89 Abstract and I-Nouns

• • • Review: Common Noun Suffixes
• • • Easy Croatian: 80 Depth and Distance: Abstract Nouns

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are nouns standing from some abstract property. For example, from adjective "deep", one can derive English abstract noun "depth". In English, that's not the only way: actually, the default way is to add "-ness", e.g. "blind" → "blindness". Such abstract nouns are all derived from adjectives.

In Croatian, there are several ways to derive abstract nouns from adjectives. For some adjectives there are fixed abstract nouns, derived long time ago. But there's also a default way for other adjectives.

For many adjectives, -ina is added, and -ok, el and similar adjective endings are discarded, similar to when making comparatives:

brz "fast" → brzìna "speed, velocity"   dùbok "deep" → dubìna "depth" šìrok "wide" → širìna "width"

topäo, topla "warm" → toplìna "warmth, heat" vìsok "high" → visìna "height" vrūć "hot" → vrućìna "heat"

All such nouns are feminine. Sometimes -’jina is added, leading to j-softening, again the results look similar to comparatives:

debeo, debel "fat" → debljìna "fatness"     jāk "strong" → jačìna "strength" kolik "how big" → količìna "quantity"

tih "quiet" → tišìna "silence" vèlik "big" → veličìna "size"

To some adjectives, -oća or -ota is added:

hládän "cold" → hladnòća "cold" (noun) glūh "deaf" → gluhòća "deafness" lijëp "nice, pretty" → ljëpòta "prettiness"

rúžän "ugly" → ružnòća "ugliness" slijëp "blind" → sljëpòća "blindness"

Note that the stress always moves to i's or o's in the suffix.

The pop song Tišina performed by Massimo Savić illustrates a couple of abstract nouns:

Do tebe me nosi tišina
na krilima vrëmena
mjësta još uvijek ima

Kada zastanem pitat ću zvijëzde
koliko me dijëli do tebe
i tvojih visina

(Sandro Bastiančić)

"Silence carries me to you
on wings of time
there's still some room

When I stop I'll ask stars
how far it's to you
and your heights"

(In this song, Massimo uses accent close to the Standard; except for pòtrajē and some other words.)

A few adjectives add -stvo, creating neuter nouns:

bògat "rich" → bogàtstvo "richness"
iskūsän "experienced" → iskústvo "experience"
siròmašän "poor" → siromáštvo "poverty"
zadovōljan "satisfied" → zadovòljstvo "satisfaction"

You can again see how the stress move to the same vowel, in this case, to a vowel just before the -stvo.

The "default" ending used by many adjectives (and all new adjectives that get adopted into Croatian) is -ōst. This is an important ending because it produces i-nouns. Beside this ending, the number of i-nouns is small and fixed. This ending produces "new" i-nouns. They are of course all feminine. Some examples:

star "old" → starōst f "age"
mlād "young" → mladōst f "youth"
spor "slow" → sporōst f "slowness"
prozīrän "transparent" → prozírnōst f "transparency"
òtvoren "open" → òtvorenōst f "openness"
lūd "crazy" → ludōst f "crazyness"
živ "live" → živōst f "liveliness"
slān "salty" → slanōst f "saltiness"

If you want to be careful about the pronunciation, there's always a long -ō in -ōst.

List of I-Nouns

Here is a list of all commonly used i-nouns, aside from ones created with -ost (abbreviation coll. stands for "collective"; I was unable to find translations of some less often used words):

Note. I haven't updated all lengths and stresses, be patient.

ávet "specter" besvijëst "unconsciousness" bīt "essence" bjëlokost "ivory" blagodat "blessing, boon" bōl "pain" bolēst "disease" cijëv "pipe" čār "charm, lure" čāst "honor" čeljad coll. "people" čeljūst "jaw" četvrt "quarter" čīni pl. "charms" ćūd "nature" (one's behavior) dēsni pl. "gum" (in mouth) divljāč coll. "wild game" dōb "age" dobīt "profit" dobrobīt "wellfare, well-being" dvēri pl. "gate" gárež glād "hunger" grábež "pillage" grūdi pl. "bosom" hrīd "cliff" ispomōć "dole" ispovijëd "confession" ispovijëst "confession" jesēn "autumn, "fall" kāp "drop" (of water, blood) kćī "daughter" (see below!) klijët "cottage" kōb "doom, fate" kokōš "hen" korīst "benefit, avail, utility" kōst "bone" krljušt "scale (of fish)" krmelj "crumb in corner of eye" krv "blood" kupelj "bath" lāž "lie" ljúbav "love" māst "grease" milōst "mercy" misäo "thought" mjëd "brass" mládež "youth" mlađ "hatched fish" mlijëč "milt"

mōć "power, influence" nadmōć "dominance" nagovijëst "allusion" napast "temptation" narav "temper, nature" neman "behemoth, monster" nemōć "frailty" nesvijëst "unconsciousness" nīt "thread" nōć "night" obavijëst "information" obijëst "frolic" obítelj "family" oblāst "zone, region" oči pl. "eyes" ōs "axis" osti pl. "fish spear" ovlāst "authority" pakōst "malice, spite" palež "arson" pamēt "intelligence" paprat "fern" pēć "furnace" pèlud "pollen" perūt "dandruff" pleći pl. "back (of a person)" plijësan "mold" počāst "tribute" pogibelj "peril" poluos "half-axis" polusvijëst "semi-consciousness" pomast "ointment" pomisäo "glance, after thought" pomoć "help" ponoć "midnight" pošāst "pestilence" povijëst "history" prapovijëst "prehistory" pregršt "handful" premoć "domination" prepāst "consternation" prevlāst "superiority" prhut "dandruff" príčest "communion" primisäo "afterthought" pripomoć "subvention, support" propāst "downfall, decadence" propovijëd "homily, sermon" prsi pl. "bosom, chest" punomoć "authorization, power of attorney"

pústoš "wasteland, empty land" put "complexion, skin color" ráskoš "splendor, luxury" rāvan "plain, flat land" rāž "rye" rijëč "word" rīt "bog-land" sablāst "ghost, specter" sablazan "scandal" samopomoć "self-help" samosvijëst "self-awareness" samrt "near death" savijëst "consciousness" sklet "scarlet" (a disease) skrb "care" slāst "savor, sweetness" slūz "mucus" smīsäo "sense, purpose" smrt "death" sōl "salt" splāv "raft" sr̄ž "core, marrow" strāst "passion" stvār "thing" sućūt "remorse" svemōć "omnipotence" svijëst "consciousness, awareness" trúlež "decay, rot" tvār "matter" (in science) ūš "louse" uši pl. "ears" vároš "small town" večēr "evening" vijëst "news" visoravan "highland, plateau" vjeroispovijëst "confession" (what religion) vlas "one hair, thread" vlast "authority, rule" vlat "blade" (of grass) vrlet "cliff, mountainous region" zabīt "seclusion, inaccessible area" zaborāv "oblivion" zamīsäo "idea" zapovijëd "order, command" zaravan "plateau" závist "envy" zimzelēn "evergreen plant" zōb "oat" zvijër "beast" žūč "gall, bile"

Updated 2014-08-22 (v. 0.4)