goran N ima osam godina G . Goran is 8 years old. (lit. ‘Goran has 8 years.’)

If you know some Spanish, you will notice it uses exactly the same construction to

express this (Goran tiene 8 años).

Alternatively, ‘having years’ is sometimes expressed with the person in DL, and years

in N; second position words usually split number + year:

Dvadeset i jedna N mi DL je godina N . (the same meaning, but less frequent) 1

Goranu DL je osam godina G . (the same meaning, but less frequent)

This is rarer than using imati have, but you’ll sometimes read and hear it, especially

in literature and songs.®

To ask how old someone is, use again the question word koliko how many

(sometimes stressed as koliko) – as this is a quantity adverb, the word it refers to

(here godina year) must be in genitive plural:

Koliko imaš godina G ? How old are you? (lit. ‘How many years do you have?’)

— Osam. Eight.

The same holds for any question about quantity of something countable, even if one

who is asking knows it’s less than five:

Koliko imaš jabuka G ? How many apples do you have?

— Tri. Three.

You’ll sometimes see the DL for age in questions as well:


Koliko ti DL je godina G ? (the same meaning, sometimes used)

2

There’s a useful way to express at what age you did something:

s¨ / sa¨ + age (in instrumental) = at the age of...

For example:

Prvi put sam letio avionom I s dvanaest godina G . I flew in an airplane for the first

time at the age of twelve.

You’ll sometimes see just s¨ + number, years are assumed then. However, it’s also

usual to express this with an embedded time clause, starting with kad(a):

Prvi put sam letio avionom I kad sam imao dvanaest. I flew in an airplane for the

first time when I was twelve.

Such clauses are really sentences-within-a-sentence; any second-position words

(e.g. sam²) come right after the word kad(a).

Bigger numbers use the following words – there’s more than one word for numbers

100 and 1000:

100 sto (adv.) / stotina

1000 tisuća ® / hiljada (colloq.) ®

million milijun ®

The above words are nouns (except sto) and can change case according to usual

roles (the counted noun is always in G-pl, of course):

Imam tisuću A dolara G . I have one thousand dollars.

Tisuća N dolara G je u ladici DL . One thousand dollars are in the drawer. ®

The Standard Croatian noun for 1000 is tisuća, while the noun hiljada is colloquial;

both words are used in speech (I personally use tisuća).

The Croatian verb is in singular, since we’re talking about a thousand – only one

thousand, like one box containing small pieces of paper.

Pay attention that milijun million is always a noun in Croatian. While you usually say

in English five million men, in Croatian you have to adjust the word to the number

before it, and a noun after the million always goes into G-pl:

U Hrvatskoj DL živi četiri milijuna 24 ljudi G . Four million people live in Croatia.

The nouns listed above – except milijun million – are often used as ‘adverbs’

(identical to the accusative forms of nouns), regardless of their role, especially

tisuća:

Tisuću dolara G je u ladici DL . One thousand dollars are in the drawer.

If you use the accusative form as subject (i.e. an ‘adverb’), don’t forget it then


behaves as any quantity adverb, that is, adjectives and past forms of verbs must be

put to neuter singular. Compare the following sentences:

Tisuću dolara G je bilo u ladici DL . (adverb) One thousand dollars were in the drawer.

Tisuća N dolara G je bila u ladici DL . (fem. noun, the same meaning)

While in English it’s a rule to say one thousand (or one million), in Croatian it’s a rule

to use just tisuća (or milijun) – it’s assumed there’s one if the word is in singular.

If you have two thousands (or more) you don’t have an option to use accusative,

you have to follow rules for counting two things (or more) – things counted are

thousands. Therefore the word tisuća goes into either G or G-pl, the same as if you

were counting money in bags or any other noun:

Imam dvije tisuće 24 dolara G . I have two thousand dollars.

Imam pet tisuća G dolara G . I have five thousand dollars.

Hundreds are expressed as:

200 dvjesto

300 tristo

400 četiristo

500 petsto

600 šesto

700 sedamsto

800 osamsto

900 devetsto

(There are archaic forms dvjesta 200 and trista 300 ® as well, dvjesta appears on

banknotes.) Since they are derived from sto, they never change their form. You’ll

occasionally see the number 600 spelled as šeststo. In Croatian, numbers bigger that

1000 are never expressed as nineteen hundred, always as one thousand and nine

hundred.

Ordinals derived from sto, tisuća and milijun are a bit irregular and end in -ti:

stoti hundredth

tisućiti thousandth ®

milijunti millionth ®

Thousands are, of course, used for years, as ordinal numbers; in singular, the adverb

form tisuću is only used:

1996. tisuću devetsto devedeset (i) šesta

2015. dvije tisuće (i) petnaesta

In speech, years are often referred to with shortened ordinals, where the word for

thousand is left out (and often the number of hundreds, if there’s no confusion):

1996. devetsto devedeset šesta (colloq.)

1996. devedeset šesta (colloq.)

2015. dvije i petnaesta (colloq.)

Unfortunately, there’s one more complication left. Some nouns don’t have a real

plural: dijete child and brat brother use so-called collective nouns, which are not


really plural. So, if you want to count children and brothers, you have to use a

specific way of counting them, which will be described in the following chapter.

________

® Besides zarez comma, the word zapeta is also used in Serbia. You will also

occassionally hear koma. Instead of točka, tačka is used in Serbia and parts of

Bosnia.

Using DL to express ‘possession’ of years seems to be very rare in Serbia.


for the drawer.

Instead of tisuća and milijun, words hiljada and milion are used in Bosnia and

Serbia, and are often heard in Croatia as well. The ordinals are hiljaditi and milionti.

The forms dvjesta and trista are much more common in Serbia and Bosnia, and in

the “Ikavian” forms (e.g. dvista) in Dalmatia, a part of Croatia.

• Examples

This cjenik price list for driving toy cars nicely illustrates use of various noun forms

with numbers:

You can see how much longer G-pl is used with the number 10. The noun krug is

literally circle, but is used for rounds in games and play as well.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 47 Of Flowers, Thorns and Counng Children 273 / 600

47 Of Flowers, Thorns and Counting Children

We learned how to make the plural of nouns. However, if you ask an average

Croatian speaker what the plural of list leaf is, chances are he or she will answer it’s

lišće, and not listovi, the form you learned so hard! What’s going on?

Also, what is going on with the noun brat brother? How do you talk about brothers

in Croatian? Or children?

It turns out that for some words standing for things that exist as individual items, but

which often come in hard-to-count heaps, there’s another singular noun that stands

for the whole heap. Such noun is usually called a collective or mass noun.

Mass nouns in singular stand for any amount, except for a single item (that is, if you

see a single leaf, you should use list). English hasn’t many mass nouns, but has one

for leaves – foliage.

Mass nouns are more frequent in Croatian. Actually, they are so often used for any

larger amount of some things that regular plurals of certain nouns are used very

rarely.

Common nouns having often used mass nouns are:

noun

cvijet flower

grana branch

grm bush ®

kamen stone

list leaf

trn thorn

mass noun

cvijeće

granje

grmlje

kamenje

lišće

trnje

As you can see, all mass nouns above are neuter, and end in either -će or -je. For

instance, if Ana likes flowers, you would say:

Ana N voli cvijeće A . Ana likes flowers.

Bear in mind that cvijeće is a singular noun:

Cvijeće N raste. Flowers grow.

rasti

The noun list doesn’t mean only leaf of a plant; as in English, it could also mean leaf

of paper (list papira), e.g. in a book. For such ‘leaves’, the mass noun is never used –

the regular plural noun is used instead.

There are a couple of mass nouns where the original, individual noun is no longer

used; such nouns are used for any amount, but have singular forms only:

piće drink(s)

smeće garbage


povrće vegetable(s)

oružje weapon(s)

rublje laundry, underwear

suđe dishes ®

voće fruit(s)

The noun piće drink is sometimes seen in plural, when it stands for more than one

single drink, but it can be used in singular for a number of drinks on a table. The noun

rublje stands both for a mass of clothes that needs to be washed, dried etc. and for

underwear and other frequently washed items of clothing. (Colloquially, you will

often hear another mass noun, veš – with exactly the same meaning – instead of

rublje.)

Two more common mass nouns are similar to the nouns above, but they end in -a.

They are feminine (singular, of course, but stand for any amount):

obuća footwear odjeća clothes

Then, there are two important nouns that have completely lost their plural, and

collective nouns are always used instead. They are:

noun (no pl.)

brat brother

dijete child

collective noun

braća

djeca

At first, they appear as normal, feminine singular nouns ending in -a:

Čekam djecu A . I’m waiting for my children.

Pomažem tvojoj braći DL . I’m helping your brothers.

pomagati

However, when they are subjects of a sentence, verbs come in plural:

Djeca N čekaju mamu A . Children are waiting for their mum.

Braća N su gladna N . Brothers are hungry.

Braća N su bila gladna N . Brothers were hungry.

Adjectives and past forms of verbs always have feminine singular forms with these

two nouns, even when the verbs come in plural.

(This special behavior doesn’t apply to e.g. odjeća, only to braća and djeca.)

What about collective nouns in I have no... sentences? Is A or G used? It seems the

special collective nouns djeca children and braća brothers are used in both G and A

with negative sentences, with the same frequency.®

form hits

"nemam djece G " 6470

"nemam djecu A " 6310

Finally, how to count children in Croatian? If you have less than 5 children, you can


use forms of the singular dijete (djetet-), but what if you have 5 or more? Is there a

way to count more than 4 children? What about counting ljudi m pl. people, which

has plural only?

Luckily, there’s another set of numbers, used to count plural and collective nouns,

usually called collective numbers:

Collective numbers

both oboje 5 petero

2 dvoje 6 šestero

3 troje 7 sedm-ero

4 četvero etc.

The pattern for larger numbers is: take an ordinal adjective (e.g. osm-i), remove the

final -i and add -ero. You will sometimes hear versions of these numbers with -oro

(e.g. četvoro).®

They are used to with nouns in G-pl:

Imam petero djece G . I have five children.

Razgovarao sam s troje ljudi G . I talked to three people.

(You’ll sometimes also see and hear simply pet djece and like: this is both

uncommon and non-standard.)

The collective numbers are secondary: if you can use the normal numbers (as with

most numbers) you will not use the collective ones! Therefore, they are mostly used

to count the three nouns (ljudi, djeca and braća), but even with braća you will very

often hear and read:

Imam dva brata 24 . I have two brothers.

Collective numbers can be used, but for some reason people prefer dva brata to

dvoje braće.

However, when you have e.g. two friends or two guests of opposite sex, you have

to use collective numbers:

2 friends 2 guests

all-male dva prijatelja 24 dva gosta 24

all-female dvije prijateljice 24 dvije gošće 24

mixed (G-pl!) dvoje prijatelja G dvoje gostiju G

This is the solution to the ‘mixed-sex’ problem in counting. Pay attention that the

last form is in G-pl, while the first two are just ordinary forms used with numbers 2-4

(like G for nouns). They coincide with G-pl for the noun prijatelj friend (in writing,


not for those who have different vowel length in speech), but not for e.g. the noun

gost guest.

The collective numbers can be used on their own, and they imply a number of

people, of mixed or unknown sex. They behave as other adverbs, as if in neuter

singular, but you’ll sometimes see masculine plural as well:

Oboje N je otišlo. Both left.

otići past-n

Oboje N su otišli. (sometimes used)

otići past-mpl

Some collective nouns have shifted their meaning, and are used as nouns

independent of the base noun. Common ones are:

grob tomb → groblje cemetery

osoba person → osoblje staff, personnel

Finally, what about nouns like pile (pilet-) chicken? There are two ways to handle

plural for them.

First, you simply avoid such nouns. For most of them, Croatian has other nouns with

the same meaning, but completely regular:

noun

mače (mačet-) kitten

pile (pilet-) chick


replacement(s)

mačić

pilić

psić

štenac (štenc-)

In fact, people are avoiding such nouns so much that nowadays mačić is much more

often used than mače in Croatian.

The second way is to use mass nouns ending in -ad that behave as feminine nouns

ending in a consonant. They are not often used in the the spoken Croatian:

noun

mače (mačet-) kitten

pile (pilet-) chick


mass noun

mačad f

pilad f

štenad f

Certain nouns that are taken from English are treated as singular, mass nouns in

Croatian. An example is čips, known in American English as potato chips, and in

British English as crisps:

Ovaj čips N je stvarno dobar N . These potato chips are really good.

Observe how the Croatian sentence uses only (masculine) singular forms of

adjectives and verbs!


The preposition među among is used when there are more than two things, but it

can be also used with collective nouns, e.g. među lišćem among the leaves;

alternatively, you can use u¨ + DL (e.g. u lišću).

________

® Besides grm, in Bosnia and Serbia, another word is used, especially for larger

bushes: žbun; from it, there’s a collective noun žbunje.

The individual noun sud vessel, pot is very rare in Croatia, but often heard in Bosnia

and Serbia. Its regular plural sudovi is common in these countries.

Forms like četvoro are very frequent and standard in Bosnia and Serbia.

Using A djecu with negative imati have is much more common in Bosnia, and

prevails in Serbia – if you Google on the .rs domain for "nemam decu" and

"nemam dece", you’ll get a ratio bigger than 10:1.

• Exercise


Cvijeće ______(a) na podu. The flowers are on the floor.

Jedem ______________(b). I’m eating fruits.

______________(c) ______(d) u školi. Children are in the school.

Darovi su za ______(e) ______________(f). The gifts are for your children.

Razgovaram s ______________(g) ______________(h). I’m talking to your brothers.

Djeca ____(i) ______________(j). Children are playing.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 48 Wholes, Parts, Heaps and Pairs 278 / 600

48 Wholes, Parts, Heaps and Pairs

How to express half an apple? Or third? If you think you can just use ordinal

numbers (e.g. treći third) to express parts (e.h. third of an apple), you cannot. They

must be ‘adjusted’ a bit.

In English, third is both an adjective (the third man) and a noun (two thirds). The

Croatian form treći corresponds to the adjective meaning only!

However, it’s simple to make a noun from it: just add -na and you have the partial

noun you need (except for the word for half does not fit to this scheme at all). For

1/2 and 1/4 there are additional words that behave like adverbs:

noun

adverb

1/2 polovina pol(a)

1/3 trećina

1/4 četvrtina četvrt

1/5 petina

etc.

part dio (dijel-) m ®

I have listed also a generic noun meaning just part. How to use them? Well, just use

the above nouns as any nouns on -na, and the other noun (one you want to express

part of) goes after it, in the genitive singular:

Ovo N je trećina N jabuke G . This is a third of an apple.

Imam trećinu A jabuke G . I have a third of an apple.

Instead of polovina, adverb pol(a) is much more frequent; it doesn’t change, of

course, since it’s not a noun, but an adverb:

Ovo N je pola jabuke G . This is half an apple.

Imam pola jabuke G . I have half of an apple.

Such partial quantities are in singular; pol(a) is neuter and other partial nouns are

feminine, as expected:

Pola jabuke G je bilo na stolu DL . Half of an apple was on the table.

Trećina N jabuke G je bila na stolu DL . A third of an apple was on the table.

Just remember that you are talking about a third (of something) and not about

something.

In Croatia, bread is usually sold in loaves and some types are cut in half if required

by the customer. So you can ask at the bread counter, or in a bakery:

Molim Vas A pola kruha G . ‘A half of bread, please.’ (i.e. a half of a loaf of bread) 2pl


Molim Vas pola . ‘ ’ (i.e. )

®

It’s possible to use parts with nouns in genitive plural, meaning a part of some plural

quantity, possibly the total quantity; then partial quantities get verbs in plural

sometimes:

Pola jabuka G je bilo zrelo N . Half of apples were ripe.

Pola ljudi G su bili žene N . Half of the people were women.

The use of plural in such sentences prevails with people and animals, while singular

is common with other things (apples, stones...).

The generic dio (dijel-) m part can be used with both singular and plural nouns (in

genitive, of course):

Imam dio A jabuke G . I have a part of an apple.

m

Imam dio A jabuka G . I have ‘a part’ of apples. (i.e. a part of some set of apples) m

This is unlike English, where part cannot be used with plural nouns!

The quantity in Croatian has always gender of the quantity-word (neuter for

adverbs). For instance, since dio (dijel-) is masculine, the whole quantity is masculine

singular:

Dio N jabuke G je bio na stolu DL . A part of the apple was on the table.

Dio N ljudi G je plesao. Some people were dancing.

There are two very useful words:

komad piece ® kriška slice

The word komad is very often used, in a similar way as English piece ®. You can have

a piece of something, but all countable, material stuff (e.g. screws) is very often

expressed in pieces:

Jedem komad A kruha G . I’m eating a piece of bread. ®

jesti

(You will maybe occasionally hear the word also stressed as komad.)

The word kriška slice usually gets -i in G-pl, so you would ask:

Molim Vas A deset kriški G šunke G . Ten slices of ham, please.

2pl

(Besides the word kriška for slice, you’ll often hear and read colloquial words šnita

and feta: the former prevails inland, while the latter dominates on the Croatian

coast.)

There are two more useful generic quantity nouns:

manjina minority većina majority, most

These nouns can be used either as measures or on its own:

Većina N ljudi G je gledala utakmicu A . Most people watched the match.

Većina N je gledala utakmicu A . Most watched the match.

m

m


There are several other nouns that can be used as measures of countable nouns in

plural and uncountable in singular. The result behaves as the quantity noun.

gomila bunch, big quantity

kutija box

hrpa heap

vreća bag, sack

žlica spoon ®

For example:

Gomila N ljudi G je bila na trgu DL . A large crowd of people was at the town square.

Hrpa N pijeska G je bila u dvorištu DL . A heap of sand was in the yard.

While gomila is very generic, there are specific words for various groups of animals

(which are, nevertheless, a bit less specific than in English):

krdo herd (of wild animals, sometimes cattle)

stado herd (of domesticated animals)

jato flock / school (of fish)

roj swarm

čopor pack (of carnivores)

For example:

Vidim stado N ovaca G . I see a herd of sheep.

(The noun ovca sheep is one of nouns that shift their stress to the inserted -a- in

G-pl.)

Then, there’s a noun which is also used as an adverb:

par pair

This noun is used primarily with things that come in pairs, like gloves, shoes, socks,

and such pairs can be counted:

Imam dva para 24 cipela G . I have two pairs of shoes.

Of course, the noun which is in pair comes in G-pl. Exactly like in English, this noun is

often used to enable counting of the noun hlače f pl. pants, trousers since that noun

cannot be counted by normal means – it doesn’t have singular forms at all, including

the form needed after numbers 2, 3, 4 – but it has G-pl:

Imaš tri para 24 hlača G . You have three pairs of pants. ®

Be careful: with nouns that don’t normally come in pairs, the word par is rather a

quantity adverb which doesn’t change, and, when subject, causes verbs to be in

3rd person neuter singular:

Imam par majica G . I have a couple of T-shirts. (adverb)

U ormaru DL je bilo par majica G . A couple of T-shirts were in the wardrobe.

(adverb)

U ormaru DL je bio par N cipela G . A pair of shoes was in the wardrobe. (noun)


Croatia uses the Metric system. Main measures are:

kilogram

dekagram 1/100 kilogram

tona metric ton

kila (colloq.) kilogram

deka (colloq.) 1/100 kilogram

litra liter

All these words are nouns. The 1/100 kg unit, decagram, is frequently used to

measure food ®. For example, if you would like a specific amount of cheese, you

would ask at the counter:

Molim Vas A deset deka G sira G . (colloq.) Ten decagrams of cheese, please. ® 2pl

There are more units and it’s interesting the masculine ones always have plural in

just -i, regardless of the number of syllables:

gram → grami

As you can see, the noun sat in the meaning hour fits into this group too.

There’s an adjective used to express the opposite of parts:

cijel whole (adjective!) ®

This word behaves like any adjective – it doesn’t affect the noun, but agrees with it

(i.e. change case, gender, singular/plural according to the noun). For example:

Trebam cijelu jabuku A . I need a whole apple.

There are three more words used to express quantities – only of countable nouns –

they behave like adjectives too:

koji few (+ sing.)

mnogi many (+ plur.)

neki one, some (+ sing./plur.)

adjectives used with

countable nouns

Words neki and koji are of course adjectives (koji has special shortened forms as

well). They are used with countable nouns only and don’t change the case of the

following noun, they don’t use the G-pl. For example:

Imam koju jabuku A . (A) I have few apples.

Imam neku jabuku A negdje. I have an apple somewhere.

The word neki just expresses indefiniteness, while koji stands for a unknown, but

likely small number of things of some kind. Here singular is used with koji, but the

meaning is plural.

Now the confusing part: the adjective mnogi is used with nouns in plural. The

problem is that its neuter singular form – mnogo – is used as a quantity adverb. So

both can be said:

(1) Mnogo ptica G leti na jug A . Many birds fly south.

(2) Mnoge N ptice N lete na jug A . (more or less the same meaning)


Observe the different verb forms: the subject of the sentence #1 behaves as neuter

singular (due to the quantity adverb), while the subject of the sentence #2 is just a

noun (in plural) with an adjective, as if we said big birds or gray birds. In the past

tense:

(1) Mnogo ptica G je letjelo na jug A . Many birds were flying south.

(2) Mnoge N ptice N su letjele na jug A . (more or less the same meaning)

If there’s any difference in meaning, it’s so subtle that I don’t have any idea.

However, sentences like #2 are much more common with nouns like ljudi pl. people,

žena woman/wife.

Of course, like other generic adjectives, mnogi can be also used as a pronoun:

Mnogi N ne vole mlijeko A . Many don’t like milk.

Razgovarao sam s mnogima II . I talked to many.

Such use is more common than in English. However, the related adverb mnogo

cannot be used as a pronoun! To use it generically, you have to add some pronoun,

most often the 3rd pers. plural pronoun:

Mnogo ih G leti na jug A . Many are flying south.

This holds generally: quantity adverbs cannot be used as pronouns. They need a

noun or pronoun (in G) beside them.

Here are three generic adjectives often-used-as-pronouns (you’ll encounter more in

the future):

neki some

mnogi many

sav (sv- +) all

Of course, these are masc. pl. forms, for all-female groups, you would use fem. pl.

forms.

You can combine numbers with parts, but observe different behaviors:

Imam dvije trećine 24 limuna G . I have two thirds of an lemon.

Imam dva cijela limuna 24 . I have two whole lemons.

In the first sentence, two counts thirds – so we have feminine gender – while in the

second, it counts (whole) lemons.

________

® In Serbia, the word dio (dijel-) m part has an unexpected “Ekavian” form deo (del-)

m.

In Serbia, komad is used only in meaning whole piece, i.e. as a unit (e.g. buy two

pieces, get one for free), while piece as a part (e.g. piece of pizza or piece of cake) is

expressed with the noun parče (parčet-).


Instead of kruh, in most of Bosnia, the word hljeb is used for bread; in Serbia, it has

“Ekavian” form hleb.

In Serbia and most of Bosnia instead of žlica spoon, kašika is used.

In Serbia and Bosnia instead of hlače f pl. trousers, pantalone f pl. is used.

Using deka (colloq.) decagram to measure food is uncommon in Serbia – grams are

used there, so one would ask for 100 grams of cheese. This is very rare in Croatia.

In Serbia, the word cijel whole has an unexpected “Ekavian” form ceo (cel-).


Ten decagrams of cheese, and ten decagrams of ham, with a quarter of loaf of

bread, is a common lunch for many employees in Croatia, especially ones doing

manual labor. So, people who work at the cold cut and cheese counters in shops in

Croatia know exactly how many slices of šunka ham and sir cheese are

approximately 10 deka, but they will always weigh it as well.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 49 For 7 Hours: Definite Periods 284 / 600

49 For 7 Hours: Definite Periods

We know how to say two hours and five days, and now we are going to make use of

these expressions to say how long some action or state lasts (or lasted).

If you want to say that something took a specific amount of time (two hours, three

days, etc.) you don’t have to – you must not – use any prepositions in Croatian, the

only thing you need is to put the time period into the accusative case:

Plivao sam dva sata 24 . I was swimming for two hours.

Ana N je živjela u Zagrebu DL pet godina G . Ana lived in Zagreb for five years.

Recall that constructions with numbers greater than 1 look the same in all cases.

However, when something took one year (or one week, etc.), both words must go to

the accusative case, since jedan (jedn-) one is an adjective:

Trčao sam jedan sat A . I was running for one hour.

Ana N je živjela u Zadru DL jednu godinu A . Ana lived in Zadar for one year.

Don’t forget that G-pl, used with numbers 5 and on, often has a slightly specific

form:

dva tjedna 24 two weeks (‘G’) ®

pet tjedana G five weeks (G-pl)

Now, there’s a very important rule, the time-phrase rule, basically saying that you

have to say how many hours (or years, weeks...) something took: you cannot just say

"trčao sam sat"!

However, there are four often used special phrases:

godina dana 1 year

mjesec dana 1 month

tjedan dana 1 week ®

sat vremena 1 hour

They are just words for time periods + another word, dan day or vrijeme (vremen-)

time/weather in the genitive case. Literally, they mean a year of days, and so on.

The first word is free to change case, so the two sentences above often look like

this when phrases are put to the accusative case as they must be if used as time

periods:

Trčao sam sat A vremena G . I was running for an hour.

Ana N je živjela u Zadru DL godinu A dana G . Ana lived in Zadar for a year.

Of course, you can also say jedna godina, etc. (Observe there are no special phrases

for one day or one minute).

You don’t have to use numbers, can use parts, or adjectives. All grammar rules we

already learned for expressing parts still apply, of course:

Plivao sam pola sata G . I was swimming for half an hour.

Ana N je živjela u Osijeku DL cijelu godinu A . Ana lived in Osijek for a whole year.


Ana N je živjela u Zagrebu DL mnogo godina A . Ana lived in Osijek for many years.

As time nouns (i.e. dan day etc.) don’t normally come in pairs, the word par means a

couple of with them. Of course, you can use nekoliko several too:

Hodao sam par sati G . I was walking for a couple of hours.

Ana N je živjela u Rijeci DL nekoliko mjeseci G . Ana lived in Osijek for a several months.

These time expressions look like objects – and are a bit similar to objects: you can

eat the whole cake, likewise, you could live the whole year. But they aren’t really

objects.

These rules also apply when you use other nouns for time periods such as:

jutro morning

prijepodne (prijepodnev-) time before noon

popodne (popodnev-) afternoon

noć f night

večer f evening ®

trenutak (trenutk-) moment

vikend weekend

vječnost f eternity

For example:

Plesali smo cijelu noć A . We were dancing for the whole night.

f

Such use of cijeli also translates English phrases like all day long. It applies to

seasons as well:

Kiša N je padala cijelu zimu A . It was raining for the whole winter.

There’s a verb expressing duration of some event or state (e.g. predavanje lecture,

kiša rain, oluja storm, etc.) expressed by a noun:

trajati (traje) last, take time

For example (observe that the time-phrase rule still holds):

Film N je trajao dva sata 24 . The movie lasted for two hours.

Predavanje N je trajalo jedan sat A . The lecture lasted for one hour.

But what if you’re still reading or waiting, or the it? In English, you should use the

Present Perfect tense (have been), but in Croatian you should use the present tense:

Ivan N je dvije godine živio u Zagrebu DL . Ivan lived in Zagreb for two years. (but not

now)

Ivan N dvije godine živi u Zagrebu DL . Ivan has lived in Zagreb for two years. (and still

does)


This is worth remembering:

not anymore still ongoing

Croatian past tense present tense

English Past Present Perfect

If you use the present tense, it means it still goes on; if it’s something that

happened only in the past, use the past tense. Croatian is here much simpler and

logical (at least from my point of view) than English.

In all uses described above, the periods in currently ongoing actions are often

emphasized with već already, which has a weakened meaning and is often not

translated:

Ivan N već dvije godine živi u Zagrebu DL . Ivan has lived in Zagreb for two years.

With almost all perfective verbs, it’s impossible to say how long the action lasted,

but it’s possible to express the ‘time frame’ of the action, and the meaning is more

or less the same. Interestingly, English also distinguishes duration from ‘frames’:

‘time frames’ use the preposition in. In Croatian, you should use the preposition za¨

+ time phrase:

Čitao sam knjigu A dva dana 24 . I was reading the book for two days. (impf.)

Pročitao sam knjigu A za dva dana 24 . I’ve read the book in two days. (perf.)

This gives you a good clue when to use perf. verbs in Croatian: if you feel that an

expression like in a day would fit into the sentence, use a perf. verb in Croatian.

Pay attention that Croatian za¨ usually translates to English for, but it’s not so here.

The same works for times until a moment in the future, they are expressed with za¨

+ time phrase as well:

Pročitat ću knjigu A za jedan dan A . I’ll read the book in a day.

Pročitat ću knjigu A za par dana G . I’ll read the book in a couple of days.

The time-phrase rule is a bit relaxed when you use za¨, so you’ll occasionally hear

expressions with only one word:

Pročitao sam knjigu A za jedan dan A . I’ve read the book in a day.

Pročitao sam knjigu A za jednu noć A . I’ve read the book in a night.

f

Pročitao sam knjigu A za dan A . (the same meaning, sometimes heard)

Now, the English preposition for is also used in sentences like this:

(1) I’m leaving for two days.

(2) I’ll leave for a week.

There’s a subtle difference. In Croatian, ‘leave’ is a motion, going somewhere else. It

won’t take two days (or a week) to get there, you will rather go somewhere, spend


some time there, and then you’ll return, and the whole thing will take two days (or a

week).

In Croatian, if you want to express duration of the whole ‘round-trip’, that is, going

somewhere – staying there – going back, where going back is implied, you have to

use the preposition na¨ + A:

(1) Odlazim na dva dana 24 .

(2) Otići ću na tjedan A dana G .

If you construct the sentence #1 without the na¨, it will sound extremely weird, as if

you spent two days trying to leave, but you haven’t left yet. The sentence #2 will be

ungrammatical without a preposition, since the verb is, of course, perfective.

Such ‘round-trip periods’ apply to all motion verbs that imply going somewhere, e.g.

ići (ide, išao, išla) go, and to some other verbs that will be explained later (e.g.

meaning borrow, etc.)

This summarizes common time periods in English and Croatian (the accusative time

phrases, marked with A*, must consist of two or more words, special phrases may

be used.):

definite period

for two days

‘time frame’

in two days

‘round-trip’ (e.g. leave)

for two days

A*

dva dana

za¨ + A ( * )

za dva dana

na¨ + A*

na dva dana

To ask how long something lasted, you can use koliko dugo (lit. ‘how much long’) or

just koliko:

Koliko dugo si živio tamo? How long did you live there?

— Jednu godinu A . For a year.

Koliko ste bili u Hrvatskoj DL ? How long were you in Croatia?

— Tjedan A dana G . For a week.

Answers must be proper time periods, that is, in A, at least 2 words, special phrases

can be used, prepositions according to the rules for time periods.

To ask about a ‘round-trip period’, you have to use na¨ before the question words

explained above. Answers will be again ‘round-trip periods’:

Na koliko odlaziš? How long are you leaving for?

— Na tjedan A dana G . For a week.

These were ways to express how long something took. You often have to express

something else – when something was going on, in relation to the present or some


other moment. For example:

Živio sam u Zagrebu DL prije dvije godine 24 . I lived in Zagreb two years ago.

Živio sam u Njemačkoj DL prije godinu A dana G . I lived in Germany one year ago.

Now, the time periods – if special phrases are not used – can be sometimes in G as

well.

This is relative reference to something else said before, not to the present:

Radio sam u Splitu DL dvije godine 24 ranije. I worked in Zagreb two years earlier.

Živio sam u Americi DL jednu godinu A ranije. I lived in America a year earlier.

Now again, you must use time expressions in A, and ranije comes after them.

Instead of ranije, you can use prije toga before that, or even just prije – but it must

be placed after the time expression. A similar expression is used to refer to a time

after something else:

Radio sam u školi DL dvije godine 24 kasnije. I worked in a school two years later.

Again, instead of kasnije, you can use poslije toga, or even only poslije. Also, it’s

common to put these reference at the front:

Dvije godine 24 ranije radio sam u Splitu DL . Two years earlier, I worked in Split.

Dvije godine 24 kasnije radio sam u školi DL . Two years later, I worked in a school.

References to the future times, relative to now, use the same ‘time frame’ way in

both English and Croatian:

Vraćam se za dva mjeseca 24 . I’m coming back in two months.

This table summarizes relative time references:

before now

a year ago

after now

in a year

before

something else

a year earlier

after

something else

a year later

prije + A* (G*)

prije jedne godine

za¨ + A*

za jednu godinu

A* ranije

jednu godinu ranije

A* prije (toga)

jednu godinu prije (toga)

A* kasnije

jednu godinu kasnije

A* poslije (toga)

jednu godinu poslije (toga)

To ask about references to the past or future time, use the question-word kad(a)

when. The answer is a proper past reference (for the past) or a proper ‘time frame’


for the future. Of course, absolute times can be used as well (e.g. a month, date,

etc.):

Kad si se vratio? When did you come back?

— Prije dva mjeseca 24 . Two months ago.

— U trećem mjesecu DL . (colloq.) In March. (lit. ‘in the 3rd month’) ®

Kad se vraćaš? When are you coming back?

— Za mjesec A dana G . In a month.

— U desetom mjesecu DL . (colloq.) In October. (lit. ‘in the 10th month’) ®

Also, pay attention that in the first question, we have used a perfective verb vratiti

return. Here we ask about one, specific event in the past. In then second question,

we used an ordinary impf. verb, since we used the present tense to talk about a

scheduled event in the future.

________

® Instead of tjedan, the word nedjelja is used in parts of Bosnia, colloquially in parts

of Croatia, and in the “Ekavian” form nedelja in Serbia; so you’ll hear and read

nedjelja dana or nedelju dana. The word sedmica is also sometimes used in Serbia

and Bosnia.

The word večer has the form veče in Serbia and most of Bosnia. It’s neuter, but all

case forms are derived from večer- and then it’s feminine.

Colloquial reference to months by ordinals (e.g. deseti mjesec = October) is not used

in Bosnia and Serbia.

• Exercise


Gradili smo kuću ________(a) ____________(b). We were building the house for

three years.

Gradili smo kuću ________(c) ____________(d). We were building the house for six

years.

Odlazim ______(e) ________(f) ________________(g). I’m leaving for three weeks.

Odlazim ______(h) ________(i) ________________(j). I’m leaving in six weeks.

Vratio sam se __________(k) ________(l) ______(m). I came back three days ago.

Vraćam se ______(n) ______(o) ________________(p). I’m coming back in two

months.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons 290 / 600

50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons

Nothing so far was really exciting. The most complicated thing you could say was

something like I wrote two long letters to your brothers. All such sentences were

simple (maybe it was not so simple to create them, but they are nevertheless called

simple).

Now, the exciting things: how to express things or events that caused something?

The simplest way to indicate cause of something is by using the preposition zbog.

It’s used when cause is a thing, or an event expressed by a noun. Words after it

should be in the genitive case. It corresponds to English because of and due to:

Trava N je mokra N zbog kiše G . The grass is wet because of the rain.

(It’s not hard to remember, since the English of often corresponds to the Croatian

genitive case.)

If something was not caused by a thing, but a whole event, normally expressed by a

sentence, there’s a small difference. (There’s a difference in English too, where you

have to use because, and not because of.) In such cases, the main way is to use the

conjunction jer:

Trava N je mokra N jer je padala kiša N . The grass is wet because it has rained.

The word jer and words after it are a kind of sentence-within-a-sentence. There will

be a verb inside, a subject, possibly an object and who knows what. Such subsentences

are usually called clauses (more precisely, this kind is called reason

clause). I will often emphasize clauses by enclosing them in square brackets [...].

(I called jer a conjunction, and zbog a preposition due to tradition – you will find such

classification in other grammar books. However, it’s often hard to tell if a word is a

preposition, a conjunction or something else. What is important for you is how to

use a word and not how it is classified.)

The word order in clauses is the same as in any other sentence; the word jer holds

the first position, so all the second-position words must come right after it.

Therefore, there are two "second positions" in one sentence, both filled in our

example by the word je²:

Trava N ¹ je² mokra N [jer¹ je² padala kiša N ].

A reason clause can be in any tense, for example in the present tense, or in the

future tense, if you predict that something will happen:

Trava N je mokra N jer pada kiša N . The grass is wet because it's raining.

Uzeo sam kišobran A jer će padati kiša N . I took an umbrella because it's going to rain.

Another, less often used way is to use zato što instead of jer; everything else is the

same:


Trava N je mokra N zato što je² padala kiša N . (the same meaning)

There’s one more way, using zbog toga što. (Colloquially, you will also hear and

sometimes read zato jer in such sentences.)

All such sentences express reasons that caused something: it rained and it made the

grass wet. However, it’s possible that somebody is doing something because he or

she wants something to happen later (or, not to happen). In English, such sentences

look like these:

(1) I took an umbrella [so (that) I don’t get wet].

(2) I need ten kunas [to buy a sandwich].

(3) I’m learning Croatian [so (that) I can talk to Ana].

(4) I’ll buy you a new phone [so (that) you can call me].

The sentences above contain clauses in square brackets known as purpose clauses.

English here uses a variety of conjunctions (to, in order to, so that, so). Croatian is

way simpler – it just uses one word: da. These four sentences translate as:

(1) Uzeo sam kišobran A da se ne smočim.

(2) Trebam deset kuna G da kupim sendvič A .

(3) Učim hrvatski A da mogu razgovarati s Anom I .

moći pres-1

(4) Kupit ću ti DL novi telefon A da me A možeš zvati.

2 | 1 | moći pres-2

We have here used the perfective member of the verb pair (because we want

something done and accomplished, not just going to shops and checking stuff):

kupovati (kupuje) ~ kupiti buy

Now, there’s a special rule: verbs after da should be in the present tense only.

Perfective verbs are often used (e.g. in sentences #1 and #2). The verb smočiti is a

perfective verb that can be used with an object (in A) meaning make wet, but with

se² it means get wet. (There are many verbs like that.)

As with jer and zato što, any fixed-position words come right after da, e.g. check the

sentence #4:

Kupit¹ ću² ti DL ² novi telefon A [da¹ me A ² možeš zvati].

2 | 1 | moći pres-2

There’s another special rule: instead of the verb biti (je² +), the potential verb (bude)

must be used in purpose clauses:

Trebaš kaput A [da ti DL ne bude hladno]. You need a coat so that you don’t get 2

cold.

In such sentences, the potential verb (bude) is often translated as English get or

become. To see that the verb was replaced, compare the sentence above to the

desired outcome; obviously, nije was replaced by ne bude:

Nije ti DL hladno. You are not cold.

2

Sometimes, you’ll hear and read the conditional instead of the present tense in


purpose clauses. Keep in mind that in such clauses, both present and conditional

imply future, possible events and states. The conjunction da has other roles as well,

it’s one of the most used words in Croatian.

There’s an interesting phrase za slučaj da, followed by a reason, expressed usually in

the present tense (perfective verbs allowed), indicating precaution, as English just in

case:

Uzet ću kišobran A , za slučaj da pada kiša N . I’ll take an umbrella, just in case it rains.

If you want to express general precaution, like English just in case followed by

nothing specific (or like to be on the safe side), use za svaki slučaj:

Zatvorit ću prozor A , za svaki slučaj. I’ll close the window, just in case.

While reason and purpose clauses cannot be rearranged, and usually aren’t

separated by a comma, the precautions can be placed before the main sentence,

and usually are separated by a comma:

Za svaki slučaj, zatvorit ću prozor A . (the same meaning)

Next, you can use just zato to refer to something said before as a reason; it’s

common to start a sentence with that word:

Padat će kiša N . It will rain.

Zato trebam kišobran A . That’s why I need an umbrella.

There’s one more way to express purpose, and it’s used only with verbs of motion.

When you go somewhere to “get”, “take” or “pick up” somebody or something, the

common way to express it is simply by po¨ + A:

Vraćam se po novčanik A . I’m going back to get my wallet.

Let’s summarize ways of expressing reasons in Croatian:

Expressing reasons in Croatian

because of... zbog + thing in G

because...

jer

zato što

+ clause in any tense

(in order) to...

+ clause in pres. tense

da

so (that)...

biti (je² +) → (bude)

just in case... za slučaj da + clause

just in case za svaki slučaj

(motion) to get... po¨ + thing in A

(In the Standard Croatian, there’s another conjunction: radi. It’s similar to zbog, but

it expresses a purpose instead of cause. Very few people maintain such distinction

and both are used interchangeably in real life, meaning just a cause.)


If you want to ask why something happened (or something is done) start a question

with the word zašto why ®. As with other question-words, no rearrangement of the

rest is needed:

Zašto je trava mokra N ? Why is the grass wet?

— Zbog kiše G . Because of the rain.

— Jer je padala kiša N . Because it has rained.

— Jer pada kiša N . Because it’s raining.

— Pada kiša N . It’s raining.

You usually answer just with the cause, preceded by the right conjunction, as above

(conjunctions can be even left out). The same goes for purpose clauses and

precautions, but da cannot be left out in any case:

Zašto trebaš deset kuna G ? Why do you need ten kunas?

— Da kupim sendvič A . To buy a sandwich.

Zašto si zatvorio prozor N ? Why did you close the window?

— Za svaki slučaj. Just in case.

With po¨ + A:

Zašto se vraćaš? Why are you going back?

— Po kišobran A . To get the umbrella.

There are two more conjunctions that indicate cause. Both are used mostly in

writing; reason clauses using them are normally placed at the beginning:

budući da

since

pošto

The conjunction pošto is discouraged (in this role) in formal Croatian. Both

conjunctions are seldom used in answers.

There’s one fine point left. Sometimes, you’ll see, when short time adverbs – such as

sad(a) now, još still and već already – are placed after jer, second position words

come after the adverb. For example:

Ne želim knjigu A [jer¹ već¹ sam ju A ² pročitao]. I don’t want the book [because 3f A

I’ve already read it].

The same can happen with stressed pronouns (e.g. meni).

This is much rarer than the default word order, but don’t panic if you see it once a

while. This is likely done only be some speakers, when they want to specially

emphasize an adverb or a stressed pronoun.

________

® In Bosnia and Serbia, you will often hear just što instead of zašto.


• Examples

Zbog jedne divne crne žene Because of a Gorgeous Black Woman is one of greatest

hits by Croatian singer-songwriter Krunoslav Slabinac (usually known under his

nickname Kićo) from 1970’s. (Note that crna žena in Croatia means just a woman

with black hair and dark eyes. There are very few black women in Croatia in e.g. the

American sense, and if somebody would refer to any, a special term Crnkinja would

be used.)

The chorus contains a number of because constructions, but all are of because of

(i.e. a noun or a noun phrase follows):

Zbog jedne divne crne žene G

Because of a gorgeous black woman

Zbog njene divne crne kose G

Because of her gorgeous black hair

Zbog jednog pogleda tužnog G u noći DL Because of a sad look in the night f

Zbog obećanja G

Because of the promise

da će mi DL doći she is going to come to me

1

Tužan N i sam N , čekam je A ja N

Sad and alone, I’m waiting for her 3f

(Krunoslav Slabinac)

The third verse has one adjective after the noun, likely for rhythmic purposes; this is

not ungrammatical, just uncommon in everyday speech. The fourth verse has a

content clause (what was promised?) They will be introduced in Knowing and Telling:

Content and Noun Clauses. They are quite different than purpose clauses, despite

both starting with da.

You can find various performances on YouTube.

• Exercise


Cesta je zatvorena ________(a) __________(b). The road is closed due to snow.

Nismo otišli na plažu ______(c) ______(d) ____________(e) hladno. We didn’t go

to the beach because it was cold.

Moramo požuriti ______(f) ______(g) zakasnimo na vlak. We have to hurry in order

not to be late for the train.

Ovdje sam ______(h) ______(i) __________(j). I’m here to see you.

Zaključala sam __________(k), ______(l) ____________(m) ____________(n). I’ve

locked the door, just in case.

Idem u sobu ____(o) ______________(p). I’m going to my room to get my coat.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 51 For Days: Approximate Periods, Repeons and References 295 / 600

51 For Days: Approximate Periods, Repetions and

References

There are two very frequent words used to express approximate duration of some

state or action:

dugo for a long time

kratko for a short time

While English uses both for a long time and long in different sentences (e.g. long is

used in questions), Croatian uses only one word in all kinds of sentences. The words

can be placed at any position, but they are often found at the first position. For

example:

Dugo smo gledali filmove A . We watched movies for a long time.

Kratko je padala kiša N . It rained for a short time.

It’s possible to modify the meaning, using adverbs of intensity (except for malo); you

can also use other intensifiers, such as stvarno really and užasno / strašno terribly:

Jako dugo sam čitao knjigu A . I was reading the book for a very long time.

Stvarno dugo učim hrvatski A . I’ve been learning Croatian for a really long time.

Then, the instrumental case can be used to express time, when something lasted for

days, for years, and also that something happens on Tuesdays.

Simply put, when something was going on for days, you should use instrumental

plural. You will find the following words useful:

dan day

godina year

mjesec month

sat (N-pl sati) hour

tjedan (tjedn-) ® week

For example:

Čitao sam knjigu A tjednima I . I was reading the book for weeks.

Čekao sam te A satima I . I was waiting for you for hours.

Both sentences mean the action or state is over now, that is, you are no longer

reading the book or waiting.

If you want to say that something happens on Fridays, that is, repeats, you should

use weekdays in instrumental singular:

Petkom I igramo nogomet A . We play football on Fridays. ®

Vikendom I idemo u kino A . We go to cinema on weekends. ®

The word vikend weekend is of course not a day of week, but has a similar role.

Rough time periods in I-pl can be also used with the verb trajati (traje) last:

Predavanje N je trajalo satima I . The lecture lasted for hours.

2

ići


There’s another, a bit unexpected way to express approximate duration – using

short expressions for a day or two, a week or two and so on: just append the number

two to the noun, e.g. dan-dva. Of course, the number must be in the right gender,

according to the noun it’s after:

Na moru DL ću biti tjedan A -dva. I’ll be at the seaside for a week or two.

Radovi DL će trajati mjesec A -dva. The works will last for a month or two.

Učila sam hrvatski A godinu A -dvije. I was studying Croatian for a year or two.

(Standard orthography demands they are separated by a hyphen; you’ll also see a

comma or other ways.)

Don’t forget that ongoing periods use the present tense in Croatian, and that they’re

often emphasized with već already, which is often not translated:

Ana N je dugo živjela u Splitu DL . Ana lived in Split for a long time. (but not now)

Ana N dugo živi u Zagrebu DL . Ana has lived in Zagreb for a long time. (and still does)

Ivan N već godinama I živi u Zagrebu DL . Ivan has lived in Zagreb for years.

This table summarizes approximate time periods:

adverb

I-pl

noun-number (A)

for a short time

for a long time

for hours

for days

for an hour or two

for a year or two

kratko

dugo

satima

danima

sat-dva

godinu-dvije

When asked how long something lasted, you can answer just with approximate

periods:

Koliko dugo si živio tamo? How long did you live there?

— Jako dugo. For a very long time.

— Godinama A . For years.

Koliko (dugo) ste bili u Hrvatskoj DL ? How long were you in Croatia?

— Kratko. For a short time.

It’s possible to express approximate ‘round-trips’ with na¨ + kratko or dugo, but not

with I-pl (e.g. danima for days). Both are used also with vrijeme, e.g. na dugo

vrijeme:

Odlazim na jako kratko vrijeme A . I’m leaving for a very short time.

Next, it’s possible to say that something happens or is done during something else. If

that ‘something else’ is expressed by a noun (with optional adjectives to describe it),

the most common way is to use:

za vrijeme + G during


When something happens or is done in winter (or other season), one option is to use

specific adverbs:

zimi in winter

u proljeće in spring

ljeti in summer

najesen in fall

For example:

Ljeti idemo na more A . We go to the seaside in summer. (regularly, usually)

The most common way to express roughly when something happened or will

happen is to use combinations of ‘determiners’ (specific adjectives, really) and nouns

for time periods, in A (only A forms are listed, which are identical to N for these

nouns and masculine inanimate gender): ®

jedan one

ovaj this

prošli last

sljedeći next *

svaki each

+

tjedan week ®

mjesec month

Instead of sljedeći, sometimes idući is used, without any difference in meaning.

The noun dan day is a partial exception, explained below.

However, with the feminine nouns godina year and noć f night, it’s more common

to use phrases in G (all words are here listed in G):

jedne one

ove this

prošle last

sljedeće next *

svake each

+

godine year

noći night

Again, sometimes idući is used. There are two specific (and a bit old-fashioned)

adverbs that can be used instead of prošle godine and prošle večeri:

lani last year ® sinoć last evening

For example:

Ove godine G putujemo u Pariz A . We’re traveling to Paris this year. putovati

Prošli tjedan A sam bila bolesna N . I was sick last week.

Sljedeći mjesec A odlazimo na more A . We’re leaving for the seaside next month.

There are exceptions to this pattern: the noun dan day, and jutro morning. With

them, adjectives are used in both A and G to get phrases meaning one day, that day,

the first day, etc.:

Jednog dana G smo jeli palačinke A s medom I . One day we ate pancakes with jesti

honey.

f

ići


Prvi dan A nisam razumio ništa A . I didn’t understand anything the first day.

You can use any way you like, A or G (of course, A is simpler to create). Of course,

you can add additional adjectives to these phrases:

Jednog hladnog zimskog dana G smo samo gledali filmove A . On one cold winter day,

we just watched movies.

You will sometimes see such long time phrases separated by a comma, after which

word-counting restarts:

Jednog hladnog zimskog dana G , samo smo gledali filmove A . (the same meaning)

________

® Instead of tjedan, the word nedjelja is used in parts of Bosnia, colloquially in parts

of Croatia, and in the “Ekavian” form nedelja in Serbia; as other feminine time

nouns, it prefers G, so you’ll hear and read svake nedjelje. The word sedmica is also

used in Bosnia and Serbia.

Instead of nogomet and kino, words fudbal and bioskop are used in Serbia and

most of Bosnia for football and cinema.

Use of the accusative case for phrases like prošli mjesec is much more common in

Croatia than in Serbia; in Serbia and parts of Bosnia, the genitive case prevails for all

nouns, regardless of gender.

The adverb lani has an unexpected “Ekavian” form lane in Serbia.

• Exercise


Gradili smo kuću ____________(a). We were building the house for years.

Kiša pada ____________(b). It has been raining for weeks.

____________(c) idemo na bazen. We go to the swimming pool on Fridays.

________(d) si spavala. You were sleeping for a long time.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease 299 / 600

52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease

There’s a very important group of Croatian verbs having similar forms, so it’s worth

learning them together. It’s also interesting that some of them can behave as

imperfective verbs, despite being basically perfective.

First, the following verb has a simple meaning, just physically stand somewhere.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit irregular:

stajati (stoji) stand

For example:

Stajao sam tamo satima I . I was standing there for hours.

There’s an important verb similar to it, but more regular:

postojati (postoji) exist

It’s used without objects, just to express that something exists (or not):

Jeti N ne postoji. The Yeti doesn’t exist.

postojati

You will sometimes hear its present forms stressed as postoji.

Next, there is a verb pair that means stop, come to stand:

stajati (staje) ~ stati (stane) stop

Since this verb implies a kind of motion (that’s coming to stand), it’s used with

destinations, while stajati (stoji) is a static verb, therefore it’s usually used with

locations:

Stao sam pred vrata A . I stood in front of the door. (pred¨ + A = dest.)

Stajao sam pred vratima I . I was standing in front of the door. (pred¨ + I = loc.)

This verb has one more meaning: fit into (e.g. vine into a bottle, clothes into a

suitcase). In that meaning, the perf. verb is common in the present tense as well,

including the true present (that is, things going on at the very moment of speaking):

Hlače N ne stanu u kofer A . The pants don’t fit into the suitcase. ®

stati

Be careful: this means only fit into physically, it doesn’t cover the meaning belong

(e.g. fit into the crowd): for the second meaning, use the verb pripadati belong.

Furthermore, the verb stati (stane) needs destinations, including this use.

The past form of the perf. verb, in neuter singular, is used in a phrase:

DL + biti (je² +)° + stalo (+ do¨ G) = DL cares (about G)

This phrase is a way to express that someone cares about somebody or something.

Here the word stalo has no past meaning: it’s used as an adverb, like žao or

dosadno. The verb biti is here impersonal, and can be in any tense:


Nije mu DL stalo. He doesn’t care.

3m/n

Ani DL je° stalo do Gorana G . Ana cares about Goran. / Goran matters to Ana.

Ani DL je bilo stalo do mene G . Ana cared about me.

Compare it with e.g. Ani je bilo drago – it’s exactly the same structure, apart from

the do¨ + G.

The infinitive (and consequently, past forms) of the impf. verb stajati (staje) are

exactly the same as for the verb meaning stand, but since the impf. verbs are mostly

used in the present tense, confusion is rare.

The pair stajati (staje) ~ stati (stane) is likely the most important pair in Croatian,

since there’s a number of very common and important verbs derived from it:

nastajati (nastaje) ~ nastati (nastane) come to exist

nestajati (nestaje) ~ nestati (nestane) disappear

ostajati (ostaje) ~ ostati (ostane) stay, remain

postajati (postaje) ~ postati (postane) become

prestajati (prestaje) ~ prestati (prestane) stop (doing something), cease

The perf. verbs in the pairs above are sometimes stressed as nastati (nastane) – the

‘western’ stress is on a different syllable in present forms. (The stress never moves

to the negation in the present tense of these pairs.)

If you are confused by similarity of impf. and perf. verbs listed above, there’s one

simple difference: the impf. verbs have a -j- in all their forms – infinitive, present,

past, some forms I haven’t explained yet – and the perf. verbs never have it in any

form.

The verb pair derived with o- has come curious properties. The perf. verb ostati

(ostane / ostane) behaves a bit like an imperfective verb. For example, it can be

used with time periods, unlike other perf. verbs. Compare:

Ostao je u bolnici DL dva sata 24 . He remained in hospital for two hours.

Čekao je u bolnici DL dva sata 24 . He waited in hospital for two hours.

You cannot do it with e.g. napisati (napiše) perf. write. Therefore, the impf. verb

ostajati (ostaje) is basically used in the present tense only.

Otherwise, the verb is very similar to English stay and remain: you can stay

somewhere, something, with someone, etc. It’s a very versatile verb:

Ostao je kod kuće G . He stayed at home.

Ostali su zajedno. They stayed together.

The past form of the perf. verb is used as a real quantity adjective (as with other

past forms used as adjectives, the form with -i, ostali is the basic form):

Ostalo tijesto N je u frižideru DL . The remaining pastry is in the fridge.

It’s often used as a pronoun as well; in the same way as other adjectives, e.g. sav


(sv- +), the neuter singular forms are used for things, and masc. plural forms for

people:

Ostali N će doći sutra. The rest (of them) will come tomorrow.

Ostalo N će doći sutra. The rest (of it) will come tomorrow.

These two adjectives-used-as-pronouns are often used together, meaning all the

rest:

Svi ostali N su u dvorištu DL . ‘All others are in the yard.’

Sve ostalo N je u kutiji DL . All the rest is in the box.

The verb pair derived with po- is similar to biti (je² +) be – it corresponds to English

become or to English get with adjectives:

Postat će tata N . He’ll become a dad.

Postajem gladna N . I’m becoming/getting hungry. (impf., I = female) postajati

This verb, like be, usually uses objects in N (e.g. tata dad is obviously in N)! It’s also

used with weather expressions and subjective experiences of the environment,

again in the similar way as biti (je² +) be:

Postaje° vruće. It’s getting hot. (impf.)

postajati

Postalo je hladno. It became cold.

Postaje° nam DL vruće. We’re getting hot. (impf.)

postajati | 1pl

Postalo mi DL je hladno. I got/became cold.

1

The verb pair derived with ne- means roughly disappear, but it also covers meaning

run out, and is also used when e.g. there’s suddenly no electricity, water... or even

beer in the fridge. The prefix comes from negation historically, but it’s always

spelled together with the verb in this case.

What is interesting with this verb pair is that often uses indefinite quantities

(expressed by nouns in G) as their subjects, and consequently, as default for

quantities, the verb behaves as if the subject is neuter singular:

Nestalo je benzina G . The petrol ran out.

Nestalo je struje G . The electricity is out.

The same thing can be expressed also with the negative existential:

Nema° više benzina G . There’s no more petrol.

Nema° više struje G . The electricity is out.

The verb pair derived with pre- is usually used with impf. verbs in infinitive, or with

some noun that can "last" and then "stop" (e.g. rain, road, danger):

Kiša N je prestala. The rain stopped.

Goran N je prestao plakati. Goran stopped crying.

You’ll often see the base pair used in the first construction (just a subject) with the

same meaning:


Kiša N je stala. The rain stopped.

The opposite meaning – begin, start – is expressed with an unrelated verb pair (the

perf. verb has a bit unexpected -n- in present!):

počinjati (počinje / počinje) ~ početi (počne) start, begin

The verb pair is used in the same way as the pre- pair. For example:

Kiša N je počela. The rain started.

Goran N je počeo plakati. Goran started crying.

Such verbs that indicate start or end points are often called phase verbs. Pay

attention that with these verbs, only impf. verbs in inf (e.g. plakati) are used. There’s

no accomplishment, the focus in on starting or stopping an activity.

The following verb pair has a very simple meaning:

ustajati (ustaje) ~ ustati (ustane) stand up

The following verbs follow exactly the same pattern:

pristajati (pristaje) ~ pristati (pristane) consent, agree

odustajati (odustaje) ~ odustati (odustane) give up

The first verb is often used with content clauses (I will introduce them in a short

while), or with na¨ + A. The second verb uses od¨ + G to describe what you’re giving

up:

Ana N je pristala na ručak A . Ana has agreed to have a lunch.

Ana N je odustala od izleta G . Ana has given up on the excursion.

The following verb pairs have opposite meanings:

sastajati (sastaje) se² ~ sastati (sastane) se² get together, meet

rastajati (rastaje) se² ~ rastati (rastane) se² split, separate

While English usually makes derived verbs with detached prepositions, Croatian

always uses prefixes. You will notice that often these two Croatian verb prefixes

match the English prepositions used to derive verb meaning:

ra- / ras- / raz- apart s- / sa- together

Then, there’s a verb derived with nedo- (again, the ne is always spelled together).

It’s already covered in 23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions. There’s no perf. verb

corresponding to it.

This table summarizes all verbs derived from the ‘base’ verb pair:


stajati (staje) ~ stati (stane)


(none)

(+ dest) (come to) stand

stop

na-

come to exist

ne-

disappear

o- (N) stay, remain

po- (N) become

pre- (inf) stop

pri- (na¨ A) consent, agree

odu- (od¨ G) give up

ra- se² (od¨ G) split, separate

sa- se² (s¨ I) get together, meet

nedo- (DL) lack

There are more verb pairs derived from this base pair, e.g. with zao- meaning lag,

fall behind and so on.

A final remark: the perfective verb stati (stane) is sometimes – mostly in literature

and in speech, in parts of Dalmatia, and some rural areas – used as a phase verb

meaning start. This is quite unexpected, because it otherwise means stand and even

stop! For example, in a novel written by Marija Jurić Zagorka, you can read:

Stao je hodati kolibom I . He started walking over the hut.

I don’t use it, but be prepared to hear and read it from time to time.

________

® In Serbia and Bosnia, instead of hlače f pl. pants, trousers, pantalone f pl. is used.

• Examples

Haustor (meaning entryway, doorway, in inland parts of Croatia, from German),

fronted by Darko Rundek, was a very popular band from Zagreb, still very popular in

many former parts of Yugoslavia. This song, Bi mogo da mogu Could if I could (a

construction yet unexplained) is from 1988:

Uvijek s malo, premalo para G Always with little, too little cash

Kad upale se svjetla N , ode dim N

A miris N noći G

opet postaje stvaran N is becoming real again

(Darko Rundek, Srđan Gulić)

When lights turn on, smoke leaves

And the smell of night

otići

f

postajati


The noun pare f pl. is a colloquial word for money. The verb upaliti («) is a perfective

verb meaning ignite, turn on. Here nobody has turned on the lights, they ignited,

turned on, so a se² must be used.

The word a¨ in the third line will be explained in the following chapters: it’s another

word for and. We have the verb postajati (postaje) become in that line, and, as

expected, what it becomes is again in N (stvaran real, which agrees with miris, a

masculine inanimate noun).

Ko mnogo puta G do sada Like many times before

On N sanja

He’s dreaming

Kako beskrajno pada... Of falling endlessly...

The word ko is a colloquial form of kao as, like.

The lines on sanja kako beskrajno pada contain a content clause, which will be

explained in 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses. It literally means

he’s dreaming that he’s endlessly falling.

Bilo je rano jutro N tada

It was early morning then

kad je ostavio sve A when he left everything

Čulo se samo kako ptice N pjevaju Only birds singing could be heard

Onda je stajao još dugo

Then he was standing for a long time

s druge strane G ulice G on the other side of the street

The verb pair ostavljati ~ ostaviti leave (e.g. keys) was introduced in previous

chapters. It’s, of course, also used to leave everything. Compare it with the second

line, where otići (ode, otišao, otišla) leave, depart is used, because the smoke goes

away, departs.

The line čulo se samo kako ptice pjevaju will be explained later, in 80 Present

Adverbs and Adjectives. It contains also a content clause and a se²-passive, which

will be explained in the following chapters.

The construction s druge strane ulice means literally ‘from the other side of the

street’, but the meaning is on (such use will be explained in 76 Inner, Outer, Step by

Step: More on Space and Time).

You can listen to it on YouTube. Note that Darko Rundek mostly uses the

standard stress here, despite being from Zagreb.


• Exercise

Fill in the sentences below using the verbs you’ve learned here (use short forms of

pronouns when possible, and frižider for fridge):

______________(a) ____(b) ____(c) dosadno. We got bored.

______________(d) ovdje. I’m staying here.

Ana je ____________(e) ____________(f) knjigu. Ana has started reading a book.

Snijeg je ______________(g) ______________(h). It has stopped snowing.

Gdje je __________(i) __________(j)? Where’s all the rest?

Lonac ______(k) __________(l) u __________(m)! The pot doesn’t fit into the

fridge!

Netko ____________(n) __________(o) vratima. Somebody is standing in front of

the door.

____________(p) ______(q) ______(r) do ________(s). We care about you. (you =

singular)

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 53 Giving Orders 306 / 600

53 Giving Orders

Croatian has special forms of verbs used to give orders: imperatives (imper for

short). In English, the imperative is just a verb without a personal pronoun:

Wait for me!

In Croatian, there’s a special verb form (it’s quite similar to the present tense forms):

Čekaj me A ! Wait for me!

1

Imperatives exist only for the 2nd person singular and plural (I can give orders to

you) and for the 1st person plural (I can give orders to us).

If you know the imper-2 form, it’s very easy to get other forms – all are regular –

and it’s easy to get the imper-2 if you know its pres-3pl:

pres-3pl imper-2 imper-1pl imper-2pl

-u, -e -i -imo -ite

-ju, (-je) ® -j -jmo -jte

-ku -ci -cimo -cite

For example, here are the imper-2 forms of some frequent verbs:

gledati watch → gledaj

učiti learn → uči

pisati (piše) write → piši

ići (ide, išao, išla) go → idi

The imperative gledaj watch! is often shortened to just gle. There’s one completely

irregular imperative:

biti (je² +) be → budi

Most verbs have stress in imperatives like in the infinitive. Verbs in -iti which, in the

standard stress scheme, shift their stress left in the present tense, don’t do it in the

imperative, and that distinguishes some forms which are equal in writing:

govoriti («) speak →

govori = pres-3

govori = imper-2

(Std. stress scheme!)

Only a handful of otherwise ‘irregular’ verbs have the pres-3pl ending in -ku. Such

commonly used verbs are:

reći (reče, rekao, rekla) perf. tell → reci

tući (tuče, tukao, tukla) beat, smack → tuci

vući (vuče, vukao, vukla) pull → vuci

The verb reći is almost never used in the present tense, but its imperative is often

used:


Reci mi A , gdje si bio? Tell me, where have you been?

Other very often used imperatives are (I have listed only their imper-2 forms):

čekaj! wait!

dođi! come here!

pazi! take care!

stani! stop!

As you can see, imperative forms of perfective verbs are often used (more details

below).

Only a few verbs end in -je in pres-3pl; some get imperatives on -j, others on -ji:

bojati (boji) paint → boji ®

brojati (broji) count → broji ®

bojati (boji) se² be afraid → boj se²

(The verb brojati (broji) is very common, although the Standard Croatian has a

slightly different verb brojiti. The same goes for bojati (boji) – the Standard, but

seldom used verb is bojiti. For more details, check 58 Colloquial and Formal.)

For verbs that end in -je in pres-3pl, the imper-2 form is listed in the Core Dictionary.

Now, there’s a problem: should you use an impf. or a perf. verb when you use

imperatives? If we want someone to finish something, perf. verbs are used:

Pročitaj knjigu A . Read the book. (perf. = the whole book)

If it’s not important that someone reads the whole book (e.g. the important part is

somewhere in the middle), then the impf. verb is used:

Čitaj knjigu A . Read the book.

Impf. verbs are also often used to express that someone should do some activity

regularly, or when the object is very generic:

Čitajte knjige A . Read books.

Peri zube A svaki dan A . ‘Wash’ your teeth every day. (i.e. brush)

In the last example (with teeth) the perf. verb could be also used, but using impf.

verbs is more common. Impf. verbs are also used when we want somebody to do

something repeatedly, while perf. verbs usually imply that something should be done

once:

Baci mi A loptu A . Throw me the ball. (perf. = once)

1

Bacaj loptu A . Throw the ball. (impf. = one to many times)

Impf. verbs are sometimes used in imperatives to indicate that we want someone to

start something immediately.®

Negation (don’t sing!) can be constructed in two ways. First, by simply putting the

usual word ne¨ in front of the imperative:

Ne čekajte me A ! Don’t wait for me! (pl.)

1

1


čekajte me !

(pl.)

Ne pjevaj! Don’t sing!

The stress, in the standard scheme, can shift to ne¨, but never for verbs that have

any underline (in my notation), and additionally never for these common verbs:

graditi build


lagati (laže) lie, tell lies

nositi carry, wear


skakati (skače) jump

vikati (viče) yell

voziti drive

Additionally, verbs that have an additional vowel in pres-3 which is underlined, don’t

shift the stress too; common ones are:

prati (pere) wash zvati (zove) call

In the ‘western’ scheme, stress shifts to ne¨ only in very short verbs (one syllable in

imper-2) e.g. ne daj don’t give (from dati perf. give). Consequently, you’ll sometimes

see non-standard spellings such as nedaj and like.

For instance, this sign is written above the door of a building in Zagreb, saying don’t

park – the verb is parkirati («) park – and the hyphen between words is likely just

decorative:

This works for imperfective verbs, but not for most perfective verbs.

Another method is to use a special negative imperative verb and the infinitive of the

verb. This special verb has only imperatives: its imper-2 is nemoj. This works for all

verbs:

Nemojte me A čekati! Don’t wait for me! (pl.)

1

Nemoj otići! Don’t leave!

If you were careful, you could see that the combination ne¨ + verb behaves as one

unit (as usual) so mi², me² etc. come right after it, but nemoj is a word on its own

and words that want to be at the second position come right after it (but the verb in

infinitive cannot come before nemoj).

If a verb requires the word se², it’s required in imperative as well:

Ne boj se! Don’t be afraid!

As in English, there’s no special imperative form for the 3rd person, but you can use

neka + verb in present, similar to English let, but without changes in case (English

changes case: it’s not let she but let her):

Neka uđe. Let him/her come in.


Neka Ana N vozi. Let Ana drive.

The word neka doesn’t change. It has no connection to neki adj. some. You will

sometimes see and hear it shortened to nek.

What about impf. and perf. verbs in negative imperatives? In many cases, perf.

verbs make no sense in negative imperative. Consider this:

Nemoj pročitati knjigu A . Don’t read the book. (perf. = the whole book)

It would mean: you can read the book, just don’t read the whole book. Makes no

sense. However, it makes sense with some other verbs and objects:

Nemoj jesti kolače A . Don’t eat the cakes. (impf. = not even a tiny bit)

Nemoj pojesti kolače A . Don’t eat up the cakes. (perf. = not all of them)

The first sentence means don’t even start eating them, while the second one means

don’t finish the cakes, i.e. leave something. This example is also interesting:

Nemoj bacati knjige A u smeće A . Don’t throw books into the trash. (impf. = any book,

anytime)

Nemoj baciti knjigu A u smeće A . Don’t throw the book into the trash. (perf. = a

specific instance/book)

(I’ve used nemoj to negate impf. imperatives, but I could have used ne bacaj and ne

jedi in the previous example instead).

The first sentence is about throwing any books, or an unspecified group: you can

throw one today, another the next day, etc. It forbids any throwing. The second one

is about throwing a specific book, which can be thrown only once, and then it’s gone.

In other circumstances, we would use bacati even for a specific object – you can

throw a specific ball many times against a wall.

The rule is: when we do something to a specific object – something irreversible, so it

can be done only once – we use perf. verbs in negative imperative.

For example, we don’t want somebody open a window. Since windows can be open,

and then easily closed, and open again, and we don’t want any of it, we would use

an impf. verb:

Nemoj otvarati prozor A . Don’t open the window. (impf.)

But, for breaking a specific window, we would use a perf. verb, since it’s an

irreversible action (true, windows can be repaired, but it cannot be done

immediately):

Nemoj razbiti prozor A . Don’t break the window. (perf.)

Contrary, if we would speak in general, not about a specific window, or a specific set

of them, we would use an impf. verb:

Nemoj razbijati prozore A . Don’t break windows. (impf.)


So, this is a way Croatian expresses indefiniteness of objects: by using imperfective

verbs for irreversible actions.

There is another “special verb” – hajde – also having only imperative forms, that is

used to encourage (like c’mon!):

Hajde, dođi! C’mon, come!

Both special verbs can be used on their own in speech:

Nemoj! Don’t!

Hajde! C’mon!

The verb hajde has slightly irregular forms and also has several colloquial forms.

They are all listed here, together with forms of the verb nemoj:

verb imper-2 imper-1pl imper-2pl

negative nemoj nemojmo nemojte

encouraging

(colloq.)

hajde

ajde

hajdemo

ajmo

hajde

ajde

There’s another verb that can be used colloquially to encourage or strengthen

imperatives:

dati perf. give

This is a perfective verb, and its imperative is used together the imperative of the

main verb. For example:

Daj, čekaj me A ! C’mon, wait for me!

1

There are few exceptions to the rules above, relating to the 1st person plural. For

the verb ići (ide, išao, išla) go, instead of the expected idimo, the present tense form

idemo is used; it applies only to the imper-1pl – other forms are as expected:

imper-2 imper-1pl imper-2pl

idi idemo idite

Furthermore, in colloquial speech, imper-1pl forms aren’t often used. Instead,

hajdemo / ajmo + inf is more common.

However, there’s one imper-1pl frequent in speech and writing: recimo, derived

from the already mentioned reći, meaning of course let’s say (and therefore

suppose, for example etc.).

________

® In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely prevails in Serbia, there’s an

exception in speech from this rule for the “Ekavian” verb razumeti understand: its


imper-2 a bit unexpected razumi, and so on. However, Standard Serbian insists on

the imper-2 form razumej – according to the above rules – which is followed by very

few people in real life, and a source of endless debates on the Internet about what

is ‘right’. Even very educated public figures in Serbia vowed they will stick with

razumi, regardless of what the official Serbian grammar says.

Standard Serbian insists on the imper-2 forms boj and broj, which are rare in speech,

while Croatian allows boji and broji.

Using impf. verb in imperatives to say that we want somebody to start immediately

doing something seems (to me) less common in Croatia, and more common in

Bosnia and Serbia.

• Examples

The song Sanjaj me Dream of me, was the breakthrough hit by Novi fosili in 1977;

they soon became the most popular Croatian pop group.

The song contains just two parts, both are sung twice. The first part has a

characteristic melody:

Ugasnut će jednom ljubav naša N Our love will die out once

f

Negdje drugdje gnijezda A ćemo sviti We’ll weave nests somewhere else

Uspomene A odnijet će vrijeme N Time will carry away memories

U albumu DL ni slike G neće biti There won’t be a single picture in the album

Note how the word order is unusual, subject coming last, emphasizing words that

come first, adjectives coming after nouns. The phrase negdje drugdje somewhere

else (lit. ‘somewhere elsewhere’) is very common. The verb sviti (svije) perf. bend,

weave is seldom used, mostly with gnijezdo nest as the object. The verb odnijeti

perf. carry away is irregular; it will be explained in 65 Carry, Bring, Drive: Transport

Verbs.

The rare verb ugasnuti (ugasne) perf. go out, die out was also used in the song used

as an example in 43 And, Or, But: Basic Conjunctions – both are written by the same

person.

The last verse uses ni + G to enhance negation, meaning not even a; such

constructions will be explained in 67 Only, Except, Too: Inclusion and Exclusion.

The second part, the chorus, has a simple melody. The form sanjaj is an imperative.

The Croatian verb sanjati dream can be used both with A and o¨ + DL, and using just

A if quite common.

The second verse is a time clause (they will be explained in the next chapter). Within

it, there’s za me for me i.e. preposition + short form of pronoun, which is archaic in

speech in most regions (za mene is normally used) but found in poetry. That verse

contain a negative existential phrase with two things in G, linked by ni¨.


Sanjaj me A , sanjaj me A noćas Dream of me, dream of me tonight 1 | 1

[Kad za me A nema

[When, for me, there’s

1

spokoja G ni snova G ] no tranquillity nor dreams]

Noćas me A sanjaj

Dream of me tonight

1

jer možda već sutra because maybe already tomorrow

U snove A ti DL uđe ljubav nova N A new love will enter your dreams 2 | ući | f

(Dea Volarić)

The last verse has possessive DL for dreams. Note how again the adjective comes

after ljubav f love. The verse has also present tense of the perfective verb ući (uđe,

ušao, ušla) come in, enter used to express future, which is not standard, but

common in speech in Zagreb and the region around it.

Note how each verse has a pronoun, three have me², the fourth one ti².

Rajko Dujmić, a member of Novi fosili, heard a short poem by Dea Volarić on the

radio and decided to compose a tune. Then a young poet, Volarić wrote this poem

with some others in her notebook as a teenager. A number of them became hits for

Novi fosili.

You can listen to it on YouTube; check many covers.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 54 When, While, Unl, Before, Aer 313 / 600

54 When, While, Until, Before, After

How to say we’ll go to the beach when the rain stops? Like this:

Otići ćemo na plažu A kad kiša N prestane.

prestati

This sentence is very similar to the English sentence. We have two parts, linked with

the adverb-used-as-conjunction kad(a) when. As in English, it’s the same word that’s

used to create questions (when...?).

We can use the verb prestati (prestane) perf. stop, cease (introduced in 52 Stand,

Become, Exist, Cease), because we refer to an ‘accomplished change’ (and not to

some process) at an unknown point in time, in the future: it’s definitely not now,

since it’s obviously raining now! It’s the same trick as in English, we use the present

tense but it’s really about some future event. The verb otići (...) perf. go, leave is

also used since we are going to accomplish that, not just start an activity and who

knows if we make the beach...

The word kad(a) starts a time clause. The word order is the same as in other kinds of

clauses: check the previous sentence in the past tense (word positions in

superscripts):

Otišli¹ smo² na plažu A [kad¹ je² kiša N prestala]. We went to the beach otići past-mpl

[when the rain stopped].

Such use of the present tense of perfective verbs in clauses to express future events

is widespread in Croatian.

We can use impf. verbs in time clauses too:

Idem tramvajem I kad pada kiša N . I go by tram when it’s raining.

ići

The sentence above has both verbs in the present tense, meaning it’s universal, it

happened and it will happen again. There are no very strict rules how to use tenses

in time clauses, but the main uses are summarized in the following table. It also

indicates that in some cases we can use only one type of verbs (impf. or perf.). We

have to use perf. verbs if we are just waiting for a defined point in time:

past

pres.

pres.

kad past

kad pres.

kad

future kad

pres. (perf.)


pres. (perf.)

(pot.) future (impf.)


happened in

the past

happened and

will happen

immediate

future

plans for

the future


Like in purpose clauses, the verb biti (je² +) be is replaced by bude in such time

clauses – but only for future events, instead of the ordinary present forms.

Otišli smo na plažu A kad je bilo toplo. We went to the beach when it otići past-mpl

was warm. (past)

Odlazimo na plažu A kad je toplo. We go to the beach when it’s warm. (universal)

Odemo na plažu A kad je toplo. We go to the beach when it’s warm.

otići

(universal)

Otići ćemo na plažu A kad bude toplo. We’ll go to the beach when it gets warm.

(future)

Odlazimo na plažu A kad bude toplo. (immediate future, the same meaning)

In such use, the verb (bude) is usually translated with get, become. English does not

use the future tense in such sentences, but when Croatian time clauses contain an

imperfective verb, future should be used, actually the potential future tense (i.e. one

that uses bude):

Trebat ću kišobran A kad bude padala kiša N . I’ll need an umbrella when it’s raining.

Any future actions (employing impf. verbs) in time clauses must use the potential

future tense in the Standard Croatian. In real life, you’ll often see and hear just the

common future tense as well.

There are six more conjunctions often used in time clauses (some of which consist of

more than one word, but behave as one unit, and some of which have alternative

forms):

dok while (+ until)

prije nego što before

nakon što after

čim as soon

kad god / kadgod whenever

otkad(a) / otkako since

There’s not much to say about conjunctions in the right column – use them instead

of kad(a) and you’ll have a different meaning but everything said above stays the

same. For example:

Radi otkad je došla. She has been working since she arrived.

doći past-f

Croatian uses the present tense for an ongoing action (as usual), and the whole

sentence is much shorter, with the exactly same meaning.

The conjunction dok actually means while. When used with impf. verbs, it

corresponds to English while. The main action lasts while the action in the clause

lasts (which is a period of time, since it has an impf. verb):

Kuham dok su djeca N u školi DL . I cook while children are at school. ®

Negated perfective verbs indicate that some event (still) didn’t happen; we can do

something while it still doesn’t happen, i.e. until it happens. And that’s how Croatian

expresses until:


Kuham meso A dok ne postane mekano N . I cook meat until it gets soft. postati

The verb postati (postane) perf. become is another verb that can be translated as

get. Actually, we could have used (bude) in this sentence, with almost no difference

in meaning. The conjunction is not dok ne, the verb in the clause is just negated.

Let’s put it to the past tense:

Kuhala sam meso A dok nije postalo mekano N . I cooked meat until it got soft.

The action (cooking) lasts until the event in the time clause happens (which is an

instant, since it’s a perf. verb). Also, we don’t use a subject pronoun in the clauses

above, since it’s obvious that the subject is meso meat.

Something important: negation in this case is not an ordinary one: it’s a kind of

limited, almost ‘empty’. It implies that something will be accomplished.

Therefore, words like nikad(a) never, ništa nothing and so are normally not used

in such clauses. Despite the negated verb, the overall meaning of the clause is not

negative.

So it’s normal to say:

Pokušavao sam dok nisam našao nešto A . I tried until I found

naći past-m

something.

This is an apparent exception to the ‘all-negative’ rule. Actually, the sentence implies

that the speaker eventually found something, not nothing. So nešto something will

be used here.

It’s common to emphasize dok (in this role) as sve dok:

Kuhala sam meso A sve dok nije postalo mekano N .

Perfective-like verbs, such as vidjeti see are usually understood as plain perfective

verbs, so they can be used only with dok + negation (i.e. meaning until); so, we can’t

say while I see... in Croatian:

Ne znam dok ne vidim. I don’t know until I see.

If something happens when you see something, use kad(a).

You must pay attention when you need prije nego što and nakon što: Croatian

cannot simply reuse prije or poslije with clauses. For example:

(1) I’ll clean the yard before the rain. (before + noun)

(2) I’ll clean the house [before the guests arrive]. (before starts a clause)

Here English just uses the same word to start a clause as the one put before a noun.

The Croatian conjunction is more complicated:

(1) Očistit ću dvorište A prije kiše G .

(2) Očistit ću kuću A prije nego što dođu gosti N .

doći

The three words prije nego što behave as one unit, and second-place words must


come right after it. The same holds for nakon što, corresponding to both

prepositions nakon and poslije. The word order is illustrated by the sentence #2 put

to the past tense:

Očistio sam² kuću A prije nego što su² došli gosti N .

doći past-mpl

Sometimes, when perfective verbs are used after prije nego što, you will find

‘empty’ negations:

Zaustavi ga A prije nego što ne bude prekasno. (sometimes) Stop him before 3m/n

it’s too late. (or: it gets)

This is not mandatory (unlike when expressing until), you don’t have to use it, but be

prepared to hear and read such negations once a while, and apply your common

sense then.

Expressing after with nakon što is very similar:

Očistit ću kuću A nakon što odu gosti N . I’ll clean the house after the guests otići

leave.

There’s never an ‘empty’ negation with nakon što.

After prije nego što and nakon što you can use any tense. It includes using

perfective verbs in the present tense (as in the examples above) – it refers to the

future then. If you want to express that something happened before something else,

and both things happened in the past (from your point of speaking), both verbs

should be in the past (see the examples above). You can also put both parts in the

future, but with perf. verbs, using the present tense for future events is much more

common.

This compares prepositions with conjunctions (used to start time clauses):

+ noun (in G) + clause

while za vrijeme dok (impf.)

until do¨ dok (perf.) + “neg.”

before prije prije nego što

after

poslije

nakon

nakon što

Here “neg.” stands for the mandatory, but ‘empty’ negation. (Of course, nouns can

be with one or more adjectives, with appended nouns in genitive etc.)

You will sometimes hear and read just prije nego without što. It’s not common in

speech, at least mine.

It not uncommon to start a sentence with a time clause; as in English, a comma (,) is

used then:


Čim padne noć N , idemo spavati. As soon the night falls, we are going ići f pasti

to sleep.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter two weird things involving dok. First, in some regions,

colloquially, it’s used also in the meaning when, that is, instead of kad(a).® This is

from the Internet:

Dok dođe vrijeme N ručka G baš i nisam gladna N . (colloq., sometimes) When doći

the lunch time comes, I’m not really hungry.

(The baš i is here a way to say really. There’s no comma: in colloquial writing,

commas are often left out.)

Second, the mandatory negation after dok + perf. verb to express until is... not

100% mandatory. It can be (rarely) left out. It’s not really clear if there’s a small

difference in meaning or not; I don’t think there is.

These two weird things collide. Due to the first thing, dok + perf. verb cound mean

when; due to the second thing, until. You’ll have to apply your common sense if you

hear or read a weird sentence with dok.®

________

® Instead of kuhati, the form kuvati is used in Serbia, and in parts of Bosnia and

Croatia (however, it’s not standard in Croatia).

Leaving the ‘empty’ negation out after dok seems to be more common in Serbia;

however, using dok in meaning when is known only in Croatia, and likely mostly in

the northern regions. It seems that people who use dok as when never leave the

‘empty’ negation out when expressing until, which could explain why leaving the

‘empty’ negation out is less common in Croatia.


The ‘empty’ negation of perfective verbs after dok is also called ‘pleonastic’,

‘expletive’, ‘paratactic’, and maybe there are more weird names. (In this case,

‘expletive’ doesn’t mean vulgar!) You’ll see in the following chapters there’s a

number of constructions where such negation is used, mostly with perfective verbs

in various clauses.

Various ‘empty’ negations – often in expressions which translate to English until –

are a feature of many languages, including French, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew,

Arabic, and of course, languages closely related to Croatian, such as Russian.

It’s interesting that Russian has future tense only for impf. verbs. When you want to

express future for perf. verbs, you simply use their present tense forms. Confusingly,

present tense forms of perf. verbs are often listed in Russian grammars as ‘future

tense’. This is an oversimplification: of course, they can express everyday events and

similar things.


• Examples

A song by late singer-songwriter Arsen Dedić, Takvim sjajem može sjati It can shine

with such radiance, contains a number of time clauses (I’ve put them in brackets

[...]). In most of them, the verb (bude) is used.

The first verses contain some archaic words: ljeto here means year, and bješe is the

so-called imperfect tense, which is extremely rare today, so rare I don’t know other

forms. It was simply another past tense, no real difference in meaning. Also, the

adjective naš is placed after the noun, which is often done in poetry, but almost

never in speech.

Ljubav naša N ranih ljeta G Our love of early years

f

za oboje A bješe jad N was misery for both

sad je prava N , sad je sveta N now it’s true, now it’s sacred

[kada više nisam mlad N ] [when I’m not young anymore]

(Arsen Dedić)

The adjective pravi corresponds to many related English meanings: correct, true,

right; it will be explained in detail in 79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases.

The following verses have a similar structure:

Ove bitke N , ove rane N These battles, these wounds

otkrit će ljepotu svu A will uncover all beauty

[kada budu stvari davne N ] [when they become things long gone]

f

[kad ne budu više tu] [when they aren’t here anymore]

The second verse uses the perfective verb otkriti (otkrije) perf. uncover, discover.

The last two verses have (bude) instead of biti (je² +) be.

In the following verse, što te muče is a short relative clause, literally which bother

you; such clauses will be introduced later.

Ova jutra N što te A muče These mornings bothering you

2

Pružit će i tebi DL sve A will offer everything to you as well

[kada sutra bude jučer [when tomorrow becomes yesterday

a ti N budeš ko N zna gdje] and you get who knows where]

In the second verse, there is a perfective verb from the pair with various meanings:

pružati ~ pružiti stretch, extend; offer

This verb pair basically means extend, stretch (e.g. legs) but also offer (e.g. help,

support) to someone (expressed in DL, of course). The last two verses have again

(bude).

In the last verse, ko is a colloquial form of tko who.



• Exercise


Ne idemo na more ________(a) ____(b) __________(c). We don’t go to the seaside

when it’s cold.

______(d) __________(e) ______(f) vozim. I don’t drink while I drive.

__________(g) kiša __________(h) ______(i) __________(j). It has been raining

since we arrived.

Doći __________(k) __________(l) ______(m) toplo. We’ll come when it gets warm.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 55 More Preposions 320 / 600

55 More Prepositions

It might be a surprise to you that in Croatian, most prepositions require nouns in

genitive.

There are various spatial prepositions that indicate closeness; they are shown here

from the closest to the most distant:

do¨ + G by

uz¨ + A next to

oko¨ + G around

pored¨ + G beside

kod¨ + G at, by

blizu + G near

Not all prepositions listed above use the genitive case, but are listed here because

they belong to this group. The word blizu is not strictly a preposition, as it can be

used on its own.

There a very interesting preposition that indicates (when used with DL, you’ll see

other uses later!) that a motion is along surface, broadly understood:

po¨ + DL on the surface of

For example, if somebody (e.g. a child) is crawling on the floor – Croatian has the

verb puzati (puže) – you would use this preposition to indicate space where the

motion happens. It’s not a direction (you don’t indicate what the goal is) but a kind

of location:

Dijete N puže po podu DL . The child is crawling on the floor.

puzati

The preposition na¨ + DL is not used when you describe motion.

Another classic use of this preposition with DL is to describe a motion that’s

constantly against some surface, e.g. jumping or banging:

Goran N skače po krevetu DL . Goran is jumping on the bed.

skakati

The difference between na¨ + A and po¨ + DL when expressing motion can be nicely

illustrated with the following sentences:

Trčim na plažu A . (A) I’m running to the beach.

Trčim po plaži DL . (DL) I’m running on the beach.

The first sentence expresses destination, the second location (as a surface) where

the entire motion happens. Another common use of po¨ + DL is when someone is

traveling across a country, i.e. visiting many parts (regardless of the country not

perceived as a surface):

Putujemo po Europi DL . We’re traveling across Europe. ®

There’s another preposition:

prema + DL towards / according to

This preposition is used to describe orientation or direction, not a destination, e.g.

trčati

trčati

putovati


when you tell someone to move two steps in the direction of something, or you turn

towards something (which can be a cardinal direction).

It’s also used to express ‘according to’, either a person or something else:

Ovo N nije prema pravilima DL . This is not according to the rules.

Prema karti DL , imamo još dva kilometra 24 do vrha G . According to the map, we have

two kilometers more to the top.

Together with the generic pronoun to, it’s used in a frequent phrase to start a

sentence:

Prema tome,... ‘According to that,...’ = Therefore,...

Some nouns have specific meanings with prepositions. One of most common is red.

This noun has one generic meaning: order. For instance, the TV series Law & Order is

translated as Zakon i red.

A common phrase that includes a preposition and this word is:

u redu DL alright, OK

This is, for example, used in a frequent phrase:

Sve N je u redu DL . Everything is OK.

However, there’s a derived meaning of this noun: an order of waiting, either a

physical waiting line, or a waiting list. When you are waiting and someone else is

also waiting, there are specific meanings with prepositions u¨ and na¨:

u¨ + red (DL / A) waiting, in line

na¨ + red (DL / A) at the front, about to be served

I wrote (DL / A) to remind you that the usual distinction of location (DL) vs.

destination (A) applies here as well, no matter how metaphorical the place is. For

instance, when you want to tell someone that it’s his or her turn to be served, you

should say (politely, or to a group):

Vi N ste na redu DL . You’re next.

(The Croatian expression is also used when people are talking turns, it corresponds

to It’s your turn. then.). However, there’s another way (a bit rarer) to express this,

which used ‘rotated’ cases, now one who is about to be served is expressed with na¨

+ A:

Red N je na vas A . (the same meaning)

Another example, if you ask who should be served (you can hear it in shops, when

more than one person is waiting at one counter):

Tko N je na redu DL ? Who’s next?

There’s yet another preposition which is used in waiting:


preko reda bypassing the line

There’s another often used preposition:

o¨ + DL about

It’s mostly used with the following verbs:

brinuti (brine) se² care

ovisiti depend


razgovarati («) talk

For example (recall, you must use a stressed pronoun with a preposition):

Sve N ovisi o njemu DL . Everything depends on him.

However, with the verb misliti think, this preposition is not used in the way you

maybe expect. It’s rather:

misliti

+ na¨ + A think about

+ A + o¨ + DL have opinion on

For example:

Ne mislim na nju A . I’m not thinking about her.

There are more ‘quasi-locations’. One example, which corresponds to an English

phrase, is:

u obliku + G in the shape of

(The word oblik (oblik-) is an exception to stress-shift rules.) For example:

Imam kutiju A u obliku DL srca G . I have a heart-shaped box.

Another interesting construction uses two prepositions, and can be roughly

translated as unlike:

za razliku od + G unlike X, Y

It’s usually used to contrast subject of the sentence with something else. An

example will make it clearer:

Za razliku A od Austrije G , Hrvatska DL ima more A . Unlike Austria, Croatia has the sea.

There’s something interesting when prepositions are used with indefinite pronouns

and adverbs. When they are used with ones starting with ni-, the prefix ni- gets

detached and becomes a separate word that is placed before the preposition. As

you can see from the table, this doesn’t happen for other indefinite pronouns, and it

doesn’t happen when the preposition bez¨ without is used – something unexpected

happens then:


preposition +

nešto something

od nečega

za nešto

o nečemu

bez nečega

preposition +

ništa nothing

ni od čega

ni za što

ni o čemu

bez ičega

The same holds for e.g. nitko nobody and adverbs like nikuda. However, in

colloquial communication, the ‘split pronoun rule’ is not really respected, so you’ll

hear and see od ničega quite often.

________

® Instead of Europa, a slightly different word Evropa is used in Serbia.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 56 Desires and Demands 324 / 600

56 Desires and Demands

Let me explain how to say I want her to dance in Croatian, and more. In such

expressions, Croatian has a completely different approach than English, and frankly,

Croatian approach is simpler.

English is a subject-oriented language. You have to express a subject even when it

does not make any sense (e.g. it rains). When you express desires, you basically

express wishes about someone or something (don’t worry, it will get really clear

soon). Croatian is quite verb-oriented – subjects are usually omitted, they cannot be

expressed when they would make no sense; when you express wishes, you express

that you want something to happen.

This sounds really abstract, but an example will make it perfectly clear:

X = ona N she

Y = (ona N ) pleše she dances

plesati

Now, how to express that you want X and then Y in English? The sentence I want X

just takes an object you wish (X), and if it’s a pronoun, it goes to the object case (the

equivalent of the accusative case in Croatian):

I want X = I want her.

However, if you want Y, you have to rephrase the action, you still want her, but to

do something:

I want Y = I want her to dance.

From she dances we arrived to her to dance, quite a transformation in English.

Spanish is verb-oriented, like Croatian, but it requires a special form of verb

(subjunctive) after que in desired or imagined events... Croatian is way simpler:

Želim nju A . I want her.

Želim da (ona N ) pleše. I want her to dance. (lit. da + she dances)

plesati

The first sentence uses exactly the same construction as in English, but the second

one is completely different. It uses the conjunction da and then simply what you

want to happen!

Verbs after da obviously don’t refer to anything going on right now: they are just

desired events and processes. Therefore, you can freely use perf. verbs, and you

have to do so, if you want something to get accomplished:

Želim da pročitaš knjigu A . I want you to read the book. (lit. ‘that you read the book

completely’)

The part starting with da is again a clause – a desire clause, very similar to purpose

clause (introduced in 50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons). The placement of

words follows the same rules:


Htio¹ sam² [da¹ me A ² nazoveš]. I wanted you to call me.

1 | nazvati

It will likely be some effort to learn such sentences, since their structure is

completely different than in English, and they often use perf. verbs:

Želim da se Ana N vrati. I want Ana to come back. (lit. ‘that Ana comes back’, perf.)

There’s nothing special about negation in this kind of clauses:

Želim da ne pada kiša N . I want it not to rain. (lit. ‘that the rain doesn’t fall’)

Like in purpose clauses, there are two restrictions. First, you can use only the present

tense after da (but you can use perf. verbs). Second, the verb biti (je² +) be is almost

always replaced by (bude), for example:

Toplo je. It’s warm.

Želim da bude toplo. I want it to be warm.

If you now think that the conjunction da is some special word that introduces

imagined, desired events and processes in Croatian, and that verbs in clauses after it

always come in the present tense, stop immediately.

The word da has about a zillion uses in Croatian, and demands on verbs after da are

determined by the main verb.

For other verbs in the main sentence, there can be other rules for use of verbs in

clauses. There are four main types of clauses in Croatian, regarding behavior of

verbs in them (I’ve invented the names, there are no established names):

Main types of clauses in Croatian

indicative any tense

(the default) no perf. verbs in present

(counter)factual

only past or present

no perf. verbs in present

only the present tense

atemporal perf. verbs allowed


only verbs in inf

infinitive ®

perf. verbs allowed

(see below!)

no conjunction used

Atemporal-type clauses – like ones with željeti above – express the subject, but not

tense. Infinitive-type clauses cannot even express the subject, and they aren’t really

clauses at all, as words attached to inf can be scattered in the sentence:

Želim piti čaj A . I want to drink tea. ®

Željela te A je vidjeti. She wanted to see you.

2


(Such sentences have been covered in 38 Needs, Wishes and Intentions.)

The division above is general, it does not say what conjunction you should use with

indicative and atemporal-type. Reason clauses start with jer and are of indicativetype.

Desire clauses start with da and are of atemporal-type. There are other

clauses that start with da and are of indicative-type, as you’ll see soon.

Also, there are clauses that don’t fall into any of types above, e.g. time clauses with

kad – they have special rules.

There are four more common verbs (actually, two of them are verb pairs) that use

an object and a clause of atemporal-type:

moliti (+ A) (+ DC) kindly ask

pozivati («) ~ pozvati (pozove) (+ A) (+ DC) call, invite

slati (šalje) ~ po- (+ A) (+ DC) send

zahtijevati («) (+ od G) (+ DC) demand

The DC stands, of course, for a ‘desire clause’. This is how you politely ask someone

to do something. For example:

Molim te A da zatvoriš prozor A . Please, close the window. (lit. ‘I’m kindly asking 2

you that you close the window.’)

Pay attention that in all such sentences, the optional object of the main verb is the

same as the subject in the clause: te above is 2nd pers. sing., and zatvoriš is in the

same person (and number).

Another example (unfortunately, I don’t know a simple translation to English):

Poslala sam ga A da kupi kruh A . lit. ‘I’ve sent him that he buys bread.’ ® 3m/n

You could, in principle, use infinitives with slati, instead of clauses, but it’s quite rare

in speech.

So far we have seen a few atemporal-type clauses: purpose clauses and desire

clauses. Atemporal clauses don’t always have to do anything with purposes or

desires. In fact, there’s a common verb that uses atemporal da-clauses:

čekati wait

The following example illustrates again how Croatian is sometimes simpler than

English: in Croatian you just wait for an event, while in English you wait for someone

to do something (recall, Croatian is verb-oriented):

Čekam da me A nazoveš. I’m waiting for you to call me. (lit. ‘that you call 1 | nazvati

me’)

In all these sentences, clauses are really objects – and ‘things’, actually events –

therefore you can just ask:

Što A želiš? What do you want?


— Da zatvoriš prozor A . lit. ‘That you close the window.’

Answers are usually short, but they must be full clauses, what is desired, i.e. da is

mandatory.

Next, there are a couple of impersonal phrases (with an experiencer in DL) that can

use atemporal clauses:

bitno

stalo + DL + biti (je² +)° + da...

važno

They mean it’s important, it matters to DL that... For example:

Bitno mi DL je da ga A nazoveš. lit. ‘It’s important to me that you 1 | 3m/n | nazvati

call him.’

Stalo mi DL je da dođeš. lit. ‘I care that you come.’

1 | doći

(The idiomatic use of stalo was introduced in 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease.)

Of course, you can further strengthen these expressions by putting stvarno really,

jako much, a lot or prilično quite a lot in front of adverbs:

Ani DL je jako važno da vratiš novce A . It’s very important to Ana that you return the

money.

(In Croatian, the noun novac (novc-) money is sometimes used in plural as well.)

The phrases, except ones with stalo, can be also used without any experiencer, as

‘objective’, ‘independent’ statements:

Važno je da vratiš novce A . It’s important that you return the money.

Suggestions and permissions use the same grammar: they will be described in 71

Suggestions, Permissions and More Verbs.

However, other superficially similar impersonal expressions, like drago mi je... use a

different type of clauses – indicative-type clauses, so you can use any tense, but not

perf. verbs in the present tense. They will be introduced in 59 Knowing and Telling:

Content and Noun Clauses.

If both a desire clause and a purpose clause are used in the same sentence, the

purpose clause comes last:

Želim [da kupiš mobitel A ] [da možemo razgovarati svaki dan A ]. I moći pres-1pl

want you to buy a cellphone so that we can talk every day. ®

Finally, there’s a form that extends the rules described above: the verb voljeti

(voli,...) used in conditional. (Hopefully, you recall this verb shifts its meaning a bit in

conditional.) It is a very common way to express wishes. When talking about

possible future things (or even things possible right now) with this verb in

conditional, inf is used ®. Using inf is possible only if someone expresses a desire


about himself or herself. If the subject is different – or there’s none, i.e. it’s

something impersonal – a desire clause must be used:

(1) Voljela bih [imati veliku kuću A ]. I’d like [to have a big house]. (I = female)

Voljela bih [da bude sunčano]. I wish [it would be sunny].

So, with wishes for the future, the conditional of voljeti (voli,...) behaves like any

verb expressing desires.

However, this form also allows you to express wishes about the present and the

past, like the English verb wish: wishes that are opposed to the past or the present

state. The conditional is then used with da-clauses in both past and present tense:

(2) Volio bih [da sam to A znao]. I wish [I had known that]. (I = male)

Volio bih [da imamo veću kuću A ]. I wish [we had a bigger house].

(The adjective veći bigger is a comparative adjective; comparatives will be

introduced in 63 Bigger and Better: Comparatives).

There’s a very important difference: in English, wishes about the past or present

have time-shifted verbs (had known, had; actually, subjunctive) since they relate to

imaginary states or events. Not so in Croatian: there’s no time-shift for unreal,

imaginary states and actions.

Be careful. Clauses in sentences #2 are not desire clauses: they can be in the past

tense as well, and biti (je² +) be is not replaced by (bude):

Volio bih da je sunčano. I wish it were sunny. (about now: it isn’t)

Clauses of the type #2 are (counter)factual. We’ll meet them again in 70 If I Were:

Conditional Sentences. In the present tense, they look almost the same as desire

clauses, but when using the verb biti (je² +) be the difference is clear – desire clauses

use (bude) instead:

Voljela bih da bude sunčano. I wish it would be sunny. (wish for the future)

In most circumstances, this is a very fine difference. The same construction is

possible with the verbs htjeti (...) and željeti (...) in conditional, but they are

significantly less used so.

________

® There’s a preference in Serbia (actually, the preference is stronger more you go to

southeast) to use atemporal clauses starting with da instead of infinitive clauses:

Želim [da pijem čaj A ]. I want to drink tea. (Serbia, esp. southeast)

piti

Since da bude is then used instead of biti (due to the the rule in atemporal clauses)

many Serbian grammars consider bude as the pres-3 form of the verb biti be, which

is just absurd, especially from the Croatian standpoint.


In Bosnia, instead of kruh, hljeb is mostly used; in Serbia, it’s “Ekavian” hleb.

In Bosnia and Serbia, mobile phone is called mobilni (changes as an adjective).

In Serbia, there seem to be no difference in volio bih da... vs volio bih + inf, and

infinitives are rare in speech there anyway.

• Examples

The song Korak od sna A step away from dream, is a pop song by Prljavo kazalište

Dirty Theater, a pop-rock band from Zagreb, from 1983. It has fairly simple lyrics:

Jedan tako običan dan N One so ordinary day

jedna djevojka N one girl

A koju jedva da znam who I barely know

I jedan prazan stan N and an empty apartment

dovoljan razlog N a sufficient reason

za još jednu laž A for one more lie

f

The construction koju jedva da znam is a relative clause: they will be covered in the

following chapters. The noun laž f lie is another feminine noun not in -a to

remember.

The next verses are simple, note that Croatian never switches case in constructions

like you and me: only ‘you and I’ is possible when in position requiring the N case:

Ti N i ja N

You and me

mi N smo korak A sad od sna G we are now a step away from dream

In the expression korak od sna, korak is actually a quantity, and therefore in A

(which is equal to N for this noun). If we would take e.g. sekunda second, the

matching expression would be sekundu od sna.

And then we have a desire clause in the following verses:

Ne želim [da mi DL kažeš I don’t want [you to tell me

1 | kazati

o sebi DL sve A ]

all about yourself]

jer ovo N nije vrijeme N because this is not a time

Romea G i Julije G

of Romeo and Juliet

moje namjere N nisu loše N my intentions aren’t bad

o ne, ja N ne ostavljam oh no, I don’t leave

nikakve tragove A any tracks

(Jasenko Houra)

The preposition o¨ about requires DL, and consequently reflexive DL sebi is used.

The normal word order would be ... sve o sebi, but it’s tweaked here to make it

rhyme.

You can listen to it on YouTube. Check the performance on A strana and the

original version.


original version.

• Exercise


Želim ______(a) __________(b) ovamo. I want you to come here.

Čekamo ______(c) ______(d) ______________(e). We’re waiting for you to call us.

Ana ______(f) je molila da ______________(g) vrata. Ana asked them kindly to

open the door.

Volio bih ______(h) ______(i) ______________(j) . I wish it were summer.

Voljela ______(k) ________(l) ______(m) ______________(n) . I’d like to go to the

seaside.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 57 Whose, What Thing and What Like 331 / 600

57 Whose, What Thing and What Like

There are two questions that look quite different in English:

Whose is this book?

What is this book like?

However, they are quite similar in Croatian, since both use question-words that are

really adjectives:

čiji whose

kakav (kakv-) what... like / what kind

The questions above look like this in Croatian:

Čija N je ova knjiga N ? Whose is this book?

Kakva N je ova knjiga N ? What is this book like?

Bear in mind that both words change in case, gender and number as any other

adjectives: you can ask questions whose or what...like not only for subjects, but for

any noun in a sentence:

Čiju knjigu A čitaš? Whose book do you read?

You would answer with a possessive adjective, in the right case, matching the case

of the question-word (obviously, the accusative case here), number (singular) and

gender (feminine):

— Aninu A . Ana’s.

— Tvoju A . Yours.

You can ask questions of type whose X is that. The word to is always in singular then

(recall to su moje knjige):

Čija knjiga N je to N ? Whose book is that?

Čija N je to N knjiga N ? (an alternative word order)

— Moja N . Mine.

With kakav (kakv-), it’s possible to ask two kinds of questions – about kind and

impression.

To ask about impressions, use the verb biti (je² +) be. An answer is basically an

adjective standing for a subjective experience:

Kakva N je ta knjiga N ? What is that book like?

— Malo dosadna N . A bit boring.

It’s also possible to ask about kind – then the noun we’re asking is usually placed

immediately after the question-word:

Kakvu knjigu A čitaš? What kind of book are you reading?

— Ljubavnu A . A romance book. (lit. ‘Love.’)


Pay attention how both kakvu and ljubavnu are forms that again exactly match the

gender and case of the noun you are asking about – here, feminine singular, the

accusative case – as obvious from their endings!

Of course, it’s also possible to ask:

Kakva knjiga N je to N ? What kind of book is that?

Kakva N je to N knjiga N ? (an alternative word order)

— Ljubavna N . lit. ‘Love.’

Colloquially, it’s possible to ask about personal opinions by adding the person in DL

(recall 23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions):

Kakva N ti DL je knjiga N ? (colloq.) lit. ‘What is the book like to you?’

2

— Dosadna N . Boring.

This question would be best translated how you like the book. As you can see,

superficially similar words (ta, to, ti²) produce completely different meanings.

Finally, it’s possible to ask what book. Pay attention, not simply what (answers could

be a book, a magazine, newspapers etc.), but what book.

For questions of type what book, what car, Croatian uses a specific questionadjective:

koji (a bit specific forms) what... / which

Its forms basically follow the same pattern as moj my – there are longer and shorter

forms. You can in principle use both forms, but longer, regular ones – kojeg, kojem

– are much more common, and standard in Croatia:®

gender N A DL G I

fem. koja koju kojoj koje kojom

neut. koje = N

masc.

(not p/a)

masc.

(p/a)

koji

= N

= G

kojem(u)

kom(e) ®

kojeg(a)

kog(a) ®

kojim

(Forms for the fem. gender are, as usual, plain adjective forms, they are listed here

just for completeness sake.)

Some forms also have optional vowels at their end. There’s absolutely no difference

between kojeg and kojega, and both forms are used (unlike common adjectives,

where such vowels are used only occasionally in writing). For instance:

Koju knjigu A čitaš? What book are you reading?

(you would answer with the title of the book)


Croatian makes no difference between such questions and which-questions (asking

what item from a given selection). In fact, the word koji is often translated as which

and I personally have problems when to use what and when which in English, since

my native language has no such distinction!

Croatian has no pronoun matching the English one. You can answer such questions

using the determining adjective only (in the right case, gender and number, of

course):

Koju jabuku A želiš? Which apple do you want?

— Zelenu A . The green one.

Koje vino A želiš? Which wine do you want?

— Crno A . Red. (lit. ‘black’)

Don’t forget that prepositions also go before the question word, but with these

questions, prepositions can be left out in answers:

Na kojem trgu DL je koncert N ? ‘Which city square is the concert on?’

— Na glavnom DL . On the main one.

— Glavnom DL . The main one.

Likewise, if the context is known, you can ask just:

Koju A želiš? Which one do you want?

The word to that can be added to most čiji, kakav (kakv-) and koji questions,

emphasizing they’re about something present, visible, close to speaker:

Čiju A to N knjigu A čitaš? Whose book are you reading? (I saw you reading it)

Kakvu A to N knjigu A čitaš? What kind of book are you reading? (I saw you reading it)

From the adjectives čiji and kakav (kakv-) there are the following generic adjectives

(sometimes called ‘pronouns’):

svačiji everybody’s

nečiji someone’s

ničiji nobody’s

svakakav (svakakv-) of every kind, diverse

nekakav (nekakv-) of some kind

nikakav (nikakv-) of no kind, of poor quality

The adjectives derived from kakav (kakv-) cannot be easily translated into English.

For example:

Nečiji pas N je pred ulazom I . Someone’s dog is in front of the entrance.

Nekakav pas N je pred ulazom I . A dog of some sort is in front of the entrance.

Adjectives above starting with ni- require the verb to be negated as well, as usual:

Ne vidim nikakvog psa A . I don’t see any dog. (lit. ‘I don’t see no kind of dog.’)

Here nikakav (nikakv-) has meaning close to English no, but keep in mind it requires

negation of the verb.

________


® Shorter forms of the adjective koji – kog(a) and kom(e) – prevail in Bosnia and

Serbia, and are also standard there (beside the longer forms).

• Exercise


________(a) ____________(b) želiš? Which apple would you like?

________(c) ________(d) to ________(e)? Whose keys are these?

________(f) ____________(g) želite? What kind of sandwich would you like?

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 58 Colloquial and Formal 335 / 600

58 Colloquial and Formal

If you look into a Croatian dictionary and look for a word for clothes iron (the thing

to iron your shirt), very likely, you’ll find the word glačalo. However, that word is

extremely rare in real use: a large majority uses another word, pegla (there’s yet

another word for that term, which will be explained below).

The word glačalo is considered ‘standard’ and ‘formal’ and will be used only in

formal circumstances, in written formal language; in casual writing, even in

newspapers, pegla dominates, it’s more than 20 times more common. We say that

the word pegla is colloquial.

There are some formal nouns that are almost never used in speech, for example:

Std. Croatian colloq.

airplane zrakoplov avion

fridge hladnjak frižider

elevator dizalo lift

If you do a Google search on the .hr domain for the phrases u liftu and u dizalu

(both meaning in elevator, of course), you’ll get results like these:

u liftu 34600

u dizalu 3480

Such results, 10:1 in favor of the colloquial word – in writing! – are common: many

colloquial words prevail even in newspapers and fiction books, including

translations. However, you will see the rare standard word from time to time.

Sometimes, Standard Croatian uses a whole phrase, while in everyday use, there is a

simple word:


whipped cream tučeno slatko vrhnje šlag

semolina pšenična krupica griz

The following adjectives are common but colloquial; however standard words are

often used as well:


fresh svjež friški

violet ljubičast lila

pink ružičast roza


There are couple of verbs as well, again the standard words are heard as well:

Std. Croatian

colloq.

lack, miss nedostajati (nedostaje) faliti

fry pržiti frigati

There are some nouns that are specific to Croatian, and feel more formal, but they

are used alongside other, international-sounding nouns, and there’s even a small

difference in meaning (that’s not always observed):

library knjižnica biblioteka

music glazba muzika

system sustav sistem

Then, there are some verbs that are usually used in a form that’s slightly different

than in a (Standard Croatian) dictionary. Two common verbs are:

Std. colloq.

count brojiti brojati (broji)

paint bojiti bojati (boji)

On the internet, colloquial forms are 3-4 times more common than the standard

forms (which are basically limited to newspapers, books, and official writings), and

the colloquial forms completely prevail in speech. The meaning paint above doesn’t

include art, only when you paint a fence, wall, etc.

Many verbs with inf in -jeti also have a standard and a colloquial form. For example,

these are standard forms:

smrdjeti (smrdi, smrdio, smrdjela) stink

starjeti (stari, stario, starjela) grow old

svrbjeti (svrbi, svrbio, svrbjela) itch

štedjeti (štedi, štedio, štedjela) save (money, resources)

vrtjeti (vrti, vrtio, vrtjela) spin, turn

Instead of these forms, you’ll very frequently see – especially in casual writing and

conversation, but also in some newspapers – the following simplified forms, having

just -i-:

smrditi stink

stariti grow old

svrbiti itch

štediti save (money, resources)

vrtiti spin, turn

colloquial,

quite common


Just compare Google statistics for past-f forms on the Internet (.hr domain):

...jela ...ila

smrd... 2100 9700

star... 310 1200

svrb... 2800 2200

šted... 11000 7000

vrt... 14000 24000

Bear in mind that the Internet also includes edited text (laws, newspapers) where

colloquial forms are quite rare.

This applies also to derived verbs, simple ostariti is much more common than

standard forms. For more information about such verbs, check A3 Verbs.

I will list all those verbs with both forms in the infinitive, e.g.

vrtjeti / vrtiti spin, turn

There are nouns that are used in two forms in real life, one masculine, another

feminine – and the feminine form actually prevails – while Standard Croatian insists

on the masculine form only. The common ones are:

Standard common (colloq.)

planet planet planeta

visit posjet posjeta

Then, Standard Croatian insists on three-way demonstrative adverbs of place and

destination:

Standard loc. dest.

close ovdje ovamo

mid tu tamo

distant ondje onamo

However, the adverb ondje is quite rare in real life – you can find it mostly in books

– most speakers use only two-way distinctions, while tamo serves two roles:


colloq. loc. dest.

close ovdje

ovamo

(here) tu

not close tamo

tamo

(there)

(onamo)

For example, on the newspaper site jutarnji.hr, the adverb tamo is 5 times more

frequent than ondje. On the discussion site forum.hr, it’s 27 times more frequent.

The adverb onamo is also less frequent than the others, so I’ve put it into brackets.

Sometimes, the Standard Croatian slowly accepts forms actually used. One example

is the verb koristiti use. It can be used in three ways, and two of them have the

same meaning:

koristiti + A (very common, but non-standard)

koristiti se² + I (less common, but standard)

Using this verb simply with A is being gradually accepted as standard.

Other colloquial words are regional, they are known only in one region, e.g. šlapa

house slipper, to the point that frequently people from other regions will not be able

to understand it.

The following colloquial nouns are commonly used in the coastal region (this is just a

short list, there are many more):

Std./inland coast

bed sheet plahta lancun

fork vilica pirun

pillow jastuk kušin

towel ručnik šugaman

As you’ll see later, many such terms are related to home, especially food an cooking.

Often, there are triplets – one colloquial word dominates inland, another dominates

coastal areas, and there’s a standard word which is used only rarely:


Standard inland coast

clothing iron glačalo pegla šumpreš

screwdriver odvijač šrafciger kacavida

shoelaces vezice f pl. žniranci m pl. špigete f pl.

small meal,

lunch during work

užina gablec marenda

tomato rajčica paradajz

pom

pomidor

So, here’s is the third term used for the clothing iron in Croatia. Some coastalspecific

terms, such as šumpreš, are getting rare, at least in public, while inland (or

standard) terms dominate. (Try Googling for šumpreš). However, marenda or

pomidor are very common.

There are also triplets where all three terms are common in real life:

Standard inland coast

screw (noun) vijak (vijk-) šaraf vida

slice (of cake, bread) kriška šnita feta

You can find more about features of language colloquially used in most coastal

regions in 78 Dijete vs. Dite. (Note that colloquial use in Croatia includes also many

novels, poetry and popular songs.)

Yet other colloquial words are restricted to just one age group, usually teenagers

and young adults, e.g. frend friend (feminine version: frendica). It’s used at many

places, but not by many grandmothers.

English has many word pairs, where one word is an inherited Germanic word, and

another came from French or Latin (e.g. freedom/liberty, stay/remain, etc.).

Croatian has similar pairs, where one word is inherited from Slavic, while another is

Turkic or Greek:

Slavic

Turkic/Greek

bed postelja krevet

well zdenac (zdenc-) bunar

kerchief rubac (rupc-) marama

Both words are used, and interestingly, often Turkic or Greek words prevail in

standard use, even in actual speech, while Slavic prevail in some (western and

coastal) regions, which were less influenced by Turks, and are found in poetry.

Besides colloquial words, there are colloquial ways of expressing various things. One


such thing is telling time in 12-hour manner, and in quarters and halves. It has two

variants, inland and coastal:

time inland coast

14:00 dva dva

14:15 frtalj tri dva i kvarat

14:30 pol(a) tri ® dva i po(l)

14:45

tri frtalj tri tri manje kvarat

tri frtalja tri dva i trikvarat

15:00 tri tri

Observe that inland, number of quarters is relative the last full hour, but expressions

use the next hour! This is a quite non-obvious way to express time. This is similar to

ways in Southern Germany and Austria (and frtalj (frtalj-) comes from German

‘viertel’, meaning quarter). The same non-obvious scheme is common in Hungarian.

This is only a very shallow outline of the real language diversity in Croatia. If we

would add neighboring countries (i.e. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia)

we would have more variation, especially in terms related to home and cooking,

names of various tools, etc. Terms in Serbia sometimes are more common with

colloquial terms in inland Croatia, due to the common German influence, so

paradajz is spoken in both Zagreb and Belgrade; however, there are also many

terms used in Serbia which are almost unknown in Croatia. A very brief overview of

such terms is given in A9 Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin.

________

® Expressing 14:30 as pola tri is also very common in Serbia and Bosnia, but tri

frtalja tri = 14:45 is unknown in these countries.


• Examples

For example, this sign in front of a restaurant in Crikvenica, a coastal town in

Croatia, advertises various lunches, using the plural form marende:

Meanwhile, this sign in Zagreb advertises lunches, using the plural form gableci:

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses 342 / 600

59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses

Let’s learn how to talk about anything else in Croatian. For instance, something has

happened, for instance Ana has bought a car. Now, you know it, and you want to tell

that fact. In English, you would say:

I know (that) Ana has bought a car.

In English, you simply add that + what you know, and the word that is usually left

out. In Croatian, you must use the word da:

Znam da je Ana N kupila auto A .

m

The word da holds the first position in the clause, as usual, so all second-position

words (here just je²) come right after it:

Znam [da je² Ana N kupila auto A ].

m

Such clauses that can hold any information, but follow the same rules as normal

sentences, are called content clauses. The most common verbs used with such

clauses are (by descending order of certainty):

znati know

vjerovati (vjeruje) believe

misliti think

pretpostavljati suppose

Out of these verbs, znati and misliti are most used in spoken language. The verb

misliti normally means think, but with content clauses it maybe better translates as

English guess, suppose, because it’s very uncommon to use it negated. Where you

would say this in English:

I don’t think [they have fish].

In Croatian, the sentence would be phrased as:

Mislim [da nemaju ribu A ]. lit. ‘I think [they don’t have fish].’

Interestingly, the verb vjerovati (vjeruje) believe is mostly used in negative with

content clauses:

Ne vjerujem [da imaju ribu A ]. I don’t believe [they have fish].

Note. The main verb is here negated, but the verb in the content clause isn’t: the

all-negative-or-nothing principle works for each clause separately. Each clause –

the main one and the inserted one – has its own word counting, and its own verb,

which can be negative (which causes certain pronouns and adverbs to be

negative) or not!

Such clauses can be used by verbs of information transfer (really, verb pairs). All of

them allow for an optional recipient of information expressed in DL and a content

clause (or an object in A):


clause (or an object in A):

čitati ~ pro- read

dokaz ivati (-uje «) ~ dokazati (dokaže) prove

javljati ~ javiti inform, let know

govoriti («) ~ reći (reče, rekao, rekla) tell, say

objašnjavati («) ~ objasniti («) explain

pisati (piše) ~ na- («) write

pokaz ivati (-uje «) ~ pokazati (pokaže) show

priznavati (priznaje) ~ priznati admit

For example:

Objasnila je Ani DL da uči hrvatski A . She explained to Ana that she has been learning

Croatian.

The present tense forms of reći (...) are rare: the verb kazati (kaže) is usually used

instead®. This verb is also sometimes used in the true present tense, as an

imperfective verb:

Kažem ti DL da nisam gladna N . I’m telling you I’m not hungry.

kazati | 2

Another option, common in colloquial speech in the Zagreb region, but also known

elsewhere, is to use the verb (veli) which has present tense forms only:

Velim ti DL da nisam gladna N . (colloq.) I’m telling you I’m not hungry.

2

This verb considered a bit archaic in other regions.

You can talk about what someone said (reported speech). For instance, someone

said:

„Učim hrvatski A .” “I’m learning Croatian.”

To report about it, you should (as in English) change it to the 3rd person, since you’re

talking about someone else (here I assume that that person is female, but the

Croatian sentence is here completely unspecific, since it’s in the present tense):

Kaže da uči hrvatski A . She says she’s learning Croatian.

kazati

Znam da će padati kiša N . I know it’s going to rain.

However, if you report about the past, in English the reported clause gets timeshifted,

e.g.:

She said she was learning Croatian.

I knew it was going to rain.

There’s no time-shift in Croatian. We simply report things in the original tense (that’s

one more thing where Croatian is simpler than English):

Rekla je da uči hrvatski A .

reći past-f

Znala sam da će padati kiša N .

Therefore, we literally say ‘I knew it will rain’.


Croatian content clauses are simply normal sentences inserted, with a da put to

the front. There’s no rearrangement (except for the second position words

coming after da). There’s no replacement of biti with (bude). Perfective verbs

cannot be used in the present tense unless the verbs can be used in normal

sentences, etc. This behavior is completely different from superficially similar

desire or purpose clauses, which also start with da.

Next, you can use any information in your sentence. For example, where the car is:

Gdje je auto N ? Where is the car?

m

Znam [gdje je auto N ]. I know where the car is.

m

Pay attention how English is holds different positions in the question and the I-know

sentence. This doesn’t happen in Croatian, there’s no rearrangement whatsoever.

(You cannot use any other arrangement, as the question-word, here gdje, must start

both a question and a derived clause).

Questions are simply re-used as clauses, now da must not be used, since you already

have a "connecting" word to start the clause. The following examples are a ‘what’

and an ‘opinion’ clause:

Što A si rekao? What did you say?

reći past-m

Čula sam [što A si rekao]. I heard [what you said].

reći past-m

Što A da radim? What should I do?

Ne znam [što A da radim]. I don’t know [what I should do]. (or what to do)

I sometimes make mistakes in English, keeping the question word order – my native

language has no rearrangement. You can use questions for reasons, time, etc.:

Ne znam [zašto je otišla]. I don’t know why she left.

otići past-f

Next, you can express that you don’t know if something is true or not (or you’re

trying to find out, or you’re interested in, etc.). In Croatian, you simply use yes/no

questions as clauses:

Je li kupila auto A ? Did she buy a car?

m

Ne znam [je li kupila auto A ]. I don’t know if she bought a car.

m

Again, the English sentence must be rearranged – from a question to a report – but

Croatian is not rearranged. You simply use questions as clauses!

However, you cannot use shortened forms of questions. In the following examples,

shortened questions (S) cannot be used as clauses, only the full forms (F):

(F) Da li da kupim auto A ? Should I buy a car?

(S) Da kupim auto A ? (the same, but shortened)

Ne znam [da li da kupim auto A ]. I don’t know if I should buy a car.

This applies to colloquial forms as well:

m

m

m


(F) Jel idemo u kino A ? (colloq.) Are we going to cinema? ®

ići

(S) Idemo u kino A ? (the same, but shortened)

ići

Zanima me A [jel idemo u kino A ]. (colloq.) I wonder if we’re going to cinema. 1 | ići

Besides znati know, and two verbs vidjeti (...) see and čuti (čuje) hear, introduced

long ago, there are following common verbs of knowledge and perception:

osjećati ~¹ osjetiti (+ A/CC) feel

primjeć ivati (-uje «) ~¹ primijetiti («) (+ A/CC) notice

razumjeti (razumije,...) (+ A/CC) understand

shvaćati ® ~~ shvatiti (+ A/CC) understand

You have likely noticed some special notation in the verb pair list (~¹, ~~). Actually,

the perf. verbs in such pairs are not ordinary perf. verbs. They rather indicate start

of state or a single instance. Therefore, osjetiti means feel for a moment, while

shvatiti indicates the moment you understood something – it’s implied you

understand it from then on (like e.g. come to understand). Such verbs are explained

in detail in 81 Sneeze Once and Start Blooming.

As with znati know, these verbs are used either with objects in A or content clauses:

Primijetila je da nema Ane G . She noticed that Ana wasn’t there. (lit. ‘that there was

no Ana’)

Osjećam da će padati kiša N . I feel it’s going to rain.

Razumijem da nemaš puno vremena G . I understand you don’t have razumjeti

much time.

Very similar are the following verbs and verb pairs:

nadati se² (+ DL/CC) hope

sanjati (+ A/CC) dream

zamišljati («) ~ zamisliti (+ A/CC) imagine

For example:

Sanjao sam da sam na odmoru DL . I dreamed I was on vacation.

Nadam se da je Ana N došla. I hope Ana has arrived.

doći past-f

(Observe again the tense shift in English vs. no shift in Croatian.)

You will sometimes see (mostly in writing) using kako instead of da when content

clauses are objects of the verbs above. Recall this line from the example in the

chapter 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease:

On N sanja [kako beskrajno pada] lit. ‘He’s dreaming [he’s falling endlessly]’

You can talk about content clauses, making them really subjects. Since they are not

nouns, they behave as if neuter singular, as you can see from the past tense:

Dobro je [da ne pada kiša N ]. It’s good [it’s not raining].

Bilo je dobro [da nije padala kiša N ]. It was good [it wasn’t raining].


The second clause is in the past tense: we’re not reporting what somebody else said,

but what was. There are a lot of similar ways to comment content, e.g. with the

following words instead of dobro:

bolje better

čudno strange, weird

glupo stupid

jasno clear

loše bad

očito obvious

strašno terrible

šteta too bad

You can use many other adjectives to comment on content, including colloquial

super great and more. You can add also who thinks/feels that in DL:

Ani DL je jasno da... It’s clear to Ana that...

Ani DL je bilo jasno da... It was clear to Ana that...

There’s one special rule – if you just comment (without who feels/thinks in DL) in the

present tense, you can leave je² out (I’m not completely sure if that’s accepted in

standard or not, but it’s quite widespread):

Dobro da ne pada kiša N . It’s good it’s not raining.

There are two very common and similar expressions, with stronger meaning than

dobro da...:

srećom da...

fortunately

sva sreća da...

The expression sva sreća da... is especially common to express that something

might have been much worse (e.g. a building collapsed, but, fortunately, nobody was

in it at that moment):

Sva sreća da ne pada kiša N . Fortunately, it’s not raining.

You can express feelings with dative phrases involving drago and žao:

Ani DL je žao da... Ana was sorry that...

Ani DL je bilo drago da... Ana was glad/happy that...

You can like content (here content clauses are again subjects):

Sviđa mi DL se da je Ana N došla. I like that Ana came.

1 | doći past-f

You can also refer to the content expressed before using the general pronoun to.

That’s often used in conversation, but also common in writing:

Ana N je kupila auto A . Ana bought a car.

m

— Nisam to A znao. I didn’t know that.

You can use to and a content clause anywhere, even after prepositions (you have to

change to into the right case):

Razgovarali smo o tome DL da je Ana N kupila auto A . We discussed about Ana m

buying a car. (lit. ‘about that Ana has bought a car’)


If you comment on a known fact, you can use što instead of da – it doesn’t change

when in this role:

Dobro je što ne pada kiša N . It’s good it’s not raining. ®

This construction is also used to thank somebody for something, but it’s mandatory

to use što then:

Hvala što ne pušite. Thank you for not smoking. (lit. ‘Thank you that you don’t

smoke.’)

Hvala ti DL što mi DL pomažeš. Thank you for helping me. (lit. ‘Thank you that

you’re helping me.’)

The DL in the main clause (e.g. ti² in the second example) is optional. English uses a

2 | 1

completely different construction here, while Croatian simply uses a content clause;

however, da cannot be used, only što.

You can also ask about things within content clauses, using the same way as in

English:

Što A misliš [da sam kupila]? What do you think [I’ve bought]?

Gdje A misliš [da je Ana N ]? Where do you think [Ana is]?

Such questions are mostly ‘decomposed’ in speech, into two questions (the first

starting always with što what):

Što A misliš, što A sam kupila? lit. ‘What do you think, what have I bought?’ ®

Što A misliš, gdje je Ana N ? lit. ‘What do you think, where is Ana?’

Something interesting (but expected from everything above) happens when we ask

yes/no questions and they contain context clauses. Such questions are

‘decomposed’ less often, ans the interesting part are the answers – they are simply

re-used as content clauses:

Misliš li da je more N toplo N ? Do you think the sea is warm?

Misliš da je more N toplo N ? (the same, but colloq.; you can use other forms too)

— Mislim da je. I think it is.

— Mislim da da. lit. ‘I think that yes.’

— Mislim da nije. I think it isn’t.

— Mislim da ne. lit. ‘I think that no.’

As you can answer a yes/no question with a verb or with a da or ne, you can answer

such questions with mislim da + verb or mislim da da or mislim da ne. Again, the

verb misliti is not negated, but the content clause can be: such answers are similar

to English I guess so and I guess not.

Of course, you can remember some event, forget to do something, then you can

expect or fear that something might happen, etc.; I will explain all such uses in 69

Memories, Expectations and Fear.


________

® You’ll encounter rečem and so on from time to time, especially in Dalmatia, where

it’s often used in everyday speech.

Instead of kino, the word used for cinema in Serbia and most of Bosnia is bioskop.

Instead of shvaćati, a slightly different verb shvatati, is common in most parts of

Bosnia and in Serbia.

Although što is colloquially replaced by šta, and such replacement is complete in

Bosnia and Serbia, in both the standard languages and the actual speech, it’s almost

never replaced when što starts a content clause. However, it is often replaced in

colloquial speech in Dalmatia. Of course, when što starts a real question (što

misliš...?) it’s normally replaced by šta.

• Examples

The song Sve je u redu Everything is OK by Flyer, a pop-group from Zagreb, contains

a number of desire and content clauses.

The first verse uses the verb skrivati hide and, as usual, it’s just lice face – the

possession is implied:

Ne skrivam osmijeh A s lica G I’m not hiding the smile from my face

Želim [da znaš

I want [you to know

[Da sve N je u redu DL [Everything is OK

ovaj dan A ]]

on this day]]

(Mirko Kovač)

The second verse has a desire clause that contains a content clause (in the third

verse). The word je² is the third word in the clause, likely due to rhythmic reasons

(but also you can treat sve je u redu as a kind of phrase).

The following lines have a content clause in a content clause, but the inner clause

starts with kako (it could have started with da without any difference):

Mislim [da ne misliš I think [you don’t think

[kako svemu DL je kraj N ]] [everything is over]]

Al sve N je u redu DL But everything is OK

ovaj dan A

on this day

The line svemu je kraj is the construction:

biti (je² +) kraj + DL

It means something (expressed in DL) is over. The noun kraj is the (formal) subject.

The word al is just ali but, colloquially shortened, which is common.



• Exercise


Ne __________(a) ________(b) ______(c) plaža. We don’t know where the beach is.

__________(d) ______(e) ____(f) ____(g) ________(h) hladno. She knew it was

going to be cold.

______________(i) ____(j) ____(k) ____(l) nešto __________(m). I feel something is

going to happen.

______________(n) ____(o) ____(p) ____(q) hladno. I don’t think it will be cold.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 60 More Useful Verbs and Verbal Paerns 350 / 600

60 More Useful Verbs and Verbal Patterns

Now, let me introduce a couple of very useful verb pairs. The first one is the main

way to express success and failure in Croatian:

uspijevati («) ~ uspjeti (uspije, uspio, uspjela) succeed ®

The impf. verb has the Standard stress shift to the 1st syllable (-ije- is usually one

syllable when inside a word), but the perf. verb is pronounced as three syllables in

the present tense: us-pi-je, like piti (pije) drink.

Unlike English, this verb takes a verb in inf – or an infinitive clause, i.e. an inf with an

object and possibly other words attached – as its object. It can be translated with

English succeed or manage:

Uspjeli smo riješiti problem A . We succeeded in solving the problem. ®

Uspjela je otvoriti prozor A . She managed to open the window.

Nisam uspio pročitati knjigu A . I failed to read the book.

This verb is not used to ‘manage household’ and similar things – only to manage to

do something.

Like trebati need/should, this verb pair can be – and often is – used in the ‘reverse’

mode: what is achieved (or not) is the subject (in N), and the person (or animal) who

was responsible is optionally expressed in DL. As usual, if the subject is a verb in inf,

it behaves like neuter singular:

Uspjelo nam DL je riješiti problem A . We succeeded in solving the problem.

Uspjelo joj DL je otvoriti prozor A . She managed to open the window.

Nije mi DL uspjelo pročitati knjigu A . I failed to read the book.

Note that problem, prozor and knjiga are not the subjects: the subjects are now the

verbs in inf: riješiti and so on.

In this mode, the verb pair is more versatile: the subject can be also a noun:

something that you succeeded in making (or failed to make). Now you must observe

the gender of subject in the past tense:

Kolač N je uspio. The cake turned out fine.

Uspio nam DL je kolač N . We succeeded in making the cake.

1pl

I have already explained important verbs derived from ići (ide, išao, išla) go and

stajati (staje) ~ stati (stane) stand, now I will show you two more important

‘families’. The first one is derived from the verb pair:

stavljati ~ staviti put, place

These verbs are simple to use – just use A for what you put, and a destination (unlike

in English!) for where you put something:

Stavio sam pivo A u frižider A . (colloq.) I’ve put the beer in the fridge.

1pl

3f

1


(I marked this as colloquial, but the Standard Croatian noun hladnjak is very rare in

real life.) Of course, you can also specify the location of the destination, i.e. where

the fridge is (e.g. u frižider u kuhinji).

The verbs are derived from this pair in the same way as with the stand pair: the

same prefix is attached to both verbs and we get a new pair with a different

meaning than the original one. Two pairs we have already encountered:

ostavljati ~ ostaviti leave (a thing)

pretpostavljati ~ pretpostaviti suppose, assume

The verb pair ostavljati ~ ostaviti is frequently used with a metaphoric location na

miru in peace, in meaning leave alone, that is, not interfere:

Ostavio sam ga A na miru DL . I left him alone.

3m/n

Another frequently used verb pair is:

nastavljati ~ nastaviti keep on, continue

This pair is usually used with another verb in inf (it can be also used with an object in

A, usually some activity). This is another phase verb – the verb after it should be

impf., since we describe action, and not outcomes:

Nastavio sam čitati. I continued reading. ®

This can be also translated as kept on reading – this verb pair is the way to express

that meaning in Croatian. Also, you likely noticed that the prefix na means on.

This verb pair translates to several meanings in English:

postavljati ~ postaviti set

The basic meaning is set, in the meaning fix, put on an elevated place, erect (a

monument), but also make ready (e.g. set the table). It’s not used in the meanings

set free, set in motion (Croatian has specific verbs for such actions):

Ana N je postavila stol A . Ana has set the table. ®

When you want to express where something is placed or fixed, you have to use

destinations, like for the base pair, but again unlike in English:

Postavit ću sliku A na zid A . I’ll put the picture on the wall.

Interestingly, this verb is also the most common verb used to formulate and ask

questions:

Postavio sam dva pitanja 24 . I asked two questions. (I = male)

These two verb pairs have exactly the opposite meaning:

rastavljati ~ rastaviti take apart, disassemble

sastavljati ~ sastaviti put together, assemble

When you disassemble something, the result is expressed in na¨ + A (usually in


plural):

Goran N je rastavio igračku A na dijelove A . Goran has disassembled the toy to its

parts.

The following table summarizes this verb pair and its (common) family:

stavljati ~ staviti


none A (+ dest) put, place

po- A (+ dest) set, place, erect

A

leave

o-

A na miru leave alone

na- A / inf continue

pretpo- da + clause suppose that...

ra- A (na A) take apart (to...)

sa- A put together

There are more verb pairs derived from this base pair; these were just the most

common ones.

Another very common verb family is derived from:

davati (daje) ~ dati give

The verb pair is simply used with two objects, one in A (what is given) another in DL

(who got it):

Ana N je dala Goranu DL čokoladu A . Ana has given Goran a chocolate.

This pair is used first in literal meaning of ‘give’, not when e.g. ‘giving a lecture’.

However, it has more uses than this basic one (it could be argued that dati behaves

as a ‘modal’ verb in some circumstances). They will be explained gradually.

It’s interesting that the perf. verb dati is often used in the present tense, especially

when negated, to indicate intentions:

Ne dam ti DL loptu A . I don’t want to give you the ball.

2

The perf. verb is short (its pres-3 is only one syllable) so it’s one of few verbs where

stress shifts to the negative particle ne¨ even in the ‘western’ stress scheme. This is

the cause of quite frequent (but non-standard) spellings like nedamo we don’t want

to give and like.

This verb pair is also used in an interesting phrase:

davati (daje) ~ dati + sve od sebe do his/her/their best


For example:

Dali smo sve od sebe. We did our best.

All verbs derived from this pair follow the same pattern, e.g.:

dodavati (dodaje / dodaje) ~ dodati

I’ll show you three common derived verb pairs. Each of them behaves like the base

pair: there are two objects, one in A, another, optional, in DL.

With the prefix do-, the meaning is add, but also pass (e.g. salt or ball in a game):

Ivan N je dodao loptu A Marku DL . Ivan passed the ball to Marko.

This verb can be used for mathematical addition, but there’s another verb pair with

the specifically mathematical meaning:

zbrajati ~ zbrojiti add (in math)

With the prefix pro-, the meaning is sell:

Darko N je prodao auto A Ani DL . Darko sold the car to Ana.

m

Ivan N prodaje jabuke A . Ivan sells apples.

prodavati

The third common verb pair is derived with pre-, with the meaning hand over:

Poštar N je predao pismo A Ani DL . The postman handed the letter over to Ana.

The impf. verb from this pair is also used in meaning give lectures (for more

information, check 73 Learning and Renting: Verbs Shifting):

Ivan N predaje matematiku A . Ivan teaches math.

predavati

All three pairs have also alternative forms of present tense of the impf. verb, which

are regularized, i.e. dodavam, etc. They are much less common that the standard

forms.

This table summarizes the four verb pairs:

davati (daje) ~ dati


(none) A (DL) give

do- A (DL) add

pre- A (DL) hand over

pro- A (DL) sell

There are more common verbs derived from this pair. One of them is derived with

u-. It behaves differently than the pairs above, and has a bit unexpected meaning:

marry. Moreover, its use is rather specific; for more details, check 89 Customs and

Traditions.


All the pairs we have seen are simply derived from the base pair, by prefixes. This

pattern of derivation can be called symmetric.

The pair opposite to davati (daje) ~ dati give is:

dobivati («) ~ dobiti (dobije) get

This verb pair is used with an object in A (more or less mandatory):

Ana N je dobila poruku A . Ana has got a message.

The origin can be expressed by adding od¨ + G:

Ana N je dobila poruku A od Ivana G . Ana has got a message from Ivan.

There is also an alternative, non-standard present form of the impf verb: dobija.

If you know only English, you should pay attention that this pair is used in a very

restricted manner compared to English get: only when you physically get

something, but also when you get an e-mail, disease, idea or chance.

It’s not used to express it’s getting dark, somebody got (understood) something,

they got busy, or a plane got delayed...

Instead of the English multi-purpose get, other verbs (i.e. verb pairs) must be used in

Croatian in the following common situations:

English get

I got beer from the fridge

I got what you said

I got home, got to work

I’ve got the tickets

I’ve got to go, gotta go

I got hungry

I’ve got my hair cut

I got my car repaired

Croatian verb(s)

donositi («) ~ donijeti (donese,...) bring


dolaziti ~ doći (dođe, došao, došla) come

imati have

morati must

postajati (postaje) ~ postati (postane) become

rephrase, use specific verbs

However, if you say that you literally got the tickets (i.e. you wasn’t sure there were

any tickets left, but you got them) you should use dobivati («) ~ dobiti (dobije) get.

This is an example where English is quite imprecise.

Some of the specific verbs in the table above have been already explained;

expressing bring will be explained in the following chapters. The last line (got my car

repaired) is called causative. It can be also expressed with the verb have:

I have my car repaired.

It’s impossible to express exactly this in Croatian. Usually, it’s expressed either


impersonally (popravili su moj/mi auto they repaired my car) or using passive m

constructions (matching English my car was repaired). A Croatian passive

construction will be introduced right in the next chapter.

________

® “Ekavian” forms, which dominate in Serbia, apply to the perf. verb uspjeti, in the

same way as for razumjeti (razumije,...) understand: its “Ekavian” form is uspeti,

the verb is fully regular, but the pres-3pl is uspeju.

In Serbia, infinitives are less often used in speech (and they get rarer more you go

southeast), the form da + present prevails. In Serbia, it would be much more

common to say:

Uspeli smo da rešimo problem A . We succeeded in solving the problem.

Uspela je da otvori prozor A . She managed to open the window.

. . .

Nastavio sam da čitam. I continued reading.

The noun stol table has the form sto (stol-) in Serbia and most of Bosnia, but it’s still

masculine.

• Exercise


________(a) ________(b) loptu! Pass me the ball!

__________________(c) spavati. I keep on sleeping.

____________(d) ________(e) auto. I sold the car.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 61 Cake is Eaten: Passive Adjecves 356 / 600

61 Cake is Eaten: Passive Adjectives

English is well-known for reusing various verb forms. For instance, the same word

(eaten) has two quite different meanings in the following sentences:

Ana has eaten. (what she did)

The cake is eaten. (state of the cake)

Croatian has a different approach – each meaning has a different word. Words

corresponding to the second meaning – adjectives for what happened to something

or someone are called passive adjectives.

Passive adjectives are verb forms, but not all verbs have a meaningful pass.

adjective. Verbs that cannot have an object (e.g. sleep – you cannot sleep

something) won’t have an adjective that’s really used.

There are some verbs (and verb pairs) that can have an object, but their pass.

adjective is never used. Some of them are:

čuti (čuje) hear

htjeti (hoće +,...) want

imati have

osjećati ~ osjetiti feel


It’s difficult to explain why the pass. adj. of razumjeti (...) isn’t used, while the pass.

adj. of shvatiti perf., a verb with a very similar meaning, is used. Likewise, željeti

(želi, želio, željela) wish, desire has a used pass. adj., but htjeti (...) doesn’t!

Likewise, there’s no pass. adj. from verbs that don’t use objects in A, such as

uspijevati («) ~ uspjeti (uspije,...) succeed and similar ones.

Passive adjectives can be made for both impf. and perf. verbs. However, since perf.

verbs indicate that the action is complete, pass. adjectives made from them are used

more often. In fact, pass. adjectives of most impf. verbs are not used at all, or are

extremely rare. The following impf. verbs have pass. adjectives that are frequently

used in speech:

čistiti clean

čitati read

čuvati keep

gledati watch

graditi build

koristiti use

kuhati cook

očekivati (očekuje) expect

peći (peče,…) bake

pratiti follow

pržiti fry

nositi carry/wear

voljeti (voli,…) love

željeti (želi,…) wish, desire

It’s worth knowing that Croatian has one more way of expressing passive,

introduced in 64 The Door Opens: Fun with se², with less restrictions.


All passive adjectives in Croatian end in either -n (a vast majority) or -t. Always keep

in mind that they are real adjectives, that is, they must adapt to gender, case and

number.

For regular verbs that have infinitive ending in -ati, it’s really simple to make a pass.

adjective, just replace -ati with -an:

verb

gledati watch

napisati (napiše) perf. write

poslati (pošalje) perf. send

pass. adj.

gledan watched

napisan written

poslan sent

As you can see, even verbs that have a bit irregular pres-3 follow this simple pattern

if their inf ends in -ati.

Since these words are adjectives, they adapt to nouns as any other adjectives do.

For example:

Pismo N je napisano N i poslano N . The letter is written and sent.

For verbs that don’t have infinitives in -ati, the rules are more complicated.

For most verbs that have pres-3 ending in -e, their pass. adjective is simply made by

adding -n to the pres-3 (I have omitted all past forms for clarity):

verb

naći (nađe) perf. find

peći (peče) bake

pojesti (pojede) perf. eat

plesti (plete) knit

pass. adj.

nađen found

pečen baked

pojeden eaten

pleten knitted

Finally we can say:

Kolač N je pojeden N . The cake is eaten.

Since this adjective is derived from a perfective verb, it’s implied that the cake is no

more.

For verbs that have pres-3 ending in -i – and there are many such verbs – the -i is

removed and -en is added. Unless they are Croatian-specific or an r, consonants

before -en get changed, e.g. t is changed to ć (I have again omitted all past forms for

clarity):


verb

naučiti («) perf. learn

pržiti fry

otvoriti («) perf. open

zatvoriti («) perf. close

platiti perf. pay

shvatiti perf. understand

vratiti perf. return

pass. adj.

naučen learned

pržen fried

otvoren open

zatvoren closed

plaćen paid

shvaćen understood

vraćen returned

For example:

Škola N je zatvorena N . The school is closed.

Stojim pred otvorenim vratima I . I’m standing in front of the open door. stajati

Knjiga N je vraćena N . The book is returned.

Račun N nije bio plaćen N . The bill was not paid.

Other consonants and consonant groups undergo more complicated changes. Bear

in mind, the infinitive is not important here, but the pres-3:

verb

pass. adj.

baciti perf. throw bačen thrown

spasiti perf. rescue ® spašen rescued

zaraziti perf. infect zaražen infected

vidjeti (vidi) see viđen seen

voljeti (voli) love voljen loved ®

napuniti perf. fill up napunjen filled up ®

kupiti perf. buy kupljen bought ®

napraviti perf. make napravljen made ®

primiti perf. receive primljen received ®

For example:

Auto N je napravljen N u Poljskoj DL , a kupljen N ovdje. The car is made in Poland

and bought here.

Poruka je već primljena. The message is already received.

Moj auto N je popravljen N . My car has been repaired.

The last sentence can be used to translate I got my car repaired from the previous

chapter (the verb is popraviti perf. repair; it will be introduced in 79 You’re Wrong

and Other Phrases).

Other verbs that have pres-3 ending in -i follow the patterns of the verbs above; if

m

m


there are two consonants before the -i, they both undergo the change (however, if

the final consonants are st, some verbs get only št, while others get šć):

izmisliti perf. make up → izmišljen made up ®

čistiti clean → čišćen cleaned

koristiti use → korišten used ®

pustiti perf. let go → pušten released, freed

A few verbs with pres-3 ending in -i don’t have the expected shift; the most common

is:

zaposliti («) perf. employ → zaposlen employed

A few verbs have pass. adjectives that don't follow the above rules, e.g.:

skriti (skrije) perf. hide → skriven hidden

Since pass. adjectives are often used, you can remember them as separate words,

not verb forms.

It’s interesting that most pass. adjectives of perf. verbs have the Standard stress on

the first syllable (even if neither present nor infinitive has the stress on the first

syllable), and the ‘western’ stress on the same syllable where the inf is stressed:

inf pres-3 pass. adj.

pročitati pročita perf. read pročitan read

However, verbs in -sti and -ći that have a rightward stress shift in the present tense

have pass. adjectives stressed like the present tense forms:

ispeći (ispeče,...) perf. bake → ispečen

This also applies to some verbs in -sti that have a shift only in the ‘western’ scheme:

pojesti (pojede) perf. eat → pojeden

Finally, there are verbs with infinitives in -nuti; they are again simple to transform

into pass. adjectives – for almost all of them, just discard the final -i and you have a

pass. adjective. Unlike others, it ends in -t and not in -n:

verb

gurnuti (gurne) perf. push

pokrenuti (pokrene) perf. start, move

pass. adj.

gurnut pushed

pokrenut started

The same holds for verbs similar to uzeti:

verb

zauzeti (zauzme) perf. occupy

pass. adj.

zauzet occupied


Infinitives of these verbs are similar to passive adjectives – actually, N-pl masc.

forms of pass. adjectives are identical to infinitives. However, stress distinguishes

some verbs from passive adjectives (in the Standard scheme):

pokrenuti verb (inf.)

pokrenuti pass. adj. (N-pl masc.)

zauzeti verb (inf.)

zauzeti pass. adj. (N-pl masc.)

________

® In Serbia, beside the verb spasiti perf. save, rescue, a similar verb is common:

spasti (spase, spasao, spasla), with the same meaning. Its passive adjective is

spasen, as expected. There are frequent discussions in Serbia which one of these

two verbs is ‘right’ (or ‘better’). A number of Serbian ‘linguists’ have been opposed to

spasiti for decades, but it appears to be more common in Serbia than spasti (...)!

However, you will occasionally encounter spasti (...) in Croatia as well.

“Ekavian” forms, which completely dominate in Serbia, have e instead of je or ije in

almost all places, but this replacement doesn’t apply to suffixes forming passive

adjectives! While the “Ekavian” form of voljeti love is voleti, the “Ekavian” pass.

adjective is voljen. The same applies to all other pass. adjectives formed with -jen.

In Serbia, few pass. adjectives have the regular šć where they don’t in Croatia: one

of them is korišćen. However, forms with šć are also used colloquially in parts of

Croatia, including pass. adjectives that have št in Standard Serbian, so you’ll

occasionally hear pušćen and others.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of adjectives and other words:

Trgovina je ______________(a). The shop is open.

Vino je ________________(b). The wine is drunk.

Vrata su ________________(c). The door is closed.

Paket je ________________(d). The package is sent.

Kocka je ____________(e). The dice is thrown.

Poruka nije ________________(f). The message is not received.

Hrana je ____(g) ________________(h) kutiji. The food is in a closed box.

Računi ________(i) ____________(j). The bills aren’t paid.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 62 The Friend I Saw: Relave Clauses 361 / 600

62 The Friend I Saw: Relative Clauses

It’s nice to be able to say the red apple or my friend, but it’s much more powerful to

be also able to say the apple you bought or the friend who called me.

In English, such sentences have basically two forms:

(1) the friend who called me

(2) the apple (that) you bought

In the sentence #1, you are describing the friend by what he did: he’s the subject of

called me. In the sentence #2, you are describing the apple by what happened to it:

somebody bought it.

In the first sentence, English must use the ‘linking’ word who; in the second one, the

word that is optional and is mostly dropped out.

In Croatian, there always must be a ‘linking’ word. It’s the same word – koji – in both

sentences, but in different cases (and gender).

Simply said, the word koji stands in for the noun you describe, and adapts to its

gender and number but also to its role in the description.

In the sentence #1, prijatelj friend is the subject, therefore we use koji in the

masculine singular, nominative case:

(1) prijatelj koji N me A je zvao

In the sentence #2, jabuka apple is the object of the verb kupiti perf. buy – it’s

bought – therefore we must use accusative, but also the feminine form, since

jabuka is of course feminine in Croatian:

(2) jabuka koju A si kupio

Take a note that jabuka is here in N – and free to change, as we’ll see – while the

word after it is in A, describing the role of jabuka in relation to the verb that

follows.

The section koji me je zvao or koju si kupio is another type of clause – the relative

clause. As in all other clauses, word-counting restarts in them, and the first position

is filled by the first word (a form of adjective/pronoun koji):

Pojeo sam jabuku A [koju A ¹ si² kupio]. I have eaten the apple [you bought].

The forms of koji were explained in 57 Whose, What Thing and What Like.

When you describe a noun like that, you can use it in any sentence, but the

description must come right after it. For example, that friend who called you could

also come to beach, so you would say:

Prijatelj N koji N me A je zvao je došao na plažu A . The friend who

called me came to the beach.

1

1 | doći past-m


This sounds a bit awkward, but Croatian is flexible and usually nouns with such

descriptions attached are moved to the back:

Došao je na plažu A prijatelj N koji N me A je zvao. (the same meaning) doći past-m | 1

Bear in mind that the description does not change if the described noun change its

case:

Vidim prijatelja A koji N me A je zvao. I can see the friend who called me.

1

Razgovarao sam s prijateljem I koji N me A je zvao. I talked to the friend who 1

called me.

But if you change the noun to plural, you must also change the description, since you

are now really talking about something else:

Vidim prijatelje A koji N su me A zvali. I can see the friends who called me.

1

Vidim prijatelje A koje A sam čekao. I can see the friends I was waiting for.

In the first sentence, the adjective/pronoun koji is in N-pl, as the friends are the

subject of the clause; in the second one, it’s in A-pl, since they are the object in the

clause, while the subject is the first person (expressed by the 1st person verb sam).

It’s also obvious that forms of descriptive (i.e. relative) clauses are the same as

questions starting with koji. Therefore, if the role in description involves a

preposition, you must place it before koji:

Vidim prijatelja A s kojim I sam putovao. I can see the friend I traveled with.

Došli smo na plažu A na kojoj DL je bilo mnogo ljudi G . ‘We came to a doći past-mpl

beach many people were on.’

English is full of reduced passive clauses; for example, instead of:

We live in a house that was built by my grandfather.

The normal sentence is:

We live in a house built by my grandfather.

Such reducing is impossible in Croatian. Such passive clauses must be actually

rephrased in Croatian into non-passive:

Živimo u kući DL koju A je izgradio moj djed N . We live in a house my grandfather built.

You can also use relative clauses after indefinite pronouns (somebody,

everything...). However, there’s a twist in Croatian. If you use relative clauses after

indefinite pronouns, you have to use pronouns tko who or što what as conjunctions

instead of koji which/what! For example:

Vidio sam nešto A [što A ne mogu objasniti]. I saw something [I can’t moći pres-1

explain].

The pronoun što what here changes case according to the role in the clause, and

prepositions came before it:


Obući ću nešto A [u čemu DL se osjećam udobno]. I’ll put on something [I feel

comfortable in].

Here, we have the u¨ + DL combination, and DL of što is čem(u). If we use an

indefinite pronoun that refers to a person, we have to use forms of tko who:

poznavati

Ovdje je netko N [koga A poznaješ]. Here’s somebody [you know].

Here, the form koga is the accusative form of tko who (refer to 28 Asking Who and

What), but its form coincides with shorter forms of koji; not so in nominative:

Ovdje je netko N [tko N će ti DL pomoći]. Here’s somebody [who will help you]. 2

When you append a relative clause to the adjective/pronoun sav (spec. forms)

all/everything/everyone, normal relative clauses are used with plural forms, but with

neuter singular forms (meaning all, everything), što is used:

Došli su svi N [koje A smo pozvali]. Everyone [we invited] came.

Ovo N je sve N [što A imam]. This is all [I have]. ®

The same applies to the past form ostali (check 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease),

doći past-mpl

when used as an adjective which is used as a pronoun, and to other adjectives-usedas-pronouns,

such as:

prvi the first person

prvo the first thing

zadnji the last person

zadnje the last thing

(Don’t forget these are just forms of adjectives in various genders, so they change

like an adjective!) For example:

Ovo N je zadnje N [što A ću kupiti]. This is the last thing [I’m going to buy]. ®

This table summarizes which form of relative clause is used in various situations:


Forming relative clauses

nouns

svi everybody, all

adjectives in masc. used as pronouns

such as ostali the rest (of people)

netko somebody ®

nitko nobody ®

svatko everybody ®

nešto something

ništa nothing

svašta all kinds of things

sve everything, all

adjectives in neut. used as pronouns

such as ostalo the rest (of stuff)

to that, ovo this, ono

koji ...

tko ® ...

što ...

If you know German, you have likely noticed that it has more or less the same

system – the pronoun der which is mandatory and changes gender and case

according to the role in the clause. However, with adjectives/pronouns such as alles,

the pronoun was (which matches Croatian što exactly) must be used instead:

(German) Das ist alles, was ich weiß.

To je sve što znam. That’s all I know.

Other types of questions can be also used as relative clauses, relating to place and

time. For example:

Ovo N je mjesto N [gdje smo se upoznali]. This is the place [where we met for the

first time].

Occasionally, you’ll see a quite different construction of relative clauses: što used

after nouns as well, but always in that form, not changing cases. This is rare in

speech, at least mine, but it seems more common in poetry.

Since the pronoun što in such construction doesn’t show the role in the relative

clause, there’s often another personal pronoun in the clause that refers to the noun

as well, so you might see:

Ovo N su knjige N [što sam ih A kupio]. These are the books [I bought]. ®

3pl

lit. ‘These are the books što I bought them.’

Here ih (the 3rd pers. pl. pronoun in A) serves as the object of the clause, referring

to knjige books while the word što serves as a simple conjunction. Such additional

pronoun is never added if the role in the clause is being the subject.

Recall also the example song Jugo in 35 Tools and Means, With and Without; it

contains two such constructions:


Vjetar N [što tuče u lice A i dušu A ] The wind [that’s beating my face and soul]

Pričam o ljubavi jednoj DL [što bila je davno] I’m telling about a love [that was f

long ago]

It’s absolutely not required that you use this construction in speech, but be prepared

to see sometimes it in writing and maybe speech.®

There’s another colloquial thing you’ll sometimes see and hear. The

adjective/pronoun koji has the same form in masc. inanimate N and A: koji.

Nevertheless, you’ll see and hear kojeg(a) in masc. inanimate A – which is the form

for masc. animate A. For example:

Film N [kojeg A svi N čekamo: "Pedeset nijansi G sive G "]. (colloq!) The movie [we’re all

waiting for: "Fifty shades of gray"]. ®

Of course, you would expect koji in this sentence, but it’s kojeg in this example. You

can find this feature on many internet sites and in colloquial writing (Google for

the headline above: I found it on the internet). Teachers in schools spend a lot of

time “correcting” this – obviously, not with a complete success. Again, it’s not

required that you talk like that, but don’t panic when you hear or read such a bit

weird accusative forms!

________

® Instead of što and tko, forms šta and ko are used in Serbia and most of Bosnia;

the same applies to derived forms, e.g. netko is rather neko there.

In parts of Croatia where kaj or ča are colloquially used instead of što or šta, they

are used also after nouns, and don’t change then (and then an additional pronoun is

used in the relative clause). However, in Serbia or Bosnia, in such constructions, only

što can be used, never šta. Furthermore, such constructions seem a bit rarer in

Serbia.

Using kojeg instead of koji for masc. inanimate A is unknown in Serbia and Bosnia.


There are some fancy terms you’ll maybe encounter: the noun or pronoun the

relative clause is attached to is called antecedent; the word that starts the relative

clause is relativizer, and the additional pronoun in clause (used in rare cases when

indeclinable što is used) is called resumptive pronoun. And indeclinable što is also

called invariant relativizer (it doesn’t vary, i.e. change case). Now you can impress

your friends with some fancy words! Or forget these terms immediately.

Relative clauses starting with a pronoun which changes cases (e.g. with koji) are a

characteristic feature of European languages. Check this map in the World Atlas of

Language Structures: Relativization on Subjects.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 63 Bigger and Beer: Comparaves 366 / 600

63 Bigger and Better: Comparatives

Comparatives are forms of adjectives used to express not a property (e.g. big) but a

relative property (e.g. bigger). A comparative (short: comp.) is again an adjective.

The base form (big) is sometimes called positive.

In Croatian, most adjectives form their comparatives by adding -iji to their

dictionary form or case-base:

dosadan (dosadn-) boring → dosadniji more boring

jeftin cheap → jeftiniji cheaper

pažljiv careful → pažljiviji more careful

sretan (sretn-) happy → sretniji happier ®

star old → stariji older

Comparatives formed in this way usually have the stress on the syllable that comes

right before the added -iji (e.g. paž-lji-viji).

Unfortunately, most one-syllable adjectives have complicated alternations of their

final consonants in comparative, so their comparative form must be remembered

(or you can remember the patterns from the adjectives listed below, but you still

have to remember which adjectives have alternations and which just add -iji):

brz fast → brži

blag gentle → blaži

čist clean, pure → čišći

čvrst rigid → čvršći

dug long → duži

glup stupid → gluplji

mlad young → mlađi

skup expensive → skuplji

tih quiet → tiši

tvrd hard → tvrđi

Some one-syllable adjectives use the simpler way to create comparatives and just

add -iji. Often used ones are:

crn black

loš bad

nov new

plavi blue

pun full

rani early

slab weak

slan salty

spor slow

star old

strm steep

zdrav healthy

Many two-syllable adjectives, especially ones ending in -ak or -ok, undergo an even

greater transformation: they get shortened (e.g. lose -ok) and then go through the

consonant alternation as most one-syllable adjectives:

dalek distant → dalji

dubok deep → dublji

kratak short → kraći

nizak low → niži

širok wide → širi

težak heavy → teži

uzak narrow → uži

visok tall → viši ®

Few adjectives have completely irregular comparatives (everything so far was kind


of regular, believe it or not):

dobar good → bolji

dug long → dulji

lak light, easy → lakši

lijep nice → ljepši

loš bad → gori

mali small → manji

mekan soft → mekši

velik big → veći

There’s an adjective malen with more or less the same meaning as mali small; both

use the same comparative. The same goes as mek, a bit archaic variant of mekan

soft. The opposite happens to loš bad – it has a regular comparative and an irregular

one! Both are used. The same happens to dug long, where two comparatives exist,

dulji and duži (some people claim there’s a small difference in meaning, but they are

used with the same meaning in the spoken language).

Comparatives always have the obligatory -i in nominative sing. masc., and in cases

where there’s a choice of two endings in masc. and neut. genders (i.e. o vs. e) they

always have e in endings, even širi wider. (Take care when making impersonal and

inflected forms!)

To help you remember irregular comparatives, they will be underlined with a pale

blue line, and the positive form will be printed at the right margin.

There’s an often quoted rule that -ije- is always shortened to -je- or -e- in

comparatives, but it’s not always so in real life:

blijed pale → bljeđi (sometimes: blijeđi)

lijep nice → ljepši

vrijedan valuable → vredniji / vrjedniji / vrijedniji

At least since 1950’s, comparative forms like vrijedniji more valuable have been

condemned by prescriptive grammarians (i.e. the language police) but they persist.

Currently, you can see three forms of this comparative, and the most common one

on the .hr domain of the Internet is the non-standard one (the most recent Croatian

orthography manual allows forms vredniji and vrjedniji):

form hits

vredniji 18700

vrjedniji 11600

vrijedniji 22900

To say that something is e.g. bigger than something else, use od¨ + G after the

comparative:

Damir N je stariji N od Ane G . Damir is older than Ana.

We know now to say that something is bigger, but what about much bigger? It turns

out that with comparatives you can use the adverbs of quantity (introduced in 45


Quantities and Existence):

Tvoj auto N je mnogo brži N . Your car is a lot faster.

m | brz

Damir N je dosta stariji N od Ane G . Damir is quite older than Ana.

While mnogo sounds a bit formal when expressing relative quantities in Croatian

(e.g. mnogo ljudi many people), it’s very often used with comparatives even in very

colloquial contexts.

To ask about how is something comparing to something else, use koliko / koliko

how much; the comparative is not moved:

Koliko je Damir N stariji N od Ane G ? How much older is Damir than Ana?

— Dosta. Quite older.

— Osam godina G . Eight years older.

There’s a very compact expression in Croatian:

što + (comp.) ... = as (comp.) ... as possible ®

The word što doesn’t change case when used in this role – a kind of quantity adverb

– but the comparative does, of course:

Treba mi DL što dublji N lonac N . I need as deep a pot as possible.

1 | dubok

Želimo što veću A sobu A . We want as big a room as possible.

velik

This phrase is more restricted in Croatian than in English: it’s rarely used for

description of actual things, it’s mostly used for things required, needed, imagined

and like.

This can be used to maximize comparative adverbs; frequently used ones are:

što brže as quickly as possible

što ranije as early as possible

što prije as soon as possible

For example:

Dođi što brže! Come as quickly as possible!

doći | brzo

You will sometimes see čim instead of što in such expressions, both with adjectives

and adverbs:

Dođi čim ranije. Come as early as possible. ®

doći

If you want to express that something is increasing in some property, the easiest

way is to use sve before the comparative: this word means all on its own, but not in

such constructions:

More N postaje sve toplije N . The sea is getting/becoming warmer and postajati

warmer.

Filmovi N su sve dosadniji N . Movies are more and more boring.


Another way is to use the same expression like in English, e.g. toplije i toplije (but

it’s less common); you can also combine both (e.g. sve toplije i toplije).

If you want to express a difference, you can put the difference in accusative before

the comparative, or use za¨ + A after the comparative:

More N je stupanj A toplije N . The sea is warmer by one degree.

More N je toplije N za stupanj A . (the same meaning)

There are two more forms that can be derived from any adjective that has a

comparative. Both are quite simple to make – just a prefix needs to be added. This

table summarizes them:

mlad young premlad too young

(absolute superlative)

mlađi younger najmlađi the youngest

(superlative)

In the standard stress scheme, the stress moves to the prefix, while in the ‘western’

scheme it usually stays on its original place.

Some absolute superlatives don’t have ‘excessive’ meaning at all anymore. The most

common are:

prekrasan (prekrasn-) beautiful, magnificent

prelijep beautiful, magnificent

presretan (presretn-) delighted, ecstatic

The adjectives prekrasan (prekrasn-) and prelijep have more or less the same

meaning.

There’s not much else to be told about these forms; you can specify what group you

meant with the superlative, using od¨ + G:

Igor N je najmlađi N od njene djece G . Igor is the youngest of her children. mlad

You can also specify the context of the absolute superlative, what for is someone

too something:

Igor N je premlad N da vozi auto A . Igor too young to drive a car.

m

This is really merely a purpose clause, all restrictions apply.

It’s worth knowing the verb pair meaning compare:

uspoređ ivati (-uje) ~ usporediti («) compare ®

The pair is used in the same way as the English verb:

Usporedili smo dva filma 24 . We have compared the two movies.

Usporedila sam novi iPhone A s novim Samsungom I . I have compared the new

iPhone with the new Samsung.


The last example uses s¨/sa¨ + I.

Finally, a few one-syllable adjectives have ‘total forms’, which are reduplicated and

have appended -cat. Most common are:

gol golcat all naked

nov novcat brand-new

pun puncat completely full

sam samcat all alone

Occasionally, you’ll see just the second part used (e.g. just novcat) with the same

meaning. They are, confusingly, sometimes also called ‘absolute superlatives’ in

some grammars. You cannot use this construction with any adjective – only few

one-syllable adjectives permit this.

When they are used before nouns, both parts change in case, gender and number:

Ovo N su ključevi N novog novcatog auta G . These are keys of a brand-new car. m

________

® In Serbia and most of Bosnia, the adjective happy has a bit different form srećan

(srećn-); the comparative is srećniji.

In everyday speech in many regions, including parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia,

višlji is used as the comparative of visok tall, high. This is not accepted as standard

anywhere, and sometimes it’s considered a hallmark of ‘uneducated’ speech.

Although što is colloquially replaced by šta, and such replacement is complete in

Bosnia and Serbia, in both the standard languages and the actual speech, it’s never

replaced in phrases što + comparative.

The phrase čim + comparative is specifically Croatian and sounds ungrammatical in

Serbia.

The verb pair uspoređ ivati (-uje) ~ usporediti («) compare has a slightly different

form in Serbia and most of Bosnia, without -s-, e.g. uporediti and so on.


There are basically two types of adjectives: most get -iji in comparative; a smaller

group gets -(j)i, with possible sound shifts, after they discard -ok, -ak and like. All

new adjectives get -iji, and the smaller group includes many adjectives with basic

meanings (wide, fast, deep etc.). The smaller group is likely the older one. It’s

interesting that some older cousins of Croatian, like Ancient Greek and Sanskrit,

have two ways to make comparatives too. This is very likely an ancient division.

Most older Croatian grammars list gori as the (irregular) comparative of zao (zl-)

evil. Such meaning of gori is archaic today.


• Exercise

Fill in the following sentences:

Danas je ________________(a). It’s warmer today.

Govori ______________(b). Speak slower.

More je ______________(c). The sea is colder.

Goran je ________(d) od ________(e). Goran is shorter than Ana. (be careful!)

Vlak je ________(f) od ________(g). A train is faster than a ship.

Ova vježba je ________(h) ________(i). This exercise is a bit harder. (be careful!)

Uzmi ________(j) ________(k) torbu. Take as big a bag as possible.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 64 The Door Opens: Fun with se² 372 / 600

64 The Door Opens: Fun with se²

Imagine you stand in front of a door, and the door starts to open. You don’t see

who is opening the door, and it could be some automatic mechanism anyway. You

would say:

The door is opening.

In English, many verbs like open can be used in two meanings: open something and

become open (this is sometimes called ‘causative alternation’).

This is not possible in Croatian for almost all verbs (you’ll also see few exceptions). If

you want to express ‘get open’, you have to use the ‘magic’ word – se²:

Vrata N se otvaraju. The door is opening.

(In Croatian, the noun vrata door exists in plural only.) If you know Spanish (or a

similar Romance language) this is probably quite familiar to you. Actually, everything

that follows is more or less exactly like in Spanish – with a difference that Croatian

has only one form of se². There are also many of similarities with French, German

and Swedish, and – unfortunately – not much in comparison to English. Just

compare the sentences:

(French) La porte s’ouvre.

(Spanish)

(Swedish)

La puerta se abre.

Dörren öppnas.

Vrata se otvaraju.

(Swedish appends an -s to a verb, while Spanish and Croatian have free particles.

French se gets fused with the following word if it starts with a vowel.)

I’m going to call this use of se² the mediopassive (like in Spanish grammars); it’s

often also called se²-passive.

First, you should use the mediopassive when you don’t know who is doing something

(e.g. who is opening the door), it seems as if nobody caused it, or it’s not important:

Kuća N se brzo prodala. The house sold quickly.

Čaša N se razbila. The glass broke.

Lopta N se probušila. The ball punctured.

Observe how kuća house is really the subject here, so past forms must be in the

feminine gender. The following sentences are examples of ‘anticausative’ – nobody

causes the ice-cream to melt, it melts ‘on its own’ (of course, the real cause is the

heat from the environment):

More N se ohladilo. The sea has cooled down.

Sladoled N se topi. The ice-cream is melting.

This can also be expressed with passive adjectives in Croatian:


Kuća N je brzo prodana N . The house was sold quickly.

However, you have to use the mediopassive construction if you express something

ongoing: in the following sentence, the implied meaning is that people buy yogurt all

the time (imperfective), not that all the yogurt has sold (perfective):

Jogurt N se dobro prodaje. Yogurt sells well.

prodavati

Generally, passive adjectives of impf. verbs are rarely used – except for several

verbs, such as e.g. kuhan cooked, gledan watched, and so on (check 61 Cake is

Eaten: Passive Adjectives). For most impf. verbs, the se²-passive is preferred.

The kinds of passives in Croatian (one with se², another with passive adjectives)

correspond well to two kinds of passives in German, one with werden and another

with sein:

Prozor N se zatvara. = (Ger.) Das Fenster wird geschlossen.

Prozor N je zatvoren N . = (Ger.) Das Fenster ist geschlossen.

German has also the third possibility: passives with sich, that basically translate

word-for-word into Croatian se²-passive, word order aside; for example, compare

translations of this Latin phrase (which uses the passive, having here ‘on its own’, i.e.

‘medial’ meaning):

(Latin) Omnia mutantur.

(German)

(Swedish)

Alles ändert sich.

Allting förändras.

Sve N se mijenja.

Everything changes.

Swedish has again the suffix -s appended to the verb förändra.

The se²-passive is also used to express how easy (or hard) something can be done

(without expressing who is doing it, since it’s not important anyway):

Prozor N se lako otvara. The window opens easily.

This again corresponds exactly to e.g. French reflexive passive – this example is

almost word for word:

(French) La fenêtre s’ouvre difficilement. The window opens ‘difficultly’.

Prozor N se teško otvara. = The window is difficult to open.

The mediopassive is also used when something is ‘for sale’, or ‘for rent’, so it’s not

sold yet:

Prodaje se kuća N . The house is for sale. (lit. ‘being sold’)

prodavati

You can often see notices like prodaje se or iznajmljuje se for rent, for example:


Again, this is completely the same as Spanish se vende and se renta, except for the

word order.

The mediopassive is also used when someone/everyone can hear, see or expect

something:

Nešto N se čuje. Something is heard.

čuti

Mjesec N se vidio. The Moon could be seen.

Očekuje se snijeg N . Snow is expected.

očekivati

Such sentences translate as English passives (is heard). However, they don’t

completely correspond to English passives, since in English you can usually add by

whom:

The Moon could be seen by them.

This is completely impossible in Croatian: if you want to say this, you’ll have to

rephrase the sentence as they could see the Moon, etc.

Perf-like verbs verbs of perception, i.e. vidjeti see and čuti (čuje) hear, when used in

mediopassive, behave as imperfective verbs – you can express the time period:

Dim N se vidio satima I . The smoke could be seen for hours.

Buka N se čula cijelu noć A . The noise could be heard the whole night.

f

Next, you should use it when there’s a group of people that does something, maybe

even everybody, at least in some area:

U Argentini DL se govori španjolski N . Spanish is spoken in Argentina.

U Japanu DL se jede riža N . Rice is eaten in Japan.

jesti

Such sentences also usually correspond to English passive sentences (is spoken), and

to the same construction in Spanish (se habla español en Argentina). Sometimes

such sentences are rephrased with ljudi m pl. people, e.g:

U Argentini DL ljudi N govore španjolski A . People in Argentina speak Spanish.

U Japanu DL ljudi N jedu rižu A . People in Japan eat rice.

jesti

(The same rephrasing can be used in Spanish, with la gente.)

This is also used when you want to say what is the custom, or how people should do

something:

Juha N se jede žlicom I . Soup is eaten with a spoon.

jesti

Again, such sentences usually correspond to English passive sentences (is eaten).

Some sentences are ambiguous, for example the following sentence could be a part

of recipe or simply a statement what’s going on in the oven:

Meso N se peče dva sata 24 . Meat is roasting for two hours.

peći

The French ‘reflexive passive’ has the same use:


(French) Ça ne se fait pas. lit. It’s not done.

To N se ne radi. = People don’t do that.

Sometimes, such sentences don’t have any subject (as some verbs, e.g. go don’t

permit an object), so English sentences must use people, they or some other way.

Such sentences are impersonal in Croatian, so neuter singular forms must be used in

the past:

Ovdje se ne puši°. There’s no smoking here. (lit. ‘It’s not smoked here.’)

Nekad se često išlo u kino A . People were going to cinema often.

ići past-n

Puno se popilo. They drank a lot.

(Spanish uses again exactly the same construction, the first sentence corresponds to

aquí no se fuma, which has only a slightly different word order.)

For example, this sign on a small diner in Zagreb says lit. ‘at our place it’s eaten the

best’ = people eat here the best:

German again has the same feature (but with werden-passive), while Swedish has

the -s passive here:

(German)

(Swedish)

Es wurde die ganze Nacht getanzt.

Det dansades hela natten.

Plesalo se cijelu noć A .

lit. ‘It was danced all night.’

All three sentences mean, of course, they/people were dancing all night. Please

remember such sentences are impersonal in Croatian, i.e. no subject is allowed in

them. (Latin also uses passive impersonally, e.g. in Virgil Sic itur ad astra.)

Often, content clauses are subject of such sentences, English again uses the dummy

it, and passives with some verbs (content sentences behave as neuter singular

subjects, exactly as to):

Čini se da… It seems that…

Može se reći da… It can be said that...

moći pres-1

Vjeruje se da… It’s believed that...

vjerovati

Očekuje se da… It’s expected that...

očekivati

Činilo se da… It seemed that…

Moglo se reći da… It could be said that...

moći past-n

The sentences above look impersonal, but the content clauses are actually subjects.

Since the clauses are neither nouns nor pronouns, the verb goes to neuter singular in


the past tense, as if it were impersonal, so behavior is actually the same.

To summarize, there are two main uses of this construction:

1. when something happens "on its own";

2. when English uses passive as well (is seen, are expected).

Finally, there’s a rather surprising use of DL in such sentences. With many verbs, it’s

possible to say that you feel like doing something, or you have a need to do

something (even against your will!).

The following examples will illustrate it – of course, instead of mi² and Ani (DL of

Ana) you can use any pronoun or noun standing for a person (or animal) in the DL

case. The verbs are almost always imperfective, because such expressions are about

activities and states, and not accomplishments. The following common expressions

stand for unpleasant feelings:

Povraća° mi DL se. I feel like throwing up.

Vrti° mi DL se. I’m dizzy.

Ani DL se povraćalo. Ana felt like throwing up.

The second sentence uses the verb vrtjeti/vrtiti spin. (Bear in mind that the

sentences are again impersonal, as the past tense reminds you.) The following

expressions are more pleasant:

Pije° mi DL se. I feel like drinking.

piti | 1

Puši° mi DL se. I need to smoke.

1

Ne pleše° mi DL se. I don’t feel like dancing.

plesati | 1

Ani DL se spava°. Ana is sleepy.

Ne ide° mi DL se na posao A . I don’t feel like going to work.

1 | ići

If you express what you feel like drinking/eating, it becomes the subject, so the verb

must be adjusted accordingly:

Pije mi DL se čaj N . I feel like drinking tea.

Jedu mi DL se kolači N . I feel like eating cakes.

Compare the previous sentences in the past tense:

Pilo mi DL se. I felt like drinking.

Ani DL se spavalo. Ana was sleepy.

Nije mi DL se išlo na posao A . I didn’t feel like going to work.

Pio mi DL se čaj N . I felt like drinking tea.

Jeli su mi DL se kolači N . I felt like eating cakes.

This is yet another use of the DL case to express feelings.

So, you finally know how to sell your house and to express that you don’t feel like

dancing!

What about exceptions to use of se²? There are couple of common verbs that

1

1

piti | 1

jesti | 1

1

1 | ići past-n

1

1


sometimes behave as English open. A common verb with this property is svirati play

(music) (the English verb play is used in the same way):

Svirala je neka dosadna pjesma N . A boring song was playing.

Another verb is pisati (piše) write. For instance, if you would like to say that

something "is written" in a book, you should not use the se²:

Ovdje piše da… It’s written here that…

U knjizi DL piše istina N . The truth is written in the book.

The English verb write has to be used as passive, it’s unlike open. Note that istina

truth is the subject of the second sentence, while the first one has a content clause

as its subject. Therefore, the first is in neuter in past, and the second one is

feminine:

Ovdje je pisalo da... It was written here that…

U knjizi DL je pisala istina N . The truth was written in the book.

Yet another very common verb with this property is trebati need/should; it’s used

without se² with infinitives and content sentences (and impersonal meaning):

Trebalo je reći da... It should have been said that...

If you want to express how something is customary done, you have to use se² with

these verbs too:

Njegovo ime N se ne piše tako. His name is not written like that.

• Examples

This pop song, Tvoje lice se promijenilo Your face has changed, performed by

Yammat, contains a mediopassive in its title and refrain:

Ljubav N je nestala za dan A Love has disappeared in a day

Vidjela sam

I saw

Ja N znam I know

Tvoje lice N

Your face

se promijenilo has changed

pisati

pisati

pisati

I čitav svijet N za koji A znam And the whole world I know about

Kao san N

Like a dream

Je nestao Has disappeared

Tvoje lice N

Your face

me A promijenilo has changed me

1

(I. Babić & N. Borgudan)


One verse has mediopassive se², meaning that the face has changed, while another

f


has A me², which is the object – the face changed me. Croatian packs a lot of

meaning in such short words.

The verse I čitav svijet za koji znam is, of course, a relative clause, introduced in 62

The Friend I Saw: Relative Clauses.

The verse Ljubav je nestala za dan contains a ‘time frame’ for the perf. verb nestati

(nestane) disappear: za dan in a day. This is an example where the time-phrase-rule

(check 49 For 7 Hours: Definite Periods) is relaxed if za¨ is used. The full form would

of course be za jedan dan.

• Exercise

Use the particle se², where appropriate, and the following verb pairs:

kvariti ~ po- («) break (stop working)

mijenjati ~ promijeniti («) change

topiti ~ o- melt

together with prepositions, when needed, to complete the sentences below:

Led ______(a) ______________(b). The ice has melted.

________________(c) mi ______(d). I was feeling dizzy.

Sve ______(e) __________________(f). Everything has changed.

Auto ______(g) __________________(h). The car broke.

Njemački ______(i) ______________(j) ______(k) Austriji. German is spoken in

Austria.

__________(l) ______(m) pojelo. They/People ate a little.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 65 Carry, Bring, Drive: Transport Verbs 379 / 600

65 Carry, Bring, Drive: Transport Verbs

I will now introduce three important verb families that mostly do with transport,

that is, carrying, bringing, leading and driving, including some fairly distantly related

meanings.

The families are not symmetric: there’s no base pair. The first family is derived from

nositi carry. Derived verbs look like this, and perf. verbs are very irregular:

nositi carry

donositi («) ~ donijeti (donese, donio, donijela) bring ®

The basic verb means not just carry, but also wear:

Goran N nosi plavu majicu A . Goran is wearing a blue T-shirt.

If you now don’t understand how we distinguish carry and wear – we usually don’t

have to. With clothes and similar items (shoes, hats) the meaning wear is assumed.

The base verb is perfectly regular, so are derived impf. verbs. However, all perf.

verbs are irregular, and derived from forms not used on their own. For instance:

Ana N je donijela vino A . Ana brought wine.

donijeti past-f

This verb, and all derived from it, use destinations and origins:

Ana N je donijela sendvič A Goranu DL . Ana brought Goran a sandwich.

Common verbs that follow this pattern are:

-nositi («) ~

-nijeti (-nese, -nio, -nijela)


do- A (DL) bring (here)

pre- A carry over, transfer

od-

A (DL) bring* (perf.)

A (od¨ G) take away

u- A bring in

pod- A tolerate, can stand

po- not a pair! (specific meanings)

The optional DL used with these verbs means, as expected, the person who will

receive something (in A).

The perf. verb odnijeti (etc.) is used as a perf. counterpart of nositi, to express that

carrying something to someone is completed, i.e. when something is brought or

delivered.


The difference between the od- and do- pairs derived from nositi is exactly the

same as with similar verbs derived from ići (i.e. odlaziti vs. dolaziti):

do- come + bring

odgo + take

The verb pair derived with pre- covers also the meaning transfer (interestingly,

English transfer is ultimately from the Latin verb trāns-ferō, which is the exact

translation of pre-nositi):

Komarci N prenose bolesti A . Mosquitoes transfer diseases.

The verb pair derived with pod- has a bit unexpected meaning; it usually

corresponds to English tolerate or can + stand (someone/something):

Ana N ne podnosi komarce A . Ana can’t stand mosquitoes.

Furthermore, there are a couple of unexpected things: first, the verb odnositi («)

when used with se² – only the impf. verb – has the following meanings:

odnositi («) se²

+ na¨ + A relate, refer to A, be about A

+ prema + DL behave towards DL, treat DL

For example:

Loše se odnosio prema meni DL . He behaved badly towards me.

This verb, with na¨ + A, is often used where English uses apply and similar verbs:

Popust N se odnosi na sve majice A . The discount ‘relates to’ all T-shirts. (= applies to)

Next, the prefix po- creates two verbs that don’t form a pair:

ponositi («) se² (I) be proud (of I)

ponijeti (ponese, ponio, ponijela) perf. take* (with someone)

The perf. verb ponijeti (etc.) is used when someone takes something with him or

her:

Ana N je ponijela laptop A . Ana took the laptop with her.

Basically the same meaning can be expressed also with the pair uzimati ~ uzeti

(uzme), but it has additional meanings (take something from someone), while

ponijeti (etc.) does not.

There’s one more verb pair in this family I haven’t listed, derived with do-pri-: it

means contribute.

Colloqually, in Zagreb, Rijeka and the surrounding regions – roughly western and

northwestern Croatia – you will sometimes hear another (colloquial) form of

infinitive for perf. verbs from this family: odnesti and so on.

The perf. verbs in this family have two forms of passive adjectives (I have omitted


present and past forms):

donijeti (...) perf. bring → donijet / donesen

odnijeti (...) perf. carry away → odnijet / odnesen

etc.

Beside these two standard forms for each verb, you’ll often see and hear one more

form: donešen, odnešen, etc. Each form prevails in speech in various regions.

There are two more verbs families that are quite similar to the previous family. They

are derived from the following verbs:

voditi lead voziti drive

The verbs have more regular forms than ones derived from nositi, but the perf.

verbs look very similar:

dovoditi («) ~ dovesti (dovede, doveo) bring (someone)

dovoziti («) ~ dovesti (doveze, dovezao, dovezla) bring (by driving)

Although voditi on its own means lead in all its meanings – in a game, a race, and

someone, showing the way – in the derived verbs it’s always taking, bringing...

another person (including animals, pets especially):

Ana N je dovela svog brata A . Ivana brought her brother.

Ivana N je dovela svog psa A . Ivana brought her dog.

dovesti past-f

dovesti past-f

Compare this with the use of the corresponding verb derived from nositi:

Ivana N je donijela svoju gitaru A . Ivana brought her guitar.

donijeti past-f

Strictly speaking, verbs derived from voditi are used if one lead/brought was moving

on their own; verbs derived from nositi imply carrying. If she had brought a hrčak

(hrčk-) hamster, verbs derived from nositi would be used, since the hamster likely

didn’t walk beside her all the way, but was carried:

Ivana N je donijela svog hrčka A . Ivana brought her hamster.

donijeti past-f

An interesting exception are babies and little children: for them, verbs derived from

voditi are always used, even if they are too young to walk!®

Like the verb pair derived from nositi, the perf. verb derived with od- is often used in

as the perf. counterpart of the base verb:

Ana N je odvela Gorana A u školu A . Ana took Goran to school.

odvesti past-f

Ana N je odnijela knjige A u školu A . Ana took books to school.

odnijeti past-f

As with nositi, with the prefix po-, there are no verb pairs: only perf. verbs are used

in the meaning take. Their meaning is subtle: the subject is going somewhere

anyway (and it’s often not expressed where), and he or she is taking something or

someone (again, who moves on their own) with them:

Ana N je povela psa A . Ana took the dog with her.

povesti past-f


je povela .

Ana N je ponijela knjigu A . Ana took a book with her.

The verb pair derived from voditi with pre-, besides rare literal meaning, has

another, but very common meaning – translate:

Dario N je preveo pismo A . Dario has translated the letter.

prevesti past-m

The pre- pair uses origins and destinations, including when used as translate, so pay

attention that languages use prepositions s¨ / sa¨ + G and na¨ + A:

Ana N je prevela poruku A s njemačkog G na hrvatski A . Ana has prevesti past-f

translated the message from German to Croatian.

This table summarizes verb common verb pairs in this family:

-voditi («) ~ -vesti (-vede, -veo)


do- A (DL) bring (here)*

iz- A lead out*, perform

pre- A bring over*, translate

od- A (od¨ G) take away*

u- A lead in*, introduce

pro- A (time) spend (time)

proiz- A produce, manufacture

Meanings indicated by an asterisk (*) have corresponding verbs derived from nositi:

the difference is that who or what is brought must be moving on its own, while verbs

derived from nositi imply carrying.

The verb pair derived with u- has an unexpected meaning: introduce:

Hrvatska N nije uvela euro A . Croatia haven’t introduced the euro. uvesti past-f

Likewise, the verb pair derived with iz- has a quite unexpected meaning: perform. It’s

not used without an object, you have to say what is performed:

Oni N će izvesti nekoliko pjesama G . They will perform several songs.

To express perform without an object, use the verb pair:

nastupati («) ~ nastupiti («) perform, take stage

For example:

Goran N nastupa u školi DL . Goran is performing in school.

Finally, two verb pairs, derived with pro- and pro-iz- have quite unexpected

meanings. The first pair means spend time (with someone, at some place) – with it,

you have to say what time is spent (in A) – two days, a night, a morning, etc.:


Proveli smo dva dana 24 u Dubrovniku DL . We spent two days in provesti past-mpl

Dubrovnik.

Provest ću jutro A u vlaku DL . I’ll spend the morning in the train.

This pair is not used to spend money (or other material resources, e.g. paper, cloth,

salt...); for such kind of spending, another pair is used:

trošiti ~ po- («) spend (money, resources)

This is the same difference as French passer vs. dépenser, German verbringen vs.

aufwenden or Spanish pasar vs. gastar.

The second pair, with pro-iz-, means produce, mostly in industrial ways (I’ve used

here the mediopassive, introduced in 64 The Door Opens: Fun with se²):

Ovi laptopi N se proizvode u Kini DL . These laptops are manufactured in China. (lit.

‘are being manufactured’)

The derived pass. adj. (of the perf. verb) is used as the translation of made in:

proizvedeno + (location). Note the stress of pass. adj. – it applies to all pass.

adjectives derived from perf. verbs this family – always on -e-:

izvesti (...) perf. perform → izveden

uvesti (...) perf. introduce → uveden etc.

The verb pairs derived from voziti drive have similar meaning to ones derived from

nositi and voditi, but the emphasis is on driving: a vehicle (including ships and

airplanes!) must be involved:

Ana N je odvezla Gorana A u školu A . Ana drove Goran to school. odvesti past-f

The verb voziti can be used with A (drive something or someone, or se², when the

meaning is mediopassive – we don’t know who’s driving really:

Ana N vozi auto A . Ana is driving the car.

m

Ana N se vozi. Ana is driving (in a car).

Most verbs in the family derived from voziti must have a subject in A or a se²:

Ana N je odvezla Gorana A u školu A . Ana drove Goran to school. odvesti past-f

Ana N se odvezla u školu A . Ana drove to school.

odvesti past-f

Now, the verb pair derived from voziti with pre- has only the simple meaning –

transport:

Trajekti N prevoze aute A . Ferries transport cars.

m

As in two other families, the perf. verb derived with po- means while driving

somewhere, take someone/something with, but it’s less often used than other two

verbs.

With u- and iz-, besides the expected meanings drive into and drive out, the derived

verb pairs have meanings import and export:


Hrvatska N uvozi banane A . Croatia imports bananas.

Njemačka N izvozi aute A . Germany exports cars.

m

Like perf. verbs in the voziti family, all perf. verbs in this family have stress on -e- in

pass. adj.:

Auto N je uvezen N iz Poljske G . The car is imported from Poland.

m

________

® In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely dominates in Serbia, verb pairs

derived from nositi carry have regular past forms, e.g.:

donositi («) ~ doneti (donese) bring

It seems voditi with babies is considered non-standard in Serbia.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns 385 / 600

66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns

English uses -ing forms for more than one purpose. Compare the sentences:

(1) I am swimming.

(2) I like swimming.

(3) Swimming is healthy.

In sentences #2 and #3, swimming can be replaced with to swim or even apples (I

like apples, apples are healthy.). The word swimming behaves similar to a noun in

these two sentences. Croatian has a special noun (derived from verbs) that’s used in

sentences like #2 and #3: verbal noun or gerund.

It’s basically derived from the pass. adjective. Most of them end in -n; we change it

to -nje and that’s the noun we need:

Volim plivanje A . I like swimming.

Plivanje N je zdravo N . Swimming is healthy.

But there’s really no passive adjective ‘plivan’, right? Right. The passive adjective is

just a formal step. You can skip it if you think it’s meaningless, but it’s worth

remembering that differences between pass. adjectives and gerunds are small,

especially when you recall all consonant alternations in passive adjectives. Formally

it goes like this:

verb pass. adj. gerund

pušiti smoke → pušen → pušenje

čistiti clean → čišćen → čišćenje

We can summarize rules for pass. adjectives and gerunds in one nice table:

inf pres-3 pass. adj. gerund

-ati

-an -anje

doesn’t

-nuti -nut -nuće

matter

-eti -et -eće

-e -en -enje

other

-i *-en *-enje

The verbs ending in -jeti (e.g. vidjeti) fall into the ‘other’ row.

The asterisk (*) in the table above signalizes a shift of the preceding consonant(s),

e.g. t → ć, c → č, etc. Of course, not all words that can be derived according to this

scheme are really used.

Gerunds enables us to say:

Pušenje N je opasno N . Smoking is dangerous.

Trčanje N je zdravo N . Running is healthy.


When a verb uses an object in accusative, the matching gerund, if it has a noun

serving as an object, will use the genitive case instead:

Perem kosu A . (A) I’m washing my hair.

prati

Pranje N kose G je dosadno N . (G) Washing hair is boring.

The opposite holds for verbs that cannot have objects at all – the noun in genitive

after the gerund stands for a subject:

Lišće N pada. (N) Leaves are falling.

Volim padanje A lišća G . (G) ‘I like falling of leaves.’

Objects in other cases are sometimes changed to na¨ + A:

Sjećam se nje G . (G) I remember her.

3f

sjećanje na nju A (na¨ + A) memory of her

3f A

Some gerunds have specific meanings and are no longer felt connected to verbs.

Common ones, derived from impf. verbs, are:

mišljenje opinion

pitanje question

putovanje travel, trip

značenje meaning

znanje knowledge

There are also verbal nouns with specific meanings derived from perf. verbs:

iznenađenje surprise

objašnjenje explanation

obećanje promise

olakšanje relief

opravdanje excuse

osvježenje refreshment

upozorenje warning

stanje state

uzbuđenje excitement

There are more, this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Some words have a bit

different stress when they have a specific meaning. The same thing happened to

some English forms, e.g. painting is derived from paint, but it has a specific meaning

as well.

For some reasons I never really understood, some verbs don’t use this pattern at all.

For instance, you would expect that from the verb patiti suffer there’s a gerund

‘paćenje’, but there isn’t. There are a couple of other patterns to get gerund-like

nouns. One is to add -nja to the verb, after discarding -ti and the vowel before it

(some consonants are shifted as well):

mrziti hate → mržnja ®

patiti suffer → patnja

paziti be careful → pažnja

prijetiti threaten → prijetnja

šetati stroll → šetnja

voziti drive → vožnja

Two more verbs have such gerund-like nouns:

štedjeti/štediti (štedi) save (money) → štednja

šutjeti/šutiti (šuti) be silent → šutnja ®


One common verb uses both the regular way and adding -nja:

graditi build →

građenje

gradnja

Another way is to change verbs ending in -avati (pres-3 -aje) to -aja:

prodavati (prodaje) sell → prodaja

udavati (udaje) se² marry (woman to man) → udaja

Impf. verbs derived from ići (...) go and similar motion verbs have usually gerund-like

nouns in -ak which turns into just an -k- before any case ending:

dolaziti come → dolazak (dolask-) arrival

odlaziti leave → odlazak (dolask-) departure

There are more common verbs that follow this pattern, some of them perfective:

početi (počne) perf. begin → početak (početk-) beginning

rastati (rastane) se² perf. separate → rastanak (rastank-) parting, farewell

sastati (sastane) se² perf. meet → sastanak (sastank-) meeting

Therefore, sastanak (sastank-) meeting is just a gerund-like noun derived from a

verb.

Some verbs (with inf in -iti) derive verbal nouns by adding -ba or -dba; common ones

are:

boriti se² fight → borba fight

ploviti sail, navigate → plovidba navigation

usporediti («) perf. compare → usporedba comparison ®

There is the verbal noun plovljenje, but it’s very rarely used.

The transport verbs (ones derived from nositi carry, voditi lead and voziti drive)

often have root verbal nouns, that is, with forms having just -nos, -vod and -voz,

without any additional ending:

odnositi («) se² relate → odnos relation

ponositi («) se² be proud → ponos pride

izvoziti («) export → izvoz export (noun)

If the underlying verbs have the prefix pre-, it’s changed to prije- in the verbal nouns:

prevoditi («) translate → prijevod translation

prevoziti («) transport → prijevoz transport (noun)

However, the noun prijevod really means the result, and not the process – there’s

the regular verbal noun prevođenje for the process – therefore, it’s really another

type of the verbal noun, associated with the perfective aspect, the outcome.

There are more verb pairs which have two associated verbal nouns – the ‘perfective’


one is usually a root noun:

impf. perf.

verbs padati ~ pasti (padne, pao) fall

nouns padanje falling pad fall (noun)

Similar ‘perf.’ root verbal nouns are:

doprinos contribution

ispit exam

napad attack

potpis signature

razvod divorce

uvod introduction

Objects of napasti (...) attack are changed with na¨ + A when you use the

‘perfective’ verbal noun (this is the same as in English):

Napoleon N je napao Rusiju A . (A) Napoleon attacked Russia.

napasti perf-m

napad na Rusiju A (na¨ + A) attack on Russia

There are some impf. verbs that have root verbal nouns; common ones are:

boljeti (boli,...) ache, cause pain → bol f pain

izgledati («) appear, look, seem → izgled look, appearance

raditi work / do → rad work

Some verbs have verbal nouns in -a, or completely irregular verbal nouns; for

example:

verb

bojati (boji) se² be afraid of

brinuti (brine) (se²) care, worry

trebati need / should

namjeravati («) intend

željeti (želi,...) want, desire

noun

strah fear

briga worry, care

potreba need

namjera intention

želja wish

Finally, some verbs have no verbal noun at all:

čuti (čuje) hear ići (ide, išao, išla) go

There are no underlying rules which method should be used for a verb, so it’s better

to just remember verbal nouns as words on their own, more or less connected to

the base verb.

Sometimes there’s a need to express the subject of the action expressed by a noun

which matches the verb which uses objects. When the verb permits no objects, it’s

easy (see above). But what about most verbs? Then – mostly in writing, legal

documents, etc. – the way is to add od¨ + G (lit. ‘from’) or, controversially, od strane

+ G (lit. ‘from the side of’):


Ovo N je prijevod N od strane sudskog tumača G . This is a translation by a court

interpreter.

This construction is controversial, especially with strane, but you will find it in

writing.

It seems that relational adjectives can usually be derived from root verbal nouns by

adding -ni:

ispit exam → ispitni

rad work → radni

izvoz export (noun) → izvozni

uvod introduction → uvodni

However, relational adjectives cannot be derived from ordinary most other verbal

nouns, especially not from regular ones. Nouns that are used-for-something are

described with za¨ + verbal noun:

naočale za čitanje reading glasses

daska za peglanje ironing board (lit. ‘plank’)

papir za pečenje baking paper

The first expression literally means glasses for reading, the second one plank for

ironing, and the third one paper for baking.

When you use verbal nouns as a location, that is, you’re ‘in’ or ‘on’ something, some

verbal nouns use u¨, especially if it’s a solitary, or short activity:

Ana N i Goran N su u šetnji DL . Ana and Goran went for a walk. (lit. ‘are in a walk’)

However, most verbal nouns, especially when they involve more people, are

organized, scheduled, done in shops or offices, and so on, use the preposition na¨:

Goran N je na šišanju DL . lit. ‘Goran is on a haircut.’ (at the hairdresser’s)

Verbal nouns or derived relational adjectives are not used for expressions like

English flying saucers (saucers that fly): for that, so-called present adjectives are

used. They will be introduced in 80 Present Adverbs and Adjectives.

________

® In Serbia, the verb mrziti hate has the unexpected “Ekavian” form mrzeti (mrzi),

but the gerund-like noun is the same: mržnja.

Instead of the verb šutjeti/šutiti be silent, the verb ćutati (ćuti) is used Serbia and

often in Bosnia as well.

The verb usporediti («) perf. compare has slightly different forms in Serbia and most

of Bosnia, without -s-: uporediti («) and porediti («). From the latter verb, the verbal

noun poređenje is derived.


• Examples

Here’s an example of a makeshift ad for a servis za čišćenje cleaning service on a

light post in Zagreb:

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 67 Only, Except, Too: Inclusion and Exclusion 391 / 600

67 Only, Except, Too: Inclusion and Exclusion

There’s a set of often used words in Croatian that are used for restriction, inclusion

and exclusion. Two basic words are:

samo only osim except ®

The word samo is quite easy to use: just insert it before any part of the sentence to

express meaning only:

Pojest ću samo salatu A . I’ll eat only the salad.

Otišli smo samo u kino A . We went only to the cinema. ®

otići past-mpl

Poslao sam razglednicu A samo mami DL . I sent a picture postcard only to my mum.

Samo Ana N je ovdje. Only Ana is here.

As you can see, the word samo doesn’t affect the words following it.

The word osim is similar; it’s mostly used with ‘total pronouns’ (don’t forget that

they change through cases!):

svi... osim... everyone... except...

sve... osim... everything... except...

nitko... osim... nobody... except...

ništa... osim... nothing... except...

There’s one important difference between samo and osim: when osim is used

before nouns (or adjectives + nouns), it affects them if they are in A or N and

changes them into the genitive case. (That’s why osim is frequently listed as a

preposition used with G; actually, it’s a word that doesn’t fit into any category.) To

illustrate this:

Pojest ću sve A osim salate G . (A → G) I’ll eat (up) everything except the salad.

Poslao sam razglednicu A svima DL osim mami DL . I sent a picture postcard to everyone

except my mum.

Check how the noun in the sentence about postcards stays in the DL case. The

change also happens in the nominative case:

Svi N su ovdje osim Ane G . (N → G) Everyone’s here except for Ana.

Of course, osim can be used with ‘total adverbs’ as well:

svugdje... osim... everywhere... except...

uvijek... osim... always... except...

nigdje... osim... nowhere... except...

nikad(a)... osim... never... except...

etc.

Another word, umjesto, is used in a very similar way to osim. It means instead of:

Otišli smo u kino A umjesto u restoran A . We went to the cinema otići past-mpl


t šli smo u .

instead of restaurant.

Pojest ću salatu A umjesto jabuke G . (A → G) I’ll eat salad instead of an apple.

Ivan N je ovdje umjesto Ane G . (N → G) Ivan is here instead of Ana.

However, you will sometimes see that A is retained after umjesto, and that G is used

when the original case could be retained.

Now, there’s a major difference between English and Croatian grammar when

umjesto instead of is used with verbs. English here has to use a gerund (ing-form)

after instead of, while Croatian uses da + clause:

Goran N je ostao u krevetu DL umjesto da ode u školu A . Goran stayed in bed otići

instead of going to school.

(It seems that the clause after da can here be in either present or past tense, but

perfective verbs are allowed in the present tense, as in the example above!)

There’s also the version umjesto što; there are more conjunctions that can be used

with što and da, with a bit different meanings. Details will be explained in 77 As If:

Advanced Clauses.

Both osim and umjesto can be used to refer to things previously said: as you

hopefully know, in Croatian the general reference is to. We use it after those words

(changed to G, of course) to start sentences:

Osim toga G , pada kiša N . Besides, it’s raining.

Umjesto toga G , idemo u kino A . Instead, we’re going to the cinema.

ići

While English instead is often found at the end of a sentence, Croatian umjesto

toga is usually at the front.

There’s another conjunction we met before – i¨. It’s placed before the word that

adds to what is known or what has been said before.

Volim kavu A . I like coffee. ®

Volim i čaj A . I like tea as well.

I Ivan N voli kavu A . Ivan likes coffee as well.

It’s similar to English too (placed after what is added), but it’s more strict than in

English: i¨ must be placed before the added thing:

I Ana N voli čaj A . Ana too likes tea.

Ana N voli i čaj A . Ana likes tea too.

While the English Ana likes tea too is a bit ambiguous, Croatian Ana voli i čaj is

precise: she likes other drinks, and additionally tea.

What is added must be emphasized, that is, pronouns must not be left out, and

stressed forms must be used:

I ja N volim kavu A . I like coffee as well.

I njima DL se sviđa film N . They like the movie as well. (or: They, too, like the movie.)


It’s absolutely impossible to add i¨ before a second-position form, e.g. normal A of

pronouns (e.g. “vidim i te”). Regardless of placement, you have to use stressed

forms after i¨ (e.g. vidim i tebe).

It’s possible to put i¨ in front of the verb, meaning something will happen (or be

done by someone) in addition:

Ana N će posjetiti Rim A . Ana will visit Rome.

Tamo će i prespavati. She will sleep for a night there as well.

If the sentence is negative (that is, the verb is negated) the negative ni¨ must be

used:

Ni ja N ne volim kavu A . I don’t like coffee either.

Ni njima DL se ne sviđa film N . They don’t like the movie either.

(You will find this rule a bit relaxed in real life, so you will sometimes hear just i¨ in

negated sentences. Standard Croatian actually prescribes using i¨ before negative

words like ne¨.)

As with i¨, stressed forms are mandatory after ni¨ when you use pronouns.

The words i¨ and ni¨ are often used in short responses, when you agree what was

said (but ni¨ is used when you agree with something that used negation):

Volim čaj A . I like tea.

— I ja N . Me too.

Ne volim vino A . I don’t like wine.

— Ni ja N . Me neither.

Note that Croatian doesn’t change case as English does (i.e. me instead of I)

The conjunction ni¨ before the negated verb (or past form, infinitive) is often used to

emphasize negation:

Nije ga A ni vidjela. She didn’t even see him. (or it, depending on the context) 3m/n

Neću te A ni pitati. I won’t even ask you.

2

It can be placed also before an singular object in negated sentences, most often

when using imati have – the object then usually goes into the G, to emphasize

negation:

Nemam ni kune G . I don’t have a single kuna. (Croatian money unit)

There’s the word niti which further emphasizes exclusion and negation, and often

translates as actually, i.e. contrary to someone’s expectations (such use is a bit

colloquial):

Niti ne želim čekati. (colloq.) I don’t want to wait at all. ®

There’s another word with the same "addition" effect, it’s less used in speech, more

in writing:


također also, as well ®

This word can be placed like opet, basically anywhere in the sentence; it does not

refer to a particular word or phrase, so it corresponds to English also and as well:

Ivan N također voli kavu A . Ivan likes coffee as well.

Colloquially, the word također is often used to strengthen i¨, so you’ll often hear

and sometimes read također i¨.

Another word is frequently used to emphasize i¨, when you want to "add" to

something what is already considerably large – još:

Pojeo je još i kolač A . After everything else, he ate a cake as well.

If you want to emphasize that you’re adding so much, no more, use još samo (or

samo još):

Želim još samo jednu jabuku A . I want only one apple more.

Želim samo još jednu jabuku A . (the same meaning)

Generic Croatian adjectives can be usually used as pronouns. However, the adjective

sam alone cannot be used as a pronoun. Instead, another adjective/pronoun must

be used: jedin only one, single.

We’re also capable to ask about addition. It’s quite simple, just add još to questions;

the usual position is before the verb:

Što A još želite? What else (besides previously said) would you like?

This can be added to any who/what/where/how question, but it implies something is

already known, we want to know the rest:

Koga A si još vidio? Who else did you saw?

Što A još znaš? What else do you know? (besides already told)

Gdje ste još bili? Where else have you been? (besides places you already told)

Besides that word, words to and sve can be added to questions in a similar manner,

and then they behave like adverbs, i.e. don’t change; as with još, they are usually put

before the verb:

Što A si to čuo? What did you hear? (I saw/know you heard something)

Što A si to rekao? What did you say? (I heard you said something) reći past-m

Koga A si sve vidio? Who did you saw? (tell me all)

Što A sve znaš? What do you know? (tell me all)

The word to restricts the question to something specific, known to the person who

asks the question, something that’s going on or has just happened. Another example

is that somebody has a photo from vacation on their living room wall, and you ask

him or her, Gdje si to bio? the question being about specifically the picture you’re

standing before.


The word sve means that we want a complete answer, i.e. all the places someone

visited, all the people someone met, everything somebody knows, and so on.

This table summarizes the three context adverbs for who/what/where/how

questions:

who/what/where/how context adverbs

to the current moment, situation

još in addition to previously said/discussed/known

sve totality: want to know everything

The word još can be placed before an indefinite pronoun, for example:

još nešto something in addition

još netko somebody in addition

još negdje somewhere in addition

još nekako in an additional way

For example, a waiter or waitress will usually ask you:

Želite li još nešto A ? Would you like something ‘in addition’? (i.e. beside things already

ordered)

Još nešto A ? (colloquially shortened, the same meaning)

Another example:

Poznaješ li još nekog A ? Do you know somebody else? (beside ones you poznavati

already said you know)

Treba mi DL još nešto N . I need something more. (beside things I already said/took) 1

This has more specific meaning than adding the adjective drugi other after indefinite

pronouns (or the appropriate adverb), which can mean either replacement or

addition, but the default meaning is replacement:

nešto drugo something else

netko drugi somebody else

negdje drugdje somewhere else

nekako drugačije in some other way

For example:

Treba mi DL nešto drugo N . I need something else. (instead)

1

________

® In Serbia, besides osim, the word sem is also used, with the exactly same meaning

and grammatical properties.

Instead of kino and kava, words bioskop and kafa prevail in Serbia and most of

Bosnia for cinema and coffee. In Bosnia, especially in parts where Bosniaks (Bosnian

Muslims) live, another word is also used for coffee: kahva.

The word niti is not used in Serbia to emphasize negation, and it’s rare in Bosnia;

such use is considered specifically Croatian.


The word također is almost always in Serbia and usually in Bosnia shortened to

takođe.


Why does English switch case in responses like me too, while Croatian doesn’t? It

seems that the default case of pronouns in English is the object case (a.k.a. the

accusative case). The subject case is used only when the pronoun is the single-word

subject placed before the verb in the same sentence; otherwise, object case is used

in English. This explains forms like:

You and me are going to... (not a single-word subject)

Who was it? — Me. (no verb)

Lucky me is.... (not a single-word subject)

Of course, this is not really the explanation: this is just a rule, we have described

what is going on in grammar terms, but we still don’t know why such rule applies at

all! (Due credits go to Arnold Zwicky on the Language Log.)

• Examples

This big electronic billboard on the Zagreb bus station advertises itself:

It says your ad, too, can be here, using the 2nd pers. plural of respect (Vaš).

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 68 Three Men: Group Numbers 397 / 600

68 Three Men: Group Numbers

So far we have learned cardinal numbers (one, two), ordinal numbers (first, second),

fractional numbers (half, third), and collective numbers (another set of one, two,

used with some nouns).

Croatian has more numbers: this set actually consists of collective nouns which

stand for groups of males. They are listed here:

both obojica

2 dvojica

3 trojica

4 četvorica

5 petorica

6 šestorica

7 sedm-orica

etc.

The pattern for larger numbers is: take an ordinal adjective (e.g. osm-i), remove the

final -i and add either -ero or -orica.

You will sometimes hear versions of these numbers with -oro (e.g. četvoro). They

are very common in Bosnia and Serbia, and heard in Croatia as well.

The noun dvojica really stands for two men (or two boys — two males of any kind

really). The same holds for all other nouns listed above. The nouns are mass nouns,

i.e. they are in singular, despite meaning plurality, and change like any other singular

nouns on -a:

Razgovarao sam s obojicom I . I talked to both men. (or both boys)

Actually, the nouns obojica, dvojica, etc. behave exactly like djeca and braća: they

require verbs in plural, despite being in feminine singular. Compare:

Djeca N su otišla. Children left.

Obojica N su otišla. Both men left.

otići past-f

otići past-f

These numbers give us another possibility: you can express counted pronouns, like us

two. As you probably expect, the pronoun will be in the genitive case, and the form

of the number will depend on the gender, but there’s one twist you probably didn’t

expect: pronouns come before numbers. The forms are:

all-male mixed all-female

nas obojica nas oboje nas obje

nas dvojica nas dvoje nas dvije

nas trojica nas troje nas tri

etc.

You get the system: for all-male groups, the specific collective nouns listed above

are used; for all-female groups, regular (cardinal) numbers in the feminine gender;

for mixed groups, the collective numbers. Colloquially, the mixed sex pattern is very

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 68 Three Men: Group Numbers 398 / 600

often used even for all-male and all-female groups.

The constructions above can mean either e.g. us two or two of us. However, there’s

a variation, if two of us stands for two out of a larger group of us (e.g. there are five

of us in total, and two of us should do something...). In such a case you can use

either:

dvoje nas G two of us, out of a larger group

dvoje od nas G (the same, but a bit more precise)

Of course, instead of nas, you can use vas or njih (stressed forms must be used) to

get various expressions:

njih G trojica three of them (all male)

vas G obje both of you (all female)

You can also use other quantity adverbs, and quantity adjectives, to quantify

personal pronouns. When you use neki and similar words with pronouns, the rules

change, you have to use od¨ + G:

nitko od nas none of us

jedan od nas one of us

netko od nas somebody of us

neki od nas some of us

mnogi od nas many of us

svatko od nas each of us

nekoliko nas several of us

mnogo nas many of us

dosta nas quite a few of us

puno nas a lot of us

svi mi all of us

Of course, you can use the pronoun oni and so on. The rule is: pronoun-like words

require od¨ + G, adverbs just G, while svi behaves like an adjective in such

expressions, and both words change.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 69 Memories, Expectaons and Fear 399 / 600

69 Memories, Expectations and Fear

There are three areas in Croatian – memory, expectations and fears – which are a bit

different than in English. Each has a twist.

First, these verb pairs are used to express remembering and forgetting:

pamtiti ~~ za- (+ A/CC) memorize, remember

sjećati se² ~~ sjetiti se² (+ G/inf/CC) remember, recall

zaboravljati ~ zaboraviti (+ A/inf/CC) forget

The twist is that Croatian distinguishes storing into memory (zapamtiti) and

retrieving something from memory (sjetiti se²) by means of two perfective verbs (as

you can see from the double tildes, they are not ordinary perf. verbs, but it’s not

important for the moment). However, the two impf. verbs – pamtiti and sjećati se²

– largely overlap in meaning; the latter verb is much more common in speech. In the

meantime, English uses usually just remember:

Zapamtio sam [gdje je auto N ]. I remembered [where the car is]. (and now I m

know it)

Sjećam se [gdje je auto N ]. I recall [where the car is]. (I can get it from my m

memory)

The perf. verb sjetiti se² in past tense is often used to express that you have recalled

something just now (and previously you couldn’t):

Sjetila sam se gdje je auto N . I remember now where the car is. (female

m

speaking)

It’s also very common to use this verb when you remembered (or didn’t) to do

something (expressed in inf), so you did it (or didn’t):

Jesi li se sjetio zatvoriti prozor A ? Did you remember to close the window?

If you didn’t remember at some moment, you can also use the verb zaboraviti perf.

forget, it’s not necessarily permanent loss of memory:

Nisam se sjetio zatvoriti prozor A . I didn’t remember to close the window.

Zaboravio sam zatvoriti prozor A . I forgot to close the window.

If you forget something, it’s simply an object in A; but you can also forget about

some event you were supposed to attend, or any other noun that implies your

involvement: then, na¨ + A is used as the object:

Zaboravio sam jaknu A ! I forgot my jacket!

Zaboravio sam na utakmicu A ! I forgot about the match!

These differences don’t really correspond to English forget vs. forget about. In most

cases, English forget about corresponds to a simple object in A in Croatian.

However, to memorize that you have to do something, you cannot use just inf – a


content clause must be used:

Zapamtio sam [da moram zatvoriti prozor A ]. I ‘memorized’ I have to close the

window. (i.e. I know it, I’ll do it, you don’t have to remind me)

The basic verb to express fear in Croatian is:

bojati (boji) se² (+ G/inf/clause)

For example:

Ana N se boji zmija G . Ana is afraid of snakes.

bojati se

Another way is using the noun strah + the verb biti (je² +) + one who’s afraid in A (+

what is afraid of in G):

Anu A je strah N zmija G . Ana is afraid of snakes.

Anu A je bio strah N zmija G . Ana was afraid of snakes.

Anu A je bilo strah N zmija G . (the same meaning, more common)

The noun strah fear is the subject, as you can see from the past tense, but the

sentence is usually treated as impersonal, so using neuter singular in the past is

actually more common. As with other expressions where the person who feels

something is not in the nominative case, the person is nevertheless usually placed at

the first position.

The complex biti (je² +) strah behaves like one compound verb. What if you want to

convert it to a verbal noun (i.e. gerund)? You would use then just strah, but what

causes fear is then expressed with od¨ + G:

strah od zmija fear of snakes

strah od letenja fear of flying

There’s one more way, less used in speech, more in writing – the verb pair:

plašiti ~ u- scare

The verbs can be used in both ways:

Ana N se plaši zmija G . Ana is scared of snakes.

Anu A plaše zmije N . Snakes scare Ana.

You can also be afraid to do something – then just use the inf of the verb (which can

have its objects and so on):

Goran N se boji voziti bicikl A . Goran is afraid to drive bicycle.

bojati se

Anu A je strah N roniti. Ana is afraid to dive.

On the other hand, there’s just one verb to express expectation:

očekivati (očekuje) expect (+ A/clause)

It’s simple to use – what is expected is in A:

Očekivali smo tvog brata A . We expected your brother.


Now, all the constructions described above can be also used with clauses: you can

both be afraid that something might happen or you can expect that something is

going to happen.

All such clauses start with da and in principle can use any tense, e.g. future:

Ana N se boji

Očekujem

da

će biti hladno.

nećemo pobijediti.

bojati se

očekivati

The usual rules of word order in clauses apply:

Ana N se boji [da¹ će² biti hladno]. Ana is afraid that it will be cold.

bojati se

The verb očekivati (očekuje) expect is, of course mostly used to expect future

events.

With both expectations and fear, it’s common – but not obligatory! – to express

future events with the present tense of perf. verbs. It’s the twist: it’s both OK to say:

Očekujem da će pasti kiša N . ‘I expect that rain will fall.’

očekivati

Očekujem da padne kiša N . (more or less the same meaning) očekivati | pasti

We have here used the perf. verb pasti (padne, pao) fall. Maybe there’s small

difference in meaning – if you use the present tense of perf. verbs, it’s a bit less

certain, and more speculative.

With the impf. verbs, it’s not possible to use present tense to refer to future events

in such clauses – if you use the present tense, it refers to ongoing processes:

Očekujem da će padati kiša N . ‘I expect that rain will be falling.’ (later) očekivati

Očekujem da pada kiša N . ‘I expect that rain is falling.’ (now)

očekivati

(Of course, this applies to the verb (bude) as well, it behaves as any perf. verb here.)

The same holds for expressing fear, with an important detail – the third twist – if you

use perf. verbs in present to refer to future, possible events, they must be negated:

Bojim se da će pasti kiša N . ‘I’m afraid that rain will fall.’

bojati se

Bojim se da ne padne kiša N . (more or less the same meaning) bojati se | pasti

This negation is ‘empty’, it’s just a grammatical feature. (Recall, ‘empty’ negations

also appear with dok + perf. verb; it was introduced back in 54 When, While, Until,

Before, After). If we use a negative-demanding word as e.g. nitko, the sentence

sounds wrong and ungrammatical:

(wrong!) Bojim se da nitko N ne dođe. "I’m afraid nobody will bojati se | doći

come."

That’s because the negation has no effect, it’s an ‘empty’ negation, it carries no

meaning, other words are not negated. The following sentence, however, is

completely acceptable:


Bojim se da netko N ne dođe. I’m afraid somebody might come. bojati se | doći

Of course, the same automatic-but-‘empty’ negation applies to (bude):

Bojim se da ne bude prekasno. I’m afraid it might be too late.

bojati se

Keep in mind that it’s not mandatory to use (bude), you can use the present or the

future tense of biti (je² +) be as well:

Bojim se da je prekasno. I’m afraid that it’s too late.

bojati se

Bojim se da će biti prekasno. I’m afraid that it will be too late.

bojati se

Consequently, this means if you are afraid that something might not happen, you

will have to use the future tense, where negation, if used, really has a meaning:

Bojim se da neće biti mjesta G . I’m afraid there will/might be no room. bojati se

For impf. verbs, if there’s a negation, it usually means that you are afraid of

something not happening:

Bojim se da nemam vremena G . I’m afraid that I have no time.

bojati se

However, you will see sometimes ‘empty’ negations even with impf. verbs – you

have to apply your common sense then.

Since verbs behave so specially in clauses starting with da after verbs of fear, they

are sometimes called fear clauses.

If someone is afraid something could happen to him or her, regardless of him or her

being the subject of that ‘event’, you cannot use verbs in inf, you have to use a

clause, but of course you can use either the future tense or the present tense (and if

you use a perf. verb, you have to apply the ‘empty’ negation):

Bojim se da ću pasti. I’m afraid I’m going to fall.

bojati se

Bojim se da ne padnem. (the same meaning)

bojati se | pasti

There’s one more common verb that uses fear clauses:

brinuti (brine) (se²) care (o DL); worry (+ clause)

This verb has more uses and meanings, e.g. care and so on, but with clauses, it

means worry. (According to the Standard, it should have an obligatory se², but it’s

often dropped in a colloquial context.) For example:

Brinem se da ne zakasnim na posao A . I worry that I’ll be late to work.

Brinem se da ću zakasniti na posao A . (about the same meaning)

The ‘empty’ negation is completely automatic, most speakers are not aware of it at

all (check the Examples). Many languages have the same feature; if you know some

French, you can see how similar it is (but the negation is not mandatory in French):


(French)

Je crains qu’il ne se perde.

Bojim se da se ne izgubi.

I’m afraid he might get lost.

bojati se

As you can see, there are more similarities – French here uses the se, like Croatian,

since the verb izgubiti («) perf. lose means lose something – but when you add se², it

means get, become lost – and the same applies to French perdre. However, there is

a major difference: the ‘empty’ negation in Croatian fear clauses is used only with

perfective verbs in the present tense.

What about fear clauses and perf-like verbs, i.e. čuti (čuje) hear, razumjeti

(razumije,...) understand and vidjeti (vidi,...) see? First, they are not frequently used

in fear clauses. When they are used, and the present tense is used to refer to the

future, there’s usually an ‘empty’ negation:

Bojim se da ne vidim nešto strašno A . I’m afraid I might see something bojati se

terrible.

However, when they refer to the present, the negation is not ‘empty’; here, the

speaker is afraid that there’s a problem with his or her eyes, or something similar:

bojati se

Bojim se da ne vidim dobro. I’m afraid I don’t see well.

You will have to use your common sense to understand such (rare) sentences. It’s

best to use the future tense to refer to the future if you have to use such verbs in

fear clauses.


The ‘empty’ negation with verbs of fear is very common; it appears in Japanese,

Korean, Greek, Hindi, etc.

• Examples

This pop/rock song – Tremolo by Vatra – featuring Damir Urban as a guest vocal –

contains several time, content and fear clauses:

Kad rasplače

gudalo N žice A ,

When a bow

makes strings cry,

rasplakati

Tremolo N u meni DL Tremolo in me

sve ono najbolje A polomi shatters all what’s best

These two verses contain a time clause; they have two perfective verbs: polomiti («)

shatter as the main verb, and rasplakati (rasplače) make cry in the time clause.

Verbs like rasplakati (rasplače) will be covered in 81 Sneeze Once and Start

Blooming.

Dokazat ću ti DL [da I’ll prove to you

2


Dok zat ću ti [

nismo slučajan odabir N ] [we’re not a random choice]

This verse has a content clause.

Bojim se [da

I’m afraid

ne postanemo dio N [we’ll become a part

stalne postave G of the permanent exhibition

Prašnjavi eksponat N A dusty item

Muzeja prekinutih veza G ] Of the Museum of broken relationships]

bojati se

postati | m

These verses contain a fear clause, with a perf. verb in the present tense, and you

see the negation. By the way, most words after dio are in the genitive case. More

fear clauses follow:

Bojim se [da...] I’m afraid [that...]

[da nas DL ne razdvoje [they will separate

i rastope] and dissolve us]

bojati se

1pl

Bojim se [da

I’m afraid [that

bojati se

ne ostanemo samo we’ll remain just

ostati

ožiljak N u vremenu DL ] a scar in time]

(I. Dečak)

Both verses use perfective verbs in present tense in fear clauses, and you again see

the obligatory-but-meaningless negation!

You can listen to it on YouTube (Damir Urban is the less conventionally dressed

guy).

(As you can hear, they use the Standard stress quite consistently; Vatra comes from

Virovitica, in Slavonia, where the Standard stress is used in colloquial speech as

well.)

There’s a translation of this song available on the Internet, where fear clauses are

translated verbatim, that is, including negation! Look it up: just enter "I'm afraid we

don't become" into Google, quotation marks and all. You see, there’s a lot of

hidden grammar people even native speakers don’t think about.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 70 If I Were: Condional Sentences 405 / 600

70 If I Were: Conditional Sentences

There’s usually a whole theory in textbooks about various types of so-called

conditional sentences – sentences like if I..., I’d... (add your ideas here).

Actually, it’s quite simple. There are two types of such sentences: the first one is

what could be (or could had been) but it’s not (e.g. if I were rich, I’d...). So it’s a kind

of missed opportunity, a wish that’s not fulfilled, and you say why.

In such sentences in Croatian, what was not, but could have been, is expressed in

conditional, and the reason (or obstacle) is expressed simply in the past tense or the

present tense, starting with the magic word da. Such clauses behave like normal

clauses, perf. verbs cannot be used in the present tense. They simply refer to

imagined actions or conditions that were necessary for the other part (in conditional)

to happen. For example:

Da je bilo toplo, otišli bismo na plažu A . If it had been warm, we otići past-mpl

would have gone to the beach. (past)

Da je toplo, otišli bismo na plažu A . If it were warm, we would go to otići past-mpl

the beach. (present)

The Croatian sentences are simpler than English, since there’s no special usage of

tenses. If some obstacle holds now, it’s expressed in the present tense. If it

happened in the past, the obstacle is in the past tense. The other part is in

conditional.

There’s an exception to this pattern: if you express what could have happened with

the verb moći (...) can + another verb in infinitive, you should use just the past tense

instead of the conditional; it works for the past only:

Da je bilo toplo, mogli smo otići na plažu A . If it had been warm, we

could have gone to the beach. (past)

English has also mixed conditional sentences, where the condition and unrealized

outcome are in different tenses, e.g. if we had won the lottery, we would be rich.

moći past-mpl

Since Croatian unrealized outcomes are in the conditional form, which doesn’t show

tense, Croatian sentences really don’t tell when the outcome could have happened.

You can express a different moment with adverbs of time, e.g. the present moment

with sad(a) now:

Da smo osvojili lutriju A , sad bismo bili bogati N . If we had won the lottery, we would

be rich. (past-present)

Another way to express ‘present’ (rather, present-indefinite future) unrealized

outcomes is with kad(a). Now both parts are in conditional:

Kad bih imao puno novaca G , kupio bih dobar auto A . If I had a lot of money, I’d

buy a good car. (present)

m


Finally, recall that in colloquial speech and writing, conditional is usually expressed

with just bi² for all persons: you will mostly hear sad bi bili bogati instead of the

formal sentence above, and so on (try Google).

That much about such sentences.

The second type of conditional sentences is completely different. Now we simply

say what is going to happen if something gets fulfilled.

In English, such sentences look like if I get rich, I’ll... (add more ideas). They are

similar to the first type since both use the word if. Not so in Croatian: first, another

word is used – ako:

Ako je toplo, idemo na plažu A . If it’s warm, we go to the beach. (now, near ići

future)

Ako bude toplo, ići ćemo na plažu A . If it’s warm, we’ll go to the beach. (future)

As you see, the structure is completely different now: the action is expressed in the

present or future tense, and the part after ako uses the same rules as near future or

future sentences that use kad: bude instead of usual forms of the verb biti, the

potential future tense (again not strictly respected in speech), etc.:

Ako budemo igrali loše, sigurno ćemo izgubiti. If we play poorly, we’ll lose for sure.

(future)

Actually, if you search the Internet, ako ćemo... is more common than ako

budemo... (or ako budem vs. ako ću, etc.). Try it yourself. Still, use of the common

future tense after ako and kad is considered a mistake in formal writing.

In literature, you will sometimes find that in such clauses, instead of ako + forms of

(bude), verb fronting + li² is used:

Bude li toplo, ići ćemo na plažu A .

Budemo li igrali loše, sigurno ćemo izgubiti.

This is extremely rare in speech. There’s no difference in meaning; it’s mostly used

when the verb (bude) is used.

Of course, the conjunction ako holds the first position in the clause, and all secondposition

words come right after it.

As you can see, ako-clauses are very similar to kad-clauses, but there’s more

freedom in ako-clauses: since the condition (if it’s warm) and the action (we’ll go to

the beach) are not necessarily close in time, the condition can be expressed in the

past tense, and the action in any tense:

Ako se vratila, nazvat će me A . If she has come back, she’ll call me. (past, future)

Of course, it’s possible to use imperative or even conditional in the main (action)

part – everything, except the past tense:

Ako se vratila, odmah je A nazovi. If she has come back, call her

1

3f | nazvati


Ako se vratila, odmah je naz vi.

immediately. (past, imperative)

There’s another type of sentences, not frequently discussed, kind of opposite of

what I have just described. The reasons in the conditional sentences were important

– they are precisely why something was not done or isn’t done. However, it’s easy to

turn such sentences upside down: something happened (or didn’t) regardless of a

condition. This is what I mean:

Even if it had been cold, we would have gone to the beach.

It wasn’t cold, but even if it were, the second part would happen, regardless of the

condition. In Croatian, surprisingly, you just add an i¨ before da and the whole

sentence changes its meaning completely:

I da je bilo hladno, otišli bismo na plažu A . Even if it had been cold, otići past-mpl

we would have gone to the beach.

As usual, the word i¨ is ‘glued’ and it’s not counted: all second-position words come

after the da.

Adding another word – čak – before i da further emphasizes irrelevance of the

condition. Such expression really translates as even if; only i da is more it doesn’t

matter:

Čak i da je bilo hladno, otišli bismo na plažu A . (emphasis)

otići past-mpl

Another option is that it was cold, but we still did it. The grammar is then of the

second type (ako....). Then you would add i¨ to ako, but then they get fused to a

single word iako:

Iako je bilo hladno, otišli smo na plažu A . Although it was cold, we otići past-mpl

went to the beach.

The combined word iako is used like i da – only in the past and present tenses. To

express that you will do something in the future, regardless of something else, use

separate i ako:

I ako bude hladno, otići ćemo na plažu A . Even if it’s cold, we’ll go to the beach.

Finally, it’s possible to ask hypothetical questions, e.g. what would..., if.... Everything

said before about the first type of sentences (using da) still applies:

Gdje bismo išli, da je bilo toplo? Where would we have gone, if it had ići past-mpl

been warm? (past)

Što bi radio, da pada kiša N ? What would you do, if it were raining? (present)

Of course, it’s possible to ask about future, using ako:

Hoćeš li je A nazvati, ako se vrati? Will you call her, if she comes back?

3f A

This applies to all kinds and ways of making questions.

Clauses can be reordered, you can start questions with da or ako, but you still need


to separate them by a comma.

• Examples

This rock song, Samo za taj osjećaj Only for that feeling, performed by Hladno pivo,

contains unrealized conditional sentences (together with purpose clauses):

Da sam prazan list N If I were an empty sheet

potpuno čist N completely blank

Koristio bih puno A , I’d use a much,

puno deblji kist A much thicker brush

I samo jarke A And only vivid

i šarene boje A and bright colors

[Da napišem ime A To write the name

tvoje A i moje A ] yours and mine

(Mile Kekin)

I’ve enclosed the purpose clause in square brackets; it uses the same conjunction

(da) as the first part of the conditional clause, but it comes after everything else.

The song contains more similar verses:

Da se mogu ko nekad If I could, like long ago,

moći pres-1

vratiti na početak A return to the start

I biti onaj isti N

bahati dječak N And be the same

arrogant boy

Ne bih forsiro I wouldn't insist on

neki ležeran stil A a relaxed style

(Mile Kekin)

The form forsiro is the masc. past form of the verb forsirati («) insist, force with the

ending -ao colloquially shorted. The word ko is shortened kao.

Pay attention where the particle se² – accompanying the verb vratiti return – is

placed:

Da se mogu ko nekad vratiti na početak A ...

moći pres-1

With a verb + another verb in infinitive, as here, another option would be right after

the infinitive.


(Note that Mile Kekin, the singer of Hladno pivo, stresses words mostly on the

standard place of stress, e.g. koristio, napišem).

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 71 Suggesons, Permissions and More Verbs 409 / 600

71 Suggestions, Permissions and More Verbs

This explains how to say let me go there and similar things.

Common verbs used are:

davati (daje) ~ dati give (+ DL)

dopuštati («) ~ dopustiti («) allow (+ DL)

predlagati (predlaže) ~ predložiti («) propose, suggest (+ DL)

savjetovati (savjetuje) advise, suggest (+ DL)

zabranj ivati (-uje «) ~ zabraniti («) forbid (+ DL)

These verbs are used with da-clauses which contains verbs in the present tense. As

in other such atemporal clauses, both impf. and perf. verbs can be used. All of them

have a ‘recipient’ in DL – the person who will/should/may do something.

All such verbs are very similar to give in Croatian – you suggest/allow/etc.

something (the whole thing after the da) to someone (who is in the DL case, as the

recipient). English uses another construction here (that + subjunctive) – unlike wait.

Croatian uses the same grammar over and over:

Savjetovao sam Ani DL da ode ranije. I suggested (that) Ana leave earlier. otići

The next two verbs are about giving orders, not in a restaurant, or ordering stuff

over Internet, but as a boss to your subordinates:

naređ ivati (-uje «) ~ narediti («) order (+ DL)

zapovjeđ ivati (-uje «) ~ zapovijediti («) order (+ DL)

They use the same grammar as other verbs.

There’s, however, a group of verbs with similar meanings, but they use A instead of

the DL case:

nagovarati («) ~ nagovoriti («) talk into (+ A)

tjerati ~ na- force (+ A)

Now, there are several constructions in Croatian – often a bit colloquial – where the

verb dati perf. give has a special role. In these constructions, the verb is used in the

present tense as well, meaning true present (i.e. right now, ongoing) despite being a

perf. verb.

First, in speech, but also in writing, it’s very common to express that someone

doesn’t allow someone else to do something by the negative present of dati perf.

give:

Ana N ne da Goranu DL da jede sladoled A . Ana doesn’t let Goran eat ice-cream. jesti

(lit. ‘Ana doesn’t give Goran to eat...’)

The first da is a form of the verb dati; the second one is a conjunction. They are

usually not distinguished in writing. However, since the vowel in da from dati is long,


while the conjunction has a short vowel, the verbal form is occasionally

distinguished by writing a circumflex sign over the vowel: dâ (or, even rarer, a

macron: dā).

It’s also quite common to use this construction in imperative:

Ne daj mu DL da jede sladoled A . Don’t let him eat ice-cream. (lit. ‘Don’t 3m/n | jesti

give him to eat...’)

If you aren’t preventing somebody doing something, but you want to prevent

something to happen (where someone can be the subject, but not in control of the

action, e.g. falling), you use it without the DL:

Ne daj da čaša padne. Don’t let the glass fall.

pasti

Then, the verb dati used in some mediopassive constructions. I’ve already explained

the most common uses of mediopassive (in 64 The Door Opens: Fun with se²). It’s

also common to use more complex sentences in mediopassive. For example, a door

or window can (or cannot) be opened (you see, it’s also passive in English). In

Croatian it’s quite simple:

Vrata N se ne mogu otvoriti. The door cannot be opened.

moći pres-3pl

Prozor N se može otvoriti. The window can be opened.

moći pres-3

As you can see, and I hope expect, nouns vrata n pl. door and prozor window are

subjects here. The particle se² makes the while sentence passive, i.e. it’s about what

can be done to the door or window.

These sentences have something in common with the permissions above. If

something cannot be done, colloquially, the verb dati perf. give can be used instead

of moći (...) can:

Vrata N se ne daju otvoriti. (colloq.) The door cannot be opened.

Prozor N se ne da otvoriti. (colloq.) The window cannot be opened.

The last sentence literally says ‘the door isn’t being given to open’, but the real

meaning is cannot + passive. Again you see that vrata and prozor are subjects: the

verb dati is in pres-3pl in the first sentence, and in singular pres-3 in the second one.

You will sometimes hear such sentences without negation, i.e. with meaning can,

that’ even more colloquial (any maybe restricted to some areas?):

Vrata N se daju otvoriti. (colloq.) The door can be opened.

There’s yet another unexpected phrase using the verb dati perf. give, and it’s

superficially similar to ne da... da:

negation + dati° se² + DL + inf = DL can’t be bothered to inf ®

The meaning of this construction – we could call it ‘the lazy construction’ – is very

similar to mediopassive + DL, i.e. ne jede mi se pizza I don’t feel like eating pizza,

but the phrase with dati is normally used when someone avoids duties, chores, any


activity found hard or boring. For example:

Ani DL se ne da prati suđe A navečer. Ana can’t be bothered to wash dishes in the

evening.

The translation uses a phrase more common in British English, but I hope everyone

gets the meaning: she cannot force/make/allow herself to do it. This is mostly used

in the spoken language, the construction is a bit colloquial.

This construction is never used with activities generally considered pleasing (eating

chocolate, drinking fine drinks, sleeping) – it’s rather used for waiting in lines,

spending time in waiting rooms, cleaning, studying and so on. The verb used is

imperfective, as we’re focusing on the activity, and not an outcome.

The verb dati perf. give is impersonal here, so it’s neuter singular in the past (the

infinitive + an object, prati suđe, can be considered the subject):

Ani DL se nije dalo prati suđe A . Ana couldn’t be bothered to wash dishes.

As you can see, the usual rules about placement of DL experiencers hold – the

person in DL is at the front. Of course, personal pronouns are frequently used:

Ne da mi DL se čekati satima I . I can’t be bothered to wait for hours.

1

This construction is sometimes used without negation; it then roughly corresponds

to make oneself (but it implies a bit less pressure):

Jel ti DL se da čekati u redu DL ? (colloq.) Can you make yourself wait in line? 2

Finally, let’s introduce another important verb family, derived from the pair:

puštati ~ pustiti release, let go

All derived pairs look the one we have already seen above:

dopuštati («) ~ dopustiti («) allow

All derived pairs have meanings related to releasing (except for one). The common

ones are:



A

release, let go

(none)

DL + clause allow (colloq.)

do- DL + clause allow

popre-

A DL relinquish, give over

is- A drop, let drop, emit

na- A abandon, leave behind

o- A relax (body)

pro- A miss, skip

s- A lower, descend

DL

give in

(A) loosen

The most straightforward verb pair is derived with o-. It means relax, but only body,

someone’s behavior or a body part; an object in A is mandatory, so you’ll often need

a se²:

Ana N se opušta. Ana is relaxing.

If you are relaxing something else (grip on something, belt, laws...) you have to use

another verb.

The na- pair means abandon, and is simply used with objects in A:

Vlasnici N su napustili kuću A . The owners abandoned the house.

The pro- pair basically means ‘fail to catch something’ - either what was said, or a

bus, or any opportunity:

Propustio si dobar film A jučer. You missed a good movie yesterday.

The is- pair is mostly used when something is dropped in a sequence, i.e. you

dropped a letter when typing or writing. However, it’s also used to describe emitting

sounds and smells.

The pair derived with s- has a completely unrelated meaning: it means lower:

Spustio sam rolete A . I lowered the blinds. ®

The noun roleta A (window) blind often used in plural, even when it refers to a single

thing, but it can be used in singular too.

________

® The construction ne dati° se² + DL seems to be almost completely unknown in

Serbia. Instead, another verb is used, also impersonally, but not negated: mrziti

hate. In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, standard in Serbia, the verb has the form


mrzeti (mrzi). Besides, the person involved is not in DL, but in A:

Anu A mrzi da naveče pere sudove A . Ana can’t be bothered to wash dishes in the

evening.

As usual, instead of the infinitive clause, in Serbia da + present is used.

Conversely, the construction mrzeti (mrzi)° + A + da is unknown in Croatia, and even

misunderstood sometimes.

The word roleta A (window) blind is used in a slightly different form roletna A in Serbia.

• Examples

The song Ne daj Don’t let, performed by Natali Dizdar, a Croatian pop-singer,

frequently uses the perf. verb dati give; it also uses the pair propuštati («) ~

propustiti («) miss, introduced above. I have put all clauses into square brackets

[...]:

Ne daj [da nestanem] Don’t let [me disappear]

Ne daj [da propustim] Don’t let [me miss]

[Dok se gase svjetla N [While the lights go off

Jedno N za drugim I ] One after another]

The first two lines use dati perf. give + da-clause. The third line uses a mediopassive

se². The last line above uses za¨ + I in the meaning following.

The next verses use again this construction twice; the verb potrajati (potraje) is

basically just the perfective version of trajati (traje) last:

Ne daj [da ovaj dan N Don’t let [this day

Potraje predugo] Last too long]

I ne daj [da se And don’t let [us

Sutra ne vidimo] Don’t see each other tomorrow]

The last two lines above uses se² in reciprocal meaning, i.e. each other (this was

introduced back in 25 Plural).

The following verses start with an imperative and a purpose clause, and the last two

verses repeat the same structure:

Reci mi DL tiho nešto A Tell me quietly something

1

[Da se nasmješim] [So that I smile]

Drži mi DL ruku A Hold my hand

1

[Da ne zaboravim]

(Marin Ostojić & Marta

[So that I don’t forget]

Muždalo)

The possession of ruka hand, arm is expressed with a pronoun DL, as usual.



• Exercise


________(a) ______(b) ______(c) ______(d) prati prozore. I couldn’t be bothered to

wash windows.

______________________(e) ruku. Relax your arm. (doctor to a patient)

______________________(f) ______(g) ______(h) da ______________(i) taj film.

She talked us into watching that movie.

______________________(j) smo utakmicu. We missed (skipped) the game.

Check answers here.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 72 Addressing and Vocave Case 415 / 600

72 Addressing and Vocative Case

Finally, now it’s the time to introduce the last case: the vocative case (just V for

short). This is the last case to be introduced, since it’s the least used case.

It’s mostly used when you’re calling or addressing someone. There are no specific

forms in the plural – vocative is equal to the nominative case in plural. The endings

in singular are:

noun type (N)

V

-a → -o

nouns in -a (≈ fem.) -ica → -ice

(or: no change)

neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) = N

masc. nouns not in -a add -e (some -u)


For people, this case is usually used when you are addressing someone using his or

her name or title, often with imperatives or polite expressions, such as:

Hvala Vam, profesore. Thank you, professor.

Molim Vas, dođite, doktore. Please, come here, doctor.

Izvolite, gospodine. Here you are, mister.

Dobar dan, gospođo. Good afternoon, madam.

With personal names, it's increasingly common to use just nominative instead of

vocative. This holds especially for names ending in -a:

Hvala ti, Ana. Thank you, Ana.

Izvoli, Luka. Here you are, Luka.

The vocative for female names is conserved only in set expressions, e.g. in a

Catholic prayer:

Zdravo, Marijo... Hail Mary,...

There's no change for masculine names not ending in -a (regardless whether they

behave as if ending in -a or not):

Dođi, Kruno. Come here, Kruno.

Dođi, Marko. Come here, Marko.

The ending -e for masculine nouns ending in consonant causes consonant shift k →

č, g → ž, h → š:

čovjek man, human → čovječe

bog god → bože

vrag devil → vraže


If a masc. noun ends in a Croatian-specific consonant, it gets -u in vocative:

kralj king → kralju

muž husband → mužu

prijatelj friend (m) → prijatelju

However, if a masc. noun ends in c, it gets -e, and c changes to č:

princ prince → prinče

For nouns ending in -ica, the vocative case is -ice:

kraljica queen → kraljice

prijateljica friend (f) → prijateljice

This usually applies to few female and male names that end in -ica, like Anica (f) and

Ivica (m):

Hvala ti, Anice. Thank you, Anica.

Izvoli, Ivice. Here you are, Ivica.

The are no special vocative forms for adjectives, except that masculine singular gets

an -i (except, of course, for possessives like moj and so on, which never have an -i).

In Croatian, adjectives normally precede nouns (moj prijatelj) but it's common in

vocatives to invert the order (prijatelju moj), and it's especially common in songs

and poetry in general; you will very often hear:

ljubavi moja o, my love

The vocative case is always used in addressing in letters and mail messages. They

usually have the following formula:

dragi

poštovani

+

gospodine (+ last name)

gospođo (+ last name)

name in V

Words gospodin mister and gospođa madam are often shortened:

gospodin mister = g. / gosp.

gospođa madam = gđa

There's one more word: gospođica miss, sometimes shortened to gđica.

Abbreviations gđa and gđica are declined as nouns, that is V = gđo, A = gđu, etc.

There's no period (.) after gđa and gđica.

For example, a letter could start with one of the following:

Dragi Ivane,...

Poštovana gospođo Jurić,...

Poštovani g. Horvat,...

Poštovana gđo Jurić,...


These three words are formal. They are basically used only when you directly

address someone, either in writing, or in a formal situation; therefore, they are

much less often used than English counterparts. For instance, you will often read in

English language newspapers and books sentences like we talked to Mr. Smith... and

so on. You will never see such use of such formal words in Croatian; people will be

referred to using only their last name or full name; however, if someone holds an

office or position (president, minister...) it will be used.

Since words like gospodin are formal, children never use them. While English

language picture books can be about Mr. Bear, Mr. Tiger and so on, you will never

see it in Croatian: such books will be adapted as Big Bear, My Dear Tiger, etc. Even

when adults talk to children about other adults, they won't usually use words like

gospodin.

Children do use specific words addressing grown-ups outside of their family:

Titles used by children

teta

striček (NW, including Zagreb)

barba (coast, except Dubrovnik)

dundo (Dubrovnik)

čiko (A -u) (elsewhere)

striko (A -u) (elsewhere)

'madam'

'mister'

The words are the same as words for relatives in family, and words vary by region.

Children will usually use the title + first name, e.g. they will call their kindergarten

teacher teta Ana; adults will refer to her in the same way, when talking to their

children.

Most familiar terms of relatives nowadays don't have special vocative forms and

use nominatives:

mama Mom

tata Dad

teta aunt

baka grandmother

The following terms have vocative forms:

otac (oc-) father → oče majka mother → majko

Finally, it's custom to end a letter or mail message with one of:

S poštovanjem,

Pozdrav,

Lijep pozdrav,

Followed by the full name (and function) of the sender. The line Lijep pozdrav is

getting increasingly common, and colloquially abbreviated as lp or LP.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 73 Learning and Renng: Verbs Shiing 418 / 600

73 Learning and Renting: Verbs Shifting

There are couple of verbs in Croatian that show a bit bizarre behavior (such

behavior is not limited to Croatian and even to related Slavic languages, though).

First, there are verbs that can have two distinct objects in A at the same time.

Common verbs and verb pairs with that feature are:

pitati ~ u- («) ask

učiti ~ na- («) learn, teach

In all such verbs, two objects are clearly distinguished: one object is a person (or

animal) and another is not. For example:

Goran N je pitao nešto A Anu A . Goran asked Ana something.

In this sentence, both Ana and nešto something are in A, but one object is "who",

and another "what", so there’s no ambiguity.

Another example:

Ana N je učila Gorana A plivati. Ana taught Goran to swim.

Here, instead of the second object ("what"), we have a verb in inf, so it’s clear what

is taught.

Now, you’re probably scratching your head: doesn’t učiti mean learn, study? Yes, it

does. It has both meanings.

When the verb pair učiti ~ na- («) is used with a single object in A, which is a thing

("what"), it means learn, study. However, when its object is a person (or animal),

then it means teach, and then another object in A ("what") can be used to express

what is taught. (The second object is not mandatory). The "what" object in both

"configurations" can be a verb in inf. Compare:

Ana N uči Gorana A plivati. Ana is teaching Goran to swim.

Goran N uči plivati. Goran is learning to swim.

Therefore, whenever this verb pair gets an object that’s a person (or animal), its

meaning shifts!

But what if someone is a teacher, and we want to say e.g. Ivan teaches math? One

solution is to express a person-object with some generic word, to shift the verb

meaning. For instance, you can hear:

Ivan N uči djecu A matematiku A . Ivan teaches math to children.

(Beware, here the Croatian noun djecu is in A, while English has to, often

corresponding to the Croatian DL case.)

We cannot say just Ivan uči matematiku, since it has exactly the opposite meaning,

however, we can in principle say (but this sounds quite incomplete to me):


Ivan N uči djecu A . Ivan teaches children.

Another way is to use a more formal verb pair:

predavati (predaje) ~ predati teach, give lecture

So we can say:

Ivan N predaje matematiku A . Ivan teaches math.

There are more verbs that have two opposite meanings, depending on other words

around them. Common ones are:

iznajmlj ivati (-uje «) ~ iznajmiti («) rent

posuđ ivati (-uje «) ~ posuditi («) borrow/lend ®

Both verb pairs have two meanings, depending on the cases used. What is

rented/borrowed/lent is always in A. If you add a person (or animal, but also an

institution, and so on) in DL, it denotes someone receiving:

Posudio sam kišobran A Ani DL . I’ve lent the umbrella to Ana.

Iznajmili smo im DL kuću A . We’ve rented (out) the house to them.

3pl

However, if you instead of DL use od¨ + G, the meaning shifts, and G represents the

source (i.e. the owner):

Ana N je posudila kišobran A od mene G . Ana borrowed the umbrella from me.

Iznajmili su kuću A od nas G . They’ve rented the house from us.

1pl G

It’s interesting that English rent shows the same double meaning. If you use the

verbs without DL or od¨ + G, the meaning is ambiguous, and depends on the context.

(There's a suggestion to use another verb pair in the formal Croatian – unajmlj ivati

(-uje «) ~ unajmiti («) – for the meaning rent something from someone, but virtually

nobody uses it.)

The Croatian verb pairs for rent and borrow/lend are ‘round-trip’ verbs, that is, they

imply that the state of things will be restored after some time. Therefore, they are

used with ‘round-trip periods’, that is, preposition na¨ + A:

Iznajmili smo im DL kuću A na dva tjedna 24 . We’ve rented (out) the house to 3pl

them for two weeks.

Unlike the verbs above, which shift their meaning according to cases used, there are

some verbs that use cases in two distinct ways – but there’s not much difference in

meaning. Common ones are:

čuditi wonder, be surprised, marvel

radovati (raduje) look forward to

veseliti (very similar meaning)

They are usually used in a way that what causes emotions is in DL, the person

affected is the subject (in N), and a se² must be used:


Radujem se odmoru DL . I’m looking forward to the vacation.

But these verbs can be used in the 'inverse' as well, where the person affected is in

A, and what causes emotion is the subject (there’s no se² now):

Raduje me A odmor N . (the same meaning, less frequent)

1

This way of using the verb čuditi is often considered non-standard in Croatian;

however, it’s very common, especially when the subject – what makes you wonder –

is a content clause:

Čudi me A [da je A nema]. I am surprised [she’s not here].

1 | 3f

Check the Google results on the .hr domain:

form hits

"čudi me da" 46800

"čudim se da" 28900

When translated to English, čuditi corresponds to several English verbs:

čuditi se² (+ DL) wonder, marvel (at DL)

čuditi (+ A) amaze, surprise

Finally, there are two common verbs where the affected person is in either DL or

(non-standard) in A. They are:

lagati (laže) lie (tell lies)

smetati be nuisance, disturb, annoy

For example, this is both common and standard in Croatian:

Kamenčić N smeta Ani DL . A pebble annoys Ana.

But you will occasionally see A used instead of DL with these two verbs.

________

® In Serbia, and often in Bosnia, pozajmlj ivati (-uje «) ~ pozajmiti («) is used in

meaning borrow/lend.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 74 It Just Happened to Me 421 / 600

74 It Just Happened to Me

Croatian has an interesting way of expressing that something happened, you were

involved, but you weren’t in control, it just happened – to you.

As you can probably guess, it involves the DL case, which usually corresponds to

English to + person / personal pronoun:

To N mi DL se dogodilo. It happened to me.

It’s kind of similar to expressions like hladno mi je, but now subjective feelings are

not important. Consider the following sentence:

Čaša N je pala. The glass fell.

We don’t know why it happened. Just adding a person in DL changes its meaning

subtly:

Čaša N mi DL je pala. I dropped the glass (accidentally).

If you know some Spanish, you can notice that’s exactly the same as adding an

"indirect object pronoun" (which, of course, corresponds to the Croatian DL case) to

sentences like these:

(Spanish) Se cayó. It fell.

(Spanish) Se me cayó. I dropped it.

If you look into an English-Croatian dictionary, you will probably find that there’s the

verb pair ispuštati («) ~ ispustiti («) listed having one meaning drop, but that verbs

are not the first choice, especially in speech, when you accidentally drop something!

If you want to stress that somebody dropped something intentionally, another verb

pair is used:

bacati ~ baciti (A) throw, intentionally drop

A similar difference is expressed with two a bit similar verb pairs that both translate

to English as leave:

ostavljati ~ ostaviti + A

ostajati ~ ostati (ostane) + DL (accidentally!)

The case roles in the second pair are "rotated": what is left is in N, while one who

was affected (that is, the person who left something by accident) is in DL:

Jakna N mi DL je ostala u autu DL . I left the jacket in the car (accidentally).

If we would use the first verb pair, it’s not said whether is was intentional or not,

could be either way. Notice how the person affected is now the subject, and what is

left is object:

Ostavio sam jaknu A u autu DL . I left the jacket in the car.

1

1

1


With many verbs, the same verb is used for both meanings: unintentional events are

expressed using the mediopassive (introduced in 64 The Door Opens: Fun with se²)

and the DL case. Nobody caused the event (at least that’s what we want to say), but

the one in DL is somehow involved, or affected. This is a common example:

razbijati (razbija) ~ razbiti (razbije) break

+ A = intentionally

+ se² + DL = accidentally

For example:

Razbio sam čašu A . I broke the glass.

Čaša N mi DL se razbila. The glass broke (‘on me’).

1

The English has a similar thing, but only colloquially: ‘on me’.

Again, in the accidental construction, what is broken is the subject (observe how the

past form is in feminine).

The DL case is a common way to add who’s affected – always a person/animal or a

group – to anything. Consider:

Grijanje N ne radi. The heating doesn’t work.

The sentence above lacks context: what heating. If it’s not working in your house,

you would add a possessive in English: our heating. It can be also done in Croatian,

but the preferred way in speech is to add DL:

Grijanje N nam DL ne radi. Our heating doesn’t work. (lit. ‘doesn’t work to us’) 1pl

Again, if you know some Spanish, this will all be very familiar to you. This usage is so

common that some people call it possessive dative.

The accidental construction is really just the ‘mediopassive’ – that is, using se² to

express that we don’t know or don’t want to say who caused it – with a person in DL

who was somehow "affected" or "involved". This is an elegant way to say that what

has happened was not intention of that person.

As you hopefully remember, there’s another construction that uses the

‘mediopassive’ and the DL case: the "feel-like". However, it’s easy to distinguish

them, since the "feel-like" uses impf. verbs (usually, but not always, related to

fulfilling needs, like drink, eat, sleep, smoke). Taking the "feel-like" to the extreme,

we could say that somebody felt like breaking glasses, but there would be still a

difference:

(1) Razbile su mi DL se čaše N . The glasses have broken. (‘on me’)

(2) Razbijale su mi DL se čaše N . also: I felt like breaking glasses.

You can see clearly how the sentence #1 uses an perf. verb, while the sentence #2

uses and impf. counterpart. However, the sentence #2 is ambiguous: it could also

mean, depending on the context, that glasses were breaking (e.g. you worked in a

1

1


bar, and glasses were constantly breaking, but it was not your fault, the dishwasher

did it, etc.) This is really an extreme, stretched example, which would be very rare in

real life.

Since persons/animals or groups added in DL are just affected by the event, this use

of DL is also called dative of interest. Its use extends – mostly colloquially – to

sentences where we want somebody to get interested, or when we just emphasize

who is/should be interested. So, in colloquial communication, among friends, it’s

common to add the DL ti² to many sentences when you say something about

yourself or someone else, similar to colloquial English you know:

Ja N ti DL sutra ne radim. I don’t work tomorrow. (you know)

2

Of course, if you’re talking to a group, you would use another pronoun:

Ja N vam DL sutra ne radim.

2pl

On the other side, when you ask a question, the DL mi² is sometimes added to

emphasize that you’re interested:

Kako si mi DL ? How are you doing? (I’d like to know)

1

All these DL’s to express interest are used only colloquially, among close friends and

family.

Another way used in colloquial communication is literally the same as in English,

adding znaš you know to the beginning:

Znaš, sutra ne radim. You know, I don’t work tomorrow.

(the rest is coming soon...)

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 75 Friends and Family 424 / 600

75 Friends and Family

The following nouns for people are frequently used with possessive adjectives. For

each term, there’s a male and a female version:

male female

neighbor susjed ® susjeda ®

godfather/godmother kum kuma

acquaintance poznanik poznanica

boss šef šefica

coworker kolega kolegica ®

The word kolega is similar to tata: the word ends on -a, changes like any other word

on -a, but has masculine gender!

For women, you must use female versions of such nouns. For example:

Ivan N je tvoj susjed N . Ivan is your neighbor.

Ana N je moja susjeda N . Ana is my neighbor.

Terms kum and kuma stand for family friends who are traditionally witnesses at

marriage, child baptism, etc.

Croatian has many words for family members. For instance, where English has only

uncle, Croatian has three words: stric, tetak (tetk-) and ujak! I will introduce only

main family members and relatives here. Terms in square brackets [] are formal

terms, not used among family members, only when you are talking to someone

outside family, in writing, etc. Basic terms for parents and grandparents are:

mama [majka] Mom/mother

tata [otac (oc-)] Dad/father

baka Grandma/grandmother

deda [djed] Grandpa/grandfather

In some regions, there are other words for relatives (see below).

Here are terms for father’s and mother’s sisters and brothers (various kinds of aunts

and uncles) and their spouses:

teta mother’s or father’s sister

tetak (tetk-) husband of teta ®

stric father’s brother ®

strina wife of stric

ujak mother’s brother ®

ujna wife of ujak

Colloquially, teta has more meanings: children will call any older, non-related


woman teta, e.g. their kindergarten teacher.

If you have children (and possibly grandchildren), they are called:

sin son

unuk grandson

kći

unuka granddaughter

daughter

kćerka

For example (the second sentence is less precise in English!):

Ana N je Goranova mama N . Ana is Goran’s Mom.

Čekamo N Ivanovog strica A . We’re waiting for Ivan’s uncle.

The noun kći daughter is a special noun, having the following weird forms:

N A DL

kći / kćer kćer kćeri

The form kćer in N is not Standard, but is frequently used in colloquial

communication®. All other forms are derived from kćer- and follow the pattern for

feminine nouns not ending in a.

In colloquial communication, you will hear ćer, ći and in some regions the

alternative, word kćerka (non-standard, but completely regular) prevails.®

If you want to talk about great-grandfather or great-granddaughter, and so on, add

pra- to the front of words above (e.g. pradjed grandfather, praunuka

granddaughter, etc.).

If you are married, there are names for your husband or wife and her or his parents:

žena [supruga] wife

punica her mother ® — tast / punac (punc-) her father

muž [suprug] husband

svekrva his mother — svekar (svekr-) his father

Terms suprug and supruga are very formal, mostly used in official documents.

Croatian uses the same word (žena) for both woman and wife in virtually all

circumstances.

If your children are married, their spouses are as follows:

zet daughter’s husband

snaha son’s wife ®

(There are no established terms for same-sex couples yet.)

There are couple of often used additional terms for various relatives:

nećak brother’s or sister’s son (nephew)

nećakinja brother’s or sister’s daugher (niece)

bratić male cousin


bratić male cousin

sestrična female cousin

šogor sister’s husband / brother of the spouse (brother-in-law)

šogorica brother’s wife / sister of the spouse (sister-in-law)

Besides these terms, there are other, archaic terms used in some regions, which are

much more precise. They are seldom used nowadays in Croatia.

Additionally, there are two group and two generic terms:

obitelj f (close) family

rodbina wider family, all relatives

rođak male relative of any kind

rođakinja female relative of any kind

Take care that obitelj is a feminine noun ending in a consonant. For instance:

Antina obitelj N živi u Splitu DL . Ante’s family lives in Split.

There’s a lot of regional variations in terms for family members, especially males.

These are just some alternative terms (with region in brackets):

ćaća m Dad (coast, except Dubrovnik)

barba m any uncle (coast, except Dubrovnik)

dundo (dund-) m any uncle (Dubrovnik)

čiko (A -u) m any uncle (Slavonia)

nono (non-) m Grandpa (coast)

nona Grandma (coast)

familija family (many regions)

In many regions – including Zagreb – there’s no distinction between three uncles –

stric, tetak (tetk-) and ujak – and the local term for uncle is frequently used by

children to address any non-related adult male.

________

® Instead of susjed and susjeda, words komšija m and komšinica prevail in Serbia

and Bosnia, both are also heard in Slavonia, a region of Croatia.

Instead of kolegica, koleginica is used in Serbia and parts of Bosnia.

Instead of tetak (tetk-), the word teča m is used in Serbia (but not in Bosnia).

In Bosnia, the word daidža m is frequently used for mother’s brother, while amidža

m is father’s brother.

Instead of punica, the word tašta is used in Serbia and most of Bosnia.

Forms kćer and kćerka are accepted as standard in Bosnia and Serbia. In addition to

snaha, forms snaja and snajka are frequent in Serbia, Bosnia, and some parts of

Croatia.



If you’re interested in precise terms for brothers- and sisters-in-law, here they are.

Assuming you’re a married woman, you call your husband’s relatives:

djever his brother

jetrva his brother’s wife

zaova his sister

zaovac his sister’s husband

If you’re a married man, you call your wife’s relatives:

šurjak her brother

šurjakinja her brother’s wife

svastika her sister

svak / pašanac / pašenog / badžo her sister’s husband

These a bit weird terms are so rare in Croatia today that I had to look up their

definitions on the internet. They are still widely used in Bosnia and Serbia, though.

Some of them, like djever, have barely changed for thousands of years.

The system of naming relatives described above is a variant of the so-called

Sudanese kinship.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 76 Inner, Outer, Step by Step: More on Space and Time 428 / 600

76 Inner, Outer, Step by Step: More on Space and Time

Here are two spatial adverbs that distinguish locations from directions, with

associated prepositions:

dir. loc. preposition

outside van ® vani ® izvan outside of

inside unutra unutar within

All prepositions are, as expected, used with G. For example:

Hotel N ne radi izvan sezone G . The hotel doesn’t ‘work’ outside of the (tourist)

season. (= isn’t open)

Sometimes the adverb van can be used with nouns, as a kind of preposition, so

you’ll hear and read both van sezone and izvan sezone.

The following adverbs stand both for origins and locations, in the following way: the

same adverb means from outside and on the outer surface. We can call them

origin/surface adverbs:

izvana from outside, on the outside

iznutra from within, on the inside

odozgo from above, on the top side

odozdo from below, on the bottom side

For example:

Hladan zrak N dolazi izvana. The cold air is coming from the outside. ®

It’s possible to derive relational adjectives from the adverbs above. Such adjectives

are derived by adding -ski, -nji or -šnji. However, since they are far from regular,

they have to be remembered as separate adjectives:

vani out → vanjski outer ®

unutra inside → unutrašnji inner

gore up → gornji upper

dolje down → donji lower

It’s also possible to derive relational adjectives from many specific time adverbs (e.g.

today), as well and you have to use them – there’s no other way say today’s

newspaper in Croatian; they are always derived with -šnji; if the original adverb ends

in -s, it’s lost:

danas today → današnji

noćas tonight → noćašnji

jučer yesterday → jučerašnji

jutros this morning → jutrošnji

večeras this evening → večerašnji

sutra tomorrow → sutrašnji

(The difference večerašnji vs. večernji is the same as večeras vs. večer.)

They are also derived from non-specific time adverbs in the same way:


sad(a) now → sadašnji

tad(a) then → tadašnji

nekad(a) a time ago → nekadašnji

prije before → prijašnji

English has few adjectives that correspond to Croatian ones: sadašnji translates as

current, present, and nekadašnji as former. For example:

To N su jučerašnje novine N . This is yesterday’s newspaper.

The adjectives derived from adverbs for last evening and last year do not follow this

scheme:

sinoć last evening → sinoćni (also sinoćnji)

lani last year ® → lanjski

One preposition introduced long ago, normally meaning from with G, has a special

meaning with a specific noun strana side:

s¨/sa¨ ... strane on... the side

For example:

Kuće N su s lijeve strane G ulice G . Houses are on the left side of the street.

The same can be expressed with na¨ ... strani, i.e. using a DL expression (which I

personally prefer).

On its own, without any additional words, sa strane usually means aside, apart; in

the same meaning, you can sometimes hear na strani and po strani:

Stajao je sa strane. He was standing aside.

Then, there are couple of interesting prepositions yet unexplained. These two are

quite simple:

niz¨ + A down, along

uz¨ + A up, close to

The basic meaning of them is direction of movement. The preposition niz¨ means

the ‘normal’ direction, i.e. the same direction as the river flows, as hair grows etc.:

Bacila je sve A niz rijeku A . She threw everything down the river.

With steps, ramps, etc. it implies the downward direction:

Trčao sam niz stepenice A . I ran down the stairs.

The preposition niz¨ is used also with paths that have no obvious direction, like

avenues, river banks, roads, trails, simply to indicate movement along something

which is path-like:

Trčao sam niz ulicu A . I ran down the street.

The preposition uz¨ means the opposite direction from niz¨, but also a location close

to, this has been covered in 55 More Prepositions.


Finally, there’s a quite complex preposition which is often hard to translate to

English:

po¨ + A by, here and there (‘sequence’)

This preposition is best explained by examples. First, it’s used in expressions like

English step by step, day by day:

Kretao sam se korak A po korak A . I was moving step by step.

Očistio sam sve A , sobu A po sobu A . I’ve cleaned everything, room by room.

Both the word before and the word after po¨ must be in A, so this is definitely not

an usual preposition!

The next use emphasizes there’s more than one instance of something, which

resolves ambiguity in some cases. This example will make it clear:

Dao sam Goranu DL i Marku DL pedeset kuna G . I gave Goran and Marko 50 kuna.

It’s not clear whether each got 50 kn, or the speaker has given just 50 kn for both of

them. Adding po¨ makes it clear there was more than one 50 kn bill:

Dao sam Goranu DL i Marku DL po pedeset kuna G . I gave Goran and Marko 50 kuna

each.

Finally, there are adverbs that are historically derived as po¨ + an adverb, but they

are considered single words today. We have already encountered some of them.

Common ones are:

ponegdje here and there

ponekad now and then = sometimes

ponešto this and that thing = a bit, to a degree

The last word is used as a quantity adverb. There are also generic pronouns and

adjectives derived in this way:

poneki (+) occasional, few and far between

ponetko (ponek-) this and that person = a few people

The adjective poneki changes as neki, of course.

________

® Instead of van and the related words, the following words are common in Serbia,

parts of Bosnia and even in some parts of Croatia:

van → napolje

vani → napolju

izvana → spolja

vanjski → spoljašnji

Instead of zrak, the word for air in Serbia and most of Bosnia is vazduh.

The adverb lani has an unexpected “Ekavian” form lane in Serbia, but the relational

adjective is the same.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 77 As If: Advanced Clauses 431 / 600

77 As If: Advanced Clauses

This chapter will wrap up the remaining clauses and clause-like constructions, so it

could be also called various stuff that can be done with da (and sometimes što).

The first thing we’re going to deal with are so-called complex conjunctions. Some

clauses in Croatian can have two forms — one with što, and another with da. For

example:

kao što (+ clause) as

kao da (+ clause) as if

The main difference is that forms with što refer to something that has happened, or

will happen for sure (at least, what is expected to happen), and ones with da to

something that did not happen, or is not expected to happen.

For example:

Vruće je kao što je bilo prošli tjedan A . It’s hot as it was the last week. ®

Vruće je kao da smo u Africi DL . It’s hot as if we were in Africa.

The first sentence compares the heat to something that really happened, and the

second one to something obviously not true. You can say the second sentence while

in Africa only if you’re joking.

Another situation where we have što vs. da is with comparison conjunction nego,

when used with a clause:

nego što (+ clause) than

nego da (+ clause) than (something imagined)

The combination nego da is only used to compare to something unreal, imagined,

while nego što compares to another, existing action or state:

Hotel N je bolji N nego što sam očekivao. The hotel is better than I’ve expected.

Another complex conjunction which shows such duality is umjesto:

(desired event) umjesto što (real event)

(real event) umjesto da (imagined event)

English here uses only instead.

When you look more carefully, the reason and purpose clauses follow a similar

pattern:

zato što (+ clause) because

(zato) da (+ clause) so that

The correspondence is not perfect, for two reasons: first, zato is used in purpose

clauses only for emphasis: only da is normally used. Second, purpose clauses are

restricted to the present tense only.


Then, we have the word osim except ®, used in various complex conjunctions and

similar stuff. They are:

osim ako unless

osim da/što except (see below)

osim...i... besides... also...

These constructions will be explained one by one. We will first tackle osim da and

osim što. They are best understood as osim + clause. Which clause you’re going to

use depends on the main verb.

For example, the expressions moguće je da... it’s possible that..., content clauses

are used (the word moguć possible will be explained in 80 Present Adverbs and

Adjectives). So, for example, you want to say that everything is possible, except that

X. You would then use da, like in a content clause, and just add osim before it:

Sve N je moguće N , osim [da igram protiv Barcelone G ]. Everything is possible, except

[‘that I play’ against Barcelona]. = except [me playing against Barcelona]

This is an actual translation of a statement by Andrés Iniesta I found on the Internet.

Pay attention there’s no transformation in the Croatian sentence (from I play to me

playing).

Recall that it’s common to use što to start a content clause when commenting on a

fact:

Dobro je [što pada kiša N ]. It’s good [it’s raining].

Next, we want to say it’s nice, except it’s raining:

Lijepo je ovdje, osim [što pada kiša N ]. It’s nice here, except [it’s raining].

In such cases, you have to use što.

The complex conjunction osim ako is quite different: it specifies a possible situation

which will prevent the main clause (which is normally in the present tense or the

future, but the meaning is future):

Ići ćemo na plažu A , osim [ako će padati kiša N ]. We’ll go to the beach ‘except’ [‘if’ it

rains]. = unless [it rains]

Like in other conditional sentences, use of tenses in much freer in Croatian.

However, there’s often ‘empty’ negation in such clauses, so this is actually more

common:

Ići ćemo na plažu A , osim [ako neće padati kiša N ]. (the same meaning!)

Strictly speaking, these are conditional clauses, so the ‘potential’ future should be

used with imperfective verbs, according to standard Croatian:

Ići ćemo na plažu A , osim [ako bude padala kiša N ].

Ići ćemo na plažu A , osim [ako ne bude padala kiša N ].


Such standard sentences have the same meaning as a bit colloquial ones with the

common future tense, but they are significantly less common in real life (some 10

times less common on the Internet).

Then, osim... i... is used similar to English besides:

Osim sladoleda G , nudimo i kolače A . Besides ice-cream, we offer cakes as well.

Here the normal rules of osim + noun are observed (i.e. N, A → G). In writing, it’s

common to use pored... i in this meaning as well.

The next thing is using da-clauses to express how something is done. Such clauses

are then appended to tako so, in such way, so effectively we have tako da:

Odgovorite na pitanja A tako da zaokružite broj A ispred odgovora G . Answer the

questions ‘in such a way that’ you circle the number before the answer. (i.e. by

circling a number)

There are two more constructions that use da-clauses. The first one corresponds to

English construction too... to..., for example:

Goran N je premlad N [da vozi auto A ]. Goran is too young [to drive a car]. masc.

While English has too as a separate word, Croatian pre- is glued to the adjective (you

will see it spelled separately from time to time, but it’s non-standard spelling).

While English uses a to-construction, Croatian sentences are of the desire type, i.e.

only present tense (or conditional) but perfective verbs are allowed (one is used in

the example below). Note that the Croatian construction is much more flexible,

since anything can be a subject in the clause, while English is stuck with the infinitive,

which cannot have a subject; therefore, English must use for when the subjects

differ:

Sendvič N je prevelik N [da ga A pojedem]. The sandwich is too big [for me] [to 3m/n

eat (it completely)].

Literally, the Croatian sentence says:

The sandwich is too big da I completely-eat it.

It’t interesting that in such sentences, conditional is used more often than the

present tense; sometimes you’ll see the verb moći (može +, mogao, mogla) can also

added to the clause, with not much difference in meaning:

Sendvič N je prevelik N [da bih ga A pojeo].

3m/n

Sendvič N je prevelik N [da bih ga A mogao pojesti].

3m/n | moći past-m

As with other atemporal clauses, instead of biti (je² +) be, the verb (bude) should be

used, but conditional prevails with that verb almost completely in this construction.

This construction easily translates English phrases like too good to be true i.e.

predobro da bi bilo istina – and similar – but they are not that common in Croatian

and somehow always feel like translation of English phrases.


Another construction corresponds to English so... that... While the English

construction looks quite different from the previous one, Croatian simply uses

tako... da..., but the da-clause is of indicative-type (i.e. any tense, but no perfective

verbs in present):

Knjiga N je tako debela N [da ću je A čitati danima I ]. The book is so thick [that I’ll 3f

be reading it for days].

Besides tako so, you can use toliko so many (don’t forget it’s a quantity adverb,

therefore, uncountable nouns have to be in G after it, and countable ones in G-pl):

3pl | moći pres-1

Vidim toliko vrabaca G [da ih A ne mogu izbrojati]. I see so many

sparrows [that I can’t count them].

Sometimes toliko is used with adjectives, so you’ll encounter toliko skupa... da...

and similar expressions:

Pizza N je bila toliko ljuta N [da sam popio litru A vode G ]. The pizza was so hot [that I

drank a liter of water].

(Croatian has one word for both angry and hot because of spices.) Besides these

words, you can see takav (takv-) such, usually before nouns (but it can be used on its

own, since it’s an adjective):

Magla N je takva [da svi N voze polako]. The fog is ‘such’ [that everyone is driving

slowly].

(The last type, without a noun, must be slightly rephrased in English.)

This type of clause is sometimes called result clause; bear in mind that they require

two things: a word like tako, toliko or takav (takv-) and an indicative da-clause.

In both English and Croatian, there’s also a third type, where the main verb is

negated; in English not... such... to...:

Nisam takav idiot N [da platim 1000 eura G za to A ]. I’m not such an idiot [to pay 1000

euros for that].

Now the part after da is not going to happen, so both English and Croatian switch to

an atemporal construction. We again see that Croatian clauses restricted to the

present tense often correspond to English to-constructions. However, the clause in

this construction can be also in the future tense:

Nisam tako glup N [da ću to A kupiti]. I’m not so stupid [that I’m going to buy it].

The last thing could be called the ‘weirdest construction’. It’s a kind of extension of

the negative + nego construction, introduced in 43 And, Or, But: Basic Conjunctions.

Recall:

To N nije mačka N , nego pas N . It’s not a cat, it’s a dog. (or: instead, it’s a dog)

You can also say it for verbs:


On N ne spava, nego gleda televiziju A . He’s not sleeping, he’s watching TV instead.

The ‘weirdest construction’ is similar, but it says that the first (negated part) is an

understatement. An example in English would be:

I’m not (just) cold, I’m (actually) freezing!

And in Croatian, it looks like this:

Ne da mi DL je hladno, nego se smrzavam.

1

What is ‘weird’ in this construction? First, ne¨ and da are glued into a complex

conjunction (still spelled as two words, of course, but usually pronounced as one

word). You can’t place anything in between. The conjunction (or whatever it is) nego

is optional:

Ne da mi DL je hladno, smrzavam se.

1

The second weird thing is that you can pull things (I mean, words) out from the da

clause:

Meni DL ne da je hladno, nego se smrzavam. (the same meaning, emphasis on the

person who feels it)

Pulling subjects out is quite common (but optional):

Voda N ne da curi, nego teče. Water is not just leaking, it’s flowing.

teći

The understatement in the first part can be also negative:

Ne da nije pročitao knjigu A , nije ju A ni otvorio. It’s not just that he didn’t read 3f A

the book completely, he didn’t even open it.

The English translation is not so elegant, but it’s a very compact expression in

Croatian.

________

® In most of Bosnia, instead of prošli tjedan last week, prošle nedjelje is used; in

Serbia it’s in the “Ekavian” form prošle nedelje.

In Serbia, besides osim, the word sem is also used, with the exactly same meaning

and grammatical properties.

• Examples

Kao da me nema tu As if I weren’t here is one of pop hits performed by Ivana

Vrdoljak, who performs under the name Vanna (the double n likely just makes it a

bit more foreign and therefore cool).

The title also features a negative existential nema° + me², but also tu in meaning

here, which is very common, but not strictly standard in Croatian. The chorus

contains a number of as if constructions. Note that the Croatian lyrics have


everything in the present tense, but English have the subjunctive shift to the past:

I kao [da me G nema tu] And as [if I weren’t here]

1

ja N tonem sve do dna G I’m sinking all the way to the bottom

I kao [da mi DL nestaje And as [if

1

tlo N pod nogama I ] the ground under my feet were disappearing]

The second verse has sve do¨, where sve doesn’t mean all, but all the way, i.e. it

strengthens the preposition do¨. The third and fourth verse are one sentence, the

verb is in the third verse, and the pronoun mi² refers to noge feet/legs which is the

subject; the fourth verse also illustrates pod¨ + I. I guess the pronoun ja in the

second verse is there just to add one syllable.

The rest of the chorus has a similar structure, again the DL mi² marks the possession

of tijelo body. (You see again and again how DL is common with body parts.)

DL N I kao [da mi tijelo gori] And as [if my body were burning]

1

ja N zovem upomoć I’m calling for help

A ponovo bi dala sve A And I’d give everything again

za jednu jedinu noć A for a single night

f

(Ante Pecotić)

The word bi is, of course, just the colloquial form of bih, the 1st person of the

conditional verb. The phrase jedan jedini means a single; of course, both words are

adjectives, and change when needed.

You can find performances on YouTube, including a cover on A strana A Side.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 78 Dijete vs. Dite 437 / 600

78 Dijete vs. Dite

You have now some basic knowledge of Croatian, and you are going to enjoy some

popular Croatian tune you discovered on YouTube. To your surprise, it contains

some strange words and forms.

You look up the lyrics and find words that are not in your pocket dictionary. Then

you look them up in an online dictionary, but it does not help either! What is going

on?

Chances are, you picked up a song that's not in Standard Croatian, but in a dialect –

language particular to some region (this is a bit confusing, since any language is

particular to a region; what is called a ‘language’, and what ‘dialect’ is simply a

matter of convenience; also, dialects are usually not used by governments). There

are many dialects, but there's a big group of them, that have a characteristic i sound,

and are therefore called Ikavian.

Ikavian dialects are usually found on islands and coast, cities Split and Zadar, but

also inland, and in parts of Istria.

Simply said, where Standard Croatian has ije or je, they have i. For example (I've

listed only nominatives and infinitives):

Standard word

dijete child

dvije two (f)

gdje where

lijep adj. nice, beautiful

mlijeko milk

nedjelja Sunday

vrijeme time/weather

Ikavian

dite

dvi

di / gdi

lip

mliko

nedilja

vrime

There's no change for verbs that have -ije in their pers-3 and the -i- comes from the

infinitive, such as:

piti (pije) drink


Verbs having infinitives in -jeti in Standard Croatian have -i- in all forms and appear

regular in Ikavian; this includes the Ikavian version of razumjeti understand:

razumiti understand

viditi see

živiti live

etc.

regular verbs

in Ikavian


There are a couple of words where just the Standard re is changed to ri:

Standard word

mreža net

prestati (prestane) perf. stop

rezati (reže) impf. cut

sreća happiness, luck

trebati impf. need/should

usred in the middle of

jesti eat

orah walnut

Ikavian

mriža

pristati (pristane)

rizati (riže)

srića

tribati

usrid

jisti

orih

Ikavian pristati stop looks like another verb from the same family, meaning consent,

agree – prefixes pre- and pri- have merged in Ikavian! Of course, this doesn't apply

to every re in every word – these words have to be learned.

There are some words where it isn't re vs ri, as in the two rows in the table above.

Perhaps confusingly, this applies also to the negative present tense of the verb imati

have and to indefinite pronouns/adjectives like neki and nešto:

Standard word

nemaš pres-2 you don't have

neki adj. some

nešto something

Ikavian

nimaš

niki

ništo

Many Ikavian dialects also have specific past-m forms: instead of -o, they have -a

and -ja:

verb Std. past-m Ikavian

biti (je² +) be bio bija

imati have imao ima

vidjeti see vidio vidija

When the past-m in Standard Croatian ends in -ao, in such dialects it ends in only -a.

When other vowels are found before the final -a, some people write just -a, other -

ja, so you will see both bia and bija.

Many such dialects are spoken on the Adriatic coast or near it, but not all dialects on

the coast are Ikavian.

Furthermore, most coastal dialects, be Ikavian or not, have another interesting

feature: in verb and case endings, where Standard Croatian has -m, they have -n


instead:

verb Std. pres-1 coast

biti (je² +) be sam san

imati have imam iman

For nouns and adjectives (example for the instrumental case):

word Std. I coast

žena woman/wife ženom ženon

moj my

m, n mojim mojin

f mojom mojon

This change affects only word-final m's: endings -mo (pres-1pl) or -ma (DLI-pl)

aren't affected.

There's another feature that doesn't completely overlap with the change from -m to

-n: loss of lj. Instead, such dialects have usually just j:

Standard word coast

people ljudi m pl. judi

love ljubav f jubav

trouble nevolja nevoja

There are some specific constructions used today in Split and the surrounding area.

The most common is:

u¨ + G (Split area) = std. kod¨ + G

Therefore, you often hear and read u nas instead of kod nas for at our place, here

(i.e. German bei uns).

Furthermore, there are a lot of specific words in Dalmatia (this list is by no means

exhaustive, there are many hundreds specific words):

Standard word Dalmatia

pillow jastuk kušin

towel ručnik šugaman

clock, hour sat ura

plate (to eat from) tanjur pjat

fork vilica pirun

Many of these words also appear in the Northern Adriatic, i.e. in the Rijeka area and


Istria. One of the main differences is that Split area consistently uses the Standard

stress system, with all shifts, etc. while in Rijeka, the 'western' stress prevails.

Use of Ikavian is very widespread in Split and surrounding areas in everyday

communication. A lot of local musicians produce music with Ikavian words. There

are even novels and newspaper columns written in Ikavian. There are movies and

‘telenovelas’ with a lot of Ikavian forms. Since such songs and ‘telenovelas’ are quite

popular in countries of former Yugoslavia, everyone understands a bit of Ikavian,

despite it having no official status anywhere. (There's a small population in Northern

Serbia, called Bunjevci, which is – controversially – sometimes considered a separate

ethnic group in Serbia, and their language is Ikavian. They have primary schools in

Ikavian.)

The difference Ikavian vs. Standard Croatian is similar to e.g. difference between

Standard Serbian and Standard Croatian. However, bear in mind that there are

dialects in Croatia that much more divergent, to the point of being barely

understandable, having specific sounds, case forms, and so on! They will be

described in A8 Dialects.

Finally, Ikavian is far from homogeneous. What is spoken on islands would be very

different than what is spoken inland. Generally, on islands and smaller towns, you'll

see larger difference from the Standard and more specific forms.

There's one more difference that is completely independent of Ikavian, but some

Ikavian dialects, including Dalmatian hinterland, have it: loss of h. It was replaced by

either v or j, depending on the surrounding sounds, or simply lost, e.g. in the

beginning of the word (I have listed only nominatives):

Standard word

kruh bread

hladan adj. cold

snaha son's wife

suh adj. dry

h-less

kruv

ladan

snaja

suv

Today, most people in Split – especially when they speak privately – don't have h in

most words. This produces, with other differences described above, e.g. past forms

tija and tila, corresponding to Standard htio and htjela.

This loss also happened in large parts of Bosnia and whole Serbia (however,

Standard Serbian has restored h at the beginning of words, so it's hladan and suv in

Standard Serbian.)

There are also Ekavian dialects, where all changes are similar to ones described

above, but have e instead of i (lep, etc.). They prevail in Serbia, and the Standard

Serbian in Serbia is Ekavian. You can find more about Ekavian in A9 Bosnian, Serbian

and Montenegrin.


This overview of Ikavian was intentionally brief and light; there are whole books

written about various dialects, mostly dictionaries of local speech for some town or

region. Unfortunately, little is available online.

Please don't think ‘Ikavian’ equals ‘Dalmatian’. For example, Dubrovnik is a city in

Dalmatia, but the dialect spoken there is very different from one spoken in Split, and

by no means Ikavian.

• Examples

There are so many popular Croatian songs in Ikavian, that it's hard to give just a few

examples!

This hit performed by Goran Karan – Lipa si, lipa – is not about a tree (Std. lipa lime

tree, tilia), but about a woman (beautiful, of course).

Za tobom I noćas For you tonight

plaču mandoline N mandolins cry

V

Najlipša ružo Most beautiful rose

ikad procvitala ever blossomed

anđeli ti sliče angels look like you

Lipa N si, lipa N You're beautiful, beautiful

2

Lipa N si, lipa N You're beautiful, beautiful

usne, tvoje lice N the lips, your face

Jubi me A , jubi Kiss me, kiss

1

i kad zora sviće N even when a dawn breaks

Sa neba G pada From skies fall

Dođi u ponoć Come at midnight

po nama DL cviće N flowers onto us

f

prođi kraj fontane G pass by the fountain

Da misec N vidi So the Moon can see

tvoje lipe oči A your beautiful eyes

f

(Nenad Ninčević)


Another example is U prolazu In passing. It's again a purely Ikavian song:

Pusti, neka vitar N nosi Let the wind carry

Ove naše zadnje riči A These last words of ours

f

Svitlo N sja u tvojoj kosi DL Light shines in your hair

Tvoj N me A pogled N i sad liči Your look still heals me

1

U prolazu DL , u prolazu DL In passing, in passing

(Jakša Fiamengo)

A bit later, there are verses:


I dok čekan, teku ure N And while I'm waiting, hours 'flow'

Ko N zna ča A i komu DL broje Who knows what and whom they count

This seems obscure, but 'flowing of hours' is a bell on a clock-tower, 'counting'. The

word ura is a bit archaic version of sat.

However, the word ča what is specific for a group of dialects that are named after it

(called Čakavian or Chakavian in English). They have a number of interesting

features, which are almost completely absent in this song. These dialects were much

used in Croatian Renaissance literature. (You maybe recall that ča is an extremely

archaic form of što, from 28 Asking Who and What).

You can listen to it on YouTube – check the performance by Tamara Obrovac,

generally considered outstanding.

A venerated tradition in Dalmatia is klapa – groups singing a capella. They are mostly

men, but they are women groups too.

This song, A vitar puše (the form vitar is obviously Ikavian), contains some

interesting features:

Su pjatom I juve G With a plate of soup

Kad projdu dani N When days pass

projti

I stvari luše N And fancy things

f

Ova nas A jubav N This love

1pl | f

Jača i rani Strengthens and feeds us

A vitar N puše! And the wind is blowing!

(Jakša Fiamengo)

You can see here loss of h, e.g. rani instead of hrani.

There's another interesting form: projdu instead of prođu. This is an older form

which is retained in many dialects – in many places – but is today absent from

Dalmatia, except maybe on the islands. In that verse, verb is placed before the

subject, which continues into the next verse, so these verses mean when days and

fancy things pass i.e. when we get old and poor.

This is actually a pop song, performed by Oliver Dragojević, but check the version by

women from Klapa Neverin on YouTube.

All songs above were modern, late 20th century works, both lyrics and melody. The

next song, Ju te san se zajubija I fell in love with you is a traditional song:

Ju te A san se With you I've

2

zajubija fallen in love

Druge G ne bi Another one I wouldn't

poželija wish

Cesarica N da bi bila Even if she were an empress

There's an interesting (and archaic) feature: the verb poželiti perf. wish (Ikavian


form) uses G (druge) instead of A (drugu) for its object, when negated. (This is not a

classic perf. verb, as you cannot "complete" wish: such verbs will be explained in 81

Sneeze Once and Start Blooming.)

You can check a performance by a big choir, made of merged klapa's on YouTube.

There's more. In early 21st century, the most influential group from Split – in a

category of its own, kind of mixture of pop, hip-hop and traditional sounds – is The

Beat Fleet, usually shortened to TBF. Any song performed by them is worth listening;

their works touch a wide range of themes, including love, everyday life, drugs, urban

decay, politics.

This is a kind of love song, Fantastična Fantastic (f) – about a friend who becomes a

drug addict and hallucinates having a girlfriend, literally a fantasy:

Mara N nije ima mobitel A Mara had no cellphone

nikad nije bia doma

I onda jednog jutra A

he was never at home

And then one morning

sam ga A srea isprid lifta G I met him in front of the elevator 3m/n | sresti

a Mara N je bia sritan N and Mara was happy

ka nikad like never (before)

I sta je pričat:

And he started to talk:

upozna sam I've met

ljubav A svog života G the love of my life

f

prije misec A dana G a month ago

Kad sam se spustia When I went down

G do dućana to the store

Po kruv A i mliko A

To get bread and milk

u onoj plastičnoj boci DL in that plastic bottle

Na blagajni DL ugleda te oči A I saw those eyes at the checkout

f

(Aleksandar Antić)

One form is worth explaining: in parts of Dalmatia, the verb stati (stane) perf. come

to stand also means start, begin.

The language in their songs is how younger people in Split actually speak, there is a

lot of influence from Standard Croatian (here srea instead of Ikavian sria, prije

instead of Ikavian pri, later you can hear tjedan week, a word which is traditionally

not used in Dalmatia, etc.), a lot of local slang, words offensive to some (older

people) etc. Check the live performance on YouTube.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases 444 / 600

79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases

I will explain various phrases with non-obvious meanings.

The first group is about being right or wrong. There are two ways to express it:

right wrong

biti (je² +) be + u pravu u krivu ®

imati have + pravo krivo ®

These two sentences have the same meaning:

U pravu si. You’re right.

Imaš pravo. (the same meaning, less common)

Expressing right or wrong with biti (je² +) be is more common.

The word krivo is also used as an adverb, to indicate that some action is not done in

the ‘proper’ way. For example:

Krivo si me A shvatila. You misunderstood me.

1

However, to express that something is done right, this word is usually used:

ispravno correctly

For example:

Ispravno si me A shvatila. You understood me correctly.

1

The word pravo can be also a noun, meaning right. It can be used with the verb

imati have and either na¨ + A or another verb in inf, meaning be entitled to, have

right to:

Imaš pravo A na svoje mišljenje A . You’re entitled to your opinion.

There are adjectives with opposite meanings:

pravi true, right kriv false, wrong, guilty

lažan (lažn-) false, fake

pogrešan (pogrešn-) wrong

The adjective with the positive meaning covers both something that really is so, and

the right choice:

On N je pravi prijatelj N . He’s a true friend.

Ovo N je pravo mjesto N . This is the right spot. (lit. ‘true/right place’)

With three adjectives with negative meanings, kriv covers both meanings wrong

choice and guilty, while lažan (lažn-) is something that looks right, but it isn’t. Finally,

pogrešan (pogrešn-) is again only wrong choice.


With the adjective kriv, there is a common phrase expressing fault and blame. It’s

best explained by examples:

On N je kriv N za to A . That’s his fault.

Za sve A sam ja kriva N . It’s all my fault. (I = female)

It literally means ‘he is guilty for that’. This phrase is often used in negative, clearing

someone of responsibility, often additionally expressing someone’s claim is wrong,

that it’s actually the responsibility of the one who claims! This is expressed simply by

adding the ‘accuser’ in DL:

Mi N ti DL nismo krivi N . It’s not our fault (it’s yours).

Nitko N ti DL nije kriv N . It’s all your fault. (lit. ‘nobody is guilty to you.’)

The last example is a very often used phrase, which also corresponds to English

you’ve got only yourself to blame.

Then, there’s a verb family derived from the same root as the adjective pravi true,

right, and it has very common meanings. It follows an asymmetric pattern:

praviti ~ na- make

po-pravljati ~ po-praviti (a derived pair)

Common derived pairs in this family are:

-pravljati ~ -praviti


is- A correct

A repair, fix, mend

pose²

improve

pre- A reconstruct, remodel

ras- (o¨ DL) discuss

The first pair, derived by is-, is straightforward – you just correct an object in A

(which can also be se² or sebe):

Ana N je ispravila greške A . Ana corrected errors.

The pair derived by po- is also straightforward – something is broken or wrong, and

you fix it:

Ivan N je popravio bicikl A . Ivan fixed the bicycle.

You can also fix yourself, i.e. improve. The meaning is actually mediopassive – from

improving on its own to getting improved:

Vrijeme N se popravlja. The weather is improving.

The pair derived by pre- is a bit less common. It’s used when you change or

2

2


reconfigure something, but it’s not necessary a correction or improvement.

The pair derived by ras- has a completely unexpected meaning: discuss. It’s used in

the same way as razgovarati («) converse:

Raspravljali smo o planovima DL za ljeto A . We have discussed plans for the summer.

Raspravljao sam s Anom I . I discussed with Ana.

Note that this pair does not use a simple object in A, unlike English!

The perfective verbs have mostly derived verbal nouns of the -ak type:

ispravak (ispravk-) correction

popravak (popravk-) repair

but:

rasprava discussion

Then, there’s the verb ticati (tiče) touch which is mostly used in this phrase:

ticati (tiče) se² + G concern, involve

For example, this is a very frequent sentence:

Ne tiče me A se. It doesn’t concern me. = It’s none of my business.

1

Let me explain you more phrases. However, to explain them, I need to explain a few

grammar details first.

There are two impersonal constructions we haven’t covered yet: both don’t allow a

subject, but normally have objects. The first one looks like the mediopassive, but

uses A instead of N, so there’s no subject:

Kava N se vrlo brzo skuha. Coffee is (can be) prepared very quickly. (mediopassive) ®

Kavu A se vrlo brzo skuha°. One prepares coffee very quickly. (impersonal) ®

What’s the difference? Only cases used, and not much difference in meaning. They

mean basically the same. Of course, they aren’t grammatically the same, the second

one has no subject (no words in N), so the verb must be neuter singular in the past:

Kava N se vrlo brzo skuhala. Coffee was prepared very quickly. (mediopassive)

Kavu A se vrlo brzo skuhalo. One prepared coffee very quickly. (impersonal) ®

While the (se² + A) construction is usually called ‘impersonal’, its meaning is really

mediopassive. We can call it se²+A-passive. This construction is actually more

precise, since the first construction can be also sometimes understood as a

reflexive, as in the following example:

pitam se

pita° me A se ®

I ask myself

or: I am asked. ??

One asks me.

= I am asked.

???

no confusion

As you can see, the first construction would rather be understood as a simple

reflexive. So people use the second construction to specify that they are being


asked. This phrase is especially frequent (where the stressed form mene is often

used instead of me², to further emphasize the point):

Ako se mene A pita°... If I’m asked... (i.e. if you want to know what I think)

This expression is also common:

Da se mene A pita°, a ne pita° me A se,...

This is rather rhetorical: if anyone asked me – but nobody does... I’d say....

Besides pitati ask, verb pairs commonly using such passive are not really common.

Some of them are:

nazivati («) ~ nazvati (nazove) call, name

prozivati («) ~ prozvati (prozove) call the roll, single out

spominjati ~ spomenuti («) mention

The first pair is used with meaning e.g. she named him Jack.

Three more phrases are simple impersonal phrases with non-trivial meanings. The

first one is:

radi° se o + DL it’s about / it’s

Some people consider this phrase colloquial. The phrase is used usually when we

want to explain what something previously discussed, but not really known, really is.

For example:

To N nije bio kit N . Radilo se o morskom psu DL . It wasn’t a whale. It was a shark.

(Yes, we use the phrase morski pas – literally sea dog – for the shark.)

As expected, the verb raditi work/do is here in neuter singular in the past. This is yet

another ‘generic’ use of this verb. A very similar expression is:

riječ je o + DL it’s about / it’s

The verb here is usually understood as having riječ f word as its subject, so in the

past it’s bila je riječ.... However, you will sometimes see it impersonal in this

expression as well (there’s a number of expressions in Croatian that have the same

property; they always have some fixed noun as the subject – recall strah me je from

69 Memories, Expectations and Fear).

Another impersonal phrase involves a common verb pair:

dolaziti ~ doći (dođe, došao, došla) + do + G come up, arise, occur

For example:

Došlo je do nesporazuma G . A misunderstanding has arisen.

doći past-n

This sounds quite formal in English, but this is an everyday expression in Croatian. It

also corresponds to come about. Instead of a noun in G, a whole content clause can

be inserted, attached to a to (in G):

1

f


Dolazi° do toga G da... It’s getting to the point where...

Došlo je do toga G da... It got to the point where...

doći past-n

Observe how the first sentence uses the impf. verb, corresponding to English

continuous (progressive) action, while the second one uses the perf. verb, since it

has already got to the ‘point’.

(the rest is coming soon)

________

® The expression u krivu is very rare and non-standard in Serbia and Bosnia, but very

common in Croatia.

Instead of kava, a slightly different word kafa is common in most parts of Bosnia

and Serbia. In Bosnia, the form kahva is used as well, especially in parts where

Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) live.

Constructions like pita me se and kavu se kuha are very rare in Serbia. Basically, the

only use of such construction in Serbia is rhetorical ako se mene pita, which is often

condemned by Serbian prescriptivists (i.e. the language police) as ‘corruption of

language’.


It seems that some people in Croatia (likely, depending on the region) prefer the

construction kavu se kuha over kava se kuha – I’ve seen even people “correcting”

the normal se²-passive into the se²-with-A passive! Be prepared.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 80 Present Adverbs and Adjecves 449 / 600

80 Present Adverbs and Adjectives

How to say flying saucer or playing cards in Croatian? English is here quite simple:

the same form that’s used to make the Present Continuous tense (e.g. I’m flying) is

re-used as an adjective.

Croatian has two special forms. The first one is called present adverb (or present

participle). It’s a very simple form to make, just take the pres-3pl form of the verb

and add -ći to it:

čekati wait → čekajući

ležati (leži) lie, recline → ležeći

jesti (jede) eat → jedući

učiti learn, study → učeći

Since all pres-3pl forms end in either -u or -e, all present adverbs end in -ući or -eći.

This form can be used in various ways. First, it can be used as an adverb, meaning

while x-ing:

Zaspao sam gledajući televiziju A . I fell asleep while watching TV.

Here the verb zaspati (zaspi) is a perfective verb meaning fall asleep. Such verbs will

be described in the next chapter.

The case of any noun appended to the participle is the same as used with the verb:

gledam televiziju A (A) I’m watching TV → gledajući televiziju A

Adverbs are used in this way mostly in formal writing; in speech and casual writing,

time clauses with dok are preferred, so you will hear usually:

Zaspao sam [dok sam gledao televiziju A ]. I fell asleep [while I was watching TV].

Furthermore, impf. verbs derived from davati give – which have alternative (and

non-standard) present tense forms – have often adverbs which are derived from the

non-standard form, for example:

prodavati (prodaje) sell →

prodajući

prodavajući

The ratio of the two forms (as given by Google on the .hr domain; try it yourself) is

roughly 2:1 in favor of the standard form prodajući. Therefore, expect to see and

hear both forms.

There’s one irregular adverb, common in speech, used like this:

poznavajući + A from what I know about A ®

There are more present adverbs used in phrases. A common one is:

zahvalj ivati (-uje «) thank → zahvaljujući


It’s used with DL:

Zahvaljujući dobrom vremenu DL , plaže N su pune N . Thanks to the good weather,

beaches are full.

A lot of present adverbs can be used as adjectives, and that’s quite common in

speech. This is usually possible only for adverbs made from verbs that cannot have

any object, e.g. for the present adverb made from spavati sleep but not for the

adverb made from učiti learn, study. So you can call UFO’s:

Vidjela je leteće tanjure A . She saw flying saucers.

You see how here the present adverb is understood as an adjective and put to the

masc. A-pl form. Some common present adjectives are:

leteći flying

ležeći lying

odgovarajući suitable

postojeći existing

prateći accompanying

trepćući blinking

viseći hanging

vodeći leading

A couple of present adverbs have specific meaning as adjectives (besides the inf,

only pres-3 forms are listed here, since only those forms are important for

formation of present adverbs and adjectives):

verb

present adj.

(bude) perf. be budući future

ići (ide) go idući following, next

moći (može +) can moguć possible

slijediti follow sljedeći next

teći (teče) flow tekući flowing, liquid ®

The adjective budući means future in e.g. future tense. The word sljedeći is spelled

so when used as an adjective, but slijedeći if used as an adverb. The adjective

moguć even lost the otherwise obligatory final -i.

Some present adjectives form combinations with specific meanings:

ležeći policajac speed bump (lit. ‘lying policeman’)

tekući račun checking (or current) account (lit. ‘liquid account’)

Don’t forget that they are adjectives, when used to describe a noun, or in set

combinations:

Ima° puno ležećih policajaca G na cesti DL . There are a lot of speed bumps on the

road.

There’s one English construction where -ing forms are used which translate as

neither gerund nor present adverb:


She saw birds flying.

In Croatian, one way to express this is using kako (usually meaning how) or da with a

small clause (with normal tense rules) after it:

Vidjela je ptice A kako lete.

Vidjela je ptice A da lete.

Another option is to use kad(a) and a clause. Recall this line from the example in 52

Stand, Become, Exist, Cease:

Čulo se samo kako ptice N pjevaju. Only birds singing could be heard.

Here the birds singing is actually the subject of the verb čuti (čuje) hear, used in the

mediopassive construction.

Since present adverbs stand for action performed by the noun after them (tekuća

voda = flowing water = water that flows), they cannot be used for expressions like

bathing costume: the costume doesn’t bathe, it’s just used when someone is bathing.

Therefore, there’s another form, used only as adjective, but looking really similar to

the present adverb (the form has no name, unfortunately). For verbs with infinitive

in -ati, it’s created by transforming that ending to -aći:

kupati bathe → kupaći

spavati sleep → spavaći

šivati sew → šivaći

žvakati (žvače) chew → žvakaći

(Compare them to the present adverbs of these verbs, e.g. kupajući and spavajući.)

If verbs don’t end in -ati, it’s made from their pres-3 form in a way that the result

always ends in -aći:

jesti (jede, jeo) eat → jedaći

These adjectives are used in set expressions only, e.g.:

brijaći aparat electric razor

igraća karta playing card

kupaći kostim bathing costume

kupaće gaće swim briefs

spavaća soba bedroom

šivaća mašina sewing machine

žvakaća guma chewing gum

The adjective kupaći is virtually used only to describe those two nouns, so it’s

colloquially very often used on it’s own, nouns are omitted. When in singular

masculine it’s costume, and in plural neuter it’s briefs. Of course, it still changes as

any adjective:

Otišla je bez kupaćeg G . (colloq.) She left without the swimming

otići past-f

costume.

Zaboravio sam kupaće A . (colloq.) I forgot my swim briefs.


Here the adjective kupaći is in G, as required by the preposition bez without. We

know it’s a costume, since it’s in singular! In the second sentence, the adj. kupaće is

in A-pl.

The same happens to žvakaća guma chewing gum, usually shortened to just

žvakaća.

________

® In Serbia, the pres. adj. poznavajući is considered non-standard.

In Serbia and most of Bosnia, the meaning liquid is expressed with another adjective:

tečan (tečn-), while tekući means only flowing.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 81 Sneeze Once and Start Blooming 453 / 600

81 Sneeze Once and Start Blooming

Croatian often uses patterns of verb derivation where meanings are derived by

simply adding prefixes. For instance, let’s take the following verb pair:

padati ~ pasti (padne, pao) fall

From it, you can derive e.g. the following verb pairs with specific meanings:

ispadati ~ ispasti (ispadne, ispao) fall out

raspadati ~ raspasti (raspadne, raspao) se² fall apart

upadati ~ upasti (upadne, upao) fall into

All such pairs are of the same kind like the base pair: there’s a process (involving a

kind of ‘falling’ that can be completed). But what about if we add pri- to the base

pair:

pripadati ~ pripasti (pripadne, pripao) ?

The verb pripadati of course means belong, but what should the perfective verb

mean? Belonging is a state; how can you complete it?

It turns out that the perfective verb is used, but in the meaning begin to belong, start

to belong. For verbs that indicate lasting states, associated perfective verbs often

mean entering the state.

Such verbs are often hard to translate into English. The verb pripasti (...) will be

usually translated as given, assigned and so on, or the sentence would be rephrased.

Such perfective verbs that don’t mean completion or accomplishment are

sometimes called inchoative verbs (abbreviated as inch.).

To emphasize that the perfective verb has not the usual meaning of ‘completion’, but

‘getting into a state’, I'll use a double tilde (~~). The prefix za- is often used to make

such verbs:

mrziti ~~ za- («) hate ®

pamtiti ~~ za- memorize

voljeti (voli, volio, voljela) ~~ za- («) love/like

For example:

Ana je zavoljela zeleni čaj. Ana started to love green tea.

Some pairs don’t follow this scheme:

cvjetati ~~ pro- bloom

spavati ~~ zaspati (zaspi) sleep

shvaćati ® ~~ shvatiti understand, realize

sviđati se² ~~ svidjeti (svidi, svidio, svidjela) se² like

The verb zaspati has an alternative, non-standard pres-3 form zaspe that’s quite


common in more eastern regions of Croatia (and in Serbia, but it’s nowhere

accepted as standard). The perf. verb usually corresponds to English fall asleep:

Goran N je brzo zaspao. Goran quickly fell asleep.

(Historically, the pair meaning sleep was also derived with just za-; however, the

verb spati (spi) sleep is now archaic in most of Croatia; it has been replaced by a

more regular spavati, but the older verb is still used in some dialects.)

Many inchoative verbs can be rephrased using phase verbs, e.g.:

zaplakati (zaplače) start crying = početi plakati

However, some frequent verbs like zaspati (zaspi) are never rephrased – they are

basically the only way to express the meaning fall asleep.

Inchoative verbs referring to states can be used with ‘frame’ and ‘round-trip’ time

expressions. When used with ‘frame’ expressions (za¨ + time), it means how long it

took to enter the state. For example:

Shvatio sam sve za pet minuta. I understood everything in five minutes.

When used with ‘round-trip’ expressions (na¨ + time), it means how long the state

entered held. For example:

Zaspala sam na sat vremena. I fell asleep for an hour.

You’ll sometimes see inchoative verbs used with ordinary time expressions (i.e. with

no prepositions) in the latter sense, i.e. how long the state lasted:

Zaspala sam sat vremena. I fell asleep for an hour. (sometimes used)

Some action verbs that have a meaningful start and completion of action, have two

associated perfective verbs! For such verbs, I will list both perfective verbs:

perfective

impf. done begin

↓ ↓ ↓

plivati ~ ot- ~ za- swim

Such groups of verbs can be called aspect triplets. Such common triplets are:

igrati ~ od- («) ~ za- («) play (game)

pjevati ~ ot- ~ za- sing

svirati ~ od- («) ~ za- («) play (music)

As you can see, the stress behaves the same in both perf. verbs. It really depends on

the base verb.

(Some textbooks use the term inchoative only for verbs which mean entering a

state, and call the start-of-action verbs ingressive. I’ll use one name for both kinds.)

While English often uses get + adjective to express entering a state, Croatian has


specific verbs:

ogladniti («) perf. get hungry

ozdraviti perf. recover, get healthy

razboljeti (razboli, ...) se² perf. get sick

For some meanings, you can either make someone something, or get something; the

second meaning requires a se² in Croatian, i.e. it’s another example of mediopassive

se², when the subject changes ‘on its own’:

perf. verb + A + se²

rasplakati (rasplače) drive to tears burst into tears

rastužiti («) make sad get sad

razljutiti («) make angry get angry

razveseliti («) cheer up (someone) cheer up

uvrijediti («) offend take offence

Such verbs usually start with ras- or raz-, as you can see. Such verbs sometimes

don’t have impf. pairs at all.

For some meanings in Croatian, there’s a full verb pair that indicates getting into a

state; the impf. verb sees entering a state as a process (e.g. it can take a while to

become sick, it can take a while to get old, etc.):

pokretati (pokreće) ~ pokrenuti (pokrene) get moving

starjeti/stariti ~ o- grow/get old

Therefore, there are verb triplets with two verbs for entering the state: one impf.

and another perf. A parallel in English would be:

I was getting hungry. = enter-impf.

I got hungry. = enter-perf.

I am hungry. = state (impf.)

There are three such triplets for body position verbs, one of them I’ve introduced in

52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease; we can also list verbs be and become as a kind of

triplet:


lie

sit

stand

be

enter-impf. enter-perf. state (impf.)

lijegati leći

ležati

(liježe) (legne, legao, legla) (leži)

sjedati

sjesti

(sjedne, sjeo)

sjediti

stajati stati

stajati

(staje) (stane)

(stoji)

postajati postati

biti

(postaje) (postane)

(je² +)

It’s interesting how all verbs in the last row can have same arguments, i.e. nouns or

adjectives in N:

Goran N postaje gladan N . Goran is getting hungry.

Goran N je postao gladan N . Goran got hungry.

Goran N je gladan N . Goran is hungry.

If we look further, we can find more inchoative triplets, for example:

enter-impf. enter-perf. state (impf.)

učiti

learn, study

naučiti («)

learn

znati

know

doznavati (doznaje)

find out,

get to know

upoznavati (upoznaje)

get acquainted with

doznati

find out,

get to know

upoznati

get acq. with

poznavati (poznaje)

know (person, city),

be acquainted with

The pair doznavati (doznaje) ~ doznati is for simple facts, with little effort, while

učiti ~ na- («) is for complex topics (driving a car, Croatian, calculus, etc.). The last

triplet is mostly for ‘knowing’ people and cities.

There is one more type of perfective verbs, where action consists of bits – one

example is sneezing: it’s a sequence of individual sneezes. Croatian has verbs for

both continuous sneezing and for a single sneeze:

kihati (kiše) sneeze (series)

kihnuti (kihne) sneeze (once)

Again, kihnuti (kihne) is a perf. verb – you cannot use it in the present tense, you

cannot tell how long it took, and so on. However, there’s no completion or

accomplishment – only one ‘atomic’ event. To indicate such perf. verbs, I’ll use a

tilde with a small, superscript number one (~¹). Such verbs are:


kapati ~¹ kapnuti (kapne) drip

kucati ~¹ kucnuti (kucne) knock

štucati ~¹ štucnuti (štucne) hiccup

treptati (trepće) ~¹ trepnuti (trepne) blink

As you can see, such verbs frequently end in -nuti, with the regular -ne in pres-3.

Perf. verbs with this ‘once’ meaning sometimes have a fancy name: semelfactive

(abbreviated as smlf.); the corresponding impf. verbs are sometimes called iterative.

This doesn’t apply to all verbs where it could make sense: for instance, there’s no

verb for "cough once".

There are verb pairs where the perf. verbs have meaning similar to ‘atomic’ – they

mean for a short while, a bit. I will classify them as kind-of semelfactive, with the

same mark (~¹), but you should be aware of the small difference. Three most

common pairs like that are:

misliti ~¹ po- think

nadati se² ~¹ po- («) hope

osjećati ~¹ osjetiti feel

The perf. verbs above mean think for a short time and hope for a short time, or have

a thought. They are often used in negative, to emphasize that somebody didn’t think

even for a moment.

Don’t forget that there’s a substantial difference in meaning between verbs like

zavoljeti (...) and pomisliti. The former verbs indicate entering a state which can last

any amount of time – we don’t say how long, and if we want to express when the

state ended, we have to use another verb. The latter ones are ‘atomic’, or small

‘pulses’, indicating that action or state lasted for a small amount of time:

‘inchoative’

(start-of-state)

‘semelfactive’

(atomic / brief)

zaspati (zaspi)

fall asleep

zavoljeti (zavoli,...)

start to love

kihnuti (kihne)

sneeze (once)

pomisliti

think for a moment

However, there are perf. verbs where the two meanings are mixed. Two common

ones are:

zaželjeti (zaželi,...)

‘perf.’ wish

poželjeti (poželi,...)

From what I’ve explained above, you would expect that poželjeti (...) means wish for

a moment, and that zaželjeti (...) start to wish, but it’s not so – both have meaning


somewhere in between, and are used interchangeably.

There are also secondary, ‘iterative’ impf. verbs derived from semelfactive verbs. For

example:

pomisliti smlf. think for a moment → pomišljati («)

The relation of these two verbs is like kihnuti (...) vs. kihati (...) – the impf. verb

stands for a series of individual short thoughts, with unspecified time between the

thoughts (it could be hours, or days, or weeks, or more):

misliti impf. think

pomisliti smlf. think for a moment, once

pomišljati («) impf. think once a while

All three verbs are sometimes translated as think, which unfortunately hides various

shades of meaning.

Finally, there are verb pairs that can be understood either as normal impf.-perf.

pairs, or as iterative-semelfactive, depending on the context. Common pairs are:

bacati ~/~¹ baciti throw

pokaz ivati (-uje «) ~/~¹ pokazati (pokaže) show

In fact, most perf. verbs also can be used in this way, for short events, while most

impf. verbs can be also used for series of short events.

________

® In Serbia, the verb mrziti hate has the unexpected “Ekavian” form mrzeti (mrzi).

In Serbia and most of Bosnia, the verb shvaćati understand has a bit different form

shvatati; there’s no difference for the inchoative verb.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 82 Visible and Unreadable: Potenal Adjecves 459 / 600

82 Visible and Unreadable: Potential Adjectives

There’s a group of adjectives derived from many verbs (but not all!) that stand for

potential. They are kind of similar to passive adjectives. English has such adjectives

too: examples are visible and readable.

They are usually derived by adding -ljiv to the verb root (that is, the infinitive form

without -ati, -iti, -jeti, etc.):

čitati read → čit- → čitljiv readable

vidjeti see → vid- → vidljiv visible

They are frequently derived from perf. verbs:

prihvatiti perf. accept → prihvatljiv acceptable

shvatiti inch. understand → shvatljiv understandable

uzbuditi («) perf. excite → uzbudljiv exciting

zapaliti («) perf. ignite → zapaljiv flammable

(Here I have used inch. as short for inchoative verbs, a kind of perfective verbs

introduced in the previous chapter.)

The stress of such adjectives seems to be always on the syllable just before the last

one (that is, one before -ljiv).

Few verbs that end in -siti or -sati have pot. adj. ending only in -siv. Common ones

are:

podesiti perf. adjust → podesiv adjustable

prenositi transport → prenosiv portable

If the consonant that would come before -ljiv is n or nj, it gets fused with lj; some

adjectives have both forms:

promijeniti perf. change → promjenjiv / promjenljiv variable

hraniti feed → hranjiv nutritious

sumnjati suspect → sumnjiv suspicious

(You will sometimes see the spelling sumljiv; that’s considered non-standard and a

gross error by some people.)

Verbs that have pres-3 ending in -e usually don’t derive such adjectives with -ljiv, but

with -iv, and they appear more similar to the infinitive form:

jesti (jede) eat → jestiv eatable

opisati (opiše) perf. describe → opisiv describable

saviti (savije) perf. bend → savitljiv flexible

If the verb contains a sequence -ije-, it’s shortened in the potential adjective to -jeor

just -e- (after r, preceded by another consonant):

dijeliti divide, share → djeljiv divisible


lijepiti glue, stick → ljepljiv sticky

As in English, negated versions of some potential adjectives are more common then

non-negated. The negation is done by simply appending ne- to the front. Common

negated potential adjectives are:

nerazumljiv incomprehensible

neshvatljiv inexplicable

neuništiv indestructible

nevidljiv invisible

The verb piti (pije) drink doesn’t have a regular potential adjective, but a specific

adjective is used:

pitak (pitk-) drinkable, potable

Also, a frequent negative potential adj. has an unexpected form:

nezaboravan (nezaboravn-) unforgettable

Some potential adjectives stand for active ability, especially when someone likes to

do something, or often does something; this happens mostly for verbs related to

talking. For example:

paziti take care → pažljiv careful

pričati tell (stories) → pričljiv talkative

šaliti se² joke → šaljiv funny, humorous

šutjeti / šutiti be silent → šutljiv silent

Few more adjectives have (apparently) non-potential meaning:

dirati touch → dirljiv touching, emotional

hraniti feed → hranjiv nutritious

osjetiti inch. feel → osjetljiv sensitive

smrdjeti / smrditi stink → smrdljiv foul-smelling

strpiti se² perf. be patient → strpljiv patient

zanimati («) be interesting → zanimljiv interesting

Unlike passive adjectives, most potential adjectives are comparable (and always use

the -iji suffix). The stress moves to the suffix (ljiv):

pažljiv careful → pažljiviji more careful

vidljiv visible → vidljiviji more visible

However, you should remember that not all verbs have potential adjectives, even if

it would make sense.

Similar in form to potential adjectives – but not in meaning – are adjectives derived

by adding -av. There are only a couple of them derived from verbs in frequent use:

brbljati chit-chat → brbljav chatty

prljati soil, pollute → prljav dirty


This suffix is used to derive adjectives from certain nouns:

dlaka body hair, animal hair → dlakav hairy

hrđa rust → hrđav rusty ®

krv f blood → krvav bloody

mišić muscle → mišićav muscular

These adjectives never have a case-base with the -a- dropped, while adjectives

which end in -av for other reasons sometimes have, e.g. mrtav (mrtv-) dead.

________

® In Serbia and Bosnia, words for rust and rusty don’t have the initial h: they have

forms rđa and rđav.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 83 Depth and Distance: Abstract Nouns 462 / 600

83 Depth and Distance: Abstract Nouns

In Croatian, as in English, many adjectives (e.g. deep) have associated abstract nouns

(e.g. depth).

As in English, various adjectives use various suffixes to create abstract nouns in

Croatian. For some adjectives, -ina gets added to create an abstract noun:

brz fast → brzina speed, velocity

topao (topl-) warm → toplina warmth, heat ®

vješt skilled → vještina skill

vruć hot → vrućina heat (extreme)

Of the two nouns standing for heat, only the noun toplina is used in the generic

sense, e.g. in science. As you can see, the resulting noun has always stress on the i

from the suffix.

Some the derived nouns have a non-abstract meaning:

divlji wild → divljina wilderness

šupalj (šuplj-) hollow → šupljina cavity

Adjectives that discard a part of them when making a comparative (e.g. -ok or -ak),

discard it as well when making abstract nouns:

dubok deep → dubina depth

širok wide → širina width

težak (tešk-) heavy → težina weight

visok high → visina height, altitude

For some adjectives, there’s a shift in consonants, the same as in comparatives:

debeo (debel) thick, fat → debljina thickness

jak strong → jačina strength

tih quiet, silent → tišina silence

(Abstract nouns don’t always have a shift when comparatives have one: for

instance, from visok, the comparative is viši, but the abstract noun is visina, without

the shift s → š.)

Abstract nouns can even be derived from some question-words that behave like

adjectives, and even from few comparatives; results are often very generic nouns:

kolik how big → količina quantity

manji smaller → manjina minority

velik big → veličina size

veći bigger → većina majority

Certain once abstract nouns evolved specific meanings, e.g. nizina means lowlands.

Abstract nouns in -ina have relational adjectives in -ski:


dubina depth → dubinski

toplina heat → toplinski

većina majority → većinski

visina height → visinski

Few adjectives make abstract nouns by adding -oća:

čist clean → čistoća cleanliness

gluh deaf → gluhoća deafness

hladan (hladn-) cold → hladnoća cold

Very few adjectives add -ota. If adjectives contain a sequence ije, it’s shortened to

je in abstract nouns:

lijep nice, pretty → ljepota beauty

slijep blind → sljepoća blindness

Next, there are few adjectives that add -stvo, creating neuter nouns (after

discarding the final -n in adjectives, if present). The stress is on the syllable right

before the suffix:

bogat rich → bogatstvo richness

iskusan (iskusn-) experienced → iskustvo experience

siromašan (siromašn-) poor → siromaštvo poverty

zadovoljan (zadovoljn-) satisfied → zadovoljstvo satisfaction

This suffix is use to create abstract nouns out of a couple of other nouns as well (the

process is not always regular):

car emperor → carstvo empire

član member → članstvo membership

kralj king → kraljevstvo kingdom

prijatelj friend → prijateljstvo friendship

The vast majority of adjectives use another suffix to make abstract nouns: -ost (or a

variation, -nost). It can be, in fact, regarded as the default suffix for abstract nouns.

The result is always a feminine noun ending in a consonant:

glup stupid → glupost f stupidity

mlad young → mladost f youth, young age

slab weak → slabost f weakness

star old → starost f age

This suffix creates three quite important nouns, from present adjectives and a past

adjective:

budući future → budućnost f future

moguć possible → mogućnost f possibility

prošao (prošl-) past → prošlost f past

The stress is mostly moved to the syllable that precedes the suffix. More important

nouns created by this suffix:


opasan (opasn-) dangerous → opasnost f danger

sličan (sličn-) similar, alike → sličnost f similarity

slučajan (slučajn-) accidental → slučajnost f coincidence

stvaran (stvarn-) real → stvarnost f reality

udaljen distant → udaljenost f distance

važan (važn-) important → važnost f importance

Passive adjectives always use this suffix to create abstract nouns, usually

corresponding to English -ness:

gledan watched (also popular)→ gledanost f viewer ratings

otvoren open → otvorenost f openness

The noun gledanost f means literally watchedness (however, this is an extremely

rare English word).

Potential adjectives always use this suffix to create abstract nouns as well:

vidljiv visible → vidljivost f visibility

osjetljiv sensitive → osjetljivost f sensitivity

This is maybe the place to show the full range of derived words from a single

(perfective) verb (of course, not all verbs have all the possible forms):

verb adjectives (verbal) nouns

isključenje

isključen

excluding

excluded

(turned off) isključenost f

exclusion

isključiti («)

perf. exclude

(also turn off)

isključiv

exclusive,

strict

isključivost f

exclusiveness,

strictness

In addition, there are (for most potential and passive adjectives), negated adjectives,

and derived negated abstract words; for example:

vidljiv visible

vidljivost f visibility

nevidljiv invisible

nevidljivost f invisibility

Such negated adjectives and abstract nouns are always derived by appending ne-.

Some nouns created by -ost have meaning that’s not obvious from the adjective

they are derived from:

umjetan (umjetn-) artificial → umjetnost f art

While English art has a wide meaning, Croatian umjetnost f means only painting,

making sculptures and other high arts.


Some nouns changed meaning over time, or the adjectives they were created from

fell out of use:

prednost f priority, advantage

radost f joy

znanost f science ®

žalost f sadness

Abstract nouns that don’t end in -ina usually don’t have relational adjectives – the

adjectives they are derived from are used in relational meaning too – or form

relational adjectives irregularly:

starost f old age → starački

umjetnost f art → umjetnički

znanost f science → znanstven scientific ®

The relational adjectives starački and umjetnički are actually derived from nouns

starac (starc-) old man and umjetnik artist.

Finally, it’s interesting that there are more abstract feminine nouns that don’t end in

-a, which seem to be (at least historically) derived with -t. Common ones are:

bit f essence, gist

čast f honor

moć f might, power

pomoć f help

povijest f history ®

propast f downfall

smrt f death

strast f passion

vijest f news

vlast f authority, government

________

® The word znanost f science is specific to Croatia. In Bosnia and Serbia, the word

nauka is more common; instead of toplina heat, toplota is used in Bosnia and

Serbia. For nauka, the relational adjective is simply naučni.

Instead of povijest, the word for history is historija in parts of Bosnia, and istorija in

Serbia and parts of Bosnia with Serbian majority.


Present irregularities can be a key to history. Nouns like moć might, power end in -ć,

while other similar nouns end in -t. Likewise, inf of the verb can is moći, while most

verbs have infinitives in -ti. Besides, the verb is highly irregular.

The most likely explanation is this: some time ago – likely more than 1200 years,

maybe much more – the verb can had inf something like mogtī, and the abstract

noun was mogti (the difference was length of the last vowel). Therefore, the past

forms and pres-1 were and still are fully regular (mog-la, mog-u). (I’m here

simplifying things a bit: in the distant past, the past and present endings were a bit

different; also, the o in mog- wasn’t really an o.)

But then, for unknown reasons, sequences kti and gti changed their pronunciations

into ći (the sound wasn’t of today ć, but an early version of it, a kind of softened t).


into ći (the sound wasn’t of today ć, but an early version of it, a kind of softened t).

Later, short i’s were dropped from ends of words (as from most other positions as

well). So, we are now left with t vs. ć.

Also, note the similarity of mog-tī with English may, might and German mögen, mag.

If we would go back in time, we would find many more similarities.

• Examples

There’s a song from Massimo, a Croatian pop singer — Tišina Silence:

Do tebe G me A nosi tišina N To you silence is carrying me

Na krilima DL vremena G

On wings of time

Mjesta G još uvijek ima

There’s still some room

1

Kad zastanem pitat ću zvijezde A When I stop, I’ll ask stars

Koliko me A dijeli do tebe G How far I’m from you

I tvojih visina G

And your heights

(S. Bastiančić)


Mjesta još uvijek ima is an existential construct, with a bit unusual word order.

1

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 84 Western Urban Speech 467 / 600

84 Western Urban Speech

I will describe specifics of the language currently spoken in Zagreb, the biggest city in

Croatia. This speech is also quite well known to people in the surrounding area, and

they usually use it in some circumstances (they use their home dialect at home and

among friends).

The language spoken in Rijeka, the third biggest city in Croatia, is similar to Zagreb in

many aspects. The following features are common to both Zagreb and Rijeka:

1. Use of 'western stress'. For instance, the verb dolaziti will be stressed on the

second syllable.

2. No distinction in pronunciation of č vs. ć and đ vs. dž, and no distinction in vowel

length.

3. Infinitives without the final -i all the time.

4. Yes/no questions where unstressed forms are used as stressed, and simply put at

the first position:

— Si ga vidio? Did you see him?

— Se bojiš? Are you afraid?

The Standard Croatian stressed form of si is jesi, while the particle se² cannot be

used like that in Standard Croatian at all!

5. There are some specific words often used in both Zagreb and Rijeka, for example

(the standard form is on the right):

di where :: gdje

People from Zagreb will in colloquial settings also use the following features

(starting from most common):

Adverbs ending in a vowel without the final vowel. Besides examples like sad / sada,

found in many places, there will be words like (Standard forms are on the right):

ak if :: ako

kak how :: kako

tak so :: tako

Specific words (some of them are common in certain other regions as well):

niš nothing :: ništa

(the rest is coming soon...)

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 85 Small and Cute: Diminuves 468 / 600

85 Small and Cute: Diminutives

Croatian – as many other languages, but unlike English – has mechanisms for

creating nouns standing for miniature versions of things. Those words are often

applied to babies, children, and parts of them, and therefore stand for ‘cute’ and

‘dear’ things as well.

For instance, in Croatian you can say that a baby has a glava head, but people prefer

to call it glavica little head. Such words are called diminutives and usually have a

different emotional content.

Diminutives are words that are derived through a process that’s only partially

regular. Not all nouns have a diminutive, and there are various endings to derive

them – they are like relational adjectives in that manner.

For nouns ending in -a, the main way to form diminutives is by replacing -a with -ica.

The result is another noun, again ending in -a:

glava head → glavica

krava cow → kravica

kiša rain → kišica

kuća house → kućica

pčela bee → pčelica

riba fish → ribica

tata m dad → tatica m

žena woman/wife → ženica

As you can see, this applies to words like tata as well – the result is a word that

corresponds to English Daddy.

In some meanings, diminutives are always used: for example the golden fish from

stories, who grants wishes, is always zlatna ribica.

Certain nouns ending in -ka or -ga shift consonants (like k → č, g → ž etc.) but it

doesn’t happen to all nouns – forms must be learned:

baka grandmother → bakica

daska plank → daščica

mačka cat → mačkica

ptica bird → ptičica

ruka hand, arm → ručica

noga foot, leg → nožica

For some words, you’ll encounter both forms, e.g. nožica and nogica (forms with

unchanged consonants are more common in the wider Zagreb area).

Croatian has two words for girl – one is colloquial, and another more formal; the

derived diminutives have the same use:

cura (colloq.) girl → curica

djevojka (formal) girl → djevojčica

Certain diminutives have specific meanings. For example, ručica also means handle

(e.g. on a door). More examples of a slight shift in meaning:

tikva pumpkin → tikvica zucchini (courgette)

torba bag → torbica purse


vreća sack → vrećica small bag, shopping bag ®

žlica spoon → žličica teaspoon ®

For masculine nouns in a consonant, the main way is to add -ić, as if it were a case

ending (it’s, of course, not a case ending):

ključ key → ključić

kolač cake → kolačić

komad piece → komadić ®

list leaf → listić

nos nose → nosić

most bridge → mostić

nož knife → nožić

prst finger → prstić

zid wall → zidić

zub tooth → zubić

You can see how the stress for words like kolač shifts, as always when anything is

added to them. Again, for babies and small children, people prefer to call their body

parts prstić, nosić and so on.

For a few words (there’s no rule, as far as I can tell) -čić is added instead:

kamen stone → kamenčić

prozor window → prozorčić

For some nouns, consonants are shifted before -ić or -čić (e.g. c, k → č, h → š etc.):

lanac (lanc-) chain → lančić

krug circle → kružić

rak crab → račić

zec rabbit, bunny → zečić

The word lančić is always used for fine chains worn around the neck, while lanac is a

heavy thing used to close gates, to lift loads etc.

Like for feminine nouns, certain diminutives have developed specific meanings:

brat brother → bratić cousin

novac (novc-) money → novčić coin

Historically, bratić meant something like ‘brother’s small (boy)’, and this was

extended to name people after their fathers by diminutives:

Ivo → Ivić

Jure → Jurić

Mate → Matić

Tomo → Tomić

These were later used as last names – so you now understand why there are so

many last names in Croatia and neighboring countries ending in -ić.

Sometimes, you’ll see diminutives from neuter nouns, derived with -ce, with many

irregularities:

drvo tree → drvce

jezero lake → jezerce

sunce sun → sunašce


It’s interesting that the very word sunce is likely originally a diminutive as well.

However, in Kajkavian areas – generally the area around Zagreb, and north and

northeast from Zagreb – another suffix to create masculine and neuter diminutives

prevails: -ek (-eko for neuters). Since Zagreb is Kajkavian-influenced, you will find

such words in Zagreb as well, usually:

medo teddy bear → medek

(NW Croatia)

srce heart → srčeko

These words are common when people talk to small children. In NW Croatia,

diminutives are generallly much more used than in other regions of Croatia: people

will tell children to eat juhica and meseko which basically has no meaning except to

sweeten the words juha soup and meso meat.

Similar to diminutives, but distinct, are hypocorisms, also known as pet names or

nicknames. They are alternative words for things and people used within family,

especially by children. One hypocorism is already mentioned above: medo for the

usual medvjed bear.

Words mama Mom and tata m Dad are also, historically, a kind of hypocorisms.

Hypocorisms for personal names are mostly fixed in language; as in English, they

usually involve shortening of names (in Croatian, to two syllables) and simplifying

them:

Branimir → Branko

Ivan → Ivo / Ive

Juraj → Jure / Jura

Katarina → Kata

Petar (Petr-) → Pero ®

Tomislav → Tomo ®

Vladimir → Vlado ®

Zvonimir → Zvonko / Zvone

Some nicknames have two forms; ones with -e are characteristic for Dalmatia, while

ones with -o or -a are characteristic for inland Croatia. In Kajkavian regions, you

would also hear forms ending in -ek:

Ivan → Ivek (NW Croatia)

Compare this to English names William → Bill or Robert → Bob. Many such nickames

are used as real names as well.

Diminutive-making mechanism is also applied to names and nicknames that end in -a

or behave so, to make diminutive names:

Branka → Brankica

Kata → Katica

Ruža → Ružica

Ivo → Ivica m

Jure → Jurica m

Pero → Perica m

This is similar to English Bill → Billy, Rose → Rosie and Bob → Bobby.

Interestingly, a couple of verbs in Croatian have diminutive versions too! They are

usually formed by inserting -k- before the verb ending. The process is not regular,


and only a limited number of verbs have diminutives:

gristi (grize, grizao, grizla) bite → grickati nibble

lupati knock, bang → lupkati tap

Some diminutive verbs are derived with -uc- or -ut-:

kašljati (kašlje) cough → kašljucati cough lightly

skakati (skače) jump → skakutati (skakuće) hop, bounce

For example, we would use the verb grickati nibble when someone eats a cracker or

biscuit by small bites, especially children.

So, diminutives are largely irregular, but they are similar enough to the original word

so that you can recognize their meaning quickly, even if you’re not familiar with the

diminutive word.

________

® Instead of žlica and žličica, words kašika and kašičica are used in Serbia and most

of Bosnia.

Instead of vreća and vrećica, kesa and kesica are used in Serbia and most of Bosnia,

but the non-diminutive kesa is used for shopping bag.

Besides komad and komadić, words parče (parčet-) and parčence are used in

Serbia and parts of Bosnia.

Hypocorisms like Pero and Tomo have forms ending in -a (Pera, Toma...) in Serbia,

except in the southwest of Serbia.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 86 More Verbs and Standing Outcomes 472 / 600

86 More Verbs and Standing Outcomes

I’ll explain several useful verbs and verb families here, and also introduce a couple of

advanced topics.

The first verb family is derived in this pattern:

tvoriti

o-tvarati («) ~ o-tvoriti («)

The base verb, tvoriti, is quite rare. The derived pairs are not:


o- A open

pri- A leave ajar (‘almost close’)

za- A close

pre- A (u¨ A) transform

A create

s-

se² show up (colloq.)

There’s not much to say about the first three verbs: they express open and close –

either literal (window, shop), or metaphoric (discussion, person).

The last two verbs have specific meanings. The pre- verb is similar to transport verbs

derived by pre-: it uses destinations (expressed by u¨ + A) and optionally also origins

(expressed by iz¨ + G, matching the destination). The verb is used with either an

object in A, or a se² (mediopassively, if something transforms ‘on its own’):

Mali problem N se pretvorio u veliki A . A small problem has transformed into a big

one.

The verb pair otvarati («) ~ otvoriti («) open can illustrate a fine point when

perfective verbs are used and where not. If you opened a window, and then closed

it – and it’s a bit cold now in the room – and you want to express with a single verb

what you did, you would use the imperfective verb:

Otvarao sam prozor A . I opened the window. (It’s maybe closed now.)

If you use the impf. verb, it doesn’t imply that the window is open now, or that it

remained open for some time – but such things would be implied if you would use

the perf. verb:

Otvorio sam prozor A . I’ve opened the window. (And it’s open now.)

This is the ‘standing outcome’ principle. This is because perf. verbs focus on the

outcome, but the outcome – state of the window – is not relevant here (or not

expected). It’s important that you touched it. An obvious way to say it’s not open


anymore is this:

Otvorio sam prozor A i poslije ga A zatvorio. I’ve opened the window and 3m/n

closed it later.

So, the second verb ‘undoes’ the first. It’s actually more general: only the last

perfective verb in the sequence counts. That is, if you say:

Otvorio sam prozor A i oprao ga A . I’ve opened the window and washed it. 3m/n

It would imply only it’s washed now, not whether it’s open or closed. This is a very

subtle, but important principle: only the last outcome in a sequence ‘stands’. We

could paraphrase it as the last outcome standing! This likely sounds extremely

complicated, but an example will make it (hopefully) clear (‘standing outcomes’ are

in red):

example

Išla sam u trgovinu A .

I was going/went to the shop.

Otišla sam u trgovinu A .

I have gone to the shop.

Otišla sam u trgovinu A i kupila pivo A .

I went to the shop and bought beer.

Otišla sam u trgovinu A , kupila pivo A i popila ga A .

I went to the shop, bought beer and drank it.

Pala sam.

I fell.

implies

imperfective!

no implications whatsoever

(I’m in the shop)

(I have some beer)

(no beer; I might be drunk)

involuntary event!

no implications

However, the ‘standing outcome’ doesn’t apply to all perf. verbs – only to voluntary

ones. Check the last row: pala sam doesn’t imply I’m still on the floor: it’s not

something I did voluntary. It just happened.

Note that the impf. verb doesn’t really say we got to the shop at all. It just says we

were going there, there was some action. But if we don’t say there were some

problems on the way there, it’s enough. So the default, shortest way of saying

something with a ‘standing outcome’ – if the ‘standing outcome’ doesn’t hold

anymore – would be actually using the impf. verb.

Therefore, perf. involuntary verbs are used much more often than voluntary ones.

In real life, this rule is not completely clear-cut: you will hear both just išla sam u

trgovinu and otišla sam u trgovinu for completed actions in the past and for

speaker being obviously not in the shop anyomore.

The important thing is that you will hear impf. verbs where you would naively – due

to completion – expect perf. ones. Always keep in mind that perf. verbs are not just


about completed actions, but also about the outcomes, especially for voluntary

actions – and the outcome of going somewhere is being there.

There’s another way to distance yourself from a past action expressed by a

voluntary perfective verb – by using another tense, not yet described: the so-called

plusquamperfect tense (in English, the name is often simplified to pluperfect tense).

It roughly corresponds to he had opened and like.

The tense is formed like the common past tense, but there’s an extra past form of

the verb biti (je² +), in the same gender and number as the other past form:

Gledala sam film A . I was watching the movie. (fem. speaking)

Bila sam gledala film A . (pluperfect)

You can visualize it as putting the verb in the past twice:

present gledam I’m watching

↓ ...put the verb gledati into the past

past gledala sam I was watching

↓ ...put the verb biti (je² +) into the past

pluperfect bila sam gledala I had been watching

Using this tense, we can put a distance from the action – there’s no ‘standing

outcome’:

Bio sam otvorio prozor A . I had opened the window. (But it was maybe closed later.)

It also serves to emphasize actions and states, like I was really doing it, I really did it,

it has really happened:

Bila sam gledala film A . I was really watching the movie.

Bio sam otvorio prozor A . I did open the window. (despite it being closed now)

However, this tense is actually very rare in speech, just check these Google results

(from the .hr domain):

form hits

gledao sam 152000

bio sam gledao

gledao sam bio

7

2

You will find this tense occasionally in literature. There are actually even more

tenses you’ll see sometimes in writing; they will be described in 99 Aorist Tense and

Other Marginal Features.

Let’s go back to verbs. The next family is weird – there’s no base verb (or pair) – all

verbs have prefixes. They are made attaching prefixes to this:

-premati («) ~ -premiti («)


Common verbs in this family are:


o- A equip

pos- A (dest) tidy, put to place

pri- A (za¨ A1) prepare

s- A (dest)

put to its place

make ready *

do- A (dest) deliver

The pair derived with pri- has a simple meaning, prepare. It’s used with an object or

with a se²:

Pripremio sam ručak A . I’ve prepared lunch.

Pripremio sam se. I’ve prepared (myself).

You can express what for the preparation was with za¨ + A:

Pripremio sam se za put A . I’ve prepared for the trip.

The most interesting verb pair is spremati ~ spremiti (since the prefix is merely a

consonant, the stress shift in the present tense is not possible – the stress is always

on the first syllable).

This verb pair has the basic meaning: bring something/someone to the

optimal/requested state. It’s basically used for three things. First, to put things back

to their places, e.g. if a book is out of its usual place (shelf), a toy is out of the box,

etc.:

Spremio sam knjige A . I’ve put the books back in place.

If the place is expressed, it’s a destination:

Spremio sam knjige A na policu A . I've put the books back to the shelf.

Then, this pair covers the meanings expressed by the pri- pair:

Spremio sam ručak A . I’ve prepared lunch.

Spremio sam se. I’ve prepared (myself).

Finally, the third meaning is tidy:

Spremio sam sobu A . I’ve tidied the room

Next, there are two interesting verb families. One is derived like this:

vršiti

do-vršavati («) ~ do-vršiti («)

The base verb is sometimes used, in meaning do, make. Three derived pairs are quite

common:



do- A finalize, complete

iz- A carry out, execute

za- A end, terminate

One derived pair matches the meaning of a phase verb pair I’ve already introduced:

počinjati (počinje / počinje) ~ početi (počne, počeo) start

završavati («) ~ završiti («) end

This verb pair is very useful:

navikavati («) ~ naviknuti (navikne) (AX / se²) (na YA) get/become used (X) (to Y)

You’ll see this pair with the prefix pri- with roughly the same meaning, and with the

prefix od- in the opposite meaning, like colloquial English ‘get unused’.

Next, there are four common verb pairs derived from this ‘pair’:

-ključivati (-ključuje) ~ -ključiti («)

Common verbs in this family are:


is- A (orig) exclude, switch off

pri- A (dest) join, connect, plug in

u- A (dest) include, switch on

za- A / CC conclude

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 87 Player, Playroom and Playground: Common Derivaons 477 / 600

87 Player, Playroom and Playground: Common

Derivations

In this chapter, I will explain how various derived nouns, such as player, playroom

and playground are derived in Croatian.

The simplest nouns derived from verbs are of ‘player’ type. You simply remove the

infinitive ending, and the vowel before it (if any) and add -ač:

verb

birati choose

glasati vote

igrati play

kupati bathe

pjevati sing

plivati swim

plesati (pleše) dance

pušiti smoke

trčati (trči) run

voziti drive

‘player’ noun

birač elector, voter

glasač voter

igrač player

kupač bather

pjevač singer

plivač swimmer

plesač dancer

pušač smoker

trkač runner

vozač driver

As you can see, all these words are stressed in the same way: the ‘western’ stress on

-ač, and the standard stress on the syllable before it – therefore, the standard stress

moves in all these words:

igrač player → A igrača

The feminine versions are simply derived by adding -ica (and consequently moving

the standard stress):

igrač player (m) → igračica player (f)

pjevač singer (m) → pjevačica singer (f)

vozač driver (m) → vozačica driver (f)

While these nouns usually stand for people who do something, others derived in the

same way can stand for various hardware too (I’ve listed only derived nouns; you

can find verbs in a dictionary easily):

čitač reader

nosač carrier / prop

grijač heater ®

otvarač opener

prekidač switch

pokrivač cover

punjač charger

upaljač lighter

The word čitač reader is related to devices only (e.g. card reader, e-book reader):


the word for a person who reads will be explained below.

However, not all verbs make nouns with -ač: some use -telj, and they always mean

persons; the most common ones are:

verb

‘player’ noun

čitati read

čitatelj reader

gledati watch

gledatelj watcher

graditi build

graditelj builder

natjecati (natječe) se² compete natjecatelj competitor ®

roditi give birth

roditelj parent

slušati listen

slušatelj listener

As you can see, these nouns have the stress always on the third syllable from the

end, and preserve the vowel before the infinitive ending.

The feminine versions of these nouns are simply derived by adding -ica and moving

the stress to -telj-:

čitatelj reader (m) → čitateljica reader (f)

gledatelj watcher (m) → gledateljica watcher (f)

However, the noun roditelj parent is usually used in masculine forms only, regardless

of person’s sex.

Some of these verbs have a bit colloquial alternative nouns ® which end in -lac, with

the ‘case-base’ -oc-, while some other verbs have -lac (-oc-) nouns only:

verb

čitati read

gledati watch

slušati listen

misliti think

nositi carry

roniti dive

‘player’ noun

čitalac (čitaoc-) reader

gledalac (čitaoc-) watcher

slušalac (čitaoc-) listener

mislilac (mislioc-) thinker

nosilac (nosioc-) carrier

ronilac (ronioc-) diver

(colloq.) ®

It’s interesting that these nouns are often regularized in real life (to their case-base),

so you’ll hear (and read) mislioc, nosioc, ronioc etc. as well – just check the

Google hits (on the .hr domain):


form hits

ronilac 20900

ronioc 9980

form hits

nosilac 24400

nosioc 11700

However, some people think such regularized forms are signs of uneducated speech

and writing (but it seems they are getting more common, and they can be found

even in texts published on universities).

Then, a couple of verbs derive such nouns with -ac (-c-):

verb

boriti se² fight

glumiti act

loviti catch, hunt

kupiti perf. buy


‘player’ noun

borac (borc-) fighter

glumac (glumc-) actor

lovac (lovc-) hunter

kupac (kupc-) buyer

pisac (pisc-) writer

It’s interesting that only few of -lac and -ac nouns have feminine versions; from the

nouns above, only this one has the feminine version:

glumac (glumc-) actor → glumica actress

(There’s a lot of debate should feminine forms of these nouns be

introduced/invented or not.)

But that’s not all. There are also two suffixes used to derive such nouns that get

attached to both verbs and nouns: one of them is -ar:

verb

‘player’ noun

kuhati cook kuhar cook ®

slikati paint (pictures) slikar painter

meso meat

mesar butcher

pošta post

poštar postman

riba fish

ribar fisherman

stol table ®

stolar carpenter

ura clock (see below) urar watchmaker ®

zid wall

zidar mason

zub tooth

zubar dentist

The word ura is considered today a bit archaic, dialectal and non-standard, but the

term for watchmaker is still derived from it.


With this suffix, the stress is basically unpredictable, as you can see, but it seems

that with verbs, the more common pattern is the stress on the first syllable, while

nouns derived from nouns get the ‘western’ stress on -ar, and the standard stress on

the syllable before it – which makes the standard stress again movable.

The suffix -ar derives nouns from verb roots, which might be visible only in past

forms or in the present tense:

peći (peče, pekao, pekla) bake → pekar baker

From such nouns, feminine versions are derived in the usual way:

kuhar cook (m) → kuharica cook (f)

slikar painter (m) → slikarica painter (f)

zubar dentist (m) → zubarica dentist (f) ®

Another suffix that gets attached to both verbs and nouns is -nik:

verb

‘player’ noun

koristiti use

korisnik user

liječiti cure liječnik physician ®

početi (počne) perf. begin početnik beginner

vjerovati (vjeruje) believe vjernik believer

ljubav f love

ljubavnik lover

moć f might, ability moćnik person in power

put way

putnik traveler

rad work

radnik worker

rat war

ratnik warrior

vlast f government, rule vlasnik owner

(The form početnik is derived a bit irregularly; the loss of -t- in korisnik and vlasnik

is regular in Croatian, recall the adjective bolestan (bolesn-) sick, where the -t- is

lost between s and n.)

From all such nouns, feminine nouns are derived in this way:

putnik traveler (m) → putnica traveler (f)

vlasnik owner (m) → vlasnica owner (f)

However, there are nouns derived with -nik that have nothing to do with people:

čaj tea → čajnik teapot

riječ f word → rječnik dictionary

ruda ore → rudnik mine

ruka hand/arm → ručnik towel

zlato gold → zlatnik gold coin


Finally, a couple of verbs have two derived nouns — one for the person who is kind

of ‘giving’, and another for the one who is ‘receiving’. The most common one is:

učitelj teacher

učiti study / teach →

učenik student

From it, feminine versions are regularly derived, as described earlier.

There are two more nouns that are derived from some verbs: one stands for

‘playroom’, and another for ‘playground’. The first type is derived with -onica, after

removing the infinitive ending -ti:

verb

igrati play

kupati bathe

učiti study / teach

‘playroom’ noun

igraonica playroom

kupaonica bathroom

učionica classroom

You’ll often see shortened versions of these nouns, with only -ona, e.g. kupaona for

bathroom; they are understood as a bit colloquial.

There are more terms where more than one word is used; the most common

example are the words for bakery:

pekara

pekarna (colloq., common in Zagreb) bakery

pekarnica (standard, but less common)

For instance, on this bakery in Zagreb, there’s both pekara and pekarna:

Another term which has more than one word is flower shop, but this time, the


variation is regional:

cvjećarnica (Zagreb, elsewhere)

cvjetarna (Rijeka area)

flower shop

For instance, on this flower shop in a small town near Rijeka, it’s cvjetarna:

Finally, there are ‘ground’ nouns, derived usually with -lište:

verb

igrati play

graditi build

kupati bathe

parkirati («) park (a car)

‘playground’ noun

igralište playground

gradilište building site

kupalište bathing place, area

parkiralište parking area

Some nouns have a bit specific meanings:

gledati watch → gledalište auditorium

kazati (kaže) say → kazalište theater ®

Colloquially, besides parkiralište, just parking is used for parking lot.

________

® The word grijač heater is used in an unexpected “Ekavian” form grejač in Serbia.

The word stol table is used in the form sto (stol-) m in Serbia and most of Bosnia.

Instead of natjecati (natječe) se² compete, the verb takmičiti se² is more common in

Serbia and most of Bosnia; from it, the noun takmičar is derived.

Nouns like čitalac (čitaoc-) are standard in Serbia and most of Bosnia, while

alternative nouns like čitatelj – standard and common in Croatia – are very rare in

Serbia; however, when there’s only one form (e.g. roditelj parent), it’s common and

standard in all countries.

Instead of the verb kuhati cook, the form kuvati is used in Serbia (where it’s


standard) and a part of Bosnia with Serbian majority. The derived noun is kuvar.

Instead of urar watchmaker, the word časovničar is used in Serbia and parts of

Bosnia.

With some nouns in -ar, another suffix to derive feminine versions is used in Serbia

and often in Bosnia: -ka, e.g. zubarka dentist (f).

In most of Bosnia, the word for physician isn’t derived from the verb liječiti cure, but

from lijek medicine, with -ar: ljekar; in Serbia, the “Ekavian” form lekar is used.

Instead of kazalište, the word for theater in Serbia and most of Bosnia is pozorište.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 88 Weird Words and Construcons 484 / 600

88 Weird Words and Constructions

There are a few details in Croatian which don’t really fit into the overall scheme of

things.

First, there’s a phrase which can be used to express color. It uses a color adjective

before the noun boja color, but both are the genitive case (singular):

Majica N je crvene boje G . lit. The T-shirt is ‘of red color’.

Hlače N su plave boje G . lit. The pants are ‘of blue color’. ®

Such expressions are old-fashioned and mostly obsolete. However, they are used in

questions, i.e. when you ask what color is something. The answer would be just a

color adjective, but in genitive singular (feminine, after boja color):

Koje boje G je majica N ? What color is the T-shirt?

— Crvene G . (G fem.) Red.

— Crvena N . (N fem.) Red.

Koje boje G je auto N ? What color is the car?

m

— Crne G . (G fem.) Black.

— Crni N . (N masc.) Black.

Alternatively, you can answer with an adjective in nominative, matching gender of

the thing the question is about, as in the examples above.

This reminds of English expressions like men of honor, book of great importance, and

so on. In fact, you will occasionally see more or less the same expressions in

Croatian, using od¨ + G:

Knjiga N je od velike važnosti G . The book is of great importance.

Then, there are expressions – often overlooked in grammars and textbooks – when

two nouns are used together, e.g. king George or Hotel California. The last noun is a

proper noun, i.e. a name (e.g. California), and a common noun before it describes its

title (e.g. king) or kind (e.g. hotel).

Croatian uses such expressions more often than English, e.g. in names of rivers,

lakes, cities and countries:

rijeka Sava the Sava river (lit. ‘river Sava’)

jezero Jarun the Jarun lake (lit. ‘lake Jarun’)

Grad Zagreb the City of Zagreb (lit. ‘City Zagreb’)

Republika Hrvatska the Republic of Croatia

Now, in some of these expressions, both nouns change case, and in others, the last

word (the name) is ‘frozen’ in N.

If nouns stand for a person (or an animal, as Croatian almost always treats humans

as a kind of animal), both nouns always change (examples show the accusative

case):


moj prijatelj Igor my friend Igor → mog prijatelja Igora

teta Ana aunt Ana → tetu Anu ®

This also applies to the following nouns:

grad city rijeka river

For example (u¨ + DL):

grad Rijeka the City of Rijeka → u gradu Rijeci

grad Split the City of Split → u gradu Splitu

rijeka Drava the Drava river → u rijeci Dravi

Since a great majority of rivers have feminine names in Croatian, use of rijeka river

with masculine names of rivers is avoided. (Croatian so strongly prefers feminine

river names, that even names like the Thames and the Rhine are adapted as

feminine Temza and Rajna). You will mostly see ‘frozen’ masc. names of rivers, e.g.

u rijeci Dunav:

rijeka Dunav the Danube river → (?) u rijeci Dunavu

After most other nouns, only feminine names can change, but it’s optional – names

are usually not changed. Often used nouns are:

hotel hotel

jezero lake

kazalište theater ®

općina municipality ®

For example (again u¨ + DL):

hotel Panorama → u hotelu Panorama / u hotelu Panorami

kazalište Komedija → u kazalištu Komedija / u kazalištu Komediji

You will see changed feminine names now and then. However, masculine names are

always ‘frozen’:

hotel Westin → u hotelu Westin

jezero Jarun → u jezeru Jarun

kazalište Kerempuh → u kazalištu Kerempuh

Bear in mind that ‘freezing’ happens only if a general noun is before the name, if the

name is on it’s own, it of course always changes, e.g. u Westinu, u Jarunu, etc.

Standard Croatian prescribes that both nouns have to be always changed, but it’s

rare, even in writing (e.g. the form u hotelu Westin is more than 100 times more

common than u hotelu Westinu on the Internet).

Occasionally, you’ll see a kind of reversal of the structure described above, where a

proper noun (i.e. a name) describes a common noun; an example is this tube of

mayonnaise:


Such combinations appear as a kind of indeclinable adjective + a noun, in writing and

in speech, where the word majoneza mayonnaise ® is in A, but the name preceding it

is not:

Voliš Zvijezda majonezu A ? Do you like Zvijezda mayonnaise?

(The last sentence is an example from the internet, promoting the product.)

We continue with more ‘weird’ things: end-stressed nouns ®. There’s a number of

nouns – all loanwords, that is, words taken from other languages – that end on a

stressed vowel (other than a). Despite the ending, they are all masculine, and the

end vowel is never dropped – case endings are simply attached to it. Examples are:

file filet → u fileu

kanu canoe → u kanuu

separe restoran booth → u separeu

The two consecutive vowels are pronounced separately, e.g. DL kanuu is

pronounced as three syllables: ka-nu-u.

Then, most masculine nouns in -a in plural can get feminine adjectives and past

forms, although masculine adjectives and past forms are common too ®. For

example:

Ubojica N je uhvaćen N . The murderer was captured. ®

Ubojice N su uhvaćeni N . The murderers were captured.

Ubojice N su uhvaćene N . (also possible, the same meaning)

This virtually never happens for the noun tata m Dad – it’s almost always considered

masculine in plural.®

There’s one use of masculine gender that’s completely unexpected. The rule is: if

two neuter nouns are linked by an i¨, and they are not both in plural, they together

behave as masculine plural, i.e. adjectives and past forms are in masculine plural

have to be used:

More N i nebo N su bili crni N . The sea and the sky were black.

Jelo N i piće N nisu uključeni N . Food and drink are not included.

However, if both nouns are neuter and both are in plural, the neuter adjectives and

past forms in plural are used:

Ramena N i koljena N su ogrebana N . Shoulders and knees are scratched.

This is a completely weird rule, I have to admit. Even weirder, it often applies to


This is a completely weird rule, I have to admit. Even weirder, it often applies to

feminine nouns not ending in -a:

Sol N i mast N nisu bili skupi N . Salt and lard were not expensive. ®

The last feature seems to depend on the region.

(The rest is coming soon)

________

® Instead of the words above, these words are used in Serbia and most of Bosnia:

hlače pants, trousers → pantalone

majoneza mayonnaise → majonez

kazalište theater → pozorište

sol f salt → so (sol-) f

općina municipality → opština

ubojica murderer → ubica

Occasionally in Serbia, the family relation noun is not declined when before the

name, so you might hear and read teta Anu, sometimes spelled with a hyphen: teta-

Anu.

In some regions, and in parts of Serbia and Bosnia, words like kanu etc. are not

stressed on the last syllable. There’s a lot of variation among speakers from various

regions.

While Standard Serbian accepts masculine nouns in -a as both masculine and

feminine in plural, in actual speech in Serbia such words are understood only as

feminine in plural. Check the Google statistics (on the .rs domain) for gazda m

landlord, boss and tata m Dad:

novi gazde 52

nove gazde 7120

naši tate 4

naše tate 124

And when you examine the small number of occurrences of novi gazde, you find

that most of them are written by someone in Croatia.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 89 Customs and Tradions 488 / 600

89 Customs and Traditions

This chapter will give a brief overview of words and expressions used in some

Croatian traditions.

There are two verb pairs for marry: one is from the female perspective, another

from the male perspective:

female: udavati (udaje) se² ~ udati se²

male: ženiti se² ~ o- («)

You would use the first verb if the subject is a woman, and the second verb if the

subject is a man.

However, if the subject is a couple, the male version is used:

Oženit će se. They will get married.

Such reciprocal use of this verb pair is very common, but some Standard Croatian

manuals don’t accept it, and suggest using another, gender-neutral verb pair (which

is a bit archaic, and seldom used in speech):

vjenčavati («) se² ~ vjenčati se² marry (Std; rare in speech)

It’s possible, but slightly old-fashioned to use both verb pairs without the se²: then

the subjects are parents, while one who gets married is the object – again, if your

daughter gets married, you would use the first verb, if your son gets married, the

second one.

The most important holidays in Croatia are:

Božić Christmas

Uskrs Easter

Nova godina New Year

Svi sveti All Saints’ Day

All except Nova godina New Year are Christian holidays. As most people in Croatia

are Catholics, they are celebrated on the same dates as in most West European and

North American countries ®. It’s a custom to give presents (esp. to children) for

Christmas. The day before Christmas, when preparations are made, has a special

name, but it’s not an official holiday (many people, if they are able to, will take a day

of vacation, but others will work):

Badnjak Christmas Eve

All these days, except the All Saint’s Day, will have specially prepared meals (e.g.

Badnjak will have fish). On the All Saint’s Day, many people will visit family graves

(since great crowds gather at that day, many people will visit graves few days earlier

or a day later).

Another holiday of some importance is:

Prvi maj (colloq.) May 1st


Observe how its name diverts from the usual grammar rules, you would rather

expect Prvi (dan mjeseca) maja.

In some regions, esp. with more religious (Catholic) people, there’s a tradition to

celebrate various holidays dedicated to Virgin Mary.

As in some other countries, there’s a period in late winter, known as Carnival, when

masked processions and specific rituals occur ®. It culminates on the Tuesday 41

days before Easter. There are various names in Croatia, the common ones are:

karneval

fašnik

maškare f pl.

mesopust

poklade f pl.

pust

The word fašnik is most common in Zagreb and the northwestern area; other names

prevail elsewhere. For instance, this billboard advertises fašnik in Samobor, a town

close to Zagreb:

(Pay attention how Samobor is transformed into the relational adjective

samoborski). Meanwhile, this poster announces pust in Matulji, a small town close

to Rijeka:

(The poster is in the local dialect of Matulji and generally surroundings of Rijeka; e.g.

instead of u¨, the preposition is va¨, some case endings are different, etc. The term

pust is also used in Slovenia.)

This custom varies in different parts of Croatia, its barely present in some parts (e.g.

Slavonia), while in other parts (esp. northern part of the coast) it’s a major tradition

and a great celebration.



________

® In Serbia, and parts of Bosnia where there’s a majority of Serbs, religious holidays

are celebrated on different dates, according to the tradition of the Serbian

Orthodox Church.

In Bosnia, esp. in parts with a large Muslim population, additional holidays, usually

known as Bajram are celebrated according to Muslim traditions.

Carnival traditions are uncommon in Bosnia and Serbia.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 90 Number-like Words 491 / 600

90 Number-like Words

There are several types of compound words derived from numbers.

The first type are derived adjectives of form number + measure. English examples

would be 10-inch or four-year. In Croatian, they are spelled without a hyphen – in

the standard spelling, at least – and the second part must be a (relational) adjective.

The first part is derived from the ‘compounding forms’ of numbers:

‘Compounding’ number forms

1- jedno- 10- deseto-

2- dvo- 11- jedanaesto-

3- tro- 12- dvanaesto-

4- četvero- 20- dvadeseto-

5- peto- 100- sto-

6- šesto- 200- dvjesto-

7- sedmo- 1000- tisućumany

8- osmo-

9- deveto- više-

For example:

trodnevni three-day

četverogodišnji four-year

četrdesetogodišnji forty-year

The linking vowel (-o- in most forms) appended to create the compound form is lost

in rare cases when an adjective begins with a vowel; it’s not lost if the vowel is a

part of the original number:

desetinčni 10-inch stoinčni 100-inch

Despite being spelled as one word, they often pronounced with two places of stress,

one on the number, another on the adjective. (You will occasionally see such

adjectives in a non-standard spelling, as two words, or even with a hyphen, e.g.

deset-inčni and deset inčni)

They are used as any other adjective:

Sutra počinje trodnevni festival. N A three-day festival begins tomorrow. počinjati

Bili smo na dvotjednom odmoru DL . We were on two-week vacation.

(Observe also placing of the indefinite subject after the verb.)

With forms derived from numbers based on 10 (10, 20, 50, etc.) you’ll sometimes

see forms without the vowel -o-, that is pedesetgodišnji besides usual

pedesetogodišnji. You will also see non-standard forms derived from numbers 5, 6

and 7, like ones for 4, that is:


(all colloq.)

5- petero-

6- šestero-

7- sedmero-

8- osmero-

When such adjectives – derived from relative adjectives of time periods – are used

with people and animals, they mean three-year-old, forty-year-old, etc. For

example:

Dovela je šestogodišnjeg sina A . She brought her six-year-old son. dovesti past-f

Note that the words derived from šesto- can mean both 6- and 600-; therefore,

some people write compounds derived from 600- as šeststo-. In real life, confusion

is rare – there are very few 600-year-olds around.

The second type uses suffix -ak to create numbers (not adjectives!) that correspond

to English -odd. They are formed only from ‘round’ numbers, such as:

desetak ten-odd

dvadesetak twenty-odd

stotinjak hundred-odd

Such numbers behave like 10, 20 and 100 – i.e. like quantity adverbs – G-pl is used

with them, and the whole phrase behaves as neuter singular:

Desetak ljudi G je na plaži DL . Ten-odd people are on the beach.

The third type are nouns derived from smaller numbers using -ica and -ka (the

derivation is not regular, forms must be remembered):

1 → jedinica

2 → dvojka

3 → trojka

4 → četvorka

5 → petica

6 → šestica

7 → sedmica

8 → osmica

9 → devetka

10 → desetka

They mean e.g. ‘digit two’, or colloquially, something with the number on it, e.g. a

playing card, bus or tram – depending on the context:

Čekat ću šesticu A . (colloq.) I’ll wait for a number 6 tram.

However nouns derived from 1, 3 and 4 have special meanings as well:

jedinica unit

trojka three-person team

četvorka four-person team

(English sometimes uses a noun for the three-person team, taken from Russian:

troika. You see it’s almost identical to Croatian.)

For two-person teams (and other two-item groups), the common word is par pair.

The fourth type are nouns for ‘x-year-olds’ (i.e. boys/girls, men/women, but


occasionally other animals, even some products). They are derived from the

‘compounding forms’ with appended godišnji by further appending -njak (m) and -

njakinja (f). As with the most other male/female pairs, the male form is also

generic/default:

Četverogodišnjaci N vole trčati. Four-year-olds like to run. (i.e. Four-year-old kids)

The fifth type are compound adjectives and adverbs derived with -struk, standing for

multiplicity:

Multiplicity adjectives

jednostruk one-fold, single-layer

dvostruk

dupli (colloq.)

double

trostruk

triple

četverostruk fourfold

peterostruk 5-fold

šesterostruk 6-fold

... ...

deseterostruk 10-fold

... ...

dvadeseterostruk 20-fold

stostruk

100-fold

mnogostruk

višestruk

multiple, manifold

As you can see, they are derived from numbers in a specific way – from

‘compounding forms’, but for numbers 5 and over, there’s extra -ero- inserted

between the ‘compounding form’ and the suffix -struk. While all these words are

really used, some, like jedanaesterostruk 11-fold are very rare. All these words are

adjectives, for example:

Razgovarali smo s trostrukim prvacima Europe I . We talked to three-time European

champions. (lit. ‘triple champions of Europe’)

The adjectives mnogostruk and višestruk are very common.

All these adjectives, in neuter form, are used as adverbs too, so you can tell how

many times something is better:

Novi mobitel N je dvostruko bolji N . The new cellphone is twice better.

Novi mobitel N je duplo bolji N . (colloq., the same meaning)

Instead of dvostruk, the colloquial word dupli is very common in speech.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 91 Taboo Words and Expressions 494 / 600

91 Taboo Words and Expressions

This chapter uses words and expressions

some people might consider offensive.

There are several words that are often heard, but they are considered taboo outside

younger people, when communication with their friends; they refer to sexual organs

and sex. The most important verb is:

jebati (jebe) fuсk

Take care: this verb is considered extremely impolite and vulgar in most

circumstances. This verb is actually rarely used in its literal meaning.

Its pass. adjective jeben is sometimes used as an intensifier, exactly like English

fuсking (but observe it's an adjective, unless used as an adverb, i.e. you have to

change its case, gender etc.):

Taj mobitel N je jebeno skup N . That mobile phone is fuсking expensive.

There are two quite common phrases with this verb, something like ‘emoticonwords’

(sometimes seen in abbreviation in colloquial writing, e.g. on Internet

forums):

jebo te / jebote (abbr. jbt) = amazement

jebi ga / jebiga (abbr. jbg) = resignation

The most common verb pair derived from this verb is:

zajebavati («) ~ zajebati (zajebe) screw up

This verb is considered much less vulgar than the verb it's derived from, and you can

even hear it in less formal meetings at work.

With an optional object in A, this verb corresponds to English make mistake, spoil:

Zajebao sam. I've screwed up.

However, it's more common to use this pair with se². There are two meanings then.

First, it's make a mistake, such that affects the subject. Next, the impf. verb with se²

has the additional meaning screw around.

This is the most important impolite/vulgar noun:

kuraс (kurс-) penis, diсk

Besides its obvious meaning, it's often used in a number of very colloquial (but

considered nevertheless vulgar!) expressions with completely unexpected meanings:

boljeti (boli,...) + A + kuraс (kurс-) don't give a fuсk

This, of course, literally means someone's diсk hurts, but it's a metaphor. For

example:

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 91 Taboo Words and Expressions 495 / 600

example:

Boli ga A kuraс N . (vulgar!) He doesn't give a fuсk.

3m/n

Since this is a metaphor, you'll often hear women using that expression too for

themselves.

Next, kuraс (kurс-) can be used as a metaphorical destination or location, which

describes that something is failing completely, or is in a very bad shape, kind of

similar to English hell, but considered much more vulgar:

Sve N ide u kuraс A . (vulgar!) Everything is going to hell.

ići

Ivan N je u kurсu DL . (vulgar!) Ivan is in a very bad shape.

Since the word kuraс (kurс-) is quite a taboo, it's often replaced in such

metaphorical locations and destinations with banana (I hope you get a shape-based

metaphor):

Država N je u banani DL . (colloq.) The country is in a very bad shape.

The statement is no longer considered vulgar, merely colloquial, so you can hear it

on TV.

Then, it's used in very colloquial communication as a replacement for thing.



Although all words derived from jebati (jebe) fuсk are taboo in some degree, you

will hear a pop song playing in large supermarkets on Sunday morning with

zajebavat clearly audible, and nobody will get offended. Editing songs and movies is

seen in Croatia as destroying integrity of a piece of art, and censorship is virtually

never done.

The choice of songs played in Croatian supermarkets is very wide – from current

Croatian and international hits to alternative all-time favorites like Love Will Tear Us

Apart. Unfortunately, I've never heard iieee.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 93 Fine Points of Verb Aspect 496 / 600

93 Fine Points of Verb Aspect

I’ve introduced the verb aspect many chapters ago, and explained some details in

later chapters. This chapter will wrap up all the missing parts.

First, some impf. verbs have special perf. verbs that are sometimes called

‘delimitative’. They are hard to exactly translate to English, but the idea is there was

some action or state for some time, or space, not less.

For example, you have to go to work and work there for 8 hours. You can simply

say:

Radio sam osam sati G . I worked for eight hours.

However, you call also stress that you’ve fulfilled your duty for that day, by using a

derived perfective verb odraditi («); nothing else is changed:

Odradio sam osam sati G . I worked for eight hours. (focus on the time)

This verb sometimes corresponds to English work off or put in (hours), but there’s no

single English construction which has the exact meaning.

Such verbs always start with od- or ot- and are especially used when you fulfill a

duty, or what you did is taken off from a bigger requirement (e.g. you have to work

40 hours a week, you did 8 today, 32 to go).

Such verbs are an exception from the general rule that you can’t specify how long

with a perfective verb. In fact, with many such verbs, you have to specify the

duration, because this is the whole point of such verbs.

Another common such verb is:

odspavati («) perf. sleep for a time

For example, you can say:

Odspavala sam deset sati G . I slept for ten hours. (focus on the time)

The time doesn’t have to be precise, you can say that you slept for a few hours.

(The rest is coming soon.)

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal Features 497 / 600

99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal Features

There are features in Croatian that you will see used from time to time. You don't

need them in everyday life, but some people use them, and you'll see them in

literature (but they are rare even in books).

First, there are several rarely used verb tenses.

The aorist tense is traditionally a past tense, but today it's usually used for events

that have happened moments ago, or are about to happen right now. It's usually

formed for perfective verbs, but it can be used with impf. verbs as well.

The aorist tense is a single word, usually formed from the infinitive. For verbs ending

in -ti, the ending is replaced with the following personal endings:

person sing. plur.

1st -h -smo

2nd - -ste

3rd - -še

I'll use abbreviations like aor-1, aor-3pl for various aorist forms, in the same way as

for the present tense forms. Here are forms for several verbs (pres-3 and past forms

are not shown, as they're not important for forming the aorist if verbs have -ti in

inf):

naučiti perf. learn → aor-1 naučih

pozvati perf. call, invite → aor-1 pozvah

uzeti perf. take → aor-1 uzeh

vidjeti see → aor-1 vidjeh

Observe that it's not important if the verb is ‘regular’ or not: only the inf ending

matters.

For 2nd and 3rd person in singular, the ending is ‘empty’, so we get nauči and uze.

Verbs with inf ending in -sti and -ći insert a vowel before the aorist endings, -o- in

aor-1 and plural, and -e- in aor-23 (the form common to the 2nd and 3rd person):

person sing. plur.

1st -oh -osmo

2nd -e -oste

3rd -e -oše

For such verbs, aorist forms aren't derived from inf. If they have past-m in -ao, it's

removed, and aorist forms are derived from it; otherwise, they are derived from

pres-3, after discarding the final vowel (which is always -e for such verbs):


pojesti (pojede, pojeo) perf. eat → aor-1 pojedoh

reći (reče, rekao, rekla) perf. say → aor-1 rekoh

Verbs on -ći that have past-m in -kao or -gao shift the final consonant in aor-23 to

the consonant used in pres-3:

aor-1 rekoh (past-m rekao)

aor-23 reče (pres-3 reče)

Verbs derived from ići don't fit into this scheme: their aorist forms are always

derived from pres-3 (but they're quite irregular anyway):

naći (nađe, našao, našla) perf. find → aor-1 nađoh

otići (ode, otišao, otišla) perf. leave → aor-1 odoh

The aorist forms are normally stressed like forms they're derived from: if they are

derived from inf, on the same syllable as inf; if from pres-3, like it, etc.

However, in the standard stress scheme, aor-23 is always stressed on the first

syllable, regardless of stress of other forms:

aor-1

aor-23

aor-1pl

...

pojedoh

pojede

pojedosmo

The use of aorist is very rare in western parts of Croatia; in more eastern regions, it

can be heard in storytelling and expressing immediate action, e.g.:

Ja odoh. I'm leaving now.

Another past form (similar to the plusquamperfect tense) is the past conditional. It's

like conditional, but has an extra past form of the verb biti (je² +), in the same

gender and number as the other past form:

Gledala bih film. I would watch the movie. (fem. speaking)

Bila bih gledala film. I would have watched the movie.

This form was used to express intentions and opportunities in the past, but today it's

optional, and almost everybody uses just the common conditional.

Then, there's yet another past tense: the imperfect tense. As its name says, it's

formed from impf. verbs. It's so rare that I don't recall its endings. I think I've never

used it in my life. If you are really want to learn its endings, look into Wikipedia.

Similar to present adverbs derived from verbs, there are also past adverbs. They

correspond to English having seen it, she decided to.... They are normally formed

from the past-f form of the verb, replacing the final -la with -vši:

see vidjela → vidjevši


eat (perf.) pojela → pojevši

For verbs where past-m form has an additional -a- in comparison to the past-f form,

it's derived from the past-m form, replacing -o with -vši:

can mogao m, mogla f → mogavši

grow up (perf.) odrastao m, odrasla f → odrastavši

They are very rare in speech, and rarely used in writing:

Vidjevši da neće uspjeti, odustala je. Having seen she wasn't going to succeed, she

gave up.

This meaning is usually expressed with kad when or nakon after instead of this rare

form.

However, the past adverb bivši, derived from the verb biti (je² +) be is often used,

but it's true adjective, with the meaning former, ex:

Vidjela je bivšeg muža. She saw her ex-husband.

As in English, the adjective bivši is used colloquially on its own, meaning exhusband/boyfriend,

or ex-wife/girlfriend, depending on the gender, but it still

changes like an adjective.

There's an interesting feature that was historically much more common: use of

indefinite adjectives. So far, I've explained only so-called definite adjectives, which

are usually used.

However, most adjectives also had indefinite forms. They could have different stress

and case endings. I won't go into details of stress, but the endings in singular are:

gender N A DL G I

neuter

-o

(-e)

= N

masc.

(not p/a)

masc.

(p/a)

dict.

= N

dict. -a

-u -a

-om

(-em)

As you can see, these look exactly like the noun endings.

Standard Croatian still insists on use of indefinite adjectives. They should be used

with indefinite nouns, i.e. when you would use the indefinite article in English:

Vidim crna konja. A see a black horse. (very rare in use)

Then, some adjectives, according to Standard Croatian, have only indefinite forms,

regardless of definiteness, and that includes all possessives in -ov or -ev, including

njegov his:


Vidim njegova brata. I see his brother. (Standard, but very rare)

Vidim njegovog brata. (this is almost always used)

However, you'll see forms like above in some newspapers, on TV news, and in

poetry.

Then, Standard Croatian insists that numbers 2-4 change according to case. You will

sometimes see in writing DLI forms for numbers 2 and both in feminine gender and

for 3:

number

obje f both

dvije f two

tri three

DLI

objema

dvjema

trima

If numbers change, nouns also change, into DLI-pl. For example:

Posjet dvjema farmama A visit to two farms (rare)

(If you check Google, u dvije is about 30 times more frequent than u dvjema.)

Other forms – including masc. gender – exist in grammar books, but are very rare in

use. You will sometimes see the forms above used for G as well.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / A1 Nouns and Adjecves 501 / 600

A1 Nouns and Adjectives

Here's a summary of case forms for nouns and adjectives. Some cases are marked

with an asterisk (*) meaning there is an explanation below the table.

This is the pattern for nouns in singular. The endings -a, -o, -e from nominative are

replaced with other case endings, except where it's indicated that an ending is added

to the nominative form (N +):

noun type (N) A DL I G

-a (≈ fem.) -u *-i -om -e

neut. (≈ -o, -e) = N -u N + m -a

not

in

-a

masc. not p/a = N -om -u -a

masc. p/a -a (-em)

fem. = N -i -i -i

The five rows above are declension types — groups of nouns having the same

endings. Since three of them are very similar (neuter and masc.), Croatian

declension is often described having three classes (e.g. I, II and III in some books).

Which group a noun belongs to is based on its gender and nominative ending:

all nouns in -a change in the same way (almost all are feminine, few are

masculine, e.g. tata Dad)

all neuter nouns change in the same way (they all end in -o or -e, but converse

doesn't hold: e.g. some nouns in -o are masculine, and don't belong to this

group)

all masculine nouns that don't end in -a (they usually end in a consonant)

belong to one of two groups, distinguished by their meaning

all feminine nouns that don't end in -a (they usually end in a consonant) belong

to the last group

Certain feminine nouns, ending in either -ka or -ga, end in DL in -ci and -zi,

respectively:

Amerika America → Americi

knjiga book → knjizi

The ending -em in the instrumental case is attached to nouns that end in a Croatianspecific

letter, e.g.:

mrav ant → mravom

konj horse → konjem

There are endings for adjectives:


gender N A DL I G

fem. -a -u -oj -om -e

neut. -o (-e) = N

masc. not p/a

masc. p/a

dict.

= N

-og

(-eg)

-om

(-em)

-im

-og

(-eg)

The default, dictionary form, as listed in dictionaries, usually has no endings, and is

indicated with dict. in the table. It can have an optional -i, and some adjectives have

always -i in masc. N, and they are listed so in dictionaries.

As for nouns, alternate endings that contain e instead of o in masc. and neut.

genders are attached to adjectives ending on a Croatian-specific letter:

nov new → novom

loš bad → lošem

The e-endings also apply to all comparatives, even if they don't end in a Croatianspecific

letter (e.g. širi wider).

Pay attention that alternative endings don't exist for the feminine gender.

The p/a in tables above stands for people and animals.

These are the endings for nouns in plural. The DL and I cases are identical in plural.

There's an additional complexity for masculine nouns, see remarks below:

noun type (N) N-pl A-pl DLI-pl G-pl

-a (≈ fem.) -e = N -ama *-a

neut. (≈ -o, -e) -a = N -ima -a

end in

cons.

masc. *-i *-e N + ma *-a

fem. -i = N N + ma *-i

Most short (one-syllable) masc. nouns ending on a consonant have either ov or ev

inserted before the endings listed above. For some masc. nouns there's a consonant

alternation in N and DLI.

Details are described in 29 Plural of Masculine Nouns and Adjectives.

The genitive case in plural has many exceptions that get rather -i instead of -a.

Additionally, some nouns get lengthened by inserting an additional a or by using the

nominative form instead of their case-base:


N N-pl G-pl

pas dog psi pasa

pismo letter pisma pisama

Details are described in 44 Genitive Plural.

There are endings for adjectives in plural; forms for DLI and G are the same for all

genders:

gender N-pl A-pl DLI-pl G-pl

fem. -e = N

neut. -a = N -im -ih

masc. -i -e

Adjectives that end in -j in N masc. sing. cannot get an optional -i. All such adjectives

have specific meanings, e.g. taj (t-) this.

Possessive adjectives moj my, tvoj your and svoj have double forms in masc. (m)

and neuter genders in singular:

gender N A DL G I

fem. moja moju mojoj moje mojom

neut. moje

= N mojem(u) mojeg(a)

m not p/a moj

mom(e) mog(a)

p/a

= G

mojim

When an adjective is used as a noun or pronoun, it gets an additional -a in DLI-pl:

Na mladim ljudima svijet ostaje. The world is left to the young people.

Na mladima svijet ostaje. (the same meaning)

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / A3 Verbs 504 / 600

A3 Verbs

The dictionary form of verbs is infinitive. For a great majority of verbs, past forms

can be simply derived from the infinitive. Another very important form is the 3rd

pers. present singular (pres-3), the form to derive all other present forms from

(except for three irregular verbs).

Based on their endings in infinitive and pres-3, verb are divided into verb classes.

Various textbooks use different divisions. The division presented here is useful for

someone learning Croatian as a foreign language.

Present tense forms

All forms of the present tense have always the same endings (except for three

irregular verbs) – only the pres-3pl depends on the vowel pres-3 ends in:

pres-1 -a-m -i-m -e-m

pres-2 -a-š -i-š -e-š

pres-3 -a -i -e

pres-1pl -a-mo -i-mo -e-mo

pres-2pl -a-te -i-te -e-te

pres-3pl -aju -e -u

Two verbs have (fully regular) present forms only:

(bude) perf. be, get, become

(veli) say

While (bude) is one of most important verbs in Croatian, the verb (veli) is often used

only in certain regions.

Aorist forms

The aorist tense is not frequently used. It's a past tense, sometimes used for events

that are about to happen right now. Usually it's formed for perfective verbs, but it

can be used with imperfective verbs as well. Its forms are:

aor-1 -h -o-h

aor-23 - -e

aor-1pl -smo -o-smo

aor-2pl -ste -o-ste

aor-3pl -še -o-še


The endings with a vowel (-o-h, etc.) are used only with verbs that have infinitives

ending in -sti or -ći. For all other verbs, the aorist forms are simply formed from the

infinitive by discarding -ti and adding aorist endings:

inf

naučiti perf. learn

uzeti perf. take

pojesti perf. eat

aor-1

naučih

uzeh

pojedoh

For more information about forming the aorist tense for verbs in -sti or -ći, check

With possible sound shifts in infinitive and present below.

Simple verb classes

These are the easiest verb classes:

inf pres-3 past-m

a -a-ti -a -a-o

i -i-ti -i -i-o

n -nu-ti -n-e -nu-o

ova/uje -ova-ti -uj-e -ova-o

Two out of four classes are completely determined by their infinitive form: all verbs

with infinitives in -nuti belong to the n-verbs, and all verbs with infinitives in -ovati

belong to ova/uje-verbs.

Unfortunately, it doesn't hold for verbs ending in -ati or -iti: they are not all a-verbs

or i-verbs.

A great majority of verbs belong to these four verb classes. Past forms are simply

obtained from the infinitive. Unprefixed a-verbs are more or less all imperfective, as

almost all ova/uje-verbs. Virtually all n-verbs are perfective, except for the following

verbs:

brinuti worry

čeznuti yearn

ginuti perish, die

tonuti sink

trnuti numb

trunuti rot

venuti wither

The a-verbs are the default class of verbs: all new verbs that are adapted into

Croatian (mostly colloquially) are adapted as a-verbs:

četati chat (over Internet)

printati print (from a PC)


(It seems that in Serbia ova/uje is the default verb class.)

Unpredictable classes, without shifts

A bit more difficult classes are unpredictable, without sound shifts. You basically

have to remember both infinitive and pres-3 form; however, there are no sound

shifts. There are 7 classes in this group, divided into 2 subgroups. The first four are:

inf pres-3 past-m

ava/aje -ava-ti -aj-e -ava-o

eva/uje -eva-ti -uj-e -eva-o

iva/uje -iva-ti -uj-e -iva-o

uva/uje -uva-ti -uj-e -uva-o

They all have -ati in the infinitive and are overall similar to a-verbs, except for the

present forms. Three classes (ava/aje, eva/uje, uva/uje) out of the 4 above contain

only a handful of of verbs. Common ones are:

davati (daje) give

-znavati (-znaje)

carevati (caruje) rule as an emperor

kraljevati (kraljuje) rule as a king

bljuvati (bljuje) vomit

pljuvati (pljuje) spit

All verbs listed are imperfective. Of course, verbs derived by prefixing those listed

above belong to the same class, but some are perfective. Often used are ones

derived from davati (daje), e.g. do-davati (do-daje). The "verb" -znavati (-znaje) is

not used on its own, only verbs derived from it by prefixing are used, e.g. po-znavati

(po-znaje).

Unfortunately, verbs ending in -ivati can be either a-verbs – e.g. plivati, pozivati – or

iva/uje-verbs – e.g. dokazivati (dokazuje), etc. There are many iva/uje-verbs – too

much to list here.

The next three classes are a bit more complicated, as two of them have a

(predictable) alternation in the past forms. It's interesting that for some of them,

Standard forms are different from forms used in speech and casual writing most of

the time:

inf pres-3 past-m past-f

a/i -a-ti -i -a-o -a-la

je/i -je-ti -i -i-o -je-la

je/ije -je-ti -ij-e -i-o -je-la


Only a limited number of verbs belong to the a/i-verbs. Some of them have general,

quite basic meanings:

bježati run away

bojati paint (wall, fence) *

bojati se² be afraid

brojati count *

čučati squat

držati hold

ležati lay

klečati kneel

trčati run

spati sleep

stajati (stoji) stand

-stojati

strujati stream *

(Only infinitives are listed, pres-3 forms end in -i!) The verb stajati (stoji) stand is

irregular. This does not apply to verb derived from it, which have regular forms from

-stojati. The verb spati (spi) sleep is quite archaic, but still used in some regions

(however, verbs derived from it are common). Besides it, all a/i-verb feature

Croatian-specific consonants.

The rest of a/i-verbs in common use stand for various sounds (again, I list only

infinitives):

bečati cry (baby)

blejati bleat

brujati hum

cvrčati chirr

hučati boom

ječati cry, shrill

pištati squeak, beep

pljuštati rain heavily, shower

režati growl

šuštati rustle, murmur

vrištati scream

zujati buzz *

zvečati twang

zviždati whistle

zvučati sound

All a/i-verbs listed here are imperfective, and verbs derived from by prefixing are

also a/i-verbs, but perfective, e.g. dotrčati (dotrči), zaspati (zaspi)...

As a rule, a/i-verbs have the stress fixed on the first syllable in the present tense, i.e.

the stress doesn't shift to negation in the standard stress scheme:

bježati (bježi) run away

. . .

vrištati (vrišti) scream

. . .

The only exception is the verb spati (spi) sleep.

Four a/i-verbs above are marked with an asterisk (*). They also exist as plain i-verbs,

in fact, Standard Croatian insists on them being just plain i-verbs, although a/i

versions prevail in use:


mostly used

bojati (boji)

brojati (broji)

strujati (struji)

zujati (zuji)

Std. Cro.

bojiti

brojiti

strujiti

zujiti

(Google search of the .hr domain will show you the a/i-verb forms of these four

verbs are 3-4 times more common than the i-verb forms.)

All verbs that end in infinitive in -jeti belong to the je/i-verbs, except for the

following common verbs, which belong to the je/ije-verbs:

dospjeti (dospije, dospio, dospjela) perf. end up

razumjeti (razumije, razumio, razumjela) understand

smjeti (smije, smio, smjela) be allowed

uspjeti (uspije, uspio, uspjela) perf. succeed

However, many verbs that in Standard Croatian belong to the je/i-verbs are

reshaped as plain i-verbs in colloquial communication, even in newspapers. This

does not affect their present forms, only the infinitive and past forms. The following

verbs are seldom seen with -je- in infinitive and past, -i- forms prevail even in

newspapers (only infinitives are listed for sake of brevity, you can work out other

forms):

gnjiljeti rot

hlapjeti evaporate

starjeti age, grow old

strepjeti fear, quail

šumjeti whirr, hum

tamnjeti darken

(For example, Google gives 1250 hits for hlapiti on the .hr domain, but just 87 for

hlapjeti.) Therefore, don't be surprised that Standard Croatian dictionaries list only

forms starjeti, starjeli, but you hear are read just stariti and starili all the time. Of

course, this applies to all verbs derived by prefixing from the verbs above, e.g.

instead of ostarjeti you will mostly see just ostariti.

For the following common verbs, i-forms prevail in casual communication, while

je/i-forms prevail in written communication, newspapers, etc. (again, only infinitives

are listed):

gorjeti burn

grmjeti thunder

smrdjeti stink

štedjeti save (money)

šutjeti be quiet

trpjeti suffer

vrtjeti spin, turn

visjeti hang

vrvjeti swarm

žudjeti yearn

With a possible sound shift in present


This is a class (or two classes, if you like it) that contains a lot of verbs. Its

characteristic is -ati in the infinitive, and e in the pres-3, with a possible sound shift.

The shift does not happen if the consonants before -ati are Croatian-specific

(usually j) or r:

a/*e

inf pres-3 past-m

-ja-ti -j-e -ja-o

-sa-ti -š-e -sa-o

etc. etc. etc.

Common verbs that fall into this class without a sound shift are:


češati (češe) scratch

derati (dere) tear

grijati (grije) heat

kašljati (kašlje) cough

lajati (laje) bark

orati (ore) till

penjati (penje) se² climb

sijati (sije) sow

smijati (smije) se² laugh

stajati (staje) stop, stand

stenjati (stenje) groan

trajati (traje) last

There are many common verbs with a sound shift. Here are verbs with the shift k or

c → č, e.g. skakati (skače) – only infinitives are listed for brevity:

hrkati snore

micati move

nicati sprout

plakati cry, shed tears

klicati shout, cheer

-ricati

skakati jump

srkati sip (while eating)

urlikati scream

ticati touch

vikati yell

žvakati chew

The following verbs have change h or s → š, e.g. pisati (piše):

brisati wipe, clear

kihati sneeze

klesati chisel

kresati trim

jahati ride (animal)

mahati wave

mirisati («) smell

njihati sway, wobble

pisati write

puhati blow

sisati suck

The following verbs have change g or z → ž, e.g. rezati (reže):

kazati say, tell

klizati slide, skate

lagati lie, tell lies

lizati lick

mazati spread (on bread, skin)

pomagati help

puzati crawl

rezati cut

stizati arrive, make on time

vagati weigh

vezati tie


(to be expanded)

Vowel-root

This class is the simplest one historically, there's just -ti in infinitive and -je in pres-3:

inf pres-3 past-m

vowel-root -ti -j-e -o

Only a limited number of verbs fall into this class:

biti (bije) beat

čuti (čuje) hear

kriti (krije) hide

piti (pije) drink

šiti (šije) sew

viti (vije) wave

The verb biti (bije) is rare in Croatia nowadays, but verbs derived from it – e.g. ubiti

(ubije) perf. kill – are common. The same holds for viti (vije). One more verb – šiti

(šije) – is archaic, šivati is much more frequent in meaning sew – but verbs derived

from it are not.

Additionally, two perfective verbs also fall into this class:

obuti (obuje) perf. put on (shoes)

umiti (umije) perf. wash (face)

With possible sound shifts in infinitive and present

This set of classes is basically the same as vowel-root, but they historically didn't

have a vowel before -ti in infinitive, so all kinds of sound assimilations happened in

the infinitive as well as in the present! Verbs belonging to this class often have

different consonants in all three main forms (infinitive, present, past). Most verbs in

this group have -ao in past-m.

It's possible to group verbs based on their (historic) final consonants. Following

classes don't have major alternations; they characteristically have -sti in the

infinitive, and their historic final consonant is revealed in present forms:


s-root -s-ti -s-e -s-a-o -s-la

st-root -s-ti -st-e -st-a-o -s-la

b-root -ps-ti -b-e -b-a-o -b-la

z-root -s-ti -z-e -z-a-o -z-la

d/t-root

-s-ti -d-e -o -la

-s-ti -t-e -o -la


Except for d/t-root verbs, only a handful of verbs fall into these classes. They are:

grepsti (grebe, grebao, grebla) scratch

gristi (grize, grizao, grizla) bite

musti (muze, muzao, muzla) milk

rasti (raste, rastao, rasla) grow

tresti (trese, tresao, tresla) shake, shiver

vesti (veze, vezao, vezla) embroider

-vesti (-veze, -vezao, -vezla)

The second -vesti (etc.) is a base many verbs are derived from, with the basic

meaning drive, e.g. odvesti (etc.) drive away. The verb grepsti (etc.) is rare, more

common is variant grebati (grebe). Of course, verbs are derived from the other

verbs listed above too, e.g. odrasti (etc.).

The following verbs belong to the d/t-root verbs:

bosti (bode, bo / boo, bola) stab, prod

jesti (jede, jeo, jela) eat

krasti (krade, krao, krala) steal

presti (prede, preo, prela) spin (yarn); purr

-vesti (-vede, -veo, -vela)

cvasti (cvate, cvao, cvala) blossom

mesti (mete, meo, mela) sweep

plesti (plete, pleo, plela) knit

Again, many verbs are derived from them, and the base -vesti (etc.) is used only to

derive verbs from, with the basic meaning lead.

The following class has major alternations:


k/g-root -ći -č-e -k-a-o -k-la

This class is called k/g-root for historical reasons – there are no g-root verbs in

common use today. All alternations in various forms are shown here, with vući pull

as an example (again, the original k is seen in past-m and pres-3pl):


inf

pres-3

pres-3pl

past-m

past-f

imper-2

pass. adj.

vu-ći

vu-če

vu-ku

vu-kao

vu-kla

vu-ci

vu-čen

Such verbs are (only infinitives are listed for brevity):

obući perf. wear (clothes)

peći bake

reći perf. say

sjeći (siječe) cut

teći flow

tući beat

vući pull

Of course, there are also verbs derived from them. The verb sjeći has ije instead of

je in present forms.

Verbs in all these classes, from s-root to k/g-root have a rightward stress shift in the

present tense (in the Standard scheme) if they have at least three syllables:

odrasti (odraste)

ispeći (ispeče)

obući (obuče)

All these classes have the aor-1 in -oh, with their historic final consonants:

inf aor-1

d/t-root pojesti pres-3 pojede pojed-oh

k/g-root reći past-m rekao rek-oh

In aor-23, the consonant before the ending -e changes like in pres forms:

rekoh aor-1 → reče aor-23

With vowel alternation

These classes have their pres-3 different from inf/past not by change of consonants,

but vowels. They are further divided into three subclasses. The first one has

infinitive on -ati; it contains the following common verbs:

brati (bere) pick (fruits)

klati (kolje) slaughter

prati (pere) wash

srati (sere) shit (impolite!)

slati (šalje) send

zvati (zove) call

All these verbs are imperfective, verbs derived from them by prefixing are all


perfective; both have have pass. adj. ending in -an (e.g. pozvan invited).

The next class has infinitives in -eti and -uti:

kleti (kune) curse

mljeti (melje) mill

žeti (žanje) rip, harvest

naduti (nadme) perf. bloat

oteti (otme) perf. hijack

uzeti (uzme) perf. take

The following roots also fall into this class; they are used to derive several important

verbs, all perfective:

-četi (-čne):

početi (počne) perf. begin

začeti (začne) perf. conceive

-peti (-pne):

napeti (napne) perf. wind up

popeti (popne) se² perf. climb

raspeti (raspne) perf. crucify

zapeti (zapne) perf. stumble

-suti (-spe):

nasuti (naspe) perf. cover

rasuti (raspe) perf. dissipate

The verbs from this class have pass. adj. obtained just by removing -i from the

infinitive (e.g. počet, napet, rasut, otet). This all also holds for verbs derived from

them by prefixing.

Finally, these two verbs are today quite archaic, but verbs derived from them are

common:

mrijeti (mre, mro) die

strijeti (stre, stro) spread

The second verb has another possible infinitive form: strti. These verbs are

imperfective; verbs derived from them by prefixing (e.g. u-mrijeti) are perfective,

and still belong to this class. To get impf. pairs of the prefixed verbs, use verbs

ending on -irati (-ire), e.g. um-irati (um-ire).

With inserted n in present

Certain verbs have present like n-verbs, but have infinitives without n, leading to all

possible sound shifts in infinitive and past forms. All such verbs are perfective.

This is the only verb in this class without sound shifts (and all verbs derived from it,

most of them very frequent!):

stati (stane) perf. stop

The following verbs behave as d/t-root in the past and infinitive:


pasti (padne, pao) perf. fall

sjesti (sjedne, sjeo) perf. sit

sresti (sretne, sreo) perf. encounter

The following verbs behave as k/g-root in the past and infinitive, and some of them

also appear as regular n-verbs:

-bjeći (-bjegne, -bjegao, -bjegla):

izbjeći (izbjegne, izbjegao, izbjegla) perf. avoid

pobjeći (pobjegne, pobjegao, pobjegla) perf. run away

leći (legne, legao, legla) perf. lie (down)

pomoći (pomogne, pomogao, pomogla) perf. help

stići (stigne, stigao, stigla) perf. arrive (on time)

dići (digne, digao, digla) perf. raise

also dignuti (digne)

nići (nikne, nikao, nikla) perf. sprout

also niknuti (nikne)

pući (pukne, pukao, pukla) perf. break, burst

also puknuti (pukne)

taći (takne, takao, takla) perf. touch

also taknuti (takne)

The root -bjeći is not used on its own, it's used to derive verbs, listed above.

Of course, all this applies also to verbs derived by prefixing from the above verbs,

e.g. po-taknuti / po-taći.

Irregular past

These verbs have past, inf and pres-3 quite different, but forms of the present tense

are normally derived from their pres-3. They are:


otići (ode, otišao, otišla) perf. leave

-ći (-đe, -šao, -šla)

-nijeti (-nesem, -nio, -nijela)

From the root -ći (etc.) perfective verbs of motion and naći (etc.) are derived; from -

nijeti (etc.), perfective verbs derived from bring, e.g. od-nijeti (od-nesem, od-nio,

od-nijela) perf. take away.

Irregular present

There are three verbs with specific forms in the present tense, their inf and past

forms are kind of expected. They are be, will and can:


inf biti htjeti moći

past-m bio htio mogao

past-f bila htjela mogla

pres-1 sam² ću² mogu

pres-1 si² ćeš² možeš

pres-3 je² će² može

pres-1pl smo² ćemo² možemo

pres-2pl ste² ćete² možete

pres-3pl su² će² mogu

imper-2 budi — —

Present tense forms of biti and htjeti also have stressed (longer) forms.

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / A5 Word Order 516 / 600

A5 Word Order

The word order consists of two 'components':

mandatory order

non-mandatory order

Words that have mandatory order cannot be tweaked to emphasize something or

carry some information; words with non-mandatory order can be.

Non-mandatory order

The default order in sentences like Ana is watching TV is the same as in English

(SVO):

Ana gleda televiziju.

In sentences of type X is PLACE, there are two equally used word orders:

when PLACE is first, it's about PLACE and a something new (X) was introduced;

when X is first, it's about X, which is something already known.

This roughly corresponds to definiteness:

Pismo je na stolu. The letter is on the table.

Na stolu je pismo. A letter is on the table. / There's a letter on the table.

This also holds for the verb nalazi se² is found, is placed.

The same holds for sentences of type subject + verb (SV). The subject comes first if

it's something known, and comes after the verb if it's a new thing introduced:

Film počinje. ≈ The movie is starting.

Počinje film. ≈ A movie is starting.

However, the word order can be changed as well to emphasize something.

In sentences where somebody experiences something from the environment (cold,

heat, boredom) or pain, the experiencer comes first, despite not being the subject:

Ani je hladno. Ana is cold.

Anu boli noga. Ana's leg hurts.

Locations and directions usually come after verbs:

Ana ide na posao. Ana is going to work.

Živimo u Zagrebu. We live in Zagreb.

Adverbs usually come before verbs:

Ana često gleda televiziju. Ana often watches TV.


Ana sutra ide na posao. Ana is going to work tomorrow.

Danas idem u kino. I'm going to cinema today.

The default order of nouns with adjectives is possessive adjective - adjective - noun:

tvoja plava košulja your blue shirt

moja ljubav my love

In poetry and songs, the order can be changed:

tvoja košulja plava

ljubav moja

In the vocative case, the default order of nouns and adjectives is reversed:

ljubavi moja! o my love!

The default order or nouns with genitive attribute is noun - noun in G; it's very rarely

tweaked in poetry and songs:

kraj filma end of the movie

With counting, the most common order is possessive adjective - number - adjective -

noun:

moje dvije crvene jabuke my two red apples

Mandatory order: enclitics

All second-position words come always in predefined order, in one block:

Order of second-position words

li²

bih², bi², bismo², biste² (conditional verb)

sam², si², smo², ste², su² (all except je²)

ću², ćeš², će², ćemo², ćete²

mi², ti²,... (pronouns in DL)

me², te²,... (pronouns in A and G)

se²

je² (usually left out if se² is present)

Before second-position words, there's one or more words in the "first position".

Words like i¨, ni¨ and a¨ (which all translate as and), prepositions (e.g. u¨, na¨, pod¨,

etc.) and the negative particle ne¨ don't "count", and cannot fill the first position on

their own:

Gladan sam. I'm hungry.

I ja sam gladan. I'm hungry too.


Two or more words that count, if they form a "phrase", can together occupy the

first position:

Moj prijatelj je ovdje. My friend is here.

These "phrases" are absolutely never split:

Hold the 1st position: never split

preposition + word

U sobi je hladno.

It's cold in the room.

ne¨ + verb

Ne bojim se.

I'm not afraid.

These "phrases", where one noun is described by another, are very rarely split:

Hold the 1st position: very rarely split

noun + za¨ + noun in A

Četka za kosu je u ladici.

The hairbrush is in the drawer.

noun + na¨ + noun in A

Igračke na baterije su jeftine.

Battery-powered toys are cheap.

noun + od¨ + noun in G

Sok od naranče je u frižideru.

The orange juice is in the fridge.

noun + noun in G

Kraj filma je glup.

The end of the movie is stupid.

These "phrases" are very rarely split in speech, but you can see them split in formal

writing:

Hold the 1st position: split in formal writing

adjective(s) + noun

Moj stari prijatelj je ovdje.

My old friend is here.

preposition +

adjective(s) + noun

U mojoj sobi je hladno.

It's cold in my room.

names

Ivana Horvat je ovdje.

Ivana Horvat is here.

time expressions

Godina dana je prošla.

A year passed.

Standard Croatian manuals often suggest breaking down such phrases and placing

the second-position words mechanically; this is very rare in speech (except on Public

Radio and TV):

Moj je prijatelj ovdje. (formal)


U mojoj je sobi hladno. (formal)

Names are rarely split even in formal writing, but you can see it sometimes:

Ivana je Horvat ovdje. (very rare)

These "phrases" can hold the 1st position, but are sometimes split even in everyday

speech:

Hold the 1st position: splitting is optional

Jako dugo je čekala.

intensity adverb + adverb

She waited for a very long time.

Troje ljudi te čeka.

number + noun

Three people are waiting for you.

Puno ljudi te čeka.

quantity + noun

A lot people are waiting for you.

Skoro uvijek je hladno.

adverb

baš absolutely

It's cold almost always.

+

skoro almost

pronoun/

adjective

Baš svi su ovdje.

Absolutely everybody is here.

Other combinations cannot form such "phrases". For example, opet again + verb is

not such a phrase, and it cannot hold the 1st position:

Opet se igra. He/she is playing again.

Word order in clauses

Clauses have their own second position; if they start with a conjunction (e.g. jer in

the following example), any second-position words come right after it:

Trava¹ je² mokra [jer¹ je² padala kiša]. The grass is wet because it has rained.

Sometimes, short time adverbs – such as sad(a) now, još still and već already – are

placed immediately after jer, second position words come after the adverb. For

example:

Ne želim knjigu A [jer¹ već¹ sam ju² pročitao]. I don’t want the book [because I’ve

already read it].

The same can happen with stressed pronouns (e.g. meni).

This quite rare.

(the rest is coming soon)...

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / A7 Stress (u/c) 520 / 600

A7 Stress (u/c)

This chapter uses specific stress symbols,

different than in the rest of Easy Croatian.

I will give you an overview of stress in Croatian, both Standard Croatian, nonstandard

and in closely related languages. Everything that follows applies to

Standard Croatian and Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian unless otherwise is

explicitly stated.

General Issues

First, in the Standard Croatian, each vowel can be either short or long. There can be

more than one long vowel in one word. I will mark the vowels as:

Vowel length

short vowel

long vowel

a

ā

This holds also for "vocalic" r: there's long r̄ ; however I will mark it as ŕ, since just a

line over r is, unfortunately, not rendered right in some browsers and mobile

phones.

The stress can be either falling or rising. The falling stress has a tone that's audibly

first high and then falling and staying low. Since the stressed vowel can be either

short or long, there are 4 combinations – the 4 classic "accents" as described in the

19th century:

short vowel long vowel

falling

stress

rising

stress

ri - ba sūn - ce

vo - da rū - ka

I have introduced here the following, special, non-standard markings:

if only one vowel is underlined, it's the stressed vowel with the falling

intonation;

if two vowels are underlined, one after another, the first of them is the


stressed vowel with the rising intonation;

as a special case, if no vowels are underlined, the first vowel is stressed with

the falling intonation (you'll see the reason a bit later).

(There are also standard stress markings in Croatian. However, these markings are

not really transparent, so in certain books and linguistic works, alternative marks are

often used.)

Now, most textbooks (including the schoolbooks in Croatia) mention two classic

rules that restrict the place of stress:

#1 the falling intonation can appear only on the first syllable;

#2 the rising intonation cannot appear on the last syllable (therefore it cannot

appear at all in one-syllable words).

Now, the restriction #2 is actually obvious from my notation: you have to underline

two vowels, therefore, you need a word with at least two vowels! There's no way to

set a rising stress on the last vowel – only the first vowel you underlined will be

stressed.

However, the restriction #1 is not obvious, and it's actually not always respected in

real life, even in areas where people use stress very close to the standard at home

(enter non-initial falling tones into Google).

This all so far is only the introduction to real issues. The main feature of stress in

Standard Croatian is that it changes in various forms of one word. Moreover, the

vowel length changes in some forms! For example, the word lonac pot has all

possible alternations (rising vs. falling, short vs. long vowel):

sing. plur.

N lonac lōnci

G lōnca lonācā

On the other hand, there are words that have the same stress in all forms. To make

it even more complex, stress sometimes shift to prepositions.

Noun Stress

However, there's an underlying system, bizarre but regular. Let's first visit the noun

stress: nouns are basically divided into three groups. Let's first see how the a-nouns

(nouns ending in -a in N) behave:


"A" "B" "C"

N riba žena voda

DL ribi ženi vodi

G ribē ženē vodē

A

ribu ženu vodu

u-ribu u- ženu u-vodu

V ribo ženo vodo

NA-pl ribe žene vode

We see one thing all nouns have in common: the vocative case has the "automatic"

falling stress – no vowels are underlined. Another thing that's not obvious from the

usual spelling – the case ending in G is a long e.

The nouns in the group "B" are boring: the stress stays on the same syllable and is

same in all forms (except in the vocative, but that's a special form anyway).

The group "A" gets interesting when an unstressed preposition (e.g. u) is placed

before the noun: the stress "spreads" to it, i.e. moves one syllable to the left, but

gets the rising intonation.

This stress shift we still see in such nouns is called Neoštokavian stress shift. It's the

origin of the rising intonation in the Standard Croatian: whenever (well... almost

whenever) there was another syllable before the stressed syllable with the falling

intonation, the stress moved left, and changed the intonation. It also happened

centuries ago to nouns like žena. There are still regions in Croatia where that noun

keeps the older stress, žena (we are sure that stress is older because such nouns in

Russian have the stress at the "old" position as well).

This is why a rising stress cannot appear on the last syllable – there have to be one

syllable after it, one that had the original (falling) stress. We can simply show what

has happened and what still happens:

Neoštokavian stress shift

centuries ago žena → žena

we see today po + ribu → po-ribu

Such stresses are called 'new' (this is relative: they are centuries old), hence the neoin

Neoštokavian.

This shift happens only to falling stresses. They were transformed almost always

when they were not on the first syllable – this is the reason for the classic rule #1.

Now, we examine the nouns in the group "C". They are completely unlike "A" or "B"

nouns: their stress varies according to noun case. In the accusative case, if there's


an unstressed preposition before the noun, the stress again shifts to it, but it's still

falling. In fact, it shifts as leftward as it can:

vodu

u-vodu

i-u-vodu

Such shift is the reason for my "special case" notation – when no vowels are

underlined, as in A and N-pl of "C" nouns – there's a falling intonation stress on the

very first syllable, including all unstressed words before the noun that are

pronounced together with it.

There's no way to tell which nouns are in the group "C" just by looking at them in the

nominative – they must be remembered. Textbooks say there's about 60 such a-

nouns. The common ones are:

daska plank

grāna branch

grēda wooden beam

igla needle

kosa hair (on scalp)

metla broom

ovca sheep

pčela bee

pēta heel

rosa dew

srijēda Wednesday

strijēla arrow

sŕna fem. roe deer

stijēna rock

strāna side

vōjska army

zora dawn

zīma winter

zvijēzda star

The nouns above have the strange "automatic" falling stress only in A. However, a

couple of common nouns can have such stress in DL as well:

dūša soul

glāva head

noga leg

(The rest is coming soon...)

rūka arm/hand

voda water

zemlja ground, country, Earth

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / A8 Dialects 524 / 600

A8 Dialects

This chapter uses specific stress symbols,

different than in the rest of Easy Croatian.

(This chapter is under construction.)

I'll give a brief overview of dialects in Croatia and neighboring countries.

Croatia belongs to the South Slavic language area, and to the wider Slavic area. Both

these areas are essentially dialect continua, that is, areas where any dialect is similar

to the dialect next to it, which is similar to the one next to it, and so on: difference

between dialects increases with distance, and there are very few sharp dialect

borders.

Many features of South Slavic dialects change roughly in the northwest-southeast

direction, represented by the arrow in this map:

(The arrow should go, and does go further into Macedonia and Bulgaria, but I will

concentrate on dialects in Croatia and countries next to it.)

Going in the direction of the arrow (i.e. to the south-east), features change in this

way:

• There are fewer noun forms (that is, different case endings). In Slovenia, nouns

have singular, dual and plural forms, and 6 cases with different endings in plural. In


the area around Niš, Serbia, there is only singular and plural, and only two cases (N

and A). In Macedonia, nouns have no cases! This doesn't apply to the vocative

case, though.

• There are more verb tenses in use. In the western parts of Croatia, the aorist tense

is very rarely used. It doesn't exist at all in Slovenia. In Serbia, it's used every day in

speech. When you reach Macedonia, there are 9 tenses.

• Infinitives are less used and finally disappear in South of Serbia, where only da +

present is used.

• Vocatives are more often used – in western parts of Croatia, vocatives are rare, N

is used when calling someone. In Bosnia and Serbia, they are frequently used.

• There are more Greek and Turkish loan words further you go to the south-east.

There are couple of forms that are specific for ‘west’ and ‘east’:

‘west’ ‘east’

you can moreš možeš

four men/boys četvero četvoro

Each feature splits the area at a different line. Standard Croatian has the ‘eastern’

možeš, but the ‘western’ četvero.

Furthermore, there's something interesting: most dialectal variation is in the

northwest. In the central and southeastern areas, there's less dialects on the same

land area. (That's due to history.) It's obvious from this simplified and not-tooaccurate

dialect map, showing the dialects in villages in middle 20th century (click on

the image to enlarge):


Dialects are marked with the following two-letter abbreviations, here grouped into

traditional dialect groups (the usual term in Croatian is narječje):

‘Slovene’: CR - Carinthian, ST - Styrian, PA - Pannonian, UC - Upper Carniolan, LC -

Lower Carniolan, RV - Rovte, LI - Littoral;

‘Kajkavian’: ZM - Zagorje-Međimurje, TP - Turopolje-Posavina, KP - Križevci-

Podravina, PR - Prigorje;

‘Čakavian’: NČ - Northwestern Čakavian, CČ - Central Čakavian, SČ - Southeastern

Čakavian;

‘Štokavian’: SL - Slavonian, WI - Western Ikavian, HK - Herzegovina-Krajina (East

Herzegovinian), EB - East Bosnian, ŠV - Šumadija-Vojvodina, SM - Smederevo-Vršac,

ZS - Zeta-Sandžak, KR - Kosovo-Resava;

‘Torlak’: PM - Prizren-South Morava, TL - Timok-Lužnica.

There are other ways to divide dialects: for example, the classification of ‘Čakavian’

dialects shown here is after Dutch linguist Willem Vermeer; you'll find other ways to

classify them in many books. Some dialects shown here together are usually shown

separately – even if they are quite alike neighboring ones – for traditional (and

political) reasons (e.g. Lower Carniolan dialects in Croatia are usually shown

separately as ‘goranski’, etc.

The grouping of dialects into ‘Kajkavian’, ‘Čakavian’ and ‘Štokavian’ is usually


presented as something fundamental. However, it's not really so: for example,

Northwestern Čakavian dialects have a lot of similarities with the Littoral dialects in

Slovenia; ‘Kajkavian’ Zagorje-Međimurje dialects have many similarities with

Pannonian dialects in Slovenia; ‘Torlak’ dialects are often grouped with ‘Štokavian’,

but they have many similarities with dialects in Macedonia and Bulgaria as well;

there's no sharp border between Southeastern Čakavian and ‘Štokavian’ Western

Ikavian; ‘Štokavian’ Slavonian dialects have similarities with ‘Čakavian’ dialects, etc.

The Origin of Dialects

Western South Slavic Dialects differ in many ways, one of them is development of

old vowels. Western South Slavic, some 1000 years ago, had the following vowels

(the situation was different in Eastern South Slavic, i.e. today Macedonia and

Bulgaria), and all of them could be either short or long:

i u

ě ə ö

l r

e ë o

a

To mark long vowels, in descriptions of old, reconstructed forms, and in brief

descriptions of various dialects, I’ll just write them double, e.g. aa or ee. For

instance sun was sllnce and hand was rööka.

Developments of the old vowels ě and ə – often called yat and yer – are most

obvious to the majority of speakers. Actually, ‘Ijekavian’, ‘Ikavian’ and ‘Ekavian’ are

just different developments of the vowel ě (yat).

The vowels ë and ö were nasal, like in today French or Portuguese.

There were also two specific consonants, usually labelled as d' and t'. They were

palatal (softened) d and t. The verb doći (dođe) was earlier dojti (dojde); in some

dialects, jt and jd have later changed.

(I'm using slightly specific symbols here; usually, in specialized literature, ę and ǫ are

used instead of my ë and ö. Unfortunately, they are not displayed properly on some

mobile phones and e-book readers. Also, ḷ and ṛ are usually used instead of l and r.

Neither symbols are compatible with the IPA notation).

Then, we need marks for various types of stress. I’ll use the following marks for

stress and tones within one syllable:

a

aa

aa

short, stressed

long stressed vowel with a falling tone

long stressed vowel with a rising/flat tone

The tone I mark as aa is also called ‘neoacute’; it doesn’t exist in Standard Croatian.


And finally, I’ll use the following marks for two-syllable tones, where the stressed

syllable has another syllable with the high tone that follows it:

a...a short stressed + a high tone following it

aa...a long stressed

This can be summarized simply: the first underscored vowel is stressed, the

underscores mark high tones.

If you are going to read any dialectological works, you’ll see the standard ‘accent

marks’. Unfortunately, they are not rendered well on some mobile phones and e-

book readers, they are difficult to distinguish at small font sizes, and, finally, they are

quite counter-intuitive. Here's how my marks translate to the standard ones (the

diacritics are also shown in brackets):

aa = ā (–)

a = ȁ (\\)

aa = ȃ (^)

aa = ã (~)

a...a = à...a (\)

aa...a = á...a (/)

Therefore, what I write as e.g. öö is in most linguistic works written as ǫ with-atilde-above.

Stress systems in various dialects have the origin in the old system, reconstructed for

the old West South Slavic, for the period od some 1000 years ago, where there were

at least 2 tones on the syllables. The stress could have been on any syllable, and

unstressed syllables could be also short or long. The reconstructed forms of some

words are:

mlěěko milk

rööka hand

větər wind

kljuuč key (G kljuuča)

sestra sister (G-pl sestəər)

žena woman, wife (A ženö)

(It's possible to reconstruct even earlier forms – in many cases, thousands years

earlier – but they aren't important here.)

‘Kajkavian’ (Zagorje-Međimurje)

An example ‘Kajkavian’ dialect is the speech of Konjščina, with a detailed description

by Vedrana Gudek, available online.

The first impression anyone has about ‘Kajkavian’ are specific vowels. While there

are only 5 vowels in e.g. Zagreb, the traditional speech of Konjščina has many more:


short long/diphtongs

i

e

u ii

ie ee

ε

o

a

εε

uu

uo ou

oo

aa

The vowel ε – a kind of ‘open e’, like in English bad or German ä – is the

characteristic vowel for ‘Kajkavian’. Unfortunately, it’s usually written just as e:

there's no proper orthography for it (dialectologists usually use ȩ, which is not visible

on all devices, or sometimes æ).

Vowels ie, uo, ou are diphtongs, similar to English ow in low, how, but the i's and u's

in them are, unlike in English, pronounced very quickly, they are very short, so I could

have written them also as i e, u o, o u .

Unfortunately, long vowels ii, εε are too usually written just with i and e. Here are a

couple of words with various vowels:

dietε child (djete, usually spelled dijete)

mεεse meat (meso)

rouka hand (ruka)

suonce sun (sunce)

(For comparison, forms spoken in Zagreb are given in brackets).

In ‘Kajkavian’ (and in dialects in Slovenia) there's one important constraint: normally,

only stressed vowels can be long, i.e. there are no unstressed long vowels, while

stressed vowels can be either long or short. Since the vowel length and stress often

changes according to the word form (i.e. gender, case), this produces many

alternations:

dober (m) vs. duobra (f) good

rouka (N) vs. rukami (I-pl) hand

These are specific developments of old vowels and consonants in this dialect (other

‘Kajkavian’ dialects have very similar developments):

e, ë ě ə o ö l

short ε e e

o

-e

u ou

long εε ie

ie oo

aa uo

ou ou

Many ‘Kajkavian’ dialects (but not all) have -e instead of -o in all neuter nouns and

adjectives in neuter gender, i.e. sεεle village vs. std. selo.

When compared with the forms reconstructed for the old language – some 1000


years ago – in most ‘Kajkavian’ dialects (but not all) the stress has shifted from the

very end of the word, becoming the ‘neoacute’ on the preceding syllable;

sometimes, the syllable that gets the stress will be lenghtened:

rööka → rouka hand

žena → žεεna woman, wife

viino → viino wine

The old jd and jt are mostly unchanged in ‘Kajkavian’, while t' changed into č, and in

most dialects d' into j.

There's no ć sound – only č, which is pronounced a bit ‘softer’ than in the Standard

Croatian. Consonants at the end of words become ‘devoiced’, i.e. d is pronounced

as t, b as p, g as k, z as s, etc. For instance, the z in mraz frost is actually pronounced

as s, while the pronunciation of genitive mraza is as z, since the consonant is not

final.

The present tense verb plural endings in this dialect are more regular than in

Standard Croatian; the ending for the 1st pers. plural is quite specific:

sing. plur

1st -m -mε

2nd -š -tε

3rd - -ju


Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / A9 Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin 531 / 600

A9 Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin

Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin are separate standard languages quite similar to

the Standard Croatian (some people consider them ‘variants’ of a single language). I

will summarize the most important differences.

You should keep in mind that there are regions in Croatia where some ‘Serbian’

words are used, and some ‘Croatian’ words can be found in Serbia as well. Of

course, Bosnian and Montenegrin are somewhere in the middle. Furthermore, we

can talk about ‘Croatian’ and ‘Serbian’ only if we discuss the standardized languages.

If we take into the account how people actually speak, the situation is much more

complex.

Spelling

The major difference is that Serbian and Montenegrin use another alphabet –

Cyrillic. However, each letter of Croatian Latin corresponds to one letter of Serbian

Cyrillic.

Actually, in Serbia today the Cyrillic alphabet is mostly used in official and

ceremonial uses. Majority of newspapers are published in the ‘Serbian Latin’ script

(identical to ‘Croatian Latin’). Web sites published in Cyrillic have usually a ‘LAT’

button somewhere. For instance, Politika daily has pages both in Cyrillic and Latin

(check CYR and LAT links on top), but B92 is in Latin only. Even the web site of

Serbian government has links ћирилица Cyrillic and latinica Latin on the top (Cyrillic

is chosen by default). Statistics show that about 1/6 of text on Serbian web sites is

written in the Cyrillic script.

In Montenegro, the Cyrillic alphabet is even less used. The web site of Montenegrin

government has the two links on top, but the Latin script is displayed as default.

Most web pages, even official ones, are in Latin script only.

Besides using Cyrillic script sometimes, there are few differences in spelling (both in

Serbian/Montenegrin Latin and Cyrillic). The first one is spelling of foreign names.

Serbian and Montenegrin usually respell them using approximated pronunciation:

original Serbian spelling

New York Njujork Њујорк

George Bush Džordž Buš Џорџ Буш

Chicago Čikago Чикаго

The second difference is spelling of the future tense. When an infinitive in -t is

immediately followed by an auxiliary ću², ćeš²... it’s spelled together, and the

infinitive-final -t is discarded, with possible sound mutations:


Croatian Serbian

pisat ću pisaću писаћу

jest ću ješću јешћу

reći ću reći ću рећи ћу

This is, however, merely a spelling convention: the words ću², ćeš² are secondposition

words; therefore, Serbian words like pisaću are limited to the 1st position

in a sentence! They are usually listed as separate verb forms in Serbian grammars.

Ekavian ‘Pronunciation’

As I have already mentioned, there are three common ‘pronunciations’: Ijekavian,

Ikavian and Ekavian (there are more in various dialects, but these three prevail in

public). The name is misleading, since the difference is visible in spelling as well. The

basic difference is: where Standard Croatian has Ijekavian mlijeko, Ikavian has

mliko and Ekavian mleko for milk.

People usually associate Ekavian (mleko, pesma) and not Ijekavian (mlijeko,

pjesma) with Serbian, but it’s not really true, since Serbs use both as standard: most

Serbs outside of Serbia (e.g. Bosnia, Croatia and Montenegro) use Ijekavian, and

Serbs in most of Serbia, including Belgrade, use only Ekavian. You can find both in

Serbian newspapers, but Ekavian clearly dominates. (The Serbian Standard is much

less strict than Croatian, there is a bigger choice of ‘acceptable’ variants.)

If you find a ‘dictionary of differences’ listing bijeli as ‘Croatian’ vs. beli as ‘Serbian’

you can immediately conclude it’s oversimplifying things.

There’s a tradition of playing down differences between Ekavian and Ijekavian: most

people, especially in Serbia, are used to hear and read both (but they can write and

speak only Ekavian). However, Ekavian forms are not completely trivial – they

cannot be completely obtained from (Standard Croatian) Ijekavian forms, and

Ijekavian forms cannot be obtained at all from Ekavian. For example, there are some

words where Ekavian has e, in comparison to Ijekavian i, like in these common

verbs:

verb Ijekavian Ekavian

heat grijati (grije) grejati (greje)

laugh smijati (smije) se² smejati (smeje) se²

hate mrziti mrzeti (mrzi)

sit sjediti sedeti (sedi)

be worth vrijediti vredeti (vredi)

These differences are sometimes surprising to native speakers as well: very few


people in Croatia would guess the forms mrzeti and vredeti. Different verbs have to

be learned: the verb brijati (brije) shave has the same form in both ‘pronunciations’,

while grijati (grije) heat doesn’t. The verb sjediti shows the expected je vs. e in the

1st syllable, besides the unexpected i vs. e in the second one (the same holds for

vrijediti). Therefore, Ekavian forms of these verbs turn out to be more complicated.

However, the verb vidjeti and similar ones, including razumjeti, are much simpler in

Ekavian: their past forms are always regular, and verbs like razumjeti are plain verbs

in Ekavian, all forms regularly derived from the inf:

verb Ijekavian Ekavian

want htjeti (hoće +, htio, htjela) hteti (hoće +)

see vidjeti (vidi, vidio, vidjela) videti (vidi)

understand razumjeti (razumije,...) razumeti

may smjeti (smije, smio, smijela) smeti

The Ekavian verbs razumeti and smeti have a specific ending in pres-3pl: -eju, which

is different from Ijekavian or Ikavian.

Sequences -je- in endings of verbal adjectives are not subject to these differences.

In all ‘pronunciations’, words voljen loved, primljen received etc. have the same

form.

The same applies to verbal nouns in -je; the difference in sjećanje vs. sećanje (both

meaning memory) is only in the 1st syllable; the final -je, which forms the gerund, is

not affected.

There are more words with non-trivial correspondences:

word Ijekavian Ekavian

part dio (dijel-) deo (del-)

last year lani lane

lazy lijen lenj

When -je comes after a vowel which is not i (e.g. dvoje two people, jaje egg) the

forms are the same in Ekavian, Ijekavian and Ikavian. Of course, the same applies to

verbal forms such as pije he/she drinks nije he/she/it is not etc. Ekavian forms have

to be learned if you want to know them.

I will list Serbian words in both Ijekavian and Ekavian forms in this chapter.

Other partially regular differences

A major difference is loss of h in native words in Serbian (both Ekavian and

Ijekavian; however, it was restored at the beginning of words in standard Serbian). It


has been replaced by either v or j:

term Croatian Serbian

deaf gluh gluv

dry suh suv

fly (insect) muha muva

cook (verb) kuhati kuvati

son’s wife snaha snaja

In nouns ending in -ol, Serbian (both Ekavian and Ijekavian) had lost final -l, which is

restored whenever any ending is added. It also happened to -r in nouns and adverbs

ending in -er:


salt sol f so (sol-) f

table stol sto (stol-) m

ox vol vo (vol-) m

evening večer f veče (večer- f)

yesterday jučer juče

also također takođe

This change didn’t happen in bol pain.

The noun veče is considered neuter in N and A, and feminine when it gets any

ending, which is an occasional source of confusion for native speakers.

There are a bit simplified forms or pronouns; however, these forms are colloquially

used in Croatia as well:


who tko ko

someone netko neko

what što šta

In some words there’s su in Croatian vs. sa in Serbian, while in others there’s no

difference; common examples are:



cooperation suradnja saradnja

consent suglasnost f saglasnost f

conflict sukob

contents sadržaj

As you can see, such words often correspond to English words with co- or con-, but

there’s no real rule which words have the difference, and which don’t.

Vocabulary Differences in Nouns and Adjectives

Serbian has some specific common nouns:


bladder mjehur bešika

week

tjedan (tjedn-)

nedjelja

nedelja

sedmica

island otok ostrvo

pants, trousers hlače f pl. pantalone f pl.

farmer’s market tržnica pijaca

floor (of a building) kat sprat

wave val talas

handbag, purse torba tašna

wheel (not to steer) kotač točak (točk-)

condition, prerequisite uvjet uslov

air zrak vazduh

Some words are only slightly different:



eyeglasses naočale f pl. naočari f. pl.

price-list cjenik

cjenovnik

cenovnik

salary plaća plata

point, dot točka tačka

priest svećenik sveštenik

physician (m) liječnik

ljekar

lekar

physician (f) liječnica

ljekarka

lekarka

coal ugljen ugalj (uglj-)

There are also different terms related to modern life:


factory tvornica fabrika

football nogomet fudbal

train vlak voz

movie theatre kino bioskop

mobile phone mobitel mobilni (adj.)

Especially, terms related to cooking, food, and standard house items show

numerous differences; these terms are often completely unknown outside their

'territory':



green beans mahune f pl. boranija

apricot marelica kajsija

bread

kruh

hljeb

hleb

beans grah pasulj

rice riža pirinač

carrot mrkva šargarepa

leek poriluk praziluk

vinegar ocat (oct-) sirće (sirćet-)

soup juha supa

spoon žlica kašika

cup (of tea, coffee) šalica šolja

scissors škare f pl. makaze f pl.

towel ručnik peškir

However, in real life, the variation in culinary terms is much greater, especially

within Croatia. Some ‘Croatian’ terms like riža and mrkva are also used in Serbia,

especially in some parts, and sometimes a distinction is made between mrkva and

šargarepa.

There are numerous differences in scientific terms, especially chemistry and biology:


hydrogen vodik vodonik

oxygen kisik kiseonik

nitrogen dušik azot

tin kositar (kositr-) kalaj

gas plin gas

liquid tekućina tečnost

(chem.) compound spoj jedinjenje

(chem.) solution otopina rastvor

cell (in biology) stanica ćelija

mammal sisavac (sisavc-) sisar

rat štakor pacov

camel deva kamila

science znanost nauka


However, prison cell is just ćelija in both Croatian and Serbian. Croatian uses obitelj

f for human family, while Serbian uses porodica, and both usually use just porodica

for families in biology (sets of closely related species).

There are also different terms in math, and generally school:


triangle trokut trougao (trougl-)

rule (to draw lines) ravnalo lenjir

straight line pravac (pravc-) prava

curve krivulja kriva

sum zbroj zbir

degree stupanj (stupnj-) stepen

equation jednadžba jednačina

lecture, class in school sat čas

class (group of students) razred

odjeljenje

odeljenje

However, notice that razred in both Croatia and Serbia means grade in school (e.g.

prvi razred first grade).

Some words have only a slightly different form due to different adaptation of

foreign words (this table includes only characteristic words showing ways words

differ):


accent akcent akcenat (akcent-)

fascist fašist fašista

flu gripa grip

casette kazeta kaseta

mayonnaise majoneza majonez

orange naranča narandža / pomorandža

chimp čimpanza šimpanza

clown klaun klovn

The form kaseta is standard in Croatian as well, but it’s very rare in real use.

Some words adapted from Greek have k- in Croatian, and h- in Serbian; another,

less common difference in such words is -b- vs -v-, and -c- vs -k-:



chemistry kemija hemija

chaos kaos haos

chlorine klor hlor

surgeon kirurg hirurg

labyrinth labirint lavirint

ocean ocean okean

Some regions, countries and cities also have different names, sometimes the

difference is slight:


Athens Atena Atina

Babylon Babilon Vavilon

Cyprus Cipar (Cipr-) Kipar (Kipr-)

Europe Europa Evropa

Persia Perzija Persija

The Netherlands Nizozemska (adj.) Holandija

Romania Rumunjska (adj.) Rumunija

Spain Španjolska (adj.) Španija

There are more different names, these are just the most common; the difference

applies to derived adjectives and names of inhabitants, of course. Additionally,

there’s a difference in adjectives derived from places ending in -iški:


Parisian pariški pariski

Tunisian tuniški tuniski

Words related to government, having the suffix -kracija in Croatian, have -kratija in

Serbian:


bureucracy birokracija birokratija

democracy demokracija demokratija

There are terms which correspond to two words in Croatia – an ‘international’ one,

and a word made from Slavic roots (or borrowed from Czech in the 19th century) –

which are used interchangeably, or one is formal and the other colloquial, or there’s


a small difference in meaning, while only the ‘international’ word in used in Serbian.

Common pairs are:

term Croatian Serbian & Croatian

library knjižnica biblioteka

machine stroj mašina

music glazba muzika

system sustav sistem

For example, in Croatia, only knjižnica is used for public libraries, while biblioteka

can mean any book collection, e.g. in someone’s home.

In Serbian, suffixes -ka and -kinja are more common to derive feminine nouns, while

Croatian prefers -ica; again, in some terms there’s no difference:


university student (f) studentica studentkinja

doctor (f) doktorica doktorka

teacher (f) učiteljica

mathematician (f) matematičarka

Forms studentica and doktorica are accepted as standard in Serbian as well, but are

much less common than the alternative forms.

There are some specific adjectives as well; again, some are only slightly different:


common opći opšti

happy, lucky sretan (srećn-) srećan (srećn-)

used korišten korišćen

secure, safe siguran (sigurn-)

bezbjed an (-n-)

bezbed an (-n-)

Vocabulary differences in verbs

Verbs ending in -isati (-iše) are very characteristic of Serbia and most of Bosnia; they

usually correspond to Croatian verbs in -irati («). They are all adaptations of foreign

words. Common ones are:


verb Croatian Serbian

define definirati («) defini sati (-še)

formulate formulirati («) formuli sati (-še)

generate generirati («) generi sati (-še)

function funkcionirati («) funkcioni sati (-še)

ignore ignorirati («) ignori sati (-še)

integrate integrirati («) integri sati (-še)

intervene intervenirati («) interveni sati (-še)

manage, oversee kontrolirati («) kontroli sati (-še)

operate operirati («) operi sati (-še)

reform reformirati («) reformi sati (-še)

reserve rezervirati («) rezervi sati (-še)

tolerate tolerirati («) toleri sati (-še)

(The thin vertical line, as usual, divides the constant part on the left of it from the

variable part on the right.) They also have stress on different syllables.

However, it’s completely wrong to think that all Croatian verbs in -irati correspond

to Serbian verbs in this way. In fact, there are many verbs in -irati used in Serbia as

well, such as:

analizirati («) analyze

diplomirati («) graduate (on univ.)

kopirati («) copy

kreirati («) create

maskirati («) mask

parkirati («) park (a car)

planirati («) plan

studirati («) study (on univ.)

šokirati («) shock

trenirati («) train

varirati («) vary

etc.

Also, some Croatian -irati verbs correspond to Serbian ones in -ovati (-uje).

Common ones are:


improvise improvizirati («) improviz ovati (-uje)

isolate izolirati («) izol ovati (-uje)

combine kombinirati («) kombin ovati (-uje)

compensate kompenzirati («) kompenz ovati (-uje)

modernize modernizirati («) moderniz ovati (-uje)

organize organizirati («) organiz ovati (-uje)

pack pakirati («) pak ovati (-uje)


When such verbs have -cirati in Croatian, they have -kovati in Serbian:


disinfect, sanitize dezinficirati («) dezinfik ovati (-uje)

identify identificirati («) identifik ovati (-uje)

complicate komplicirati («) komplik ovati (-uje)

modify modificirati («) modifik ovati (-uje)

Occasionally, there’s a non-trivial correspondence to Croatian -irati verbs:


comment komentirati («) komentari sati (-še)

Many recently adapted verbs – mostly colloquial – often have just -ati in Croatia vs -

ovati (-uje) in Serbia:


like (on Facebook) lajkati lajk ovati (-uje)

surf surfati surf ovati (-uje)

strike (in workplace) štrajkati štrajk ovati (-uje)

There are few more verbs are used a bit differently in Serbian.

The verb smjeti (smije, smio, smjela) may – in Ekavian form smeti – has an

additional meaning in Serbia: dare.

The verb umjeti (umije, umio, umjela) know how – in Ekavian form umeti – is quite

common in Serbia:

Umijem da plivam! I know how to swim. (Ijekavian)

Umem da plivam! (the same, Ekavian)

These verbs are specific as well:


be silent šutjeti / šutiti ćutati (ćuti)

pomjerati («) ~

pomicati (pomiče) ~ pomjeriti

move, shift

pomaknuti (pomakne) pomerati («) ~

pomeriti

mention

watch, look at promatrati («) posmatrati («)

spominjati ~¹

pominjati ~¹

spomenuti (spomene) pomenuti (pomene)


Grammar and other differences

Adverbs puno/jako vs. mnogo are characteristic in meaning a lot, very. Of course,

vrlo can be used as well, but it’s not used in speech much. The use of these adverbs

is different in Croatian and Serbian:

Puno hvala! Thanks a lot. (mostly Croatian)

Mnogo hvala! Thanks a lot. (Serbian, sometimes Croatian)

Jako sam umorna. I’m very tired. (mostly Croatian)

Mnogo sam umorna. I’m very tired. (Serbian)

Vrlo sam umorna. I’m very tired. (both languages, more formal)

Observe that mnogo is normally used in both Croatian and Serbian meaning much

before comparatives: mnogo veći much bigger. This is a subtle difference.

There some often-used nicknames for men in Serbia ending in -a: Pera (from Petar),

Vlada (from Vladimir and similar), Brana (from Branislav), etc., all behaving as any

name ending in -a. They are quite rare in Croatia, where forms Pero, Vlado, etc. are

preferred.

A famous difference is preference for da + present instead of infinitives in Serbia.

Using infinitives in Serbia is not ungrammatical, but they are simply rarely used

(especially in speech); these results are from Google, in thousands (try yourself

similar expressions):

form Croatia (.hr) Bosnia (.ba) Serbia (.rs)

Želim da kažem 0.2 54 116

Želim reći 74 51 10

Želim da idem 0 24 45

Želim ići 12 4 0.3

As usual, Bosnia (which includes Ijekavian Serbian in parts of Bosnia) is somewhere

in between.

Montenegrin

Montengrin uses more or less the same vocabulary and spelling conventions as

Serbian, but only the Ijekavian variant. It uses few specific forms, like nijesmo vs.

Croatian/Serbian nismo we aren’t. Words having sequences dj in Croatian often

have đ in Montenegrin:


word Croatian Montenegrin

where gdje đe

nowhere nigdje niđe

girl djevojka đevojka

Recently the Montenegrin alphabet introduced two additional letters: ś and ź (there

are Cyrillic versions as well) for specific consonants heard in speech there – but they

are rarely used in real life.

It has been observed that Montenegrin public media have recently started to use

more Croatian forms than before.

Bosnian

Bosnian (or: Bosniak, there’s a dispute over name – there are disputes about almost

everything) uses only Latin script and Ijekavian. Two spelling differences (e.g.

Njujork and imaću) are used sometimes in Bosnian, but it seems that Croatian

versions occasionally prevail (New York, imat ću). Standard Bosnian sometimes

freely mixes Croatian and Serbian terms, so both tisuća and hiljada 1000 seem

acceptable.

Since Bosnian is a standard used by Bosniaks which are predominantly Muslim, there

are lot of oriental and Islamic terms. Sound h is always retained, even when not in

Croatian (one example is lahko easy vs Croatian lako; of course, lahko exists in

some dialects in Croatia too, but it’s not standard). There are some specific terms,

e.g. daidža uncle (Croatian ujak).

Bosnia-Herzegovina is today officially tri-lingual, as evidenced by this warning on a

box of cigarettes that displays three identical sentences (the first one is just in

Cyrillic; I have taken a photo of an actual box):

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / L1 Common Names 545 / 600

L1 Common Names

These are the most common names in Croatia in recent decades, from government

statistics and other sources. Names marked with * are popular in 2000's, at least

according to lists of primary schools students.

These are the common female names (all ending in -a):

Ana *

Anamarija

Andreja ¹

Antonija ¹

Anita

Anja

Arijana ¹

Barbara

Branka

Brankica

Dora *

Dunja

Elena

Ema *

Eva

Gabrijela

Hana

Gordana

Helena

Irena

Iva

Ivana

Ivona

Jadranka

Jana

Jasmina

Jelena

Karla *

Kata

Katarina

Katica

Klara

Kristina

Ksenija

Lana *

Laura *

Lea *

Leona

Leonarda

Lidija

Lorena

Lucija *

Ljubica

Lucija *

Magdalena

Maja

Marija *

Marijana

Marina

Marta *

Martina *

Maša

Matea *

Mia *

Mihaela

Mirjana

Mirna

Monika

Morana

Nada

Natalija

Nika *

Nikolina

Nina

Paola

Patricija

Petra *

Renata

Sandra

Sanja

Sara *

Snježana

Silvija

Suzana

Tanja

Tamara

Tea *

Tena

Tihana

Tina

Valentina

Vedrana

Vesna

Željka

Names marked with a subscript one (¹) are also often found in alternative spelling,

without the -j-, e.g. Andrea instead of Andreja.

These are common (and less common) female names not ending in -a and therefore

not changing in cases:

Dolores

Doris

Eli

Erin

Ines *

Ingrid

Iris

Karmen

Natali

Nives

Meri

Stefani

These are common male names ending in a consonant:

(under construction)

Alen

Antun

Branimir

Dragan

Dragutin

Filip *

Krešimir

Kristijan

Krunoslav

Mladen

Petar (Petr-)

Patrik

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / L1 Common Names 546 / 600

Damir

Davor

Danijel

Dejan

David *

Domagoj

Dominik *

Fran *

Goran

Igor

Ivan *

Jakov

Jan *

Josip

Leon *

Marijan

Marin

Matej

Mihael

Milan

Miroslav

Stjepan

Tin *

Tomislav

Vedran

Vladimir

Zoran

Zvonimir

There are male names like Rene that behave as if ending in a consonant (A Renea,

etc.).

These are common male names ending in -o or -e; when they get any case ending,

the final vowel is removed (e.g. Marko → A Marka):

Darko

Hrvoje

Jadranko

Karlo

Leo

Marko *

Mateo *

Matko

Mirko

Roko

Silvije

Slavko

Vlatko

Zlatko

Žarko

Željko

The following male names are common in Dubrovnik and the surrounding area; they

change as Marko:

Đivo Pavo Stijepo Vlaho

Niko

These are common male names ending in -io; when they get any case ending, it's

attached to -ij- (e.g. Mario → A Marija):

Antonio Dario Mario Silvio

These are common male names ending in -a. They change as any noun in -a:

Andrija

Borna

Ivica

Jurica

Luka

Matija

Nikola *

Saša

Some of these names, e.g. Borna, Ivica and Saša as sometimes used as female

names.

There are common male names (historically nicknames) that behave as if ending in -

a, that is, Ante → A Antu, etc.

Ante

Braco

Bruno

Dado

Dino

Drago

Duje

Edo

Frano

Franjo

Ive

Ivo

(to be expanded)

Jure

Krešo

Kruno

Lovro *

Ljubo

Mate

Mato

Mišo

Pero

Stipe

Tomo

Vlado

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / L2 Countries and Naonalies 547 / 600

L2 Countries and Nationalities

(under construction; some stress marks and data missing)

This is a list of often used country and region names, in Croatian, together with

associated adjectives, and names of inhabitants (both male and female

The first line contains the English name of a region/country, the Croatian name, and

if the name is an really an adjective, there's a mark (adj.); otherwise, adjective is

listed after an arrow; then there are names for inhabitants, first male, then female,

separated by a tilde.

Although the names of inhabitants are unpredictable, there are couple of common

patterns. Nouns for many inhabitants follow the ‘ac/ka scheme’:

Amerikanac (Amerikanc-) ~ Amerikanka

The part before -ac, -c- and -ka stays the same (but observe the stress shift left in

feminine, in the standard stress scheme!) so there's no need to list all forms over

and over; I'll instead just write – in the usual way:

Amerikan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

There's a scheme that's a small variation to the previous, the ‘ac/kinja scheme’:

Danac (Danc-) ~ Dankinja

It applies only to short names (one syllable before -ac), and there's no stress shift.

I'll write just:

Dan ac (-c-) ~ -kinja

There's yet another common scheme for nouns, where male noun is always

shortened in plural forms, the ‘in/ka scheme’:

Kanađanin (N-pl Kanađani) ~ Kanađanka

Observe that the stress is the same in male and female noun. I'll write just:

Kanađan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Regardless of the scheme, the endings, there's a rule for all nouns for male

inhabitants: they always have plural with just -i, regardless of number of syllables:

Hrvat Croat → Hrvati Rus Russian → Rusi

This means that consonant shifts in masculine N-pl apply as well:

Čeh Czech → Česi Grk Greek → Grci

Furthermore, certain names of male inhabitants have specific forms (listed below)

and are marked by an asterisk (*).

Some countries have more than one name for inhabitants in use; the more common

is listed first.


is listed first.

These are common countries and regions in Europe:

country/region (→ adjective)

Austria Austrija → austrijski

Britain Britanija → britanski

Belgium Belgija → belgijski

Bosnia Bosna → bosanski

Bulgaria Bugarska (adj.)

Croatia Hrvatska (adj.)

Cyprus Cipar (Cipr-) → ciparski

Czech Rep. Češka (adj.)

Denmark Danska (adj.)

England Engleska (adj.)

Finland Finska (adj.)

France Francuska (adj.)

Germany Njemačka (adj.)

Greece Grčka (adj.)

Hungary Mađarska (adj.)

Ireland Irska (adj.)

Iceland Island → islandski

Italy Italija → talijanskiʷ¹

Netherlands Nizozemska (adj.)

Norway Norveška (adj.)

Poland Poljska (adj.)

Portugal Portugal → portugalski

Russia Rusija → ruski

Romania Rumunjska (adj.)

Scotland Škotska (adj.)

Serbia Srbija → srpski

Slovakia Slovačka (adj.)

inhabitants, male ~ female

Austrijan-ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Britan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Belgijan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Belgij-ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Bosan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Bugar in (N-pl -i) * ~ -ka

Hrvat ~ Hrvatica

Cipran in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Čeh ~ Čehinja

Dan ac (-c-) ~ -kinja

Englez ~ Engleskinja

Fin ac (-c-) ~ -kinja

Francuz ~ Francuskinja

Nijemac (Nijemc-) ~ Njemica

Grk ~ Grkinja

Mađar ~ Mađarica

Ir ac (-c-) ~ -kinja

Islanđan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Talijan ~ Talijanka

Nizozem ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Norvežan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Poljak ~ Poljakinja

Portugal ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Rus ~ Ruskinja

Rumunj ~ Rumunjka

Škot ~ Škotkinja

Srbin * ~ Srpkinja

Slovak ~ Slovakinja



Slavonia Slovenija → slovenski

Spain Španjolska (adj.)

Sweden Švedska (adj.)

Swizerland Švicarska (adj.)

Turkey Turska (adj.)

Wales Vels → velški


Sloven ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Španjol ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Šveđan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Švicar ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Turčin * ~ Turkinja

Velšan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

These are common countries and regions outside Europe:


Africa Afrika → afrički

America Amerika → američki

Arabia Arabija → arapski

Brazil Brazil → brazilski

Canada Kanada → kanadski

Chile Čile m → čileanski

China Kina → kineski

Egypt Egipat (Egipt-) → egipatski

India Indija → indijski

Japan Japan → japanski


Afrikan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Amerikan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Arapin * ~ Arapkinja

Brazil ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Kanađan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Čilean ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Kinez ~ Kineskinja

Egipćan in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Indij ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Japan ac (-c-) ~ -ka

These are major regions within Croatia:

region (→ adjective)

Dalmatia Dalmacija → dalmatinski

Istria Istra → istarski

Cro. Littoral Primorje → primorski

Slavonia Slavonija → slavonski

Zagorje → zagorski


Dalmatin ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Istrijan ~ Istrijanka

Istran in (N-pl -i) ~ -ka

Primor ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Slavon ac (-c-) ~ -ka

Zagor ac (-c-) ~ -ka

All masc. nouns that end in -in lose that ending in plural; furthermore, the noun

Turčin Turk has specific forms in plural:


N Srbin Turčin

A Srbina Turčina

... ...

N-pl Srbi Turci

DLI-pl Srbima Turcima

A-pl Srbe Turke

G-pl Srba Turaka

The nouns Arapin and Bugarin have double present tense forms, e.g. both Arap and

Arapin, etc. (shorter forms are not accepted in Standard Serbian).

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / L3 Cies and Towns 551 / 600

L3 Cities and Towns

This chapter contains grammatical information about towns and cities in Croatia –

e.g. do they change like adjectives, or they have a specific-case base – and Croatian

names some other important cities.

There are many settlements with town status in Croatia (although many of them are

fairly small). The following ones consist of one word:

Bak ar (-r-)

Belišće

Benkov ac (-c-)

Bjelovar

Buje

Buzet

Cres

Crikvenica

Čab ar (-r-)

Čakov ec (-c-)

Čazma

Daruvar

Delnice f pl.

Drniš

Dubrovnik

Đakovo

Đurđev ac (-c-)

Garešnica

Glina

Gospić

Hvar

Ilok

Imotski (adj.)

Ivan ec (-c-)

Jastrebarsko (adj.)

Karlov ac (-c-)

Kast av (-v-)

Kaštela n pl.

Klanj ec (-c-)

Knin

Komiža

Koprivnica

Korčula

Kraljevica

Krapina

Krk

Kutina

Kutjevo

Labin

Lepoglava

Lipik

Ludbreg

Makarska (adj.)

Metković

Našice f pl.

Nin

Novalja

Novigrad

Novska (adj.)

Obrov ac (-c-)

Ogulin

Omiš

Opatija

Opuzen

Orahovica

Oroslavje

Osijek

Otoč ac (-c-)

Otok

Oz alj (-lj-)

Pag

Pakrac

Pazin

Petrinja

Pleternica

Ploče f pl.

Popovača

Poreč

Požega

Pregrada

Pula

Rab

Rije ka (DL -ci)

Rovinj

Samobor

Senj

Sinj

Sis ak (-c-)

Skradin

Slatina

Slunj

Solin

Split

Supet ar (-r-)

Šibenik

Trilj

Trogir

Umag

Valpovo

Varaždin

Vinkovci m pl.

Virovitica

Vis

Vodice f pl.

Vodnjan

Vrbov ec (-c-)

Vrbovsko (adj.)

Vrgor ac (-c-)

Vrli ka (DL -ci)

Vukovar

Zabok

Zad ar (-r-)

Zagreb

Zaprešić

Zlatar


Križevci m pl. Prelog Županja

Since Križevci and Vinkovci would have two consonants before the G-pl ending -a,

they are split by another a:

Križevci → iz Križevaca

Vinkovci → iz Vinkovaca

The following names consist of an adjective + noun:

Beli Manastir

Donja Stubica

Donji Miholj ac (-c-)

Duga Resa

Dugo Selo

Grubišno Polje

Hrvatska Kostajnica

Mali Lošinj

Mursko Središće

Nova Gradiška

Novi Marof

Slavonski Brod

Stari Grad

Sveta Nedelja

Varaždinske Toplice f pl.

Velika Gorica

There are four specific names:

Biograd na Moru – only the 1st word changes

Ivanić-Grad – only the last part changes

Novi Vinodolski – contains two adjectives

Sveti Ivan Zelina – contains an adjective and two nouns

These names are often shortened to just Biograd, Ivanić, Novi and Zelina, and

change normally (Novi like an adjective).

Warning. Some towns have names that deviate from Standard Croatian, e.g. it’s

rather Sveta Nedelja instead of Nedjelja.

These major cities in Europe have Croatian names different than English ones:

Atena Athens

Beč Vienna

Beograd Belgrade

Budimpešta Budapest

Bukurešt Bucharest

Kijev Kiev

Napulj Naples

Prag Prague

Rim Rome

Solun Salonica

Trst Trieste

Venecija Venice

Several German, Italian, Polish and Russian cities have names closer to native ones

than in English:

Keln Cologne

Milano Milan

Minhen Munich

Moskva Moscow

Torino Turin

Varšava Warsaw

Some major cities in Europe have slightly specific pronunciation in Croatian:

Berlin London Madrid Pariz

Adjectives are normally derived from cities and towns (except ones that are already

adjectives) by adding -ski. However, some cities have irregular forms or there are

consonant alternations:

Beč → bečki

Pariz → pariški


Dubrovnik → dubrovački

Đakovo → đakovački

Križevci → križevački

Moskva → moskovski

Prag → praški

Šibenik → šibenski

Trst → tršćanski

Zagreb → zagrebački

Cities in -k, -ka, -ca or -ce have adjectives in -čki:

Crikvenica → crikvenički

Krk → krčki

Našice → našički

Osijek → osiječki

Rijeka → riječki

Zabok → zabočki

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / Core Diconary 554 / 600

Core Dictionary

A small, 'core' dictionary is included.

Each item contains a base word, and one or more derived words:

brod m ship

· brodski rel adj.

— base word

— derived word

Each word is defined with its form (here: brod), type (here: m) and meaning (here:

ship). The types are abbreviated as follows:

m noun, masculine gender (not people/animals)

mª noun, masculine gender (people/animals)

f noun, feminine gender

n noun, neuter gender

adj. adjective

pass. adj. passive adjective

adv. adverb

impf. verb, imperfective

perf. verb, perfective

v.p. verb pair: an imperfective and a perfective verb

v.t. verb triplet: an imperfective and 2 perfective verbs

Both nouns and adjectives with specific case-bases have them immediately after

their nominative form.

Nouns with non-obvious forms are listed with them. If a noun uses the preposition

na¨ in a obvious way (e.g. not on table), it's marked in the following way:

l/a physical location/destination

act. used metaphorically, as activity (e.g. na kavi)

met. meteorological conditions (e.g. na suncu)

Terms with gender pairs (mª and f) are listed in a way that the generic noun comes

first. For example, prijatelj mª stands for both masculine and generic friend; the

same holds for lav mª lion; for a group of friends of mixed sex, you would use

prijatelji; for a group of lions, lavovi, unless all are females.

However, generic names for cat and fox are mačka f and lisica f; you would use

masculine terms only for those cats and foxes you're sure they are masculine; for a

mixed group of cats, you would use mačke. Therefore, feminine nouns are listed

first for cat and fox.

It's assumed that two-syllable masc. nouns that have one-syllable case-base get just

an -i in N-pl, as all masc. nouns with more than one syllable do:

kupac (kupc-) mª customer, buyer → N-pl kupci

When it's not the case, the N-pl is listed (and all plural forms follow from it):


češalj (češlj-) m (N-pl češljevi)

Adjectives (except for passive and relational adjectives) are assumed to have regular

comparatives (with -iji). If it's not so, the comparative is listed, if there's no

comparative, it's again marked as (no comp.)

Verbs are listed with their arguments. Besides standard abbreviations (i.e. A =

accusative, etc.) there are the following ones:

CC content clause

DC desire clause

INF another verb in infinitive

Certain entries have a link to a chapter (or more chapters) with examples and usage

notes, marked with §.

After that, there are regional and other variations, in curly braces {...}. They use the

following abbreviations:

B parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina

colloq. colloquial in most of Croatia

E Ekavian (used in Serbia)

HL h-less: Serbia, parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina, colloquially parts of Croatia

I Ikavian (parts of Dalmatia, Istria)

M Montenegro

NW Northwest Croatia, roughly greater Zagreb region

R colloquial in a part of Croatia

S Serbia

std. Standard Croatian


A

a conj. and, but § 12, 55

adresa f address (mail, street)

ako conj. if § 70

alat m tool

ali conj. but § 55

anđeo (anđel-) mª angel

· anđeoski rel. adj.

Amerikanac (Amerikanc-) mª American

· Amerikanka f

· američki rel. adj.

apoteka f (colloq.) pharmacy (also:

ljekarna)

auto (aut-) m car

autobus m bus

· autobusni rel. adj.

automobil m car (more formal)

· automobilski adj.

autocesta f highway (na¨ l/d) (also:

autoput)

avion m airplane

· avionski rel. adj.

B

bacati ~ baciti v.p. throw

· bačen pass. adj. thrown

bajka f (G-pl bajki) fairy tale

baka f (DL baki) grandmother

· bakin poss. adj.

balkon m balcony

banka f bank

bar / barem adv. at least

baviti se² impf. (I) spend time, be

engaged in

beba f baby

berba f (G-pl berbi) vintage, harvest of

fruits

brati (bere) ~ po- v.p. pick (fruits,

flowers)

besplatan (besplatn-) adj. free, offered

without payment

bez prep. (+ G) without

bezbrižan (bezbrižn-) adj. not worried

at all

bicikl m bicycle

bijeg m (N-pl bjegovi) escape, flight

bijel adj. (comp. bjelji, bjeliji) white

· bjelina f whiteness, empty space on

paper

bilježiti ~ za- v.p. note {E: beležiti}

bilježnica f notebook {E: beležnica}

biljka f plant (vegetation)

· biljni rel. adj. herbal

birati ~ izabrati (izabere) v.p. select,

choose (A); se² get elected

· biran pass. adj. selected, elected

bistar (bistr-) adj. clear; smart, bright

· bistrina f transparency

biti (je² +; imper-2 budi) ~~ (bude) v.p.

be (many uses)

bježati (bježi) ~ pobjeći (pobjegne,

pobjegao, pobjegla) v.p. escape; run

away from DL

blagajna f cash register (na¨ l/d) {B/S:

kasa}

blagajnik mª cashier

· blagajnica f

blato n mud

· blatan (blatn-) adj. muddy

blizak (blisk-) adj. (comp. bliži) close

· blizina f closeness

blizu adv. close; (+ G) close to

boca f bottle

bog mª god

· božica f goddess

· božji rel. adj.

bogat adj. rich

· bogatstvo n richness, plenty

bogataš mª rich man

· bogatašica f rich woman

· bogataški rel. adj.

boja f color; paint {colloq: farba; coast:

pitura}

bojati (boji) (Std: bojiti) ~ o- («) v.p.

paint (e.g. fences; for paintings:

slikati)

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bojati (boji) se² impf. be afraid (of G) §

69

bol f (sometimes m) pain (pl usually

bolovi m) § 25

bolan (boln-) adj. painful

bolest f illness, disease

bolesnik mª ill person, patient

· bolesnica f

· bolesnički rel. adj.

bolestan (bolesn-) adj. ill

bolnica f hospital

· bolnički rel. adj.

boljeti (boli, bolio, boljela) impf. hurt

(the person who experiences pain is in

A) § 27

bolji adj. comp. better; → dobar

bor m pine tree

borac (borc-) mª fighter

borba f (G-pl borbi) fight

boriti se² impf. fight; (s I) fight with I;

(protiv G) fight against G

brada f chin; beard

brak m marriage

· u braku pred. married

· bračni rel. adj. marital

brana f dam

braniti ~ o- («) v.p. A / se² (od G)

defend (A / oneself) (from G)

brašno n flour

brat mª brother; as pl. braća (coll.) § 40

bratić mª male cousin (female:

sestrična)

brava f lock

brdo n hill

· brdski rel. adj.

brijati (brije) ~ o- v.p. shave A / se²

briga f concern, worry

brinuti (brine) (se²) impf. worry; (za A)

care (about A); (o DL) care (about DL)

§ 69

brisati (briše) ~ po-, iz- v.p. (A) delete,

erase (A)

brod m ship

· brodski rel. adj.

broj m number, count

brojati / brojiti (broji) ~ iz- («) v.p.

count (brojati is more common,

although brojiti is Standard)

brz adj. (comp. brži) fast

· brzina f speed

· na brzinu at first glance; on short

notice

bubreg m kidney

· bubrežni rel. adj.

bučan (bučn-) adj. noisy

budala f fool

budan (budn-) adj. awake

buditi ~ pro- («) v.p. wake up A; se²

wake up

buka f noise

bunar m well

bura f strong wind on the Croatian

coast, coming from inland

bušiti ~ pro- («) / iz- («) v.p. drill,

perforate (A)

C

car mª (N-pl carevi) emperor

· carica f empress

· carski rel. adj.

cesta f road (na¨ l/d) {I: cista}

cijeli adj. whole {E: ceo}

· cjelina f the whole, entirety

cijena f price

cilj m aim; finishing line

· ciljni rel. adj.

cipela f shoe

crkva f church

· crkveni rel. adj.

crn adj. black § 11

crta f line

crtati ~ na- v.p. draw (a sketch,

drawing)

crtež m drawing (na¨ l/d)

crv mª (N-pl crvi) worm

crven adj. red

cura f (colloq.) girl, girlfriend (more

formal: djevojka)

· curica f (colloq.) little girl

curiti ~ is- («) v.p. drip, leak

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cvijet (N-pl cvjetovi) m flower

· cvijeće n coll.

· cvjetni rel. adj.

Č

čaj m tea (na¨ act.)

· čajni rel. adj.

čak adv. even, more than expected

čamac (čamc-) m small boat

čarapa f sock, stocking

čaroban (čarobn-) adj. magic, magical

čarobnjak mª wizard

čarolija f spell, magic

čast f honor

· svaka čast! kudos! (used as praise)

častan (časn-) adj. honorable

· časna sestra (or just časna) nun

čaša f glass (e.g. of water)

čavao (čavl-) m nail (to hammer, not

on fingers)

čekati ~ do- v.p. wait (for A) § 3

čekić m hammer

čelik m steel

· čelični adj.

čep m cork

čest adj. (comp. češći) frequent

čestitati («) impf. (DL) (na¨ DL)

congratulate (DL) (on DL)

čestitka f greting card

češati (češe) ~ po- («) v.p. scratch A

(only to remove itch; to leave marks:

grebati)

češalj (češlj-) m (N-pl češljevi) comb

češljati ~ po- v.p. comb A / se²

češnjak m garlic

četiri number 4

četrdeset number 40

četvero number four people § 47

četvorica coll. four men § 68

četvrtak (četvrtk-) m Thursday

četvrti adj. fourth § 31

· četvrt f quarter

· četvrtina f quarter

činiti impf. do, make A (raditi is more

common); se² seem; impers. se² (DL)

da... it seems (to DL) that...

čist adj. (comp. čišći) pure, clean

· čistoća f cleanliness

čistiti ~ o- v.p. clean (A)

čitati ~ pro- v.p. read (A) (to DL)

· čitan pass. adj. read

· čitljiv adj. readable

čitav adj. whole, undamaged

čizma f boot

čokolada f chocolate

· čokoladni rel. adj.

čovjek mª human, man; as pl. ljudi m

pl. § 29

čučati (čuči) ~~ čučnuti (čučne) v.p.

crouch

čudan (čudn-) adj. strange

čuditi ~~ za- v.p. astonish A; se² be

astonished (by DL); se² da... be

astonished that...

čudo n (N-pl čuda / čudesa) wonder,

miracle

čuti (čuje) impf. (can) hear A;

mediopass; za A hear of A; da... hear

that...

čupati ~ is- v.p. (iz G) pull out A (from

G)

čuvati impf. (A) keep (A); A (G) guard A

(from G)

čuvar mª guard

· čuvarica f

čvrst adj. (comp. čvršći) sturdy, robust,

firm

· čvrstoća f firmness

čvor m knot

Ć

ćelav adj. bald

· ćelavost f baldness

ćevap m nugget of grilled minced

meat, traditional Bosnian fast food

· ćevapčić m the same thing as ćevap

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D

da conj. yes, so, that (many uses) § 50,

56, 59, 70, 77

dah m breath

davati (daje) ~ dati v.p. give (A) (to DL)

dakako adv. of course (similar:

naravno)

dakle conj. therefore, so

dalek adj. (comp. dalji) distant, far

· daljina f distance

dan m (N-pl dani) day

· danas adv. today § 18

· današnji adj. today's § 76

dar m gift

· na dar pred. as a gift

darivati («) ~ darovati (daruje), v.p.

donate, give (A) (to DL), as a gift (used

for giving of any gift to anyone) (see

also: poklanjati)

datum m date

debeo / debel (debel-) adj. (comp.

deblji) thick; fat (for people/animals)

· debljina f thickness

deset number 10

desni adj. right (opp. to left)

detalj m detail

· detaljni rel. adj.

devet number 9

dijeliti ~ po- («) (na A1) divide A (to

A1); (s I, DL) share (with I, DL)

dijete (djetet-) n child; as pl. djeca coll.

§ 40

· dječji rel. adj. {B/S: also dječiji}

· dječji vrtić kindergarten

dim m smoke

· dimni rel. adj.

dio (dijel-) m (N-pl dijelovi) part

dirati ~¹ dirnuti (dirne) v.p. touch (A)

disati (diše) impf. breathe (A)

divan (divn- ) adj. wonderful

divlji adj. (no comp.) wild

· divljina f wilderness

diviti se² impf. admire (DL)

dizalica f crane, jack, a device to lift

things

dizati (diže) ~ dignuti (digne) v.p. (s G)

lift A (off G); se² raise, get off bed

dječak mª (formal) boy

· dječački rel. adj.

djed mª grandfather {R: deda, did...}

djelomično adv. partially

djetinjstvo n childhood

djevojčica f (formal) little girl (also:

curica)

djevojka f (formal) girl (also: cura)

· djevojački rel. adj.

dlaka f body hair, animal hair (on head:

kosa)

· dlakav adj. hairy

dlan m palm (of hand)

dnevni adj. daily

dnevnik m diary; daily newspaper;

major evening TV news (na¨ l/d)

dno n bottom (na¨ l/d)

do prep. (+ G) next to G; up to G § 21

dobar (dobr-) adj. (comp. bolji) good

dobivati («) ~ dobiti (dobije) v.p. A (od

G) get A (from G)

dodavati (dodaje) ~ dodati v.p. add (A)

(to DL); pass A (e.g. ball) (to DL)

· dodan pass. adj. added; passed (ball)

dogovarati («) ~ dogovoriti («) v.p. (s I)

(da...) come to agreement (with I)

(that...); se² (da...) negotiate (that...)

· dogovoren pass. adj. agreed

dogovor m agreement, deal

dok conj. while § 54

dokaz m proof

· dokazni adj.

dokaz ivati (-uje «) ~ dokazati (dokaže)

v.p. prove (A); (DL) da prove (DL)

that...

dolazak (dolask-) m arrival, coming

dolaziti ~ doći (dođe, došao, došla) v.p.

arrive (opposite: odlaziti) § 42, 79

dolina f valley

dolje adv. down

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dom m home

· doma adv. home, at home § 16

· domaći adj. (no comp.) domestic,

home-made

domovina f homeland

· domovinski rel. adj.

donji adj. (no comp.) lower

donositi («) ~ donijeti (donese, donio,

donijela) v.p. bring A (to DL) § 65

· donesen pass. adj. brought

doprinos m contribution

doprinositi («) ~ doprinijeti (doprinese,

doprinio, doprinijela) v.p. contribute

(to DL)

dopust m vacation (na¨ act.)

dopuštati («) ~ dopustiti («) v.p. allow

(A); da... allow (DL) to... (see also:

dozvoljavati)

· dopušten pass. adj. allowed

doručak (doručk-) m breakfast (na¨

act.)

dosadan (dosadn-) adj. boring

dosta adv. enough; quite a lot

· dosta je DL G = DL has enough of G

dostupan (dostupn-) adj. accessible

· dostupnost f accessibility

dovoditi («) ~ dovesti (dovede, doveo,

dovela) v.p. bring A (to DL) § 65

· doveden pass. adj. brought

dovoziti («) ~ dovesti (doveze, doveo,

dovela) v.p. bring, drive A / se² (to DL)

§ 65

dovršavati ~ dovršiti v.p. complete A

(see also: završavati)

· dovršen pass. adj. completed

dozvola f permission

dozvoljavati («) ~ dozvoliti («) v.p.

allow (A) (see also: dopuštati)

drag adj. (comp. draži) dear

drugačije / drukčije adv. differently

drugdje adv. elsewhere, somewhere

else

drugi adj. second; another

država f state, country

· državni adj.

držati (drži) impf. hold (A)

dubok adj. (comp. dublji) deep

· dubina f depth

· dubinski rel. adj.

dućan m small shop

dug m debt

dug adj. (comp. dulji / duži) long

· dužina f length

· duljina f length

dugačak (dugačk-) adj. (no comp.) long

duh mª spirit

dva number 2

dvojica coll. two men § 68

dvoje number two people § 47

dvorac (dvorc-) m castle

dvorana f hall, big room

· dvoranski rel. adj.

dvorište n courtyard, yard (na¨ / u¨

l/d)

· dvorišni rel. adj.

dvostruk adj. (no comp.) double

DŽ

džamija f mosque

džem m jam

džep m pocket

· džepni rel. adj.

Đ

đak mª (N-pl đaci) pupil

· đački rel. adj.

đon m sole (of e.g. shoe)

E

ekipa f team, crew

· ekipni rel. adj.

ekran m (TV) screen (na¨ l/d)

električan (električn-) adj. electric

emitirati («) impf. emit, broadcast (A)

Englez mª Englishman

· Engleskinja f Englishwoman

· Engleska f (adj.) England

· engleski adj. English

eno pres. (+G) there's G (over there)! §

22

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eto pres. (+G) there's G! § 22

evo pres. (+G) here's G! § 22

F

faliti impf. (colloq.) miss; uses cases

unlike English: what/who is missing is

in N; optionally, who is affected/feels

it is in DL (see also: nedostajati) § 23

fakultet m univ. department (na¨ act.)

· fakultetski rel. adj.

fen m hairdryer

film m movie, film (na¨ media, l/d)

· filmski rel. adj.

fin adj. subtle, fine

· finoća f refinement

Francuz mª Frenchman

· Francuskinja f Frenchwoman

· Francuska f (adj.) France

· francuski adj. French

frizer mª hairdresser

· frizerka f

· frizerski rel. adj.

· frizerski salon hairdresser's

frižider m (colloq.) fridge (used almost

always, although Standard is hladnjak)

G

gablec m (colloq. inland) mid-day meal,

usually when at work {colloq. coast:

marenda; Standard: užina}

gaće f pl. underpants

· gaćice f pl. panties

gadan (gadn-) adj. nasty, disgusting

gađati impf. aim (at A)

galama f fuss, uproar

galeb mª (N-pl galebovi / rare galebi)

gull, seagull

garaža f garage

· garažni rel. adj.

gasiti ~ u- («) v.p. extinguish A; se²

smother

gazda mª landlord, owner (of a shop,

bar etc.)

· gazdarica f

gdje adv. where § 15 {M: đe, gđe}

glad f hunger

· gladan (gladn-) adj. hungry

glas m voice

glasan (glasn-) adj. loud

· glasnoća f loudness

glava f head

· glavni adj. capital, main, principal

gledati ~ po- v.p. watch A

· gledan pass adj. watched

gluh adj. (no comp.) deaf

· gluhoća f deafness

glumac (glumc-) mª actor

· glumica f actress

· glumački rel. adj.

glup adj. (comp. gluplji) dumb, stupid

· glupost f stupid thing, stupidity

gljiva f mushroom

gnijezdo n nest

godina f year [g. / god.]

· godišnji adj. yearly, annual

· godišnji (odmor) vacations [g.o.]

· godišnje doba season (e.g. summer)

gol adj. (no comp.) naked {S: go (gol-)

gol m goal (in football, etc.) (na¨ l/d)

golem adj. (no comp.) enormous,

gigantic

golub mª (N-pl usually golubovi)

pigeon

· golubica f

gomila f crowd, mob

gorak (gork-) adj. (comp. gorči) bitter

· gorčina f bitterness

gore adv. up

gorjeti (gori, gorio, gorjela), also goriti

~ iz- («) v.p. burn

gospodar mª master

· gospodarica f mistress

gospodin mª mister (polite title) [g.] §

72

· gospođa f madam [gđa]

· gospođica f miss [gđica]

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gost mª (N-pl gosti, G-pl gostiju) guest

· gošća f

· gostinski adj.

gostionica f tavern, inn

· gostionički adj.

gotov adj. (no. comp.) prepared, ready,

done

gotovina f cash

· gotovinski rel. adj.

govor m speech

· govorni rel. adj.

govoriti («) ~ reći (reče, rekao, rekla)

v.p. (o DL) speak (about DL); da… tell

that…

grad m city, town

· gradski rel. adj.

graditi ~ iz- («) / sa- («) v.p. build (A)

građanin mª (N-pl građani) citizen, city

dweller

· građanka f

· građanski adj. civil

grah m bean(s)

grana f branch

· granski adj.

· granje n coll.

· grančica f small branch, twig

granica f borderline, limit (na¨ l/d)

· granični adj.

grebati (grebe) ~ o- v.p. scratch (A)

(leaving marks; to scratch very lightly:

češati)

greben m reef

grijeh m (N-pl grijesi / grijehovi) sin

griješiti ~ po- («) v.p. err, make

mistake, sin

grijati (grije) ~ za- / z- v.p. warm up A /

se² (opposite: hladiti) {E: grejati}

· grijan pass. adj. heated

gristi (grize, grizao, grizla) impf. bite (A)

grb m emblem, coat of arms

grm m bush

· grmlje n coll.

grob m tomb

groblje n cemetery (na¨ l/d)

grom m thunder

grozan (grozn-) adj. terrible

grub adj. (comp. grublji) rough, brutal

· grubost n crudeness, brutality

gubiti ~ iz- («) v.p. lose (A)

gubitak (gubitk-) m loss

guliti ~ o- («) v.p. peel A / se² (to peel

"skin", orange, potato...; for onions:

ljuštiti)

guma f rubber; (car) tire

· gumen adj. rubber

gumb m (N-pl gumbi) button {B/S:

dugme (dugmet-)}

gumica f eraser

gurati ~ gurnuti (gurne) v.p. push (A)

· gurnut pass. adj. pushed

guska f goose

gust adj. (comp. gušći) dense, thick,

viscous

· gustoća f density

gušter mª lizard

gušterica f small lizard (e.g. Podarcis

sucula, Podarcis melisellensis)

gutati ~ pro- v.p. swallow (A)

gutljaj m gulp, sip

gužva f rush, (traffic) jam

H

hajde (verb with only imperative) word

used for encouraging, c'mon, let's go §

53

himna f (G-pl himni) anthem

hitan (hitn-) adj. urgent

· hitna (pomoć) ambulance

hlače f pl. trousers {S: mostly

pantalone}

hlad adj. shade

hladan (hladn-) adj. cold

· hladno je DL = DL is cold

· hladnoća f cold

hladiti ~ o- («) v.p. cool A; make A

cooler; se² cool + mediopass.

(opposite: grijati)

hladnjak m (formal) fridge (rare;

usually colloq. frižider m is used)

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htjeti (hoće +, htio, htjela) impf. want

A / INF § 31

hodati impf. walk (to walk a dog:

šetati)

hodnik m hallway

hrabar (hrabr-) adj. brave

· hrabrost f courage

hrana f food

hraniti ~ na- («) v.p. feed A / se²

· hranjiv adj. nutritious

hrpa f pile, heap

Hrvat mª Croat (person)

· Hrvatica f

· hrvatski adj. Croatian

· Hrvatska f (adj.) Croatia

hvala f thank you (polite word)

hvatati ~ uhvatiti v.p. catch (A)

I

i conj. and § 55

iako conj. although § 70

ići (ide, išao, išla) impf. go

idući adj. (no comp.) next

igla f needle

igra f game, play

igrač mª player

· igračica f

igračka f toy

igrati ~ od- v.p. play A (sport); se² (s I)

play (with I); also mutual se²

ili conj. or § 55

imati impf. (negative: nemati) have A

(used also in existential constructions)

ime (imen-) n (pl imen-) name

inače adv. otherwise, in other

situations

inozemstvo n foreign countries

· u inozemstvu abroad

ipak adv. nevertheless, however

iscrpljen adj. exhausted

· iscrpljenost f exhaustion

ishod m outcome

isključ ivati (-uje «) ~ isključiti («) v.p.

exclude A; switch off A; mediopass.

· isključen pass. adj. turned off,

excluded

· isključiv adj. exclusive, restricting

iskopati perf. → kopati

· iskopan pass. adj. dug out

iskorištavati («) ~ iskoristiti («) v.p.

utilize, exploit A

· iskorišten pass. adj. exploited

· iskorištavanje n exploitation

iskra f spark

iskren adj. sincere, truth telling

· iskrenost f frankness, sincerity

iskusan (iskusn-) adj. experienced

· iskustvo n experience

ispit m school test, exam (na¨ act.)

ispit ivati (-uje «) ~ ispitati («) v.p.

assay, test (A)

· ispitan pass. adj. tested, examined

ispod prep. (+ G) under G, below G § 42

ispravljati ~ ispraviti v.p. correct A § 79

· ispravljen pass. adj. corrected

ispravak (ispravk-) m correction

ispravan (ispravn-) adj. correct, right,

functioning

ispred prep. (+ G) in front of § 42

ispričati perf. → pričati

· ispričan pass. adj. told; excused

ispunjavati («) ~ ispuniti v.p. fulfill A

· ispunjen pass. adj. fulfilled, filled in

ispuštati («) ~ ispustiti («) v.p. drop A,

emit A (gas, sound)

· ispušten pass. adj. left out, dropped

isti adj. (no comp.) same

isticati (ističe) ~ istaći (istakne, istakao,

istakla) / istaknuti (istakne) v.p.

emphasize A; se² stand out

· istaknut pass. adj. distinguished,

standing out

istina f truth

istinit adj. true

istok m east (na¨ l/d)

· istočni adj. eastern

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istraž ivati (-uje «) ~ istražiti («) v.p.

explore A

· istražen pass. adj. explored

iz prep. (+ G) from, out of (opposite to

u¨ DL) § 21

iza prep. (+ G) behind, after § 42

izabrati perf. → birati

izazov m challenge

izbjeglica mª/f refugee

· izbjeglički adj.

izbliza adv. closely, from close distance

izbor m choice

· izbori m pl. elections (na¨ act.)

izbrisati perf. → brisati

· izbrisan pass. adj. erased

izbrojati / izbrojiti («) perf. → brojati

· izbrojen pass. adj. counted

izbušiti perf. → bušiti

izdaleka adv. from afar

izgledati («) impf. look, appear § 12

izgled m look, appearance

izgorjeti / izgoriti perf. → gorjeti

izgraditi perf. → graditi

· izgrađen pass. adj. built

izgubiti perf. → gubiti

· izgubljen pass. adj. lost

izlaziti ~ izaći (izađe, izašao, izašla) v.p.

(iz G) exit (G) (the perf. verb has Std.

forms izići etc.) (opposite: ulaziti) § 42

izlaz m exit (na¨ l/d)

izlagati (izlaže) ~ izložiti v.p. expose (A)

(to DL)

· izložen pass. adj. exposed, on

exhibition

izlog m shop window

izložba f exhibition (na¨ act.)

između prep. (+ G i G1) between G and

G1

izmijeniti perf. → mijenjati

· izmijenjen pass. adj. changed, altered

izmišljati («) ~ izmisliti v.p. invent,

contrive (A) (invent a story, a device)

· izmišljen pass. adj. imagined,

designed

iznad prep. (+ G) above G § 42

iznajmlj ivati (-uje «) ~ iznajmiti («) v.p.

(od G) hire, lease A (from G); lease A

to DL § 73

· iznajmljen pass. adj. rented

iznenada adv. suddenly

iznenađ ivati (-uje «) ~ iznenaditi («)

v.p. (s I) surprise A / se² (with I)

· iznenađen pass. adj. surprised

· iznenađenje n surprise

iznimka f exception

izračunati perf. → računati

· izračunat pass. adj. calculated,

computed

izrađ ivati (-uje «) ~ izraditi v.p.

manufacture A

· izrađen pass. adj. manufactured,

made

izvaditi perf. → vaditi

· izvađen pass. adj. pulled out,

extracted

izvagati perf. → vagati

izvan prep. (+ G) outside of G

izvještaj m report

izvlačiti («) ~ izvući (izvuče, pres3-pl

izvuku, izvukao, izvukla) v.p. (iz G) pull

A / se² out (of/from G)

· izvučen pass. adj. pulled out

izvoditi («) ~ izvesti (izvede, izveo) v.p.

bring out A (people, cattle); do,

perform A, play A (music)

· izvođen pass. adj. performed (more)

· izveden pass. adj. performed (once)

izvoli (pl izvolite) here you are, how

may I help you, etc. (polite words) § 12

izvor m source (na¨ l/d)

· izvorni rel. adj. original

izvrstan (izvrsn-) adj. excellent

izvršavati («) ~ izvršiti («) v.p. execute,

complete A

J

ja (+) pron. I (1st. pers. sg.) § 22, 34

jabuka f apple

· jabučni adj.

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jadan (jadn-) adj. miserable

jadnik mª poor, miserable person

· jadnica f

jagoda f strawberry

jaje (jaj- / jajet-) n (N-pl jaja) egg

jak adj. (comp. jači) strong

· jakost f strength

· jačina f strength

jakna f jacket

jako adv.i. very, strongly § 8

jasan (jasn-) adj. clear; understandable

jastuk m pillow, cushion {colloq. coast

kušin}

jedan (jedn-) adj. one, used as number

1; § 18

jesti (jede, jeo) ~ po eat (A)

jedin adj. (no comp.) single, unique

jednak adj. (no comp.) equal

· jednakost f equality

jednom adv. once

jednostavan (jednostavn-) adj. simple,

not complex

· jednostavnost f simplicity

jedro (G-pl also jedara) n sail

jedva adv. just, barely

jeftin adj. cheap (opposite: skup)

jelen mª deer

jelo n meal, dish

jelovnik m menu

jer conj. because § 50

jesen f autumn

· jesenski rel. adj.

jezero n (pl jezer-) lake

· jezerski rel. adj.

jezik m tongue; language

· jezični rel. adj.

jež mª hedgehog; (sea) urchin

još adv. more; still § 2, 4

jučer adv. yesterday {B/S: juče}

· jučerašnji rel. adj. yesterday's § 76

juha f soup {R/B/S: supa}

junak mª hero

· junakinja f

· junački adj.

jutro n morning

· jutros adv. this morning § 18

· jutrošnji adj. this morning's § 76

jug m south (na¨ l/d)

· južni adj. southern

K

kad(a) adv. when § 54, 70

kada f bathtub

kakav (kakv-) adj. (no comp.) what like

kako adv. how

kamen m stone

· kameni rel. adj.

· kamenje n coll. stones, rocks

kamion m truck

· kamionski rel. adj.

kanta f bin

· kanta za smeće trash can

kao conj. as, like § 13

· kao da as if § 77

kapa f cap

kaplja f drop, droplet

kaput m coat

karta f card; map; (train, bus) ticket

kasan (kasn-) adj. late

· kasnije adv. later

kasniti ~ za- («) v.p. be late

kašalj (kašlj-) m cough

kašljati (kašlje) impf. cough

kat m floor (in a buiding, e.g. first,

second; ground floor: prizemlje) {B/S:

sprat} § 31

katkad adv. from time to time

kava f coffee (na¨ act.) {B/S: kafa}

kazna f penalty, punishment

kazati (kaže) impf. (da...) tell (DL)

(that...)

kažnjavati («) ~ kazniti v.p. (na¨ A1)

punish A (with A1)

· kažnjen pass. adj. punished

kći f (A kćer) daughter {colloq./R: kćer,

kćerka...}

keks m (N-pl keksi) biscuit

kihati (kiše) ~¹ kihnuti (kihne) v.p.

sneeze

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kino n cinema {B/S: bioskop}

kip m statue

kipući adj. (no comp.) boiling

kiseo (kisel-) / kisel adj. sour, acidic

· kiselina f acid

kiša f rain (na¨ met.)

· kišni adj. rainy

kišiti impf. rain (much more often:

padati + kiša)

kladiti se² ~ o- v.p. (s I) (da...) bet (with

I) (that...)

klinac (klinc-) mª (colloq. NW, S) kid

· klinka f

klupa f bench

ključ m key

· ključni rel. adj.

knjiga f book

· knjižni, književni rel. adj.

knjižara f bookstore

književnost f literature

knjižnica f library {B/S: biblioteka}

kocka f cube; (colloq.) any square-like

shape

· kockica f dice

· kockast adj.

kočiti ~ za- («) v.p. break (while driving

car, bike)

kod prep. (+ G) at G, by G § 20

· kod kuće at home

koji (+) adj. that, which (used for

relational clauses)

kokoš f hen, chicken

· kokošji rel. adj.

kolač m cake

kolica n pl. cart; wheelchair

količina f quantity

kolik adj. (no comp.) how big

koliko adv.q. how much/many § 8, 40

kolodvor m main (train, bus) station

(na¨ l/d)

· kolodvorski rel. adj.

kolovoz m (formal) August {B/S:

avgust} § 31

· kolovoški adj.

koljeno n knee § 27

komad m piece [kom.] {S: parče

(parčet-) n} § 47

konačno adv. finally, eventually

konj mª (N-pl konji) horse

· na konju pred. on the pig's back

· konjski rel. adj.

kopati ~ is- v.p. dig (A)

kora f crust; bark

korak m step

korisnik mª user

· korisnica f

· korisnički rel. adj.

korist f utility, effect, use

koristan (korisn-) adj. useful

koristiti ~ is- v.p. use A; is useful (to DL)

kos adj. inclined, slanted

· kosina f incline

kosa f hair

kost f bone

koštati impf. cost A

košulja f shirt (T-shirt: majica)

koža f skin, leather

· kožni rel. adj.

krasti (krade, krao) ~ u- (») v.p. (od G)

steal (A) (from G)

krađa f theft

kraj m end; part of land (na¨ l/d)

· na kraju finally

· krajnji rel. adj. ultimate

kralj mª king

· kraljica f queen

· kraljevski rel. adj.

krasan (krasn-) adj. splendid, wonderful

kratak (kratk-) adj. (comp. kraći) short

krava f cow

· kravlji rel. adj.

krevet m bed (also: postelja)

· krevetni rel. adj.

kretati (kreće) ~ krenuti (krene) start

moving, set off (see also: pokretati)

krilo n wing

kriv adj. (comp. krivlji) wrong; guilty §

79; curved

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krivac (krivc-) mª culprit, guilty one

kriviti ~~ o- («) v.p. A blame

križ m cross {B/S: krst}

· križni rel. adj.

krov m roof (na¨ l/d)

· krovni rel. adj.

krpa f rug

krug m circle

· kružni rel. adj. circular

kruh m bread

· krušni rel. adj.

krumpir m potato (also often: krompir)

kruna f crown

· krunski rel. adj.

krupan (krupn-) adj. massive, sturdy

krv f blood

· krvni rel. adj.

krvav adj. bloody, covered with blood

kucati ~ po- v.p. (na A) knock (on A)

kuća f house

· kućni rel. adj.

kuhar mª cook, chef

· kuharica f (also means cookbook)

· kuharski rel. adj.

kuhati ~ s- v.p. cook (A); mediopass.

kuhinja f kitchen

· kuhinjski rel. adj.

kum mª godfather; wedding witness

· kuma f godmother

kuna f marten; Croatian money [kn]

kupac (kupc-) mª customer, buyer

kupati ~ o- («) v.p. bathe A / se²

· kupaće (gaćice / gaće) swimming

briefs § 80

· kupaći (kostim) bathing costume § 80

kupovati (kupuje) ~ kupiti v.p. (od G)

buy (A) (from G)

· kupljen pass. adj. bought

kušati impf. taste A

kut m (N-pl also kutevi) angle; corner

{B/S: ugao (ugl-)}

· kutni rel. adj.

kutija f box

kvar m breakdown, defect

kvariti ~ po- («) v.p. spoil A; se² get

spoiled, break (e.g. car)

L

labud mª (N-pl labudovi, rare labudi)

swan

· labuđi rel. adj.

ladica f drawer

lagan adj. light; easy (has comp., but

lakši is more frequent)

lagati (laže) ~ s- v.p. (o DL1) lie, tell lies

(to DL) (about DL1)

lak adj. (comp. lakši) light; easy (mostly

used in comp.; also: lagan) {B: lahak

(lahk-)}

· lakoća f ease

lanac (lanc-) m chain

· lančan rel. adj.

lav mª lion

· lavica f

· lavlji rel. adj.

laž f lie

lažan (lažn-) adj. fake

led m ice

· leden adj. icy

leđa n pl. back (body part), backside

· leđni rel. adj.

leptir mª butterfly

let m flight

letjeti (leti, letio, letjela) impf. fly

· leteći adj. flying

ležaj m (N-pl ležajevi / ležaji) bearing,

generic bed

ležati (leži) impf. lie, rest (see also:

lijegati)

lice n face {B/S: also person}

liječiti ~ iz- («) v.p. heal (A)

· liječen pass. adj. treated

liječnik mª physician

· liječnica f

· liječnički rel. adj.

lijek m (N-pl lijekovi) medicine, drug

lijen adj. lazy {S: lenj}

· lijenost f lazyness

lijep adj. (comp. ljepši) beautiful, nice

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lijepiti ~ za- («) v.p. (za A1) glue, stick A

(to A1)

· lijepljen pass. adj. glued

lijevi adj. (no comp.) left (as opp. to

right; opp: desni)

lijegati (liježe) ~ leći (legne, legao,

legla) v.p. lie down, come to rest (see

also: ležati)

limun m lemon

· limunski rel. adj.

lipanj (lipnj-) m (formal) June {B/S: jun

/ juni} § 31

lisica f fox

· lisac (lisc-) mª

· lisičji rel. adj.

list m leaf; sheet of paper § 40

listati ~ pro- v.p. browse, turn pages of

A

listopad m (formal) October {B/S:

oktobar (oktobr-)}

lišće n coll. leaves, foliage (see also:

list)

livada f meadow

· livadni rel. adj.

lizati (liže) ~ po- («) v.p. lick A

lokva f puddle, small pool of liquid

lomiti ~ s- v.p. break, fracture A

· lomljiv adj. fragile

lonac (lonc-) m pot

lopov m thief

· lopovski rel. adj.

lopta f ball

loš adj. bad

lov m hunt

lova f (slang) money

lovac (lovc-) mª hunter

loviti ~ u- («) v.p. hunt, catch (A)

lud adj. (comp. luđi) crazy, insane

· ludost f crazyness, folly

luk m (pl. is rare) onion

luk m bow; arch

· lučni adj.

luka f port

· lučni adj.

lukav adj. sly, cunning

lupati ~ lupiti v.p. (po¨ / na¨ DL) hit (A),

bang (on DL) (violent hitting one

object against another)

lutati impf. roam, wander

lutalica mª/f wanderer

lutka f puppet

LJ

ljekovit adj. having curing properties

ljepilo n glue

ljepljiv adj. sticky

ljepota f beauty

ljestve f pl. ladder {colloq. NW: lojtre}

ljeto n summer {R: year; I: lito}

· ljetni rel. adj.

· ljetos adv. this summer

· ljetošnji rel. adj. this summer's

ljetovati (ljetuje) impf. spend summer

ljubav f (I also ljubavju) love

· ljubavni rel. adj.

ljubazan (ljubazn-) adj. polite, gentle

· ljubaznost f gentleness

ljubičast adj. (no comp.) (Std) violet

{colloq.: lila}

ljubiti ~ po- («) v.p. kiss A

· ljubljen pass. adj. kissed; beloved

ljudi m pl. (G-pl ljudi) men, people

(used as pl. of čovjek)

· ljudski rel. adj. human

ljuljačka f swing (na¨ l/d)

ljuljati ~~ za- («) v.p. swing, sway A /

se²

ljuštiti ~ o- («) v.p. husk, scale, peel (see

also: guliti)

ljuska f scale; shell (of e.g. egg, onion;

sea shell: školjka)

ljut adj. hot (taste), spicy; angry

· ljut na¨ A pred. angry with A

ljutiti ~~ na- («) v.p. se² (na¨ A) be

angry (with A); make A angry,

provoke

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mač m sword

mačić mª kitten {B/S: mače (mačet-)}

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mačka f cat

· mačak (mačk-) mª

· mačji rel. adj.

magarac (magarc-) mª donkey

· magarica f

· magareći rel. adj.

magla f fog, mist

· maglovit adj. foggy

mahati (maše) impf. wave (to DL)

majica f (T-)shirt

majka f (DL majci) mother

majmun mª monkey, ape

· majmunski rel. adj.

maknuti (makne) perf. → micati

malen adj. (no comp.) small

mali adj. (comp. manji) small

malo adv. a bit, little (opposite: puno)

mama f mom

manje adv. comp. less (opposite: više)

· manjina f minority

marenda f (colloq. coast) small meal

(na¨ act.) {colloq. inland: gablec; Std:

užina}

marka f (postal) stamp; mark

(currency); brand

maslac m butter {colloq./B/S: putar

(putr-)}

maslina f olive

· maslinov rel. adj.

· maslinast olive-colored

mast f grease, fat

mastan (masn-) adj. fatty

· masnoća f fat (e.g. in food)

maziti ~ po- («) v.p. pet, gently stroke

A; se² snuggle

mazati (maže) ~ na- v.p. (na A1) spread

A (on A1) (to "spread butter", "apply

cream to skin", etc.; otherwise: širiti)

med m honey

medvjed mª bear

· medvjedica f

· medvjeđi rel. adj.

· medvjeđa usluga disservice

među prep. (+ I) among

međunarodni adj. (no comp.)

international

međutim adv. however

mesnica f meat shop

meso n meat

· mesni rel. adj.

metla f broom

mi (+) pron. 1st pers. pl., we § 22, 34

micati (miče) ~ maknuti (makne) v.p.

move A / se²

· maknut pass. adj. moved, removed

mijenjati ~ izmijeniti («) / promijeniti

(«) v.p. change, exchange A/se²

miješati ~ iz- («) / pro- («) v.p. mix, stir

(A); se² (u¨ A) interfere (with A)

· miješan pass. adj. mixed, assorted

minuta f minute [min.] {B/S: also

minut}

· minutni rel. adj.

mir m peace

· miran (mirn-) adj. peaceful

miris m smell

· mirisan (mirisn-) adj. having pleasant

scent

mirisati (miriše) ~~ za- vp. (na¨ A)

smells (of A); po¨ DL smell like DL

mirovati (miruje) impf. rest, be still

mirovina f (Std) pension; {colloq./B/S:

penzija} (see also: umirovljenik)

· mirovinski rel. adj.

misa f mass (Christian ritual)

misao (misl-) f (I also mišlju) thought

misliti impf. (o DL) think (about DL);

da... think that...

· mišljenje n opinion

miš mª mouse

· mišji rel. adj.

mišić m muscle

· mišićni rel. adj.

· mišićav adj. muscular

mjehurić m bubble

mjenjačnica f exchange office

mjera f measure

· mjerni rel. adj.

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mjeriti ~ iz- v.p. measure A

mjesec m (G-pl mjeseci) moon; month

[mj.]

· mjesečni rel. adj. monthly

mješavina f mixture

mlad adj. (comp. mlađi) young

· mladost f youth

· mladi m pl. (adj.) young people

mladić mª young man, boyfriend

{colloq. NW: dečko}

mlaz m (N-pl mlazovi / mlazevi) jet

· mlazni rel. adj.

mlijeko n milk

· mliječni rel. adj.

mljeti (melje) ~ sa- v.p. mill, grind A

· mljeven pass. adj. ground

mnogo adv. a lot, many

· množina f plural (in grammar)

močiti ~ s- v.p. wet A; se² wet, get wet

(opposite: sušiti)

moć f power

· moćan (moćn-) adj. powerful

moći (može, pres-1 mogu, pres-3pl

mogu; mogao, mogla) impf. can, be

able to INF § 38

· moguć adj. possible

· mogućnost f possibility

mokar (mokr-) adj. wet

molba f plea; application

moliti ~ za- («) v.p. (da...) kindly ask A

(to...); se² (DL) (da...) pray (to DL)

(to...); molim is used as please in

communication

molitva f prayer

momak (momk-) mª (G-pl momaka)

young man; boyfriend {colloq. NW:

dečko}

momčad f coll. team (of men) (see also:

ekipa)

· momčadski adj.

morati impf. must, have to INF § 38

more f sea

· (na¨) at sea; at seaside

· morski rel. adj.

mornar mª sailor

· mornarski rel. adj.

mornarica f navy

· mornarički rel. adj.

most m bridge

motor m engine; (colloq.) motorcycle

· motorni rel. adj.

mozak (mozg-) m (N-pl mozgovi) brain

· moždani rel. adj.

mračan (mračn-) adj. dark (unlit)

mrak m darkness

mrav mª (N-pl mravi) ant

· mravlji rel. adj.

mreža f net, mesh {I: mriža}

· mrežni rel adj.

· mrežast adj. net-like

mrkva f carrot {S: also šargarepa}

mrlja f spot, stain

mršav adj. thin (person, animal), skinny

mrtav (mrtv-) adj. (no comp.) dead

mrziti ~~ za- («) hate A {E: mrzeti

(mrzi)} § 32

· mržnja f hate

mudar (mudr-) adj. wise

· mudrost f wisdom

muha f fly {HL: muva}

muka f suffering

munja f lightning

muški adj. (no comp.) masculine, male

· muškost f masculinity

mušterija mª/f client

muž mª husband

N

na¨ prep. (+ DL) on, at § 15; (+ A) onto,

at § 6, 42

nacrtati perf. → crtati

· nacrtan pass. adj. drawn (figure,

shape)

način m way (of doing something)

nad prep. (+ I) above

nada f hope

nadati se² impf. da… hope that… § 59;

hope for DL

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naginjati (naginje) ~ nagnuti (nagne)

v.p. incline A; mediopass.

· nagnut pass adj. tilted, not horizontal

or vertical

naglo adv. suddenly

nagrada f prize, award

· nagradni rel. adj.

nagrađ ivati (-uje «) ~ nagraditi («) v.p.

award A; mediopass;

· nagrađen pass adj. awarded

nahraniti («) perf. → hraniti

· nahranjen pass. adj. fed

naivan (naivn-) adj. gullible, naive

· naivnost f gullibility

nakon prep. (+ G) after

nalaziti ~ naći (nađe, našao, našla) v.p.

find A; se² be located, be found (+

some place) § 42

· nađen pass. adj. found

namjera f intention

· namjeran (namjern-) adj. intentional

namjeravati («) impf. intend to-INF

namještaj m (no pl.) furniture

naočale f pl. glasses {S: naočare f pl.}

· sunčane naočale sunglasses

naopako adv. upside down

napisati (napiše) perf. → pisati

· napisan pass. adj. written

napokon adv. finally, at last

napor m strain, effort

naporan (naporn-) adj. arduous,

grueling, difficult

napuniti perf. → puniti

· napunjen pass. adj. filled up

napuštati («) ~ napustiti («) v.p.

abandon A

· napušten pass. adj. abandoned

naranča f orange

narančast adj. orange

naravno adv. of course

narod m people, nation

· narodni rel. adj.

naruč ivati (-uje «) ~ naručiti («) v.p. (od

G) order (A) (from G) (e.g. to order

food, goods; for military orders:

zapovijedati, naređivati)

· naručen pass. adj. ordered

narudžba f commission, order

naselje n settlement, newly built part

of a city

nasilan (nasiln-) adj. violent

· nasilje n violence

naslov m title

nastajati (nastaje) ~ nastati (nastane)

v.p. come into being § 52

nastavljati ~ nastaviti v.p. continue (to-

INF) § 60

· nastavak (nastavk-) m continuation,

sequel

nastup m performance, act

nastupati («) ~ nastupiti («) v.p. act,

come into effect

naticati (natiče) ~ nateći (nateče, pres-

3pl nateku; natekao, natekla) v.p.

swell

· natečen pass. adj. swollen

natpis m inscription

naučiti («) perf. → učiti

· naučen pass. adj. learned

naziv m name (not of a person), term

nazivati ~ nazvati (nazove) v.p. call A

(over phone); name A

· nazvan pass. adj. named; called over

phone

nažalost adv. unfortunately § 42

ne¨ particle no, not § 4

nebo n (N-pl nebesa / neba) sky (na¨

l/d)

· nebeski rel. adj.

nećak mª nephew

· nećakinja f niece

nedavni adj. recent

nedavno adv. recently

nedjelja f Sunday {B/S: also week}

· nedjeljni rel. adj.

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nedostajati (nedostaje) impf. lack, miss

(who or what is missing is in N; one

who feels it is in DL) § 23

nedostatak (nedostatk-) m lack,

shortage; imperfection

negdje adv. somewhere § 41

nejasan (nejasn-) adj. unclear

neka particle used for permissions § 53

nekad(a) adv. some time ago; (colloq.)

sometimes

neki adj. some § 18

nekoliko adv. several

nemati impf. negative form of imati {I:

nimati}

nemoguć adj. impossible

nemoj verb having only imperative,

used for prohibitions § 53

neobičan (neobičn-) adj. unusual

nepoznat adj. unknown

nepravda f injustice

nepravilan (nepraviln-) adj. irregular

· nepravilnost f irregularity

neprestano adv. constantly

neprijatelj mª enemy

· neprijateljski rel. adj.

nered m mess, disarray, chaos

nesposoban (nesposobn-) adj.

incompetent

· nesposobnost f incompetence

nesreća f accident {I: nesrića}

nesretan (nesretn-) adj. unhappy;

unlucky

nestajati (nestajem) ~ nestati

(nestane) v.p. disappear

nestrpljiv adj. impatient

nešto (neč- +) pron. something § 41

netko (nek- +) pron. somebody

{colloq./B/S: neko} § 41

neugodan (neugodn-) adj.

inconvenient, unpleasant

· neugodnost f inconvenience,

something unpleasant

nevidljiv adj. invisible

nezaboravan (nezaboravn-) adj.

unforgettable

nezgoda adj. accident

ni¨ / niti conj. neither (negation of i¨)

nigdje adv. nowhere § 41

nijedan (nijedn-) adj. (no comp.) no

one, none

nikad(a) adv. never § 4

ništa (nič- +) pron. nothing § 4, 41

nitko (nik- +) pron. nobody

{colloq./B/S: niko} § 41

niz prep. (+ A) down, along

nizak (nisk-) adj. (comp. niži) low; short

(for people) § 11

nizina f lowland

noć f night

· noćni rel. adj.

· noću adv. at night (also: po noći)

· noćas adv. tonight

· noćašnji rel. adj. tonight's

noga f (G-pl nogu) foot, leg § 27

· nožni rel. adj.

nogomet m football (soccer) {B/S:

fudbal}

· nogometni rel. adj. {B/S: fudbalski}

nokat (nokt-) m (G-pl also noktiju) nail

(on finger, toe)

nos m (N-pl also nosevi) nose

· nosni rel. adj.

nositi impf. carry A (to DL); (colloq.)

wear A

· nošen pass. adj. carried; worn § 65

nov adj. new

· novost f something new, news

novac (novc-) m money

novčanik m wallet

novinar mª journalist

· novinarka f

· novinarski rel. adj.

nož m knife

nuditi ~ po- v.p. offer A (to DL)

nužan (nužn-) adj. necessary

· nužnost f necessity

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njega f care

njegov poss. adj. his § 19

njen / njezin poss. adj. her § 19

nježan (nježn-) adj. tender, soft, gentle

· nježnost f tenderness, gentleness

njihov poss. adj. their § 19

njihati (njiše) ~~ za- («) v.p. sway, rock

A / se²

njuh m sense of smell

njušiti ~ po- v.p. sniff A

njuška f snout

O

o¨ prep. (+ DL) about § 42

obala f shore, coast (na¨ l/d)

· obalni rel. adj.

oba number both § 30

obadva number (colloq.) both § 30

obavijest f notice, information

obaviještavati («) ~ obavijestiti («) v.p.

da… inform (A) that…; (o¨ DL) informs

(A) (about L)

· obaviješten pass. adj. informed,

notified

obećavati (« / often pres-3 obećaje) ~

obećati v.p. (da…) promise (DL) (to…)

· obećan pass. adj. promised

· obećanje n promise

običaj m tradition, custom

objavlj ivati (-uje «) ~ objaviti («) v.p.

publish A (to DL); da… proclaim (to DL)

(that…) (see also: izdavati)

· objavljen pass. adj. published

· objavljivanje n publishing

običan (običn-) adj. common, plain

obično adv. usually § 4

obilaziti ~ obići (obiđe, obišao, obišla)

visit A; (oko G) go around, bypass G §

42

obilazak (obilask-) m visit; detour

obitelj f family {R: familija; B/S:

porodica}

· obiteljski adj. {B/S: porodični}

objašnjavati («) ~ objasniti («) v.p.

explain (to DL) A / CC § 59

· objašnjen pass. adj. explained

· objašnjenje n explanation

objesiti perf. → vješati

· obješen pass. adj. hanged

oblak m cloud

· oblačan (oblačn-) adj. cloudy

oblačiti («) ~ obući (obuče, pres-3pl

obuku; obukao, obukla) v.p. put on A

(clothes); dress A / se² (opposite:

svlačiti) § 8

oblik (oblik-) m shape

obojati / obojiti perf. → bojati

· obojan / obojen pass. adj. colored

obožavati («) impf. adore, worship A

· obožavanje n adoration

obožavatelj mª fan, someone who

adores somebody or something

· obožavateljica f

obrana f defense {B/S: odbrana}

obrazovan educated

· obrazovanje n education

obrok m meal; installment (of

payment)

obuća f (no pl.) footwear, shoes

obući perf. → oblačiti

· obučen pass. adj. dressed, trained

ocat (oct-) m vinegar {colloq. coast:

kvasina; S: sirće n (sirćet-)}

ocjena f grade (in school), assessment

(in Croatia, grades are 1-5, where 5 is

the highest grade)

oček ivati (-uje «) impf. expect A /

clause; mediopass; § 64, 69

· očekivan pass. adj. expected

očistiti perf. → čistiti

· očišćen pass. adj. cleaned

očito adv. obviously

od prep. (+ G) of, from; made of § 21

odabrati (odabere) perf. → birati

· odabran pass. adj. chosen

odakle adv. where from § 21

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odbijati («) ~ odbiti (odbije) v.p. refuse

A; repel A (an attack)

· odbijen pass. adj. refused, not

accepted

odgađati («) ~ odgoditi («) v.p.

postpone A; mediopass.

· odgođen pass. adj. postponed

· odgodiv adj. which can be postponed

odgovarati («) ~ odgovoriti («) v.p.

answer DL; suit, fit DL;

· odgovarajući pres. adj. suitable

odgovor m answer

odjeća f (no pl.) clothes § 30

odjednom adv suddenly

odlaziti ~ otići (ode, otišao, otišla) v.p.

leave (from a place) § 42

odletjeti (odletim, odletio, odletjela)

perf. fly away

odluč ivati (-uje «) ~ odlučiti («) v.p.

da… decide to…; decide to-INF

odluka f decision

odmah adv. immediately, at once

odmarati («) ~ odmoriti («) v.p. rest A /

(se²)

odmor m rest, break (na¨ on)

odnositi («) ~ odnijeti (odnese, odnio,

odnijela) v.p. carry, take away A (to

DL) § 65

· odnesen / odnijet pass. adj. carried

away

odnos m relationship

odrasti perf. → rasti

· odrastao (odrasl-) adj. grown-up

odsjeći perf. → sjeći

· odsječen pass. adj. cut off

odsvirati («) perf. → svirati

odvoditi («) ~ odvesti (odvede, odveo,

odvela) v.p. take A § 65

odustajati (odustaje) ~ odustati

(odustane) v.p. give up § 52

oduzimati ~ oduzeti (oduzme) v.p. (od

G) seize, take away A (from G);

subtract

· oduzet pass. adj. taken away;

paralyzed

oglas m ad

ograda f fence, barrier

ograničavati («) ~ ograničiti v.p. restrict

A

· ograničen pass adj. restricted,

confined; narrow-minded

ogrebati perf. → grebati

· ogreban pass. adj. scratched

ogroman (ogromn-) adj. huge

oguliti («) perf. → guliti

· oguljen pass. adj. peeled

ohladiti («) perf. → hladiti

· ohlađen pass. adj. chilled

oko prep. (+ G) around; (+ A) about

(time)

oko n eye (as pl. oči f pl.) § 27

· očni rel. adj.

okolo prep. (+ G) around

okretati (okreće) ~ okrenuti (okrene)

v.p. turn A / se²

· okrenut pass adj. turned

okrutan (okrutn-) adj. cruel

· okrutnost cruelty

okupati («) perf. → kupati

okvir m frame, framework

olovka f pencil

oluja f storm

· olujni rel. adj.

osam number 8

osjećaj m feeling, emotion

osjećati ~¹ osjetiti v.p. feel (A); da… feel

that…

osjetljiv sensitive

· osjetljivost f sensitivity

oslobađati («) ~ osloboditi («) v.p. free

A / se²

· oslobođen pass. adj. freed, set free

osnivati («) ~ osnovati (osnuje) v.p. set

up, establish A (e.g. an organization)

· osnovan pass. adj. established

osnova f base, basis

osoba f person

· osobni adj. personal {B/S: lični}

· osobna (iskaznica) ID {B/S: lična karta}

osobina f characteristic

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ostajati (ostaje) ~ ostati (ostane) v.p.

remain, stay § 52

· ostali adj. (often as pron.) rest

osuđ ivati (-uje «) ~ osuditi («) v.p. (na¨

A1) sentence, judge (A) (to A1)

· osuđen pass. adj. sentenced,

condemned

osveć ivati (-uje «) se² ~ osvetiti se («)

v.p. revenge (to DL)

osveta f revenge

osvježavati («) ~ osvježiti v.p. freshen,

refresh A / se²

· osvježen pass. adj. refreshed

· osvježenje n refreshment

oštar (oštr-) adj. sharp

· oštrina f sharpness

otac (oc-) mª (N-pl očevi, sometimes

oci) father

· očinski rel. adj.

otići perf. → odlaziti

otimati ~ oteti (otme) v.p. seize, hijack

A

· otet pass. adj. hijacked, seized

otkrivati («) ~ otkriti (otkrije) v.p.

discover A; uncover A / se²

· otkriven pass. adj. discovered;

uncovered

otok m island (na¨ l/d) {B/S: ostrvo}

· otočni rel. adj.

otpor m resistance

otporan (otporn-) adj. tough, resistant,

sturdy

· otpornost f toughness, immunity

otvarati («) ~ otvoriti («) v.p. open A;

mediopass.

· otvoren pass. adj. open

ovaj (ov-) adj. this (no comp.) § 18

ovamo adv. here (direction)

ovca f (G-pl ovaca) sheep

· ovan (ovn-) mª (N-pl ovnovi)

· ovčji rel. adj.

ozbiljan (ozbiljn-) adj. serious

označavati («) ~ označiti («) v.p. mark,

tag A

· označen pass. adj. marked, tagged

oznaka f mark, tag, highlight

oženiti («) perf. → ženiti

· oženjen pass. adj. married (man)

ožujak (ožujk-) m (formal) March {B/S:

mart} § 31

P

pa conj. and, then § 55

pad m fall

padati ~ pasti (padne, pao) v.p. fall

· + ispit fail exam

pakao (pakl-) m hell

· paklen adj.

palac (palc-) m (N-pl palci / palčevi)

thumb

pametan (pametn-) adj. smart

pamtiti ~~ za- v.p. remember, memorize

A / CC § 69

· pamćenje n memory

· pamtiv adj. memorable

pamuk m cotton

· pamučni rel. adj.

pandža f claw

papir m paper (but newspaper: novine)

· papirni rel. adj.

· papirnat adj.

par m pair § 47

par adv. couple § 45

para f steam

· parni rel. adj.

parkiralište n parking lot

parkirati («) ~ s- v.p. park (vehicle) (A)

pas (ps-) mª dog

· pseći adj.

· pasji rel. adj.

patiti ~ pro- («) v.p. suffer

· patnja f suffering

patka f duck

· patak (patk-) mª

· pačji rel. adj.

pauk mª spider

paziti impf. take care, be careful

· pažnja f care, attention

· pažljiv adj. careful

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pčela f bee

peć f stove, furnace

peći (peče, pres-3pl peku; pekao,

pekla) ~ is- (») v.p. bake (A);

mediopass.

· pečen pass. adj. baked

pećnica f oven

penjati (penje) se² ~ popeti (popne)

se² v.p. (na¨ A) climb (A)

pero n feather

· perje n coll. feathers

pet number 5

peta f heel

petak (petk-) m Friday

piće n (usually no pl.) drink

pijesak (pijesk-) m sand

· pješčan rel. adj.

pile (pilet-) n (as pl. pilići) chicken

· pileći rel. adj.

pisac (pisc-) mª writer (used

sometimes for fem. as well)

· spisateljica f (formal)

pisati (piše) ~ na- («) v.p. write (A) (to

DL)

pismo n (G-pl pisama) letter

pita f pie

pitati impf. ask (A-pers) (A-what / CCquestion);

§ 59, 73

pitanje n question

piti (pije) ~ po- v.p. drink (A)

pivo n beer {colloq. NW piva}

· pivski rel. adj.

pjena f foam

pjesma f (G-pl pjesama) song

pjesnik mª poet

· pjesnikinja f

· pjesnički rel. adj. poetic

pješice (also: pješke) adv. by foot, on

foot

pjevač mª singer

· pjevačica f

· pjevački rel. adj.

pjevati ~ ot- ~ za- v.t. sing (A) (to DL)

plahta f bed sheet {B/S: thin sheet:

čaršav / čaršaf}

plakati (plače) ~~ za- v.p. cry (with

tears)

planina f mountain (na¨ l/d)

· planinski adj.

plaćati ~ platiti v.p. pay (A) (to DL)

· plaćen pass. adj. paid

plašiti ~ u- v.p. scare A; se² get scared

(of G); se² da... get scared that...; § 69

plavi adj. blue § 11

plaža f beach (na¨ l/d)

ples m dance

· plesni adj.

plesati ~ ot- («) ~ za- («) v.t. (na¨ A)

dance (to A)

plima f tide

· plimni rel. adj.

plivati ~ ot- ~ za- v.t. swim

ploviti ~ ot- («) ~ za- («) v.t. sail,

navigate

pluća f pl. lung(s)

· plućni rel. adj.

pljuštati (pljušti) impf. rain heavily

(impers.)

pljusak (pljusk-) m rainshower

po prep. (+ DL) over surface of § 42;

(with verbs of motion + A) to pick up §

50; (+ DL) according to § 42; (NOUN1

po NOUN2) NOUN1 by NOUN2; (+

quantity) each (distributive)

pobjeda f victory

· + nad¨ I victory over I

pobjednik mª winner

· pobjednica f

· + nad¨ I over I

pobjeđ ivati (-uje «) ~ pobijediti («) v.p.

(u¨ DL) win (in DL); (u¨ DL) beat A (in

DL)

· pobijeđen pass. adj. beaten (in a play)

pobjeći perf. → bježati

početak (početk-) m beginning (na¨

l/d)

počinjati (počinje) ~ početi (počne) v.p.

begin, start; start to INF (opposite:

prestajati, završavati) § 52

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pod m walking surface, floor (story:

kat)

pod¨ prep. (+ I) under (location); (+ A)

under (destination) § 37

podne (podnev-) n noon

· podnevni rel. adj.

podsjećati ~ podsjetiti v.p. (na A1)

remind (A) (of A1); da... remind (A)

to...

pogađati («) ~ pogoditi («) v.p. hit A;

guess (A) (opposite: promašivati)

· pogođen pass. adj. hit, affected

pogled m look, view

pogledati perf. → gledati

pogodak (pogotk-) m hit (music hit: hit)

pogriješiti («) perf. → griješiti

pojesti (pojede, pojeo) perf. → jesti

· pojeden pass. adj. eaten

pokaz ivati (-uje «) ~ pokazati (pokaže)

v.p. show (A) (to DL); show (to DL) da...

show (DL) that...

poklanjati ~ pokloniti («) v.p. donate,

give gift A (to DL) (see also: darivati);

(perf. only) se² bow to (DL)

· poklonjen pass. adj. given an a gift,

donated

poklapati («) ~ poklopiti («) v.p. put lid

on A; se² match, coincide

· poklopljen pass. adj. covered (pot)

poklon m gift (also: dar)

poklopac (poklopc-) m lid, hood

pokraj prep. (+ G) beside (also: pored)

pokretati (pokreće) ~ pokrenuti

(pokrene) v.p. set A / se² to motion

(opposite: zaustavljati)

· pokrenut pass. adj. started

· pokretljiv adj. mobile, unfixed

pokret m movement

pokrivač m blanket, covering

pokrivati («) ~ pokriti (potkrije) v.p.

cover A / se²

· pokriven pass. adj. covered

pokušavati («) ~ pokušati v.p. try (to

INF) (see also: probati) § 38

pokušaj m attempt

· + da... to ...

pola adv. half § 47

polovica / polovina f half § 47

pomak m shift, small movement

pomagati (pomaže) ~ pomoći

(pomogne, pomogao, pomogla) v.p.

help (DL) (to INF); (DL) da... to...

pomicati (pomiče) ~ pomaknuti

(pomakne) v.p. move, shift A / se²

(moving to another house, apartment:

seliti) {B/S: pomjerati («) ~ pomjeriti}

· pomaknut pass. adj. shifted, out of

place

pomoć f help, aid

· (+ DL) to DL

· pomoćni rel. adj. auxiliary, secondary

pomoćnik mª assistant, aid, helper

· pomoćnica f

pomorac (pomorc-) mª seaman

ponavljati («) ~ ponoviti («) v.p. repeat,

do again A; mediopass;

· ponovljen pass. adj. done again

· ponovljiv adj. repeatable

ponijeti (ponese, ponio, ponijela) perf.

take A (with oneself) § 65

ponoć f midnight

· ponoćni rel. adj.

ponos m pride

ponosan (ponosn-) adj. proud

popravak (popravk-) m repair

popis m list

popiti (popije) perf. → piti

· popijen pass. adj. drunk (intoxicated:

pijan)

popravljati ~ popraviti v.p. mend, fix,

repair A; mediopass. improve § 79

· popravljen pass. adj. repaired

posao (posl-) m (N-pl poslovi) job,

business

· poslovni adj. business

poseban (posebn-) adj. special,

extraordinary (opposite: običan)

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posjeć ivati (-uje «) ~ posjetiti v.p. visit

A

poslati (pošalje) perf. → slati

· poslan pass. adj. sent

poslije adv. after, later § 49

postajati (postaje) ~ postati (postane)

v.p. become (N / adj-N) § 52

postavljati ~ postaviti v.p. set, install A

§ 60

· postavljen pass. adj. placed, set up

posuđ ivati (-uje «) ~ posuditi («) v.p.

(od G) borrow (A) (from G); lend (A) to

DL (colloq.) (for house or apartment:

iznajmljivati) § 73

· posuđen pass. adj. borrowed

pošta f post office, mail

· poštanski rel. adj.

poštar mª postman

· poštarica f

pošten adj. honest, fair

· poštenje n fairness, integrity

pošteno adv. fairly, justly; to great

extent, thoroughly

poštovati (poštuje) impf. respect A

· poštovan pass. adj. respected (used in

letters to address people) § 72

· poštovanje n respect (used also as

greeting)

potonuti (potone) perf. → tonuti

potpis m signature

potpis ivati (-uje «) ~ potpisati

(potpiše) v.p. sign A / se²

· potpisan pass. adj. signed

potvrda f receipt, confirmation

potvrđ ivati (-uje «) ~ potvrditi («) v.p.

confirm A

· potvrđen pass. adj. confimed

povećalo n magnifying glass

povećavati («) ~ povećati v.p. enlarge,

increase, make bigger A; mediopass;

(opposite: smanjivati)

· povećan pass. adj. enlarged

povesti (povede, poveo) perf. take A

(person/animal) § 65

povesti (poveze, povezao, povezla)

perf. take A (by driving) § 65

povijest f history {B/S: istorija}

· povijesni adj. historic {B/S: istorijski}

pozdrav m greeting

· (+ DL) to DL

pozdravljati ~ pozdraviti v.p. greet A

poznavati (poznaje) impf. know A, be

familiar with A (see also upoznavati)

· poznat adj. known, well-known

požar m uncontrolled fire (e.g. in a

building)

požur ivati (-uje «) ~ požuriti («) v.p.

speed up, hurry (A) (see also: žuriti)

prag m threshold

prah m dust

praktičan (praktičn-) adj. handy, easy

to use

prašina f dust

prati (pere) ~ o- (») v.p. wash A / se²

pratiti impf. follow A

· praćen pass. adj. followed

pravda f justice

pravedan (pravedn-) adj. just, fair

pravi adj. (no comp.) true, right

pravilo n rule

praviti impf. make, create A

prazan (prazn-) adj. empty

· praznina f emptiness

praznik m public holiday

· praznici m pl. school vacation

predavati (predaje) ~ predati v.p. hand

over (A) (to DL); se² surrender (to DL);

(only impf.) give lectures (in A)

· predan pass. adj. handed over;

dedicated

predlagati (predlaže) ~ predložiti («)

v.p. propose, suggest (A) (to DL); da...

(DL) to INF

· predložen pass. adj. proposed

predmet m object

prednost f advantage

predsjednik mª president

· predsjednica f

· predsjednički rel. adj.

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predstava f show, theatre play

predstavljati ~ predstaviti v.p.

represent A § 60

· predstavljen pass. adj. represented

pregled m inspection; (medical)

examination

pregledavati («) ~ pregledati browse,

examine A

· pregledan pass. adj. examined

(medically)

prehlada f cold (disease)

· prehlađen adj. having cold

prekid m interruption, break

prekidati («) ~ prekinuti (prekine) v.p.

interrupt A / se²

· prekinut pass. adj. interrupted

prekidač m switch

preko adv. (+ G) across

prelaziti ~ preći (pređe, prešao, prešla)

v.p. pass, go over (A) § 42

prenositi («) ~ prenijeti (prenese,

prenio, prenijela) v.p. take, carry over,

transfer A (to DL) § 65

· prenesen pass. adj. caried over;

metaphorical

prepreka f obstacle

prestajati (prestaje) ~ prestati

(prestane) v.p. cease, stop (INF) § 52

prestrašiti perf. → strašiti

· prestrašen pass. adj. scared

pretpostavljati ~ pretpostaviti v.p. da...

suppose, assume that... § 59

· pretpostavljen pass. adj. supposed

pretpostavka f assumption

preuzimati ~ preuzeti (preuzme) v.p.

(A) (od G) take over (A) (from G)

· preuzet pass. adj. taken over

prevoditi («) ~ prevesti (prevede,

preveo) v.p. (s¨ G) (na¨ A1) translate

(A) (from G) (to A1) § 65

· preveden pass. adj. translated

prezime (prezimen-) n last, family

name

pričati ~ is- («) v.p. tell A (to DL)

prihvaćati ~ prihvatiti v.p. accept A;

mediopass. {B/S: prihvatati ~}

· prihvaćen pass. adj. accepted

· prihvatljiv adj. acceptable

prijatelj mª friend

· prijateljica f

· prijateljski adj.

· prijateljstvo n friendship

prije adv. earlier; (+ G) before § 49

· prijašnji rel. adj. former

prijedlog m proposal

prijetiti impf. threaten (DL)

· prijetnja f threat

prijevod m translation

prijevoz m transport

primjer m example

· na primjer for example [npr.] § 42

princ mª (I princem, N-pl prinčevi)

prince

· princeza f princess

pripadati ~~ pripasti (pripadne, pripao)

v.p. belong to DL

pripremati («) ~ pripremiti («) v.p.

prepare A / se²

· pripremljen pass. adj. prepared

priprema f preparation (incl. food)

priroda f nature

· prirodan (prirodn-) adj. natural

pristajati (pristaje) ~ pristati (pristane)

v.p. (da...) agree (to...); (na¨ A) agree

(with A); dock (for ships) § 52

pritisak (pritisk-) m pressure

prizemlje n ground floor § 31

prljav adj. dirty

proba f rehearsal

probati impf. try (A / INF)

prodavati (prodaje) ~ prodati v.p. sell

A; mediopass.

· prodan pass. adj. sold

profesor mª professor

· profesorica f

· profesorski rel. adj.

prognoza f forecast

progutati perf. → gutati

· progutan pass. adj. swallowed

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proizvod m product

proizvoditi («) ~ proizvesti (proizvede,

proizveo) v.p. produce A; mediopass.

§ 65

· proizveden pass. adj. produced, made

· proizvodnja f production

prolaz m passage, way through

prolaziti ~ proći (prođe, prošao, prošla)

v.p. pass § 42

· prošao (prošl-) adj. (no comp.) past

· prošlost f past

proljeće n spring (season)

· proljetni rel. adj.

promijeniti («) perf. → mijenjati

· promijenjen pass. adj. changed

· promjenjiv adj. inconstant, variable

promaš ivati (-uje «) ~ promašiti v.p.

miss (A)

· promašen pass. adj. missed, failed

promet m traffic {B/S: saobraćaj}

promjena f change

pronalaziti ~ pronaći (pronađe,

pronašao, pronašla) v.p. find A (see

also: naći) § 42

· pronađen pass. adj. found

propadati ~~ propasti (propadne,

propao) v.p. fall apart, collapse, fail

· propao (propal-) adj. (no comp.) failed

prorok mª prophet

prosinac (prosinc-) m (formal)

December {B/S: decembar (decembr-)}

§ 31

· prosinački rel. adj.

proslava f celebration

prošli adj. past, former

prošlost f past

protiv adv. against (+ G)

protivnik mª adversary, rival

· protivnica f

· protivnički rel. adj. rival

provoditi («) ~ provesti (provede,

proveo) v.p. spend A (a period of

time); se² have time (usually fun)

(spend money: trošiti) § 65

· proveden pass. adj. spent

prozor m window {colloq. coast:

poništra}

prsa n pl. chest, breasts

· prsni rel. adj.

prst m (N-pl prsti) finger § 27

prsten m (N-pl prsteni / prstenovi) ring

prtljaga f (no pl.) luggage {S: prtljag m}

pružati ~ pružiti v.p. stretch out A;

serve, offer A (to DL)

· pružen pass. adj. given (service),

stretched out

prvi ord. adj. first § 31

pržiti ~ is- v.p. fry A; mediopass.

· pržen pass. adj. fried

ptica f bird

· ptičji rel. adj.

pucati impf. shoot (from a gun); crack

puhati ~ puhnuti (puhne) v.p. blow

pun adj. full

puniti ~ na- v.p. fill A

· punjen pass. adj. filled

puno adv.q. a lot § 45, 63

pusa f (colloq. fam./children's) kiss

pust adj. empty, deserted

pustinja f desert, wasteland

· pustinjski rel. adj.

puštati ~ pustiti v.p. release, let go A

· pušten pass. adj. released

pušiti impf. smoke (A) (a cigar,

cigarette)

· pušenje n smoking (cigarettes)

put m (I putem, N-pl putevi) way

· ordinal + put(a) time (e.g. third time)

· putni rel. adj.

putnik mª passenger, traveler

· putnica f

· putnički rel. adj.

putovati (putuje) ~ do- («) ~ ot- v.t.

travel

putovnica f passport {B/S: pasoš}

puž mª snail

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rabljen adj. (no comp.) used

račun m bill, receipt

računalo n (formal) computer

računati ~ iz- v.p. compute, calculate

(A); se² count, have importance (impf.

only); na¨ count on A (impf. only); (to

count: brojati)

rad m work (na¨ act.)

· radni rel. adj.

raditi ~ napraviti v.p. work; do,

function

radio (radij-) m radio (na¨ media)

· radijski rel. adj.

rado adv. used to express that some

action is liked

· radost f joy

radnik mª worker

· radnica f

· radnički rel. adj.

rađati ~ roditi v.p. give birth (to A);

mediopass.

· rođen pass. adj. born

· rođenje n birth

· rađanje n childbirth, parturition

rame (ramen-) m (pl ramen-) shoulder

rani adj. early

raspoložen adj. in mood

· raspoloženje n mood

raspored m schedule, positioning

· na¨ + A/DL scheduled

raspravljati ~ raspraviti v.p. (o DL)

discuss (DL)

rast m growth

rastajati (rastaje) se² ~ rastati (rastane)

se² v.p. (od G) divorce (from G)

rasti (raste, rastao, rasla) ~ od- (») v.p.

grow (to grow something: uzgajati)

rat m war

· ratni rel. adj.

razgovarati («) impf. (s I) (preko G) (o

DL) talk (to I) (over G) (about DL) (see

also: govoriti)

razgovor m conversation (na¨ act.)

· razgovorni rel. adj. conversational,

colloquial

razumjeti (razumije) impf. understand

A; mutual se²

· razumijevanje n understanding

razmak m distance, gap

razmišljati («) ~ razmisliti v.p. (o DL)

consider, ponder (DL); think deeply

(about DL)

razvijati ~ razviti (razvije) v.p. develop

A / se²

· razvijen pass. adj. developed

razvoj m development

· razvojni rel. adj.

reći (reče, pres-3 reku; rekao, rekla)

perf. → kazati

rečenica f sentence (in language)

· rečenični rel. adj.

red m order; queue

· u redu pred. OK

· (na¨) pred. used to indicate when it's

someone's turn

· redni rel. adj. ordinal

rep m tail

· repni rel. adj.

rez m cut

rezati (reže) ~ iz- v.p. cut A (used for

nice cuts, e.g. with a knife or saw; for

others: sjeći) {I: rizati}

riba f fish

· riblji rel. adj.

ribar mª fisherman

· ribarski rel. adj.

riječ f (I also riječju) word

rijedak (rijetk-) adj. (comp. rjeđi) rare,

sparse

· rijetko adv. rarely, seldom

· rijetkost f rarity

rijeka f river

· riječni rel. adj.

riža f rice {S: pirinač}

rječnik m dictionary

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rješavati («) ~ riješiti v.p. solve A;

mediopass.

· riješen pass. adj. solved

· rješenje n solution

· rješiv adj. solvable

rob mª slave

· robinja f

· ropski rel. adj.

· ropstvo n slavery

rod m kin

· u rodu pred. related

roditelj mª parent

· roditeljski rel. adj.

· roditeljski sastanak parent-teacher

meeting

rođendan m birthday; birthday party

(na¨ act.)

· rođendanski rel. adj.

roniti impf. dive

roštilj m grill, barbecue (na¨ act.)

roza adj. indecl. (no comp.) (colloq.)

pink {Std: ružičast; S: roze}

rub m edge, margin (na¨ l/d)

· rubni rel. adj. marginal

ručak (ručk-) m main meal of the day,

eaten at midday or early afternoon;

dinner (na¨ act.)

ručati ~ po- v.p. have lunch

ručnik m towel {colloq. coast:

šugaman; B/S: peškir}

rugati se² ~ na- («) v.p. mock DL

rujan (rujn-) m (formal) September

{B/S: septembar (septembr-)}

· rujanski rel. adj.

ruka f arm, hand

· ručni rel. adj. hand, manual

rukav m sleeve

rukavica f glove

rupa f hole

rušiti ~ s- v.p. demolish, tear down A;

mediopass.

ruža f rose

ružan (ružn-) adj. ugly

· ružnoća f ugliness

ružičast adj. pink

S

s¨ (sa¨ in certain positions) prep. (+ I)

with § 35; (+ G) off, from § 21

sačuvati («) perf. → čuvati

sad(a) adv. now

· sadašnji rel. adj. present, current § 76

· sadašnjost f present time, now

saditi ~ po- («) v.p. plant (A)

sadržaj m content; table of contents

saginjati (saginje) ~ sagnuti (sagne) v.p.

bow, duck, bend down A / se²

· sagnut pass. adj. bent (body)

sajam (sajm-) m (N-pl sajmovi) fair (na¨

act.)

salata f salad {Dalm. salata}

sam adj. (no comp.) alone

samljeti (samelje) perf. → mljeti

samo adv. just, only § 67

san (sn-) m dream

sanjati impf. dream (A / CC); o DL

dream of DL

sapun m soap

sastajati (sastaje) se² ~ sastati

(sastane) se² v.p. (s¨ I) meet (I)

sastanak (sastank-) m meeting (na¨

act.)

sat m hour (N-pl sati); clock (N-pl

satovi)

· satni rel. adj.

savijati («) ~ savinuti (savine) v.p. bend

A / se²

sav (sv-) adj. (in Standard, gets e-

endings) all, complete, total (mostly

used as a pronoun: neut. sing. as

everything, masc. plur. as everyone) §

41

savjet m advice; council, board

savršen adj. perfect

· savršenstvo n perfection

se² so-called reflexive particle § 8, 22,

25, 34, 64

sedam number 7

· sedmi ord. adj. seventh

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selo n village

· na¨ + A/DL to/at countryside

· seoski rel. adj.

seljak mª villager

· seljanka f

· seljački rel. adj.

sestra f (G-pl sestara) sister

sestrična f female cousin (male: bratić)

shvaćati ~ shvatiti v.p. comprehend,

realize (A/CC) {B/S: shvatati ~ } § 59

· shvaćen pass. adj. understood

· shvatljiv adj. understandable

siguran (sigurn-) adj. safe; assured,

secure

· sigurno adv. for sure

· sigurnost f security, safety

sin mª son

sinoć adv. last evening

· sinoćnji / sinoćni rel. adj.

sir m (N-pl sirevi) cheese

· sirni rel. adj.

siromašan (siromašn-) poor (only for

material poverty; for e.g. poor

knowledge: slab, loš)

· siromaštvo n poverty

sirov adj. raw

siv adj. (comp. sivlji) gray (for hair:

sijed)

siječanj (siječnj-) m (formal) January

{B/S: januar} § 31

· siječanjski rel. adj.

sjeći (siječe, pres-3pl sijeku, sjekao,

sjekla) ~ od- (») v.p. (na¨ A1) cut (A)

(to A1)

sijed adj. (no comp.) gray, white (hair)

silaziti ~ sići (siđe, sišao, sišla) v.p.

climb down, descend

sjećati se ~~ sjetiti se v.p. remember

(G/CC); § 20, 69

sjedati ~ sjesti (sjedne, sjeo) v.p. sit

down, take a seat (this verb pair

implies motion, while sjediti is static)

sjediti impf. sit (static)

sjedište n seat

sjena f shadow, shade

sjever m north (na¨ l/d)

· sjeverni adj. northern

skakati (skače) ~ skočiti v.p. jump

skidati ~ skinuti (skine) v.p. take off A

(clothes, something hanging) / se²;

(colloq.) download (A)

· skinut pass. adj. taken off

skok m jump

skoro adv. almost (also: quite rare, but

Std. gotovo) § 9, 41

skretati (skreće) ~ skrenuti (skrene)

v.p. (s G) deviate change direction

(from G)

· skretanje n detour, intersection

skroman (skromn-) adj. modest,

humble

skup adj. (comp. skuplji) expensive

· skupoća f dearness, high prices

skupljati ~ skupiti v.p. collect A; se²

shrink (for clothes)

slab adj. weak

· slabost f weakness

slabiti ~ o- v.p. weaken

sladak (slatk-) adj. (comp. slađi) sweet

· slatkoća f sweetness

sladoled m ice-cream (na¨ act.)

slagati (slaže) ~ složiti v.p. arrange, put

in order A; se² agree

slamati ~ slomiti v.p. (na¨ A1) break (A)

(to A1)

· slomljen pass. adj. broken

slan adj. salty

· slanost f salinity

slastičarnica f ice-cream & cakes shop

(also: slastičarna)

slati (šalje) ~ po- v.p. send (A) (to DL)

slava f glory

· slavan (slavn-) adj. glorious, famous

slaviti ~ pro- v.p. celebrate (A)

· slavlje n celebration, feast

sličan (sličn-) adj. similar, alike

· sličnost f similarity

slijediti impf. follow (A) (used literally;

see also: pratiti)

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slijep adj. (no comp.) blind

· sljepoća f blindness

slika f painting, picture, photograph

(na¨ l/d)

slikati ~ na- v.p. paint (A) (a painting);

impf. verb also means take photos

slina f saliva {S: pljuvačka}

sloboda f freedom

slobodan (slobodn-) adj. free,

uninhibited

slon mª elephant

· slonica f

složiti perf. → slagati

· složen adj. assembled; complex

slučaj m (N-pl slučajevi) accident; case

(in law, medicine)

· slučajan (slučajn-) adj. accidental

· slučajnost f chance, randomness

sluga mª (domestic) servant

· sluškinja f

slušati ~ po- v.p. listen (to A)

služiti impf. serve DL; se² I use I

sljedeći adj. (no comp.) next

smeće n (no pl.) trash, waste

smeđ adj. (no comp.) brown

smetati ~¹ za- («) v.p. obstruct,

discomfort (DL)

· smetnja f disturbance, interference

smijati (smije) se² impf. (DL) laugh (at

DL)

smijeh m laughter

smiješan (smiješn-) adj. (comp.

smješniji) funny

smišljati ~ smisliti v.p. contrive, devise,

make a plan

· smišljen pass. adj. premeditated,

devised

smjer m direction

smočiti perf. → močiti

smrt f death

· smrtni rel. adj.

· smrtonosan (smrtonosn-) adj. deadly

snaga f force, strength

snalaziti se² ~ snaći (snađe, snašao,

snašla) se² v.p. manage, find a way §

42

snažan (snažn-) adj. strong (also: jak)

snijeg m (N-pl snjegovi) snow

· sniježni rel. adj.

snimati ~ snimiti v.p. record (A) (to

record sounds and film/video)

soba f room

· sobni rel. adj.

sok m juice

sol f salt {B/S: so (sol-) f}

soliti ~ po- («) v.p. salt (A)

spajati ~ spojiti v.p. connect, join (A);

se² (na¨ A) connect (to A), plug (into

A)

spašavati («) ~ spasiti v.p. rescue, save

A

· spašen pass. adj. rescued, saved

spavati ~~ zaspati (zaspi) {R/B/S:

(zaspe)} v.p. sleep

spoj m junction, connection

spojiti perf. → spajati

· spojen pass. adj. connected

spremati ~ spremiti v.p. prepare A;

store A; tidy A; se² get ready

· spremljen pass. adj. stored, prepared

spreman (spremn-) adj. ready,

prepared

spuštati ~ spustiti v.p. lower, take

down A; se² descend

· + slušalicu hang up the phone

· spušten pass. adj. lowered

srce n (G-pl srca / srdaca) heart

sreća f luck; happiness {I: srića}

· sva sreća da... fortunately § 59

sredina f middle

srednji adj. (no comp.) middle

sretan (sretn-) adj. happy; lucky {I:

sritan, B/S: srećan}

sretati (sreće) ~ sresti (sretne, sreo)

v.p. encounter, come across A; se²

mutual

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srijeda f Wednesday

srpanj (srpnj-) m (formal) July {B/S: jun

/ juni} § 31

· srpanjski adj.

stablo n (G-pl stabala) tree

stado n herd

stajati (staje) ~ stati (stane) v.p. halt,

come to stand (dynamic); fit (perf.) §

52

stajati (stoji) impf. stand (static) § 52

staklo n glass (material)

· staklen adj.

stalan (staln-) adj. (no comp.)

permanent

· stalno adv. (no comp.) constantly, all

the time

stan m apartment

stanica f station (na¨ l/d); cell (in body)

stanje n situation, condition

star adj. old

· starost f age, old age

stavljati ~ staviti v.p. put A (dest) § 60

stizati (stiže) ~ stići (stigne, stigao,

stigla) v.p. arrive (INF) (in time)

sto number 100 § 46

stol m table, desk {B/S: sto (stol-)}

stolac (stolc-) m chair

stolica f chair

stoljeće n century {B: vijek; S: vek}

· stoljetni adj. centennial

stotina f hundred § 46

strah m fear

· strah je² A (G / da...) = A is afraid (of

G / that...) (one who is afraid is in A) §

69

stran adj. unfamiliar, foreign

strana f side, face (of an object); page

(na¨ l/d)

stranac (stranc-) mª foreigner

· strankinja f

stranica f page (na¨ l/d)

strast f passion

strašan (strašn-) adj. terrible

strašiti ~ pre- («) v.p. scare A; se² get

scared

stric mª father's brother; paternal

uncle

· strina f wife of stric

strog adj. (comp. stroži / strožiji) strict

stroj m machine {B/S: mašina}

· strojni adj.

strop m ceiling (na¨ l/d)

· stropni adj.

strpljiv adj. patient

stručnjak mª expert

struja f current; electricity

· strujni adj. electric

studeni m (adj.) (formal) November

{B/S: novembar (novembr-)} § 31

student mª university student

· studentica f

· studentski rel. adj.

stup m column, pillar

stvar f thing

stvaran (stvarn-) adj. real, in existence

· stvarnost f reality

stvarati ~ stvoriti v.p. create (A)

sudjelovati (sudjeluje) impf. (u¨ DL)

participate (in DL)

suđe n (no pl.) dishes

suh adj. (comp. suši) dry {Š: suv}

· suhoća f dryness

suknja f skirt {colloq. inland/S: šos

(N-pl šosevi)}

sukob m conflict

sumnja f suspicion

sumnjati ~~ po- («) v.p. (da...) suspect

(that...)

sumnjiv adj. suspicious

sumrak m dusk

sunce n sun (na¨ met.)

· sunčan adj. sunny

sunčati ~ o- v.p. sunbathe A / se²

super adj., adv. indecl. (no comp.)

(colloq.) great, awesome

suprotan (suprotn-) adj. (no comp.)

opposite

· suprotnost f opposite

suprug mª spouse

· supruga f

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susjed mª neighbor {R/B/S: komšija

mª}

· susjeda f {R/B/S: komšinica}

· susjedstvo n neighborhood {R/B/S:

komšiluk}

susret m encounter

suša f drought

sutra adv. tomorrow {M: sjutra}

· sutrašnji rel. adj. § 76

suza f tear (drop)

svadba f wedding (na¨ act.)

svađati se² ~~ po- v.p. quarrel (the

perf. verb can be also used with A

instead of se²)

svađa f quarrel

svaki (spec. forms) adj. (no comp.) any,

each

sve pron. all, everything; → sav

svi pron. everyone; → sav

svibanj (svibnj-) m (formal) May

{C/B/S: maj} § 31

· svibanjski rel. adj.

sviđati se² ~~ svidjeti (svidi, svidio,

svidjela) se² v.p. like (uses an inverted

case assignment: one who likes is in

DL, what is liked is in N, similar to

German gefallen and Spanish gustar)

§ 32

svijati ~ svinuti (svine) v.p. bend A / se²

· svinut pass. adj. bent

svijet m (N-pl svjetovi) world (na¨ l/d)

· svjetski rel. adj.

svijetao (svijetl-) adj. (comp. svjetliji)

bright

svila f silk

· svilen rel. adj.

svinja f pig

· svinjski adj.

· svinjetina f pork

svirati ~ od- («) ~ za- («) v.t. play (A)

(only to play music, otherwise: igrati)

svjetlo n light (na¨ l/d)

svjetlost f light (abstract)

svjež adj. fresh

· svježina f freshness

svlačiti ~ svući (svuče, svukao, svukla)

v.p. undress, take off A / se²

svojstvo n characteristic

svrha f purpose

Š

šaka f fist

šala f joke

šalica f mug, cup (thick, with handle)

{B/S: šolja}

šaliti se² impf. joke

šapa f paw

šaptati (šapće) ~ šapnuti (šapne) v.p.

(da...) whisper (to DL) (that...)

šaren adj. party-colored, motley § 11

šator m tent

šav m seam, stitch

šećer m sugar

šef mª boss

· šefica f

šest number 6

šešir m hat

šetati (šeće / šeta) ~ pro- («) v.p. (se²)

stroll; walk A (e.g. a dog)

· šetnja f stroll, leisurely walk

šibica f match (to light a fire)

šiljak (šiljk-) m spike, sharp end

šipka f (G-pl šipki) metal rod, bar

širiti ~ ra- («) / pro- («) v.p. spread,

widen A; se² N spread, get wider; (to

spread butter, cream: mazati)

širok adj. (comp. širi) wide

· širina width

šišmiš mª bat (flying animal)

šivati (šije / šiva) ~ sašiti (sašije) v.p.

sew (A)

škakljati (škaklje) ~ po- («) v.p. tickle A

škare f pl. scissors {B/S: makaze f pl.}

škola f school

· školski rel. adj.

školjka f shell, clam

šlapa f (colloq. NW) house slipper {Std:

papuča}

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šlag m (colloq.) whipped cream

šminka f make-up

šminkati ~ na- v.p. put make-up on A /

se²

šofer mª (colloq.) driver (esp. bus

driver) {Std: vozač}

· šoferski rel. adj.

špaga f rope

špek m (colloq. inland) bacon {Std:

slanina}

štakor mª rat {B/S: pacov}

štap m pole, rod

· štapić m stick

štedjeti (also štediti) (štedi, štedio,

štedjela) ~ u- («) v.p. (u¨ DL) saves

(money) (A) (in DL)

štednjak m stove

štene (štenet-) n puppy (as pl. štenad f

coll.)

šteta f damage, harm

štetan (štetn-) adj. harmful

· štetnost f harmfulness

štititi ~ za- («) v.p. (od G) protect (A)

(from G)

što (č- +) pron. what § 28

šuma f forest

· šumski rel. adj.

šunka f (G-pl šunki) ham

šupalj (šuplj-) adj. (no comp.) hollow

· šupljina f cavity

šutjeti (also šutiti) (šuti, šutio, šutjela)

~~ za- («) v.p. (o DL) be silent (about

DL)

· šutnja f silence

T

tad(a) adv. then

· tadašnji rel. adj. § 76

taj (t-) adj. (no comp.) that § 18

tajan (tajn-) adj. secret

· tajnost f secrecy

tajna f (G-pl tajni) secret

takav (takv-) adj. such

tako adv. like that, so § 18

također conj. as well § 67

tama f darkness

taman (tamn-) adj. dark

tamo adv. there, that way

tanak (tank-) adj. (comp. tanji) thin

(used for things)

tanjur m plate {colloq. coast: pjat /

pijat; B/S: tanjir}

tata mª dad

tava f pan

tavan m attic (na¨ l/d)

· tavanski rel. adj.

tečaj m (N-pl tečajevi) course;

exchange rate {B/S: kurs}

· tečajni rel. adj.

teći (teče, pres-3pl teku, tekao, tekla)

impf. flow

tek adv. no earlier than § 9

tekuć adj. (no comp.) liquid, flowing

· tekućina f liquid

telefon m phone (na¨ act.)

· telefonski rel. adj.

telefonirati («) impf. phone (DL)

televizija f television (na¨ media)

televizor m TV (set)

tenisica f sneaker shoe (usually pl.)

{R/B/S: patika}

teta f mother's sister, aunt; (children's)

any non-related woman

težak (tešk-) adj. (comp. teži) heavy;

difficult

· teškoća f difficulty

· težina f weight

ti (+) pron. you (2nd pers. sg.) § 12, 22,

34

tih adj. (comp. tiši) quiet, silent

· tišina f silence

tijelo n body

· tjelesni rel. adj.

tijesan (tijesn-) adj. very narrow, not

fitting

tijesto n pastry

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tipka f control button, key (on

keyboard)

tipkati ~ o- v.p. type (A) (to DL) (similar:

kucati)

· tipkan pass. adj typed (opp. to

handwritten)

tisuća f thousand {R/B/S: hiljada} § 47

tjedan (tjedn-) m week (R/B/S: nedjelja

/ sedmica)

· tjedni rel. adj.

tjerati ~ po- / o- v.p. (od G) chase away

A (from G); (da...) force A (to...)

tko (k- +) pron. who {R/B/S: ko} § 28

tlo n soil, ground {B/S: tle}

to n pron. that § 18, 59

topao (topl-) adj. warm

· toplina f warmth, heat

točiti ~ na- («) v.p. pour (A)

točan (točn- ) adj. exact, accurate, on

time {B/S: tačan (tačn-)}

· točnost f accuracy {B/S: tačnost}

točka f dot, point, end-of-sentence

mark (.) {B/S: tačka}

točno adv. exactly {B/S: tačno}

tok m flow

tolik adj. (no comp.) that big

toliko adv. that many, so many, so

much

tonuti (tone) ~ po- («) v.p. sink (to sink

something: potapljati)

topiti ~ o- v.p. melt A; mediopass;

torba f purse, bag

torta f big, usually round cake

trag m trail, marks left

trajan (trajn-) adj. lasting, permanent

trajekt m ferry

· trajektni rel. adj.

trajati (traje) impf. last § 49

· trajanje n duration; running time of

movie, song

traka f band, stripe

trava f grass

travanj (travnj-) m (formal) April {B/S:

april} § 31

tražiti impf. look for A; mediopass.

· tražen pass. adj. wanted, demanded

trbuh m belly {R/B/S: stomak} § 27

· trbušni rel. adj.

trčati (trči) ~ o- is- / ~ po- v.t. run

trebati ~~ za- v.p. need A; should INF;

also used with inverted cases: one

who needs is in DL, what is needed in

N § 23, 38

treći adj. (no comp.) third § 31

trenirka f tracksuit {R/B/S: trenerka}

trenutak (trenutk-) m moment

trenutno adv. at the moment

tresti (trese, tresao, tresla) ~ s- ~ za-

(») v.t. shake A / se²

trg m square (in city) (na¨ l/d)

trgati ~ po- («) / s- v.p. tear A

trgovina f shop; commerce

trgovac (trgovc-) mª shopkeeper

· trgovkinja f

· trgovački rel. adj.

tri number 3

trka f race (competition)

trljati ~ pro- («) v.p. rub A

trn m thorn

· trnovit adj. thorny

· trnje n coll. thorns

trošak (trošk-) m (N-pl troškovi)

expense

trošiti ~ po- («) v.p. spend (A) (money,

things; to spend time, holidays:

provoditi)

trud m effort, hard work

trudan (trudn-) adj. (no comp.)

pregnant

· trudnoća f pregnancy

truditi se² ~ po- («) v.p. work hard (to-

INF)

truo (trul-) / trul adj. rotten

· trulež f rot

tržnica f farmers' market (na¨ l/d)

{colloq. NW: plac; colloq. coast: pjaca;

B/S: pijaca}

tu adv. there, here

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tući (tuče, pres-3pl tuku; tukao, tukla)

~ is- (») v.p. beat A; se fight one

another, fight others (used for

physical fights; to win: pobjeđivati)

tuga f sadness, sorrow

tulum m (colloq./slang) house party

(na¨ act.)

tuš m shower (to wash body)

tuširati («) ~ o- v.p. shower A / se² (to

wash; for heavy rain: pljuštati)

tužan (tužn-) adj. sad

tvoj (+) poss. adj. your § 19

tvornica f factory {B/S: fabrika}

· tvornički rel. adj. {B/S: fabrički}

tvrd adj. (comp. tvrđi) hard (difficult:

težak)

· tvrdoća f hardness

tvrditi impf. da... assert, claim (to DL)

that...

U

u¨ prep. (+ A) to § 6; (+ DL) in, at § 15;

used to tell time § 9

ubijati («) ~ ubiti (ubije) v.p. kill (A)

· ubijen pass. adj. killed

ubojica mª/f murderer

ubojstvo n murder

učenik mª pupil, student (at university:

student)

· učenica f

· učenički rel. adj.

učitelj mª teacher (at university:

profesor)

· učiteljica f

· učiteljski rel. adj.

učiti ~ na- («) v.p. (od G) learn (A) (from

G); teach A (A) (two accusatives: if one

is a person, it means teach) § 73; se²

na¨ A get used to A

udarac (udarc-) m blow, kick

udarati ~ udariti v.p. smack, kick (A)

udavati (udaje) se² ~ udati se² v.p. (za¨

A) marry (A) (only when woman is the

subject; for men: ženiti)

· udan pass. adj. married (for women!)

udoban (udobn-) adj. comfortable, cosy

· udobnost f coziness

udžbenik m schoolbook, textbook

· udžbenički rel. adj.

ugasiti («) perf. → gasiti

· ugašen pass. adj. extinguished

uho n (as pl. uši f pl.) ear § 27

· ušni rel. adj.

uhvatiti perf. → hvatati

· uhvaćen pass. adj. caught

ujak mª mother's brother

· ujna f wife of ujak

uključ ivati (-uje «) ~ uključiti («) v.p.

include A; switch A on; (opposite:

isključivati)

· uključen pass. adj. turned on;

included

ukrasti (ukrade, ukrao) perf. → krasti

· ukraden pass. adj. stolen

ulaz m entrance

· ulazni rel. adj.

ulaziti ~ ući (uđe, ušao, ušla) v.p. (u¨ A)

enter (A) (opposite: izlaziti) § 42

ulica f street

· ulični rel. adj.

uloga f role

uloviti («) perf. → loviti

· ulovljen pass. adj. caught

ulje n oil (not petrol)

· uljni rel. adj.

umarati («) ~ umoriti («) v.p. tire,

exhaust A; se² get tired; (opposite:

odmarati)

umirati (umire) ~ umrijeti (umre,

umro, umrla) v.p. die

umirovljenik mª (formal) pensioner

{colloq./B/S: penzioner}

· umirovljenica f

· umirovljenički rel. adj.

umivati («) ~ umiti (umije) v.p. se²

wash face; A wash A's face

umjesto conj./prep. instead of § 67

umjetan (umjetn-) adj. artificial {B/S:

vještački}

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umjetnik mª artist

· umjetnica f

· umjetnički rel. adj.

umjetnost f art

umor m fatigue

umoran (umorn-) adj. tired

uništavati («) ~ uništiti v.p. destroy (A);

mediopass; (opposite: stvarati)

· uništen pass. adj. destroyed

unuk mª grandson § 75

· unuka f granddaughter

unutar prep. (+ G) within, inside

unutra adv. inside

· unutrašnji rel. adj. inner

· unutrašnjost f interior

upitnik m questionnaire; question

mark

uplašiti perf. → plašiti

· uplašen pass. adj. scared

uporan (uporn-) adj. persistent

· upornost f perseverance, persistence

upotrebljavati («) ~ upotrijebiti («) v.p.

use A; mediopass; (also: koristiti,

rabiti)

· upotrijebljen pass. adj. used

urar mª watchmaker {B/S: časovničar}

ured m office

· uredski rel. adj.

uredan (uredn-) adj. tidy

· urednost f neatness, tidiness

uređaj m device

uređ ivati (-uje «) ~ urediti («) v.p. put

to order, tidy A / se²; mediopass;

· uređen pass. adj.

uskoro adv. soon

Uskrs m Easter

· uskrsni / uskršnji rel. adj.

uspijevati («) ~ uspjeti (uspije, uspio,

uspjela) v.p. succeed (to INF); u¨ DL

succeed in DL § 60

uspjeh m success

uspješan (uspješn-) adj. successful

usput adv. by the way

usred prep. (+ G) in the middle of {I:

usrid}

usta n pl. mouth

· usni rel. adj.

ustajati (ustaje) ~ ustati (ustane) v.p.

(se²) stand up § 52

usuđ ivati (-uje «) se² ~ usuditi («) se²

v.p. dare (to INF)

usvajati («) ~ usvojiti («) v.p. adopt A

· usvojen pass. adj. adopted

uštedjeti / uštediti perf. → štedjeti

· ušteđen pass. adj. saved (money)

utakmica f match (in sports)

utjecaj m influence

· utjecajan (utjecajn-) adj. influential

utorak (utork-) m Tuesday

utroba f bowels, intestine

uvjet m condition, requisite {B/S:

uslov}

uvjeravati («) ~ uvjeriti v.p. (da...)

convince A / se² (that...)

· uvjeren pass. adj. confident,

convinced

uz¨ prep. (+ G) by, close to

uzak (usk-) adj. (comp. uži) narrow

uzalud adv. in vain

uzaludan (uzaludn-) adj. futile

uzbuđ ivati (-uje «) ~ uzbuditi («) v.p.

excite A; se² get excited

· uzbuđen pass. adj. excited

· uzbuđenje n excitement

uzduž prep. (+ G) along

uzgajati («) ~ uzgojiti («) v.p. cultivate,

breed A

· uzgojen pass. adj. bred

uzgoj m breeding

uzimati ~ uzeti (uzme) v.p. (od G) take

(A) (from G); mediopass.

uzrok m (N-pl uzroci) cause (of

something)

užasan (užasn-) adj. terrible

uže (užet-) n (as pl. užad f) rope

užitak (užitk-) m pleasure

uživati («) impf. (u¨ DL) enjoy (DL)

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V

vaditi ~ iz- v.p. (iz G) pull out, extract A

(from G)

vaga f scale, device for weighting

vagati (važe) ~ iz- («) v.p. weigh (A)

val m wave {B/S: talas}

· valni rel. adj.

valjda adv. probably, hopefully

van adv. out (direction) {R/B/S:

napolje}

· vanjski rel. adj. outer {R/B/S: spoljni} §

76

vani adv. out (location) {R/B/S:

napolju}

varati ~ prevariti v.p. cheat (A)

vatra f fire

· vatren adj. fiery, zealous

važan (važn-) adj. important

· važnost f importance, relevance

večer f evening

· večeras adv. this evening § 18

· večernji rel. adj. evening § 57

· večerašnji rel. adj. this evening § 76

večera f evening meal, supper (na¨

act.)

večerati impf. have supper

već adv. already § 2, 9

većina f majority

· većinski rel. adj.

veličina f size

velik adj. (comp. veći) big

veljača f (formal) February {B/S:

februar} § 31

veseliti se² ~~ raz- («) v.p. look forward

(to DL); da… looks forward to…

veza f link, connection

vezati (veže) ~ za- («) v.p. tie A

· vezan pass. adj. bound, connected

vi (+) pron. you (2nd pers. sg.)

vid m sense of vision

vidik m view, sight

vidjeti (vidi, vidio, vidjela) impf./perf.

see A (see also: gledati); mediopass.

· viđen pass. adj. seen

vijest f news, announcement

vika f shouting

vikati (viče) ~~ po- («) v.p. (da…) shout,

yell) (to DL) (that…)

vilica f fork; mandible

vino n wine

· vinski rel. adj.

vinograd m vineyard

visjeti (also visiti) (visi, visio, visjela)

impf. hang (to hang something:

vješati)

visina f height

· visinski rel. adj.

visok adj. (comp. viši) tall

višak (višk-) m (N-pl viškovi) excess,

surplus

više adv. more

vječan (vječn-) adj. eternal

· vječnost f eternity

vjera f faith

vjeran (vjern-) adj. faithful

· vjernost f fidelity, loyality

vjernik mª believer

· vjernica f

· vjernički rel. adj.

vjerovati (vjeruje) ~~ po- v.p. believe

(to DL); u¨ A believe in A; da… believe

that…

vješati ~ objesiti v.p. hang A

vješt adj. skilled

· vještina f skill

vjetar (vjetr-) m (N-pl vjetrovi) wind

· vjetrovit adj. windy

vlada f government

vladati ~~ za- («) v.p. rule (over I); se²

behave

vlaga f moisture

vlak m train {B/S: voz}

vlast f rule (na¨ act.)

vlažan (vlažn-) adj. moist

· vlažnost f humidity

voće n (no pl.) fruit, fruits

· voćni rel. adj.

voćka f fruit-tree

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voda f water

vodič mª guide; m conductor (of

electricity)

voditi impf. lead (A)

vodopad m waterfall

vođa mª leader

vojnik mª soldier

· vojnički rel. adj.

vojska f army, military

· vojni rel. adj.

volan m steering wheel (za¨ act.) (Std.

upravljač)

voljeti (voli, volio, voljela) ~~ za- («)

love, like A / INF § 32, 81

· voljen pass. adj. loved

voziti impf. drive A (steer!); se² drive

(or ride, someone else could be

steering)

vraćati ~ vratiti v.p. return A / se²

· vraćen pass. adj. returned

vrag mª devil

· vražji adj.

vrat m neck

· vratni rel. adj.

vrata n pl. door (na¨ l/d)

vreća f bag, sack {I: vrića}

vrećica f shopping bag {R/B/S: kesa}

vrh m top, highest point (na¨ l/d)

· vrhunski adj. top-performing, best

vrt m garden

· vrtni adj.

vrijedan (vrijedn-) adj. valuable

· vrijednost f value, worth

vrijediti impf. be worth A; be valid

vrijeme (vremen-) n (pl vremen-) time;

weather

· na vrijeme pred./adv. on time

· vremenski adj.

vrlo adv. very (more formal; less

formal: jako) (cannot be used to

intensify verbs)

vrsta f kind; (biological) species

vruć adj. (no comp.) hot

· vrućina f heat

vući (vuče, pres-3pl vuku; vukao, vukla)

~ po- (») v.p. pull A (opposite: gurati);

se² trudge

vuk mª wolf

· vučica f

· vučji rel. adj.

vuna f wool

· vunen rel. adj. of wool, woolen

Z

za¨ prep. (+ A) for A; (+ I) behind,

around I (mostly in set expressions

such as za stolom sitting around the

table)

zabava f party, entertainment, fun (na¨

act.)

zabavan (zabavn-) adj. entertaining,

funny

zabavljati ~ zabaviti v.p. entertain A;

se² have fun

zabijati («) ~ zabiti (zabije) v.p. hammer

in A

· + gol strike a goal

· zabijen pass. adj. hammered in

zaboravljati ~ zaboraviti v.p. forget A /

INF / CC; § 69

· zaboravljen pass. adj. forgotten

zabrana f ban

zabranj ivati (-uje «) ~ zabraniti («) v.p.

da… forbid DL (to…); forbid DL to INF;

ban A

· zabranjen pass. adj. banned

začas adv. in little time, soon

začin m spice

· začinski adj.

zadnji adj. (no comp.) last (also:

posljednji; opposite: prvi)

zadovoljan (zadovoljn-) adj. content,

satisfied

· zadovoljstvo n satisfaction

zadržavati («) ~ zadržati (zadrži) v.p.

keep A; se² spend time at some place

zagrada f bracket (in writing, math)

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zagrliti v. perf. → grliti

· zagrljen pass. adj. hugged

zagrljaj m hug

zahod m toilet (na¨ act.) [WC]

· zahodski rel. adj.

zahtijevati («) impf. (od¨ G) demand

(A) (from G); (od¨ G) da… demand

(from G) that…

zahtjev m demand

zahvalan (zahvaln-) adj. thankful,

grateful

zahvalj ivati (-uje ) ~ zahvaliti («) v.p.

(za¨ A) thank (DL) (for A)

zaista adv. really (similar: stvarno)

zajednički adj. shared, common, not

private

zajedno adv. together (also: skupa)

zaključavati («) ~ zaključati v.p. lock (A)

(opposite: otključavati)

· zaključan pass. adj. locked

zaključak (zaključk-) m conclusion

zaključ ivati (-uje «) ~ zaključiti («) v.p.

da… conclude that…; conclude (A)

zakon m law

· zakonit adj. lawful

zaljev m bay

zamatati («) ~ zamotati v.p. wrap, bind

A; (opposite: odmatati)

· zamotan pass. adj. wrapped

zamrziti («) inch. → mrziti

zanimati («) impf. be interesting to A;

se² za A show interest in A

zanimljiv adj. interesting

zao (zl-) adj. (no comp.) evil

zapad m west (na¨ l/d)

· zapadni adj. western

zapovijed f command

zapovijedati («) ~ zapovjediti v.p. (da…)

order (A) (to…) (used in military

context only)

zapravo adv. contrary to expectations,

actually (opposite: naravno, dakako)

zar particle used to emphasize

questions

zarada f profit

zarađ ivati (-uje «) ~ zaraditi («) v.p.

earn (A)

· zarađen pass. adj. earned

zastava f flag

zašto adv. why § 50

zato adv. therefore, for that reason §

50

zatvarati («) ~ zatvoriti («) v.p. close A;

mediopass; (opposite: otvarati)

· zatvoren pass. adj. closed, locked up

zatvor m prison; constipation

· zatvorski rel. adj.

zatvorenik mª prisoner

· zatvorenica f

· zatvorenički rel. adj.

zaustavljati ~ zaustaviti v.p. stop A /

se² (opposite: pokretati)

· zaustavljen pass. adj. stopped

zauzimati ~ zauzeti (zauzme) v.p.

occupy A; se² za¨ A promote A

· zauzet pass. adj. occupied

zavoljeti («) inch. → voljeti

završavati («) ~ završiti («) v.p.

complete (A)

· završen pass. adj. completed, finished

zbog prep. (+ G) because of G, due to G

§ 50

zdrav adj. healthy

· zdravlje n health

zec m rabbit

· zečica f

· zečji rel. adj.

zelen adj. green

zemlja f (G-pl zemalja) ground; earth;

country

· zemljan adj. earth

zet mª daughter's husband

zgrada f building

zid m wall

· zidni rel. adj.

zidar mª bricklayer, mason

· zidarski rel. adj.

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zima f winter

· zima je² DL = DL is cold (colloq.)

· zimski rel. adj.

· zimi adv. in wintertime

· zimus adv. this winter

zlato n gold

· zlatan (zlatn-) adj. golden

zlo n evil

· zlo je² DL = DL feels sick

zločest adj. (children's) naughty

značajan (značajn-) adj. significant

značiti impf. mean, signify A (to DL)

· značenje n meaning

znak m sign

znati impf. know (how to INF); da…

know, be aware that…; know A (a

skill); (to know people: poznavati)

znanje n knowledge

znanost f science {B/S: nauka}

· znanstven adj. {B/S: naučni}

znanstvenik mª scientist {B/S: naučnik}

· znanstvenica f {B/S: naučnica}

zmija f snake

· zmijski rel. adj.

zora f dawn

zrak m air (na¨ in fresh air) {B/S:

vazduh}

· zračni adj. {B/S: vazdušni}

zraka f ray (e.g. of light) {B/S: zrak}

zrcalo n mirror (also: ogledalo)

· zrcalni rel. adj.

zreo (zrel-) adj. ripe

· zrelost f maturity

zub m (N-pl zubi, G-pl zubi / zuba)

tooth

· zubni rel. adj.

zubar mª dentist

· zubarica f {B/S: zubarka}

· zubarski rel. adj.

zvati (zove) ~ po- (») v.p. call (A); se² N

stating name of the subject, be called

N (very similar to Spanish llamarse);

(see also poziv)

zvijezda f star

· zvjezdan rel. adj. starry

zvoniti ~ po- («) v.p. ring

zvono n bell, ring (on door)

zvučati (zvuči) ~~ za- («) v.p. (kao…)

sound (like…)

zvuk m sound

· zvučni adj.

Ž

žaba f frog

· žablji rel. adj.

žalba f complaint

žaliti impf. (za¨ A) be sorry (about A);

se² (da…) complain (that…)

žao je² DL (da…) = DL is sorry (that…)

žarulja f light bulb {R/B/S: sijalica}

žedan (žedn-) adj. thirsty

· žeđ f thirst

želudac (želudc-, želuc-) m stomach

· želučan rel. adj.

želja f wish

željeti (želi, želio, željela) ~~ za- v.p.

wish, desire A; wish to INF

· željen pass. adj. desired

željeznica f railway

· željeznički adj.

željezo n iron {R/B/S: gvožđe}

· željezni adj. of iron {R/B/S: gvozden}

žena f woman; wife

ženiti ~ o- («) v.p. marry A (a woman);

se² (za¨ A) marry (A) (a woman); se²

get married (see also: udati)

ženski adj. female, feminine

· ženska f (adj.) (slang) girlfriend,

woman

žetva f harvest

žica f wire

Židov mª Jew {B/S: Jevrej}

· Židovka f {B/S: Jevrejka}

· židovski adj. {B/S: jevrejski}

žito n corn, grain

živ adj. (comp. življi) alive (opposite:

mrtav)

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živac (živc-) m nerve {B/S: nerv (N-pl

nervi)}

· živčan rel. adj. {B/S: nervni}

živjeti (živi, živio, živjela) impf. live,

reside

život (život-) m life

· životni rel. adj.

životinja f animal

· životinjski rel. adj.

žlica f spoon {B/S: kašika}

· žličica f teaspoon {B/S: kašičica}

županija f county, territorial unit in

Croatia

žurba f hurry

žuriti impf. hurry, be in a hurry (see

also: požurivati)

žut adj. (comp. žući, žutiji) yellow

žvakati (žvače) ~ sa- («) v.p. chew (A)

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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / Symbols & Abbreviaons 596 / 600

Symbols & Abbreviations

The following symbols and abbreviations are used in the text (additional

abbreviations appear in the Core Dictionary):

® a point of difference vs. Bosnian, Serbian or Montenegrin

² second-position word (also called enclitic)

¨ word pronounced with the following word (also called proclitic)

~ verb aspect pair (or triplet)

~~ verb aspect pair, with a perf. inchoative verb

~¹ verb aspect pair, with a perf. semelfactive ('atomic') verb

° impersonal verb in the present tense

« stress moves one syllable to the left (in the Standard scheme)

» stress moves one syllable to the right

a stressed vowel

A accusative case (the object case)

A-pl accusative case in plural

adj. adjective

DL dative/locative case

DLI-pl dative/locative/instrumental case in plural

fem. feminine (gender)

G genitive case

G-pl genitive case in plural

I

instrumental case

imper-2 imperative form of a verb, 2nd pers. singular

imper-xpl imperative form of a verb, xth person (x = 1, 2), plural

impf. imperfective (verb)

inf infinitive (dictionary form of a verb)

masc. masculine (gender)

N nominative case (the default case)

N-pl nominative case in plural

neut. neuter (gender)

past-y past participle of a verb, gender y (y = m, f, n)

perf.

plur.

perfective (verb)

plural

pres-x present form of a verb, xth person (x = 1, 2, 3)

pres-xpl present form of a verb, xth person (x = 1, 2, 3), plural

sing. singular

V vocative case

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / Index 597 / 600

Index

accusative case 03, 05, 06, 07, 13, 14, 25, 27, 49, 73

adjectives 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19, 29, 33, 35, 44, 57, 61, 63, 80, 82, 83, 88

adverbs 04, 06, 08, 18, 80, 76

clauses 50, 56, 59, 62, 69, 70, 71

conditional 39, 70

conjunctions 25, 43, 67, 77

dative/locative case 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 27, 32, 36, 46, 64, 73, 74

gender 10, 13, 14, 24, 29, 88

genitive case 20, 21, 22, 44, 45, 46, 88

imperative 53, 71

impersonal expressions 08, 23, 24, 25, 32, 45, 64, 71

infinitive 32, 38, 53

instrumental case 35, 36

locations 15, 20, 21, 41, 76

negation 04, 08, 13, 41, 45, 67

‘empty’ 54, 69, 77

numbers 09, 30, 31, 47, 68, 90

particle se² 07, 16, 25, 34, 64, 71, 79

passive 61, 64, 79

perfective verbs 37, 38, 40, 50, 54, 56, 69, 81, 86

phase verbs 52, 60

plural 13, 25, 29, 44

polite expressions 12, 72

possession 14, 16, 19, 20

prepositions 09, 21, 33, 34, 50, 55

present tense 02, 03, 06, 08, 12, 25

pronouns 13, 22, 34, 41

pronunciation 01, 02, 09

questions 03, 06, 08, 09, 15, 20, 26, 28, 49, 56, 57, 59

stress 12, 15, 25, 44, 61, 84, A7

time 09, 21, 49, 51, 54, 58, 81

verb families 42, 52, 60, 65, 86

word order 07, 08, 16, 22, 23, 34, 38, 50, 56, A5

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / Keys to Exercises 598 / 600

Keys to Exercises

Where more than one answer is possible, they are listed separated with slashes (e.g.

stvarno / zaista).

02. a) zijeva b) Plačem c) već d) sjedi e) Još f) spavam g) Ona h) trči i) On j) već k)

čeka

03. a) bananu b) poruku c) Ines d) knjigu e) pizzu f) kavu g) jabuku h) Ona i) čita j)

knjigu k) ima l) sestru m) Slušam n) pjesmu o) Čitam p) poruku q) Čekam r) večeru

s) Pijem t) vodu

04. a) Ne b) spavam c) televiziju d) Opet / ponovo / ponovno e) kavu f) Nemam g)

čašu h) sigurno i) gleda j) Ponekad k) kavu

05. a) čaj b) Damira c) nož d) Ne e) Darija f) magarca g) Krunu h) opet / ponovo /

ponovno i) pismo j) knjigu k) pije l) pivo m) Što n) čita o) Što p) radi

06. a) kino b) plažu c) Sutra d) Dubrovnik e) Sutra f) ne g) posao h) na i) pivo j) u k)

u l) na m) sjever n) na o) rođendan p) na q) ručak r) u s) park

07. a) nogomet b) se c) hladi d) Zovem e) se f) Ne g) zabavljam h) se i) se j) brije k)

Igram l) se

08. a) je b) jako / vrlo c) oblačno d) pada e) kiša f) Tamo g) je h) Strašno / užasno i)

vruće j) Jako k) pada

09. a) u b) četiri c) za d) u e) jedan f) u g) sedam h) dvanaest i) Skoro / gotovo j) je

k) podne

10. a) velika b) pun c) slabo d) stvarno / zaista e) skup f) poznata g) duboko h)

duga i) puna j) jako / vrlo k) lijepa l) gotov m) duga n) jeftino

11. a) je b) siva c) dobra d) sretan e) je f) sretna g) hladno h) dosta / prilično i)

kratak j) je k) teška l) jako / vrlo m) slatka n) Lubenica o) je p) kao q) med

13. a) ju / je b) čujem c) Vas d) Ona e) me f) ga g) poznajem h) ga i) ga j) ne k)

Čekamo l) te m) vas n) na o) more p) Ona q) profesorica r) Nisi s) žedna t) Mi u)

smo v) mladi

14. a) moju b) sestru c) na d) veliku e) plažu f) hladno g) pivo h) malog i) brata j)

crnu k) mačku l) vozi m) moj n) u o) moj p) stan q) hladnu r) pizzu

15. a) na b) moru c) u d) kuhinji e) smo f) na g) plaži h) Gdje i) je j) na k) radiju l) je

m) na n) jugu o) na p) ručku

16. a) baki b) baku c) frizeru / frizerki d) kući / doma e) Ani f) Anu g) poruku h)

poruku i) Ani j) Marku k) razglednici

17. a) živi b) Škotskoj c) u d) Francusku e) smo f) Americi g) na h) engleskom i) u j)

Bosni k) u l) Njemačkoj m) na n) velikoj o) plaži p) je q) mojoj r) sobi s) mom /

mojem

18. a) onoj / toj b) kući c) takav d) jednu e) je f) tako g) skupo h) smo i) mi j) još k)

jedan

19. a) njegovu b) Hrvojeva c) sestra d) Aninog / Aninoga e) brata f) mom / mojem

/ mome / mojemu g) sinu h) svoj i) u j) tvom / tvojem

20. a) je b) kod c) mame d) se e) boji f) vode g) ključ h) ormara i) Knjiga j) Ane k) na


l) visoke m) planine n) crnog o) psa p) se q) te r) noći s) kod t) kuće

21. a) iz b) Zagreba c) od d) osam e) do f) dva g) sa h) sastanka i) iz j) škole k) s l)

koncerta m) iz n) parka o) s p) Krka q) moru r) do s) nedjelje

22. a) ih b) Evo c) nas d) joj e) mu f) Ane g) Nema h) je i) Evo j) ih

23. a) nam b) mi c) Goranu d) Drago e) nam f) Osjećam g) se

24. a) je b) spavala c) je d) bilo e) Bilo f) im g) je h) je i) kuhao j) Bilo k) je l) Čekali m)

smo n) te o) Padala p) je q) Bila r) je

25. a) su b) crne c) ptice d) smo e) pisma f) Oni g) su h) To i) su j) razumiju /

shvaćaju k) nas l) Peku

26. a) Jesi b) li c) gledala d) Jeste e) li f) gledali

27. a) Svrbe b) me c) me d) koljeno e) su f) mi g) usta h) Boljelo i) te j) je k) Svrbile /

svrbjele l) su m) me n) mi o) je p) prljava

28. a) Koga b) Što c) Tko d) Tko e) pisao f) Što g) radila

29. a) Ljudi b) su c) labudove d) nokte e) goste f) ključeve g) Psi h) Putnici i) Noževi

j) moji k) početci / počeci l) Uspjesi

30. a) tri b) velike c) čaše d) čovjeka e) pjevala

31. a) Naš b) je c) na d) trećem e) katu f) u g) četvrtom h) u i) podrumu j) u k)

prvom l) redu

32. a) voli b) Sviđaju c) mi d) se e) ne f) voli g) sviđa h) mi i) se j) Volim k) gledati l)

filmove

33. a) školskom b) morskoj c) voćni d) ratni

34. a) nije b) kod c) tebe d) smo e) kod f) nje g) se h) njega i) Kolači j) su k) vas

35. a) oštrim b) nožem c) njegovim d) autom e) sa f) šunkom g) autobusom h) je /

sjedi i) stolom j) za k) pticom l) kućom m) sa n) sirom

36. a) ispred b) lijepim c) plažama d) sa e) sendvičima

38. a) Ne b) namjeravamo c) jesti d) Želim / Hoću e) tražiti f) pokušava g) raditi h)

nije i) mogao j) spavati k) Ne l) smiješ m) trčati n) Pokušavam o) spavati

39. a) Čitao b) bih c) bi d) se e) igrao

40. a) Pit b) ćemo c) Gledat d) ću e) ću f) čitati g) Kupit h) ću i) auto

41. a) Nitko b) ne c) ništa d) negdje

42. a) Prešli b) smo c) je d) otišla e) iz f) sam g) u h) kuću

43. a) a b) i c) gleda d) a e) meni f) je g) dosadno h) Ne i) znam j) ni k) ni l) ruski

44. a) dokumenata b) mojih c) sestara d) velikih e) ptica f) palmi g) bez h) kosti /

kostiju i) Nema j) zvijezda k) na l) tajni m) čaša

47. a) je b) voće c) Djeca d) su e) tvoju f) djecu g) tvojom h) braćom i) se j) igraju

49. a) tri b) godine c) šest d) godina e) na f) tri g) tjedna h) za i) šest j) tjedana k)

prije l) tri m) dana n) za o) dva p) mjeseca

50. a) zbog b) snijega c) jer d) je e) bilo f) da g) ne h) da i) te j) vidim k) vrata l) za m)

svaki n) slučaj o) po p) kaput

51. a) godinama b) tjednima c) Petkom d) Dugo

52. a) Postalo b) nam c) je d) Ostajem e) počela f) čitati g) prestao h) padati i) sve j)

ostalo k) ne l) stane m) frižider n) stoji o) pred p) Stalo q) nam r) je s) tebe

54. a) kad / kada b) je c) hladno d) Ne e) pijem f) dok g) Pada h) otkad / otkada i)


smo j) došli k) ćemo l) kad / kada m) bude

56. a) da b) dođeš c) da d) nas e) nazoveš f) ih g) otvore h) da i) je j) ljeto k) bih l)

otići / ići m) na n) more

57. a) Koju b) jabuku c) Čiji d) su e) ključevi f) Kakav g) sendvič

59. a) znamo b) gdje c) je d) Znala e) je f) da g) će h) biti i) Osjećam j) da k) će l) se

m) dogoditi / desiti n) Mislim o) da p) neće q) biti

60. a) Dodaj b) mi c) Nastavljam d) Prodao e) sam

61. a) otvorena b) popijeno c) zatvorena d) poslan e) bačena f) primljena g) u h)

zatvorenoj i) nisu j) plaćeni

63. a) toplije b) sporije c) hladnije d) niži e) Ane f) brži g) broda h) malo i) teža j) što

/ čim k) veću

64. a) se b) otopio c) Vrtilo / Vrtjelo d) se e) se f) promijenilo g) se h) pokvario i) se

j) govori k) u l) Malo m) se

71. a) Nije b) mi c) se d) dalo e) Opustite f) Nagovorila g) nas h) je i) gledamo /

pogledamo j) Propustili

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