Each syllable in Standard Croatian can be either short or long. It can be stressed or unstressed. If it's stressed, there are two types of stress, rising and falling. That's called pitch accent:
The marks above vowels indicate Standard stress:
- a = a short vowel
- ā = a long vowel
- à = a short vowel with the rising stress
- á = a long vowel with the rising stress
The last syllable in words with more than one syllable cannot be stressed in Standard Croatian. If no syllable is marked, a falling stress on the first syllable is assumed.
The stress rules vary according to region/dialect. In Zagreb local dialect, there is no difference between short and long syllables, between rising and falling stress, and any syllable can be stressed. The Zagreb stress is marked by underscored vowels.
General Rules
The noun smijëh is actually pronounced /smjēh/ and therefore it's a one-syllable noun.
Genitive Plural Length Rule
If the gen. pl. of a noun ends on -a, then the last two syllables are always long
(the last one includes the ending -a).Example: žèna – žénā, národ – nárōdā
Of course if the one-but-the-last syllable has a short rising stress, it will have a long rising one in gen. pl: the intonation is not changed, only the length!
Another rule is that vocatives have always a falling stress.
Other case endings are usually short, except for singular of a-nouns, where the -ē in genitive and -ōm in instrumental are always long (e.g. gen. ribē, ins. ribōm).
Fixed and Falling-rising Stress
case fixed falling-rising nom. sg. riba žèna národ konj kljūč pūt acc. sg. ribu žènu kònja dat. sg. ribi žèni národu kònju kljúču pútu other cases in sg. (same stress as dat. sg.) voc. sg. ribo ženo nārode konju kljūču pūtu nom. pl. ribe žène národi kònji kljúčevi pūtevi other cases in pl. (same stress as nom. pl.) gen. pl. rībā žéna nárōdā kónjā kljúčēvā pútēvā voc. pl. ribe žene nārodi konji kljūčevi pūtevi
The common nouns that fall into the falling-rising pattern are:
bōr "pine"
čep "plug, cork"
džep "pocket"
grob "grave"
hrāst "oak"
konj "horse"
kljūč "key"
kūt "corner"
mak "poppy"
nōž "knife"
pod "floor"
pop "priest"
pūt "path, way"
pūž "snail"
slon "elephant"
smijēh "laughter" (*)
snop "bundle"
strīc "father's brother"
strop "ceiling"
stūp "column, pillar"
šäv "stitch"
štāp "rod, stick"
top "cannon"
trūd "effort"
vōl "ox"
vrh "top, peak"
vrt "garden"
Penultimate Stress
Basically, in this pattern, whenever anything is added to the noun, the stress shifts to the right, and is mostly on the syllable before the last one. The stress is always rising, except in vocatives:
nom. sg. vòjnīk kòlāč hòtel gospòdār acc. sg. vojníka kòlāč hòtel gospodára dat./loc. sg. vojníku koláču hotèlu gospodáru other cases in sg. (same stress as dat. sg.) voc. sg. vojnīče kolāču hotelu gospodāru nom. pl. vojníci koláči hotèli gospodári other cases in pl. (same stress as nom. pl.) gen. pl. vojníkā koláčā hotélā gospodárā voc. pl. vojnīci kolāči hoteli gospodāri
In the Standard stress system, there's an opposition between nom. (and acc., if acc. = nom., that is, for mi nouns) and all other cases.
The gen. pl. follows the general rule (check the chapter on Stress).
Often used nouns in this group are (there's no need to indicate stress since it always follows the above pattern):
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alāt "tool" aparāt "device" aviōn "airplane" balkōn "balcony" balōn "baloon" bankār "banker" bazēn "pool" betōn "concrete" bombōn "hard candy" bunār "water well" bolesnīk "sick person" bukēt "bouquet" češnjāk "garlic" činovnīk "clerk" čuvār "guard, warden" dirigent "orchestra conductor" djëčāk "boy" dućān "shop" duhān "tobacco" ekrān "(TV, movie) screen" fakultēt "university dept." frizēr "hairdresser" filozof "philospher" fotograf "photographer" gospodār "master" gradīć "small town" herōj "hero" inženjēr "engineer" jelovnīk "menu" jahāč "rider" junāk "hero" kafīć "(café) bar" kamiōn "truck" kartōn "cardboard" kapetān "captain" kirurg "surgeon" klavīr "piano" kolāč "cake" komād "piece" |
komentār "comment" kormilār "helmsman" kostīm "costume" kotāč "wheel" kovāč "(black)smith" kristāl "crystal" krojāč "tailor" krumpīr "potato" kurīr "courier, messenger" lokāl "bar, parlour" mesār "butcher" mjenjāč "gearbox" mladīć "young man" mitraljēz "machine gun" modelār "modeller" mornār "sailor" nepušāč "non-smoker" nosāč "carrier" okvīr "frame" ormār "closet, wardrobe" pakēt "packet, package" papīr "paper" parfēm "perfume" parkēt "hardwood floor" pastīr "shepherd" penzionēr "pensioner" perēc "pretzel" perōn "railway platform" pjëšāk "pedestrian, pawn" plakāt "poster, billboard" planinār "alpinist" pokrivāč "blanket, cover" pomoćnīk "aide, helper" portrēt "portrait" potrošāč "consumer" prekidāč "switch" pomagāč "helper, accessory" princīp "principle" prvāk "champion" |
portīr "doorkeeper" purān "turkey (male)" pušāč "smoker" račūn "bill, receipt" recept "recipe" redār "security guy" rezervāt "(nature) reserve" rezultāt "outcome, result" romān "novel" roštīlj "barbecue, grill" ručnīk "towel" rukāv "sleeve" sapūn "soap" seljāk "peasant" sitnīš "coins, small money" slatkīš "candy" skakāč "jumper, chess knight" stanovnīk "inhabitant, dweller" svjëdok "witness" šampōn "shampoo" tanjūr "plate" tajkūn "tycoon" terēn "terrain, ground" trajekt "ferry" trkāč "runner" utikāč "electric plug" vagōn "railway car" veterinār "vet" vidīk "sight, panorama" vladār "ruler" vodīč "guide" vojnīk "soldier" volān "steering wheel" vozāč "driver" vratār "gate keeper, doorman" zanāt "craft, trade" zidār "mason, bricklayer" zubār "dentist" |
Berlīn
Balkān
Brazīl
Japān
Londōn
Parīz "Paris"
Plomīn
Solīn
Trogīr
Englēz "Englishman"
Francūz "Frenchman"
Hrvāt "Croat (man)"
Kinēz "Chinese (man)"Mađār "Hungarian (man)"
Poljāk "Pole, Polish (man)"
Slovāk "Slovak (man)"
Talijān "Italian (man)"
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admirāl albūm apetīt atōm automāt balēt |
dinamīt festivāl hokēj hotel ideāl institūt |
kalendār kanāl kapitāl karnevāl konduktēr magnēt |
margarīn metāl model motēl motōr neurōn |
oceān planēt problēm reportēr restorān salōn |
satelīt servīs signāl sistēm telefōn tunēl |
Foreign words that end on two consonants or -es (which is originally -ess, e.g. "process") have the short last consonant:
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akcent alarm arhitekt asfalt asistent |
diletant fašist infarkt instrument komunist |
koncept koncert kongres kontakt kontinent |
moment objekt patent proces produkt |
projekt refleks student subjekt turist |
There are some words that end on -tēt in Croatian (from German ending -tät) that correspond to English words with -ty:
identitēt "identity"
elektricitēt "electricity"
kapacitēt "capacity"
raritēt "rarity"
univerzitēt "university"
Words that correspond to English "-logist" (e.g. "gynecologist") end on just -log in Croatian and have the last syllable short, e.g.:
| arheolog | biolog | ginekolog | kardiolog | neurolog |
Almost all such "foreign" words with short end vowel have a rising stress fixed on the original penultimate syllable, e.g. arheòlog, arheòloga, arheòlozi,... pàtent, pàtenta, pàtenti, etc. in the Standard system.
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