This chapter should prepare you for what lies ahead, to introduce some basic concepts.
For some reasons, English grammar divides words into various "parts of speech". I would rather use a phrase "types of words". In scientific use people prefer "word classes". I would rather use class to sub-divide various types.
I hope you know at least about nouns (e.g. "Sun") and verbs (e.g. "shine"). There are also adjectives (e.g. "yellow"), etc. Croatian has all these types, similar to English.
• • • Easy Croatian: 02 Simplest Sentences, 03 Objects
In this post I'll describe the structure of simple sentences. I have a serious problem - English is, in a sense, a very peculiar language. Regarding the sentence structure, most languages of the world are not so rigid as English is. In fact, even Mandarin Chinese is (in this aspect) more similar to Croatian. Germanic languages (English included) and French are somewhat different from the bulk!
This post will introduce you to grammatical cases. English has 2 cases (the subject case and the object case). However, their forms are different only for pronouns ("we" vs. "us").
Cases are forms of words when used in various places in a sentence (subject, object, indirect object, etc.)
• • • Easy Croatian: 14 My and Adjectives in Accusative, 17 Adjectives in Dative/Locative
Basic Cases of AdjectivesLet's take a look how can one make all necessary forms of adjectives in all genders, and three basic cases in both the singular and plural. I'm going to show all those forms for one adjective, for instance velik "big".
The following is slightly complicated, so I will try to explain it slowly.
Previously, we have examined how adjectives change in gender, case, and number. Adjectives don't have their own gender, case, or number — instead, you can (and must) create any combination of these for any adjective when needed.
Now let's examine the two remaining noun types — the m-nouns. Unfortunately, they are a bit more complicated.
There are three complications with m-nouns. First, they are divided to mª and mi nouns, but completely independent of that division, they have two ways to create plural (the third complication will be obvious soon).
All m-nouns add -i to form nom.pl. (the left column); however, a great number of masculine nouns also insert -ov- or -ev- before that -i and all other endings in plural (the right column):
kolač nom.pl. kolač-i "cake"
konj nom.pl. konj-i "horse"
krevet nom.pl. krevet-i "bed"
prozor nom.pl. prozor-i "window"
zub nom.pl. zub-i "tooth"
sin nom.pl. sin-ov-i "son"
zid nom.pl. zid-ov-i "wall"
ključ nom.pl. ključ-ev-i "key"
nož nom.pl. nož-ev-i "knife"
The nouns that get longer plural endings are also said to have 'long plural'. Let's see forms for the characteristic m-nouns (the same pattern works for nouns like ključ, they just have -ev- instead of -ov- in plural):
case mª-nouns mi-nouns nom.sg. konj sin kolač zid acc.sg. konj-a sin-a dat.sg. konj-u sin-u kolač-u zid-u nom.pl. konj-i sin-ov-i kolač-i zid-ov-i acc.pl. konj-e sin-ov-e kolač-e zid-ov-e dat.pl. konj-ima sin-ov-ima kolač-ima zid-ov-ima
The only difference between two subtypes (mª vs. mi) are forms of acc.sg. (this holds for adjectives as well).
How to determine if a noun has plural -i or -ovi? Well, most short, one-syllable words, and many two-syllable ones insert -ov- or -ev-, that is, have a 'long plural'. All longer masculine nouns do not insert anything.
Common one-syllable masculine nouns that don't insert anything are:
crv "worm"
dan "day"
đak (nom.pl. đaci) "pupil"
gost "guest"
gumb "button"
keks "biscuit"
konj "horse"
mrav "ant"
päs (nom.pl. psi) "dog"
prst "finger, toe"
sat "hour"
zub "tooth"
There's no other way but to memorize them. Besides them, one-syllable nouns for members of a nation (e.g. Škot "Scotsman", Rus "Russian") have nothing inserted. This applies also to one-syllable measurement units (e.g. volt, gram) and currency units (e.g. jen, cent).
The noun sat is rather curious. It has two meanings: "watch, clock" and "hour". If it means "watch, clock", it gets a long plural (satovi), but if it means "hour" it gets a short one (sati).
How to determine if -ov- or -ev- gets inserted? It's determined in the following way. You may noticed that there is a number of places in Croatian where there can be an o or an e: in adjectives, in neuter nouns, in what we are talking about now. There is always the same rule, we can call it the o/e rule:
The o/e rule
In some endings, o or e is used according to the preceding sound or sounds:
- If it is c, č, ć, đ, š, ž, j, lj, nj, št, or žd, then e is always used.
- If it is an r, then e is used in some words that must be learned by heart, in others o is used.
- Otherwise, o is used (with very few exceptions).
Special notation: in grammar tables, a special symbol œ (it looks like an o glued to an e) will mean either o or e, according to this rule.
The o/e rule applies to all o/e alternations in Croatian; for instance, it applies to dat.sg.m adjective endings:
visok → visok-om "tall" (nom.sg.m → dat.sg.m)
but: loš → loš-em "bad" (there's a š just before the ending)
Not all o's in endings behave like this — for instance, compare visoka–visokoj with loša–lošoj. Not all o's in endings are mutable, but o's that are mutable always use the above rule.
To simplify tables, I have decided to use the symbol œ for mutable o's, meaning 'o or e, according to the o/e rule'. So, it's just a shorthand: it indicates o's that turn to e's.
It's just a fact that some endings have a mutable o! Therefore I had to mark such o's.
Hint. As you will eventually find out, such o/e alternations appear only in m and n genders!
Unfortunately, there's one exceptional noun: put mi "way". It should get -ov-; instead, its plural is putevi (its other forms in pl. have -ev- as well).
The noun kut "corner" frequently gets -evi but it's more colloquial and less Standard Croatian.
Similar to the situation in adjectives, many m-nouns have an a as the last vowel which is dropped whenever anything is added to the noun. So forms equal to the nom.sg. have the a, and others don't. This issue is completely unrelated to the -œv- in the plural or to their gender (mª vs. mi). This is the third 'complication'.
I have decided to mark such a's with 2 dots over it (ä) to show that this is an "disappearing a". Of course, it's just a reminder, it is normally written just as a and pronounced exactly as any other a. For instance (noväc mi "money", vjëtär mi "wind", magarac mª "donkey"):
nom.sg. vjëtär noväc magaräc acc.sg. vjëtär noväc magarc-a dat.sg. vjëtr-u novc-u magarc-u nom.pl. vjëtr-ov-i novc-i magarc-i acc.pl. vjëtr-ov-e novc-e magarc-e dat.pl. vjëtr-ov-ima novc-ima magarc-ima
The endings follow the normal rules, magaräc being mª and others mi. The ä disappears if anything is added, and what is added and when is determined by the common table of case endings.
Certain sounds are changed before -i in the plural of m-nouns. It's a regular thing in Croatian, but, again, it does not happen whenever an -i- is added to any word (e.g. an adjective), just in some cases, one of them is the plural of m-nouns! But in such cases there's always a change:
Special notation:
+ indicates that any k, g, h just before it change respectively to c, z, s
It happens of course only if -œv- is not inserted, because if it is, i not "in contact" with the sound anymore, now it's in contact with the inserted v. Some examples (putnik mª "traveler", uspjëh mi "success", odlazäk mi "departure", bubreg mi "kidney"; and vlak mi "train" as an counter-example):
nom.sg. putnik odlazäk uspjëh bubreg vlak acc.sg. putnik-a odlazäk uspjëh bubreg vlak dat.sg. putnik-u odlask-u uspjëh-u bubreg-u vlak-u nom.pl. putnic-i odlasc-i uspjës-i bubrez-i vlak-ov-i acc.pl. putnik-e odlask-e uspjëh-e bubreg-e vlak-ov-e dat.pl. putnic-ima odlasc-ima uspjës-ima bubrez-ima vlak-ov-ima
With odlazäk, there's an additional assimilation because zc changed to sc, and zk to sk. We'll discuss such things later.
An important noun čovjek mª "man" has quite unrelated form ljudi as its plural, but endings are ordinary:
nom.sg. čovjek acc.sg. čovjek-a dat.sg. čovjek-u nom.pl. ljud-i acc.pl. ljud-e dat.pl. ljud-ima
There's a not too big group of m-nouns that don't end on a consonant in nom.sg. They rather end on an o, and that o is simply discarded whenever an ending is added to them. An example is auto "car". There is a number of male names (e.g. Marko) that fall into this group as well.
Within them, there's a small subgroup that end on -io in nom.sg. and that's a very unfortunate combination in Croatian! They also lose the -o but get a -j- inserted. An example is radio "radio". There are a couple of male names that fall into this group, like Mario.
Their case forms are as follows:
nom.sg. aut-o radi-o Mark-o Mari-o acc.sg. Mark-a Marij-a dat.sg. aut-u radij-u Mark-u Marij-u nom.pl. aut-i radij-i — acc.pl. aut-e radij-e dat.pl. aut-ima radij-ima
Common nouns that end on -o and behave like this are:
auto mi "car"
dečko mª "boy", "boyfriend"
kakao mi "cocoa"
radio mi "radio"
snjëško mª "snowman"
tempo mi "tempo"
Here are common Croatian male names that behave like this. All such male names end on -eo, -io, -ko, -lo, or -je (yes, e):
Dario
Darko
Hrvoje
Jadranko
Karlo
Leo
Mario
Marko
Matko
Mirko
Slavko
Srećko
Zdravko
Zlatko
Žarko
Warning. There are masculine nouns that end on -äo, e.g. posäo mi "work, job" and oräo mª "eagle". They don't behave like nouns above; they rather lose -äo and get an -l- inserted! If you are curious, they are explained in 66 Final L Lost; Sound Assimilations. Furthermore, there are male names that end on -o (e.g. Ivo) but decline as a-nouns; they are covered in 45 Nouns for Small and Dear.
The case endings for m-nouns can be compressed into the following table (leaving out exceptions like radio and Mario):
case mª-nouns mi-nouns nom.sg. -, -o -, -o acc.sg. -a dat.sg. -u nom.pl. [-œv]+i acc.pl. [-œv]-e dat.pl. [-œv]+ima
Common mª-nouns (nouns having long plural are indicated by an asterisk *):
čovjëk "man" pl. ljudi
djëd * "grandfather"
gost "guest"
jež * "hedgehog", "sea urchin"
konj "horse"
kralj * "king"
magaräc "donkey"
muž * "husband"
päs "dog"
prijatelj "(male) friend"
puž * "snail"
putnik "traveler"
rak * "crab"
rođak "relative, cousin"
sin * "son"
slon * "elephant"
turist "tourist"
vlasnik "owner"
Common mi-nouns (nouns having long plural are indicated by an asterisk *):
auto "car"
autobus "bus"
avion "airplane"
bor * "pine tree"
brod * "ship"
dan "day"
dolazäk "arrival"
doručäk "breakfast"
dvoräc "castle"
grad * "city"
hotel "hotel"
jastuk "pillow"
jezik "tongue", "language"
kat * "floor", "story" (of building)
ključ * "key"
kolač "cake"
krevet "bed"
kruh * "bread"
list * "leaf", "(paper) sheet"
led * "ice"
med * "honey"
most * "bridge"
noväc "money"
nokät "fingernail, toenail"
nos * "nose" pl. nosevi
nož * "knife"
odlazäk "departure"
papär "peper"
prozor "window"
prst "finger, toe"
račun "bill"
restoran "restaurant"
ručäk "lunch"
ručnik "towel"
prsten * "ring"
sladoled "ice-cream"
snijëg * "snow"
stan * "appartment"
stol * "table, desk"
šećer "sugar"
tanjur "plate"
telefon "telephone"
ured "office"
vjëtär * "wind"
vlak * "train"
zahod "toilet"
zid * "wall"
zub "tooth"
All above words are in the 'dictionary form' — nom.sg. Try putting these words in various cases, and making sentences. Required form is given in brackets. Be careful with the 'long plural', observe the o/e rule, and +i changes in the plural! Recall, acc.sg. for mª-nouns is different than for mi-nouns.
Imam ________(A). "I have (a)..."
Trëbamo _______(A) . "We need (a)..."
Jedem _______(A. pl.). "I'm eating ..."
_______(N pl.) su dobri. "... are good."
Molim _______(A). "I would like (a)..."
Idem u _______(A). "I'm going to (a/the)..."
Ja säm u _______(D). "I'm in (a/the)..."
_______(N pl.) su čisti. "... are clean."
_______(N) ne radi. "... is not working."
_______(N) je zatvoren. "... is closed."
Be careful with the ä and sound changes in the "short" plural. For instance (I used krevet, kolač, etc.):
Imam krevet. "I have a bed."
Trëbamo krevet. "We need a bed."
Jedem kolače. "I'm eating cakes."
Kolači su dobri. "The cakes are good."
Molim kolač. "I would like a cake."
Idem u restoran. "I'm going to the restaurant."
Ja säm u restoranu. "I'm in the restaurant."
Ručnici su čisti. "The towels are clean."
Restoran ne radi. "The restaurant is not working."
Restoran je zatvoren. "The restaurant is closed."
Updated 2014-07-02 (v. 0.4)
For some reasons I really don't understand, basic pronouns ("I", "he") are always explained together with forms of verb "to be" — "I am", "he is", etc., and that's usually the first thing someone learns. I've postponed explaining such things... until now. So, there is a formula how to use pronouns + "to be" in Croatian.
As I have already explained, pronouns are almost always omitted in Croatian. However, they are frequently used with the present tense of "to be" (reasons will become obvious later), so it is convenient to describe them together.
This will enable you to produce sentences of type "X is Y", like "the apple is yellow", "Ana is a girl", "keys are in the drawer", etc.
Croatian has three "persons" (same as English) — 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. First two persons are about sides of conversation, the third one about everything else. Here are forms of verb "to be" together with personal pronouns in nominative:
person m n f 1st sg. ja säm "I am" 2nd sg. ti si "you are" 3rd sg. on je "he is" ono je "it is" ona je "she is" 1st pl. mi smo "we are" 2nd pl. vi ste "you are" 3rd pl. oni su "they are" ona su "they are" one su "they are"
The verb does not distinguish gender — only 3rd person pronouns do. Their forms should remind you of adjectives or nouns, since the endings are the same. Dots over ä in säm should remind you that the a is lost in other forms; this is my invention, normally this a is spelled and pronounced as any other a.
Again, English is a peculiar language, it does not distinguish singular and plural in the 2nd person — both are "you are". Croatian and other most languages does distinguish. ti is used when talking to one person, vi to more than one person. Likewise, Croatian has one "your" for singular, another for plural, all verbs have different forms for singular and plural in the 2nd person, etc.
Pronouns also have forms for other cases — the above forms are for nominative only. We'll learn other cases later, in 18 Basic Cases for Pronouns.
What basic sentences can we make with personal pronouns and this verb? There are several types of sentences that fit into "x is y" model. In such sentences, both nouns (or phrases) are in nominative. They can express what is something or someone. For example:
Zagreb je veliki grad. "Zagreb is a big city."
Ja säm student. "I am a (university) student (male)."
Ja säm studentica. "I am a (university) student (female)." (female speaker)
Ti si malo dijëte. "You are a small child."
On je novi poštar. "He is the new postman."
In such sentences, pronouns are rarely omitted. You maybe noted that adjectives in nom.sg.m form in these sentences has always -i. That's one of subtleties, but it's not always respected in colloquial speech. There's a special word for "female student" so we must use it if we talk about somebody who is female.
Then, one can just talk about properties or states of something or somebody:
Zagreb je velik. "Zagreb is big."
Ja säm žedän. "I am thirsty." (male speaker, ja refers to m gender)
Ja säm umorna. "I am tired." (female speaker, ja refers to f gender)
Ja säm gladän. "I am hungry." (male speaker)
Mi smo umorni. "We are tired."
Noći su duge i hladne. "Nights are long and cold."
Now adjectives should never have an -i, but again it's not always respected in real life.
There's something important: although ja doesn't distinguish gender, you still have to adjust the adjective to the gender 'hidden' behind that ja. This is similar to Romance languages like Spanish:
(Spanish) Estoy cansado. "I am tired" (male speaking)
(Spanish) Estoy cansada. "I am tired" (female speaking)
But what about plural? If there's a group of women only, you should use adjectives and pronouns in f gender; otherwise, for mixed or male-only groups, you should use m gender:
Vi ste gladne. "You are tired." (speaking to a group of women)
Vi ste gladni. "You are tired." (speaking to a general group)
Usually, in such sentences, one omits the personal pronouns, but must place säm, si, je... after the adjective (or adjective phrase), at the second place in a sentence. This does not hold for verbs in general, only for forms säm, si, etc.:
Žedän säm.
Umorna säm.
Žedni ste.
Umorne su.
Gladän säm.
Umorni smo.
Check how the pronouns were omitted in the Spanish examples as well (but the verb is out to the first place). Here are the basic adjectives standing for properties, including some states like gladän "hungry":
dobär "good"
dubok "deep"
dug "long"
gladän "hungry"
hladän "cold"
jeftin "cheap"
kratäk "short" (length)
loš "bad"
lijëp "beautiful"
mlad "young"
nizäk "low"; "short" (people)
plitäk "shallow"
ružän "ugly"
skup "expensive"
star "old"
umorän "tired"
velik "big"
visok "tall"
vruć "hot" (temperature)
zanimljiv "interesting"
žedän "thirsty"
Adjective kratäk just means "short in length", while low height of both buildings and people is expressed with nizäk. Also, observe how some adjectives have an a that's lost whenever an adjective gets any ending (here marked as ä).
Next, we can say where is something/someone, using u + dat. or na + dat. For example:
Iva je u Zagrebu(D). "Iva is in Zagreb."
Nož je u ladici(D). "The knife is in the/a drawer."
Tanjur je na stolu(D). "The plate is on the table."
Furthermore, there are impersonal sentences, talking about the "current situation"; English uses a dummy pronoun "it", but Croatian never uses any pronouns in such sentences. Also, observe the placement of the verb — it again goes to the second place. Adjectives must be in neuter gender in such sentences:
Hladno je. "It is cold." (lit. "is cold."
Hladno je u sobi. "It is cold in the room."
U sobi je hladno. (just different order of words)
Käsno je. "It is late."
Vruće je. "It is hot".
There's an additional twist. In Croatian, you cannot say ti to anyone, just to people you're friend with, your family, etc. To everyone else you should (should, not must: this is a social convention) use the plural pronoun — vi. But it means that all other words, like verbs etc. must be in the plural as well! So, you talk to "people you respect" in exactly the same way as addressing a group of people! Even more, such a 'honorific' vi is always written capitalized (Vi). For instance:
Ti si doktor. "You are a doctor" (talking to a person you're friend with)
Vi ste doktor. "You (sir/madam) are a doctor" (talking to a person you respect)
Vi ste doktori. "You (guys) are doctors" (talking to a group)
If you use such 'respectful' Vi, adjectives should be always in pl. masculine, regardless of the gender (at least, this is the standard):
Vi ste gladni. "You (sir/madam) are hungry" (talking to a person you respect)
Children use ti always among themselves, but gradually learn to say Vi to older non-relatives. People in a shop, a bank, workplace address each other with a Vi. One addresses only people he/she works with a longer time with a ti.
There's a possibility to say that something is "not". With forms of the verb "to be", Croatian always uses special forms of the verb, which are simply obtained by adding a ni- to the forms of the verb listed above:
Zagreb nije veliki grad. "Zagreb is not a big city."
Ja nisäm student. "I am not a (university) student (male)."
Ja nisäm studentica. "I am not a (university) student (female)." (female speaker)
Ti nisi malo dijëte. "You are not a small child."
On nije novi poštar. "He isn't the new postman."
Nož nije u ladici. "The knife is not in the drawer."
Forms nisäm etc. don't have any special place in a sentence, they are usually put to the beginning of a sentence if the personal pronoun is omitted (this includes impersonal sentences!):
Nisäm žedän. "I'm not thirsty."
Nisäm gladna. "I'm not hungry." (female speaking)
Nismo umorni. "We're not tired."
Nije hladno. "It is not cold." (lit. "is not cold.")
Nije hladno u sobi. "It isn't cold in the room."
Nije käsno. "It's not late."
We can put adverbs into such sentences (and most other sentences) to give additional information. Adverbs do not change through genders, numbers and cases. Here are the basic adverbs.
Adverbs of probability are used to express how probable some statement is. The most used ones are:
adverb meaning možda "maybe" vjërojatno "probably" sigurno "certainly"
They are usually put after the verb:
Iva je možda u Zagrebu. "Maybe Ivan is in Zagreb."
Nož je vjërojatno u ladici. "The knife is probably in the drawer."
Ti si sigurno gladna. "You are certainly hungry." (speaking to a female)
When pronouns are omitted, these adverbs are usually placed at the beginning (the verb goes again to the second place):
Sigurno si gladna. "You are certainly hungry." (speaking to a female)
Vjërojatno je hladno. "It's probably cold."
Next, there are adverbs of repetition (this is the name I invented). They express whether there were such states in the past, or will there be in future. Sounds complicated, but such adverbs are in fact simply:
adverb meaning opet "again" ponovo ponovno
adverb meaning prvi put "for the first time" drugi put "for the second time" zadnji put "for the last time" posljëdnji put
Some of them are really a small phrase, more than one word, but function as an adverb and should not be split. Adverb ponovo has an alternative form ponovno and some people prefer the latter. They are placed in a sentence the same way adverbs of probability are. For example:
Opet nisäm gladna. "Again I'm not hungry." (female speaking)
Ivan je opet žedän. "Ivan is thirsty again."
Ponovo je hladno. "It's cold again."
Ana je prvi put u Londonu. "Ana is in London for the first time."
Drugi put smo u Zagrebu. "We're in Zagreb for the second time."
There are also adverbs of intensity (also known as "adverbs of degree" or "intensifiers") that modify the "strength" of a property or state:
adverb meaning adverb meaning malo "a bit" jako "very" pomalo "somewhat" dosta "considerably,
quite"potpuno "completely" prilično posve strašno "terribly" (colloquial)
Out of them, jako is the most often used, turning e.g. "hungry" into "very hungry". Adverb strašno is colloquial, similar to English "terribly". Placing is as with other adverbs:
Ivan je jako žedän. "Ivan is very thirsty."
Ana je dosta umorna. "Ana is quite tired."
Noći su prilično duge. "Nights are quite long."
Strašno säm gladän. "I'm terribly hungry." (male speaking)
Finally, there's a hard-to-translate intensifier baš. It's not very formal, but it's often used in speech. When used with properties or states, it means roughly "really":
Ivan je baš žedän. "Ivan is really thirsty."
Baš je hladno. "It's really cold."
Observe how adjectives adapt to nouns, but adverbs do not. If more than one adverb is used, adverbs of intensity will come before the property, other adverbs will come before them or at the beginning of a sentence if pronouns are omitted:
Ivan je opet jako žedän. "Ivan is very thirsty again."
Ponovo je dosta hladno. "It's quite cold again."
Warning: if you want to say "Ivan is cold" meaning "Ivan feels cold", you cannot say it like Ivan je hladän. There's a special construct in Croatian for such things, described in 18 Basic Cases for Pronouns. This holds for vruć "hot" as well.
JavaScript must be enabled. You don't have to use my special notation (i.e. ä, ë) in answers, normal spelling will do as well.
Updated 2014-09-17 (v. 0.4)
Check also in Easy Croatian:
I have shown one verb ("to be") in the present tense, and you have seen occasionally glimpses of some other verbs. Now, I will show how verbs are used in the present tense and endings they get.
English has 2 present tenses:
"I eat." (the Simple Present)
"I am eating." (Present Continuous)
The first one is used for things that happen sometimes, everyday, and the second one for things going on right now.
Croatian (and most languages, including German) does not distinguish these two forms, and has only one present tense. Its meaning is close to the second English form.
While in English there's really only one pattern of endings in the present tense ("-s" in the 3rd pers. sg.) there are couple of patterns in Croatian, but they are quite similar. Like nouns, verbs are divided to verb classes according to the pattern they use.
When discussing verbs forms, it useful to distinguish three parts of each form: a root, a suffix (which can be empty), and an ending. (The root and suffix make a stem.) I have divided the verbs into several "classes", according to the suffix. Basically, suffix determines which endings will a verb get.
I'll show patterns for the two verbs imam "have" and mislim "think". (The verb "have" is completely regular in Croatian!) Both verbs are shown as root-suffix-ending:
person a i 1st sg. im-a-m misl-i-m 2nd sg. im-a-š misl-i-š 3rd sg. im-a misl-i 1st pl. im-a-mo misl-i-mo 2nd pl. im-a-te misl-i-te 3rd pl. im-a-ju misl-e
There are many verbs behaving exactly like these two: I will call them a-verbs (since they have the suffix -a-) and i-verbs (after -i-). Actually, most verbs in Croatian, thousands of them, fall into these two classes.
In other words, the class determines how the verb changes, its suffix, and its endings in various forms. For most verbs, class can be determined straight away by looking at a verb, e.g. kuh-a-m is an a-verb.
Next three classes look the same in the present tense. I will use verbs brinem "care", pijem "drink", tresem "shake", kupujem "buy" and očekujem "expect":
person n 0 j 1st sg. bri-n-em pi--jem tres--em kup-uj-em oček-uj-em 2nd sg. bri-n-eš pi--ješ tres--eš kup-uj-eš oček-uj-eš 3rd sg. bri-n-e pi--je tres--e kup-uj-e oček-uj-e 1st pl. bri-n-emo pi--jemo tres--emo kup-uj-emo oček-uj-emo 2nd pl. bri-n-ete pi--jete tres--ete kup-uj-ete oček-uj-ete 3rd pl. bri-n-u pi--ju tres--u kup-uj-u oček-uj-u
You can notice that all classes in the last table have exactly the same endings. So, I could compress all of them to just one class. Why the difference, then? It has to do with formation of other tenses. For instance, the suffix -n- in the present changes to -nu- in the past. In other classes similar things will happen, that's why there are two j-verbs with no difference in forms whatsoever, and pijem is separate from tresem and kupujem...
Double dashes in e.g. tres--emo mean "no suffix", or "zero suffix". That's the reason for the class name: 0-verbs, "zero". Such verbs are also called e-verbs, and that was the name used in older versions of Basic Croatian, but it's a bit misleading, since all the classes in the last table have an -e- (also, calling that class 0-verbs simplifies some other things).
Therefore, the simplified pattern of present tense endings is just:
1st sg. -a-m -i-m -e-m 2nd sg. -a-š -i-š -e-š 3rd sg. -a -i -e 1st pl. -a-mo -i-mo -e-mo 2nd pl. -a-te -i-te -e-te 3rd pl. -a-ju -e -u
Unfortunately, this is not all: these tables leave out a group of 0-verbs that have consonant changes in root (e.g. peč-em, peč-eš... but 3rd pers. pl. pek-u). I will discuss them a bit later with the other strange 0-verbs and some other verbs I intentionally forgot to include here.
As stated before, personal pronouns are usually omitted. Objects (e.g. what is being eaten) must be in the accusative case for most verbs:
Ana jëde. "Ana is eating."
Jëdem. "I'm eating."
Jëdem pizzu(A). "I'm eating pizza."
Kuham juhu(A). "I'm cooking soup."
Učim hrvatski(A). "I'm learning Croatian."
Ivan piše pismo(A). "Ivan is writing a letter."
Imam malog(A) psa(A). "I have a small dog."
The verb can in principle be anywhere, but it usually put before the object (e.g. pizzu). Even 3rd pers. pronouns can be omitted if subject is clear from the context:
Ana je u restoranu(D). Jëde pizzu(A). "Ana is in a restaurant. She is eating pizza."
One must be careful to use the right form of the verb:
Ana i Ivan jëdu(3 pl.) pizzu. "Ana i Ivan are eating (a) pizza."
Ana jëde(3 sg.) pizzu. "Ana is eating (a) pizza."
Jëdeš(2 sg.) pizzu. "You're eating (a) pizza." (talking to a single person)
Jëdete(2 pl.) pizzu. "You (guys) are eating pizza." / "You (sir, madam) are eating pizza."
Verbs hoću "will, want" has a special 1stst pers. sg., but its other forms are according to the "e" pattern. The same holds for mogu "can" (that verb is seldom used on its own):
1st sg. hoć-u (!) ć-u (!) mog-u (!) 2nd sg. hoć-eš ć-eš mož-eš 3rd sg. hoć-e ć-e mož-e 1st pl. hoć-emo će-mo mož-emo 2nd pl. hoć-ete ć-ete mož-ete 3rd pl. hoć-e (!) ć-e (!) mog-u (!)
Forms ću, ćeš,... are auxiliary, "clitic" forms of hoću, hoćeš, similar to sam, si..., used as auxiliary verbs. More about them later. An example for hoću:
Hoću sladoled(A). "I want ice-cream."
The use of basic adverbs is the same as with forms of verb säm:
Ana vjërojatno jëde. "Ana is probably eating."
Opet jëdem. "I'm eating again."
Ivan sigurno spava. "Ivan is surely sleeping."
In dictionaries, verbs are usually listed in their "infinitive", a form which is used less often, for sure less than the present form. Therefore, similar to practice in Latin, I decided to list verbs by their first person present form. Another reason is that it's much harder to determine verb class by looking at its infinitive: you can't tell that kuhati and puhati are not in the same verb class (their presents are kuham and pušem); the same holds for piti and učiti (presents pijem and učim).
The Basic Dictionary lists verbs by their presents. Some important verbs are listed here:
brojim "count"
čekam "wait"
čistim "clean", "tidy"
čitam "read"
dajem "give"
dišem "breathe"
idem "go"
jedem "eat"
gledam "watch"
govorim "speak"
guram "push"
hodam "walk"
kažem "say"
koristim "use"
kuham "cook"ležim "lie, recline"
moram "must, have to"
nëmam "don't have"
perem "wash"
pripremam "prepare"
plaćam "pay"
plivam "swim"
pišem "write"
pitam "ask"
radim "work"
razgovaram "talk"
ronim "dive"
sjedim "sit"
skačem "jump"
slušam "listen"spavam "sleep"
stojim "stand"
trčim "run"
trëbam "need"
tražim "search, look for"
učim "learn"
uzimam "take"
vičem "yell"
vidim "see"
vjëžbam "exercise"
vodim "lead, guide"
vozim "drive"
znam "know"
zovem "call"
želim "wish"
If you heard somewhere about so-called 'perfective' verbs that cannot be used in the present tense, well, none of the listed verbs is perfective, they are normally used in the present tense.
Some Croatian verbs are always used with the word se. To help you remember them, I will always list them with the se. Often used are:
bojim se "be afraid"
ponašam se "behave"
smijem se "laugh"
svađam se "quarrel, have a dispute"
It's important to remember that the word se must come in the second place in a sentence. For instance:
Ana se smije. "Ana is laughing."
Smijem se. "I'm laughing."
The 'first' place can be occupied by two words making one logical unit:
Ana i Ivan se smiju. "Ana and Ivan are laughing."
Ana i Ivan se svađaju. "Ana and Ivan are quarreling."
Many other verbs use optionally the word se, usually with a change in meaning. It's explained in a greater detail in 30 Reflexive Pronoun.
If you want to say that something does not happen, simply put a ne directly in front of the verb; nothing happens to other words or to their order:
Ana ne jëde. "Ana is not eating."
Ana se ne smije. "Ana is not laughing."
Ne jëdem. "I'm not eating."
Ne jëdem pizzu(A). "I'm eating pizza."
Ne učim hrvatski(A). "I'm not learning Croatian."
Ne smijem se. "I'm not laughing."
The verb imam has a special negative verb nemam "don't have" which must be used when we want to express negation of verb imam "have":
Nemam malog(A) psa(A). "I don't have a small dog."
The verb hoću has a special negative verb neću "don't want" which must be used when we want to express negation of verb hoću "have"; its forms are equal to hoću, just ho- is replaced with ne-:
Neću sladoled(A). "I don't want ice-cream."
These useful words are used when you express how often you do something; with the present tense, such sentences will refer to what you do both in the past and still do; however, they don't imply that you do it at the very moment. Therefore, in English, such sentences are in the Simple Present. In Croatian, there's only one present tense, so there's no option but to use it. Such adverbs are (sorted by frequency):
adverb meaning adverb meaning uvijëk "always" često "often" skoro uvijëk "almost always" ponekad "sometimes" stalno "constantly" rijëtko "rarely, seldom" uglavnom "mostly" skoro nikad "almost never" (neg!) obično "usually" nikad "never" (neg!)
For instance:
Često jëdem pizzu. "I often eat pizza."
Uvijëk pijem pivo(A). "I always drink beer."
Ponekad čitam knjige(A pl.). "I read books sometimes."
Important: if you use nikad or skoro nikad, you have to use negation, that is, put the word ne directly in front of the verb:
Nikad ne jëdem pizzu. "I never eat pizza."
Ana skoro nikad ne pije pivo. "Ana almost never drinks beer."
The reason will be explained later. The meaning corresponds to English forms without negation, as can be seen from the above examples. Order of words is quite free, but such adverbs are almost never found at the end of the sentence, although it's not a forbidden place to put an adverb:
Često jëdem pizzu. (OK)
Jedem često pizzu. (OK)
Jëdem pizzu često. (seldom heard)
Adverbs of expectation don't change the meaning of the sentence, but show (with the present tense) that some action or state started sooner or takes longer than expected. They are simply:
in positive sentences adverb meaning već "already" (sooner than expected) još "still" (longer than expected)
They are normally placed before the verb:
Ivan već spava. "Ivan is already sleeping."
Još čitam knjigu. "I'm still reading the book."
These adverbs cannot be mixed with adverbs of indefinite frequency, since the adverbs of expectation imply that the action or state is ongoing.
With negative sentences in the present tense, another information can be given: OK, it's not going on right now, but is it because it was already finished or didn't start yet? These two adverbs will provide such information (they are placed as other adverbs):
in negative sentences adverb meaning još "(not) yet" (didn't start) više "(not) anymore" (already finished)
Both adverbs are normally placed before ne:
Ana više ne čita knjigu. "Ana is not reading the book anymore."
Još ne spavam. "I'm not sleeping yet."
Sentences with više ne are a bit ambiguous: it's not clear if there will be similar actions and states in the future (e.g. if Ana will ever continue reading or she just took a day off). Beware, these three adverbs (već, još, više) have other purposes as well...
When the adverb baš is used in the present tense, it emphasizes what is going on; it's hard to translate to English, it's approximately "exactly" or sometimes "already". For instance, somebody calls you over phone and tells you to turn on TV to see something interesting, but you are already watching it; you could answer:
Baš gledam. "I'm already watching."
JavaScript must be enabled. You don't have to use my special notation (e.g. ë) in answers, normal spelling will do as well.
Updated 2014-09-17; v 0.4
Check in Easy Croatian: 20 At My Friend's: Genitive, 44 Genitive Plural
Now we are hitting some hard stuff. It's finally time to introduce one more case: the genitive (abbreviation: gen.). What is it used for? Well, for many things. Most important, in phrases "x of y", and for counting and measuring. Let's take a look at genitive endings for nouns:
case ma-nouns mi-nouns n-nouns a-nouns i-nouns nom.sg. - - -œ -a - acc.sg. -a -u dat.sg. -u (+)i -i gen.sg. -a -e -i nom.pl. -[œv]+i -a -e -i acc.pl. -[œv]e dat.pl. -[œv]+ima -ima -ama -ima gen.pl. -[œv]a -a -a (-i) -i
Here I have used the "o/e notation" (symbol œ) for "o that depends on the preceding sound". Note how neuter nouns in nominative actually can have either -o or -e and that is precisely that kind of o.
However, now it gets, well, complicated. First, there are few nouns that have -iju or -u in gen.pl.:
gost mª "guest" → gostiju
oči f pl. "eyes" → očiju
ruka f "arm, hand" → rukuuši f pl. "ears" → ušiju
noga f "leg" → nogu
Second, some nouns have a "lengthened" gen.pl., usually inserting some additional -a- "from nowhere". If nom.sg. has an ä that is "lost" in other cases, in gen.pl. it reappears. For instance:
[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
noun (nom.sg.) nom.pl. gen.pl. magaräc mª "donkey" magarci magaräca muškaräc mª "man, male" muškarci muškaräca pismo n "letter" pisma pisäma
djëvojka "girl" → djëvojäka
ovca "sheep" → oväca
sestra "sister" → sestära
zemlja "earth, country" → zemälja
Third, there are a-nouns that end on -i in gen.pl. Usually, such nouns end on -ka in nom.sg; some of them can have the "lengthened" form as well. All of them have a "consonant cluster" before the final -a:
Fourth, some m-nouns have gen.pl. on -i:
ljudi mª pl. "men, people" (used as plural of čovjëk) → ljudi
mjësec mi "month, moon" → mjëseci
sat mi "hour" → sati
I will always, in vocabulary lists, write gen.pl. for every word that has something else from the default -a.
The lengthened forms are considered archaic and provincial by some people, and people tend to use forms on -i if words have both options. The lengthening by inserting ä can appear only if a word would have two consecutive consonants different from st, št, zd, žd (like pismo gen.pl. pisäma, but not mjësto)
Forms for adjectives follow:
case ma mi n f nom.sg. -, -i -, -i -œ -a acc.sg. -œg(a) -u dat.sg. -œm(u), -ome -oj gen.sg. -œg(a) -e nom.pl. -i -a -e acc.pl. -e dat.pl. -im gen.pl. -ih
As you can see, it's much simpler than endings for nouns. However, the endings for adjectives are unlike ones for nouns!
The genitive is (among other uses) used to make noun phrases of type "X of Y". For instance, phrase "return of the king" translates as:
povratak kralja nom.sg. gen.sg. return king
We could rephrase it as "king's return":
kraljev povratak
However, in Croatian, you can make possesive adjectives of single words only! In English, you can say "my sister's car", but in Croatian you must effectively rephrase it as "the car of my sister". Another example, phrase "owner of the yellow house" cannot be rephrased. It must be translated to Croatian by placing the subphrase žuta kuća "yellow house" in genitive — both the adjective and noun must be put in that case:
vlasnik žute kuće nom.sg. gen.sg.f gen.sg. owner yellow house
Structure of such phrases is like this: N NP.gen.
Noun at the front (vlasnik in our example, also called the "head noun") remains "unlocked", and should be put in appropriate case according to the role in a sentence, while the rest is "permanently locked" in the genitive. To illustrate this, let's use vlasnik žute kuće in various roles in sentence:
Vlasnik žute kuće je došao. "The owner of the yellow house came." (vlasnik is nom.sg.)
Pitam vlasnika žute kuće. "I am asking the owner of the yellow house." (vlasnika is acc.sg.)
Dajem ključeve vlasniku žute kuće. "I am giving the keys to the owner of the yellow house." (vlasniku is dat.sg.)
Etc. You see that žute kuće is simply "attached" to the noun and never changes its case or anything else. The phrase in plural is:
Vlasnici žute kuće "owners of the yellow house"
We can put an adjective phrase before the head noun, for instance:
Novi vlasnik žute kuće "new owner of the yellow house"
One use of genitive is that something belongs to someone. It's used to say that a street or square is named after someone. So, in Croatian, we say "Street of X", or "Square of Y" which translates to ulica X-gen and trg Y-gen. For instance, consider these three plates:
The square (trg) is named after Franklin Roosevelt (literally, it's "his" square, it "belongs to him"), and streets after two local guys, Andrija Medulić and Ignjat Đorđić. There's another way to express that something belongs to someone (e.g. "king's return", see above), and hence the street names — about it a bit later.
Here's another way to look at the endings, you can remember both adjectives and nouns for each gender:
number nouns nom. gen. sg. m- velik(i) konj
velik(i) magaräc
velik(i) kolačvelikog(a) konja
velikog(a) magarca
velikog(a) kolačan- veliko selo
veliko pismo
veliko morevelikog(a) sela
velikog(a) pisma
velikog(a) moraa- velika kuća velike kuće i- velika stvar velike stvari pl. m- veliki konji
veliki magarci
veliki kolačivelikih konja
velikih magaräca
velikih kolačan- velika sela
velika pisma
velika moravelikih sela
velikih pisäma
velikih moraa- velike kuće velikih kuća i- velike stvari velikih stvari
Genitive is used with some verbs, with many prepositions (words like "without", "from", in some other instances, etc. — in fact, genitive is almost the "default" case when noun is neither a subject or object of action but is used in another construct. One of the main uses is to measure and count things, as you will see soon.
Updated 2013-06-08
• • • Easy Croatian: 24 Present Tense
• • • Review: Present Tense
Croatian forms the past tense using present forms of verb "to be" (säm, si, je...) and something similar to an adjective, called past participle (abbreviated to "past part." or "p. p."). Such sentences are actually very similar to "X is Y". Because adjectives have to agree with subjects of such sentences, form of the adjective — well, participle — changes according to gender of subject:
Ja säm rekäo. "I said." (a male speaker)
Ja säm rekla. "I said." (a female speaker)
This poses a small problem when translating to and from Croatian. As with other such sentences, personal pronouns are normally omitted:
Rekäo säm. Rekla säm.
Recall that the present forms of verb "to be" (säm, si, je...) must be at the second place in a sentence.
Now, how are those "past participles" formed? First, their scheme of endings is as follows:
m n f nom.sg. -o -lo -la nom.pl. -li -la -le
Other cases (if used) conform to the normal pattern. Actually, all forms conform to the normal adjective pattern except the nom. m.
While there's more than one way to express past in English ("I watched", "I have watched", "I was watching"...) there's only one past tense in Croatian used in every day communication. It simply means what was, what happened.
Let's review the present classes and see how past participles are formed:
pres. class a i i 1st sg. im-a-m misl-i-m trč-i-m 3rd pl. im-a-ju misl-e trč-e past class a i a past m im-a-o misl-i-o trč-a-o past f im-a-la misl-i-la trč-a-la
OK, a- and i-verbs are trivial: they retain their -a- or -i- from the present.
But about the third column? There's a group of verbs, including the verb trčim "run" that have an -i- in present, but -a- in past (and some other forms that are based on the past part.). They behave as i-verbs in present, but like a-verbs in past! That's why there's a row for the 'present class' and a row for the 'past class' in the table. I gave such verbs them a simple name: i/a-verbs (present/past). That's really another class.
Now, let's check the other three verb classes we know from the present tense, all having characteristic -e- in the present tense:
pres. class n 0 j 1st sg. bri-n-em pi--jem tres--em kup-uj-em oček-uj-em 3rd pl. bri-n-u pi--ju tres--u kup-uj-u oček-uj-u past class n 0 ov iv past m bri-nu-o pi--o tres--äo kup-ova-o oček-iva-o past f bri-nu-la pi--la tres--la kup-ova-la oček-iva-la
This is more complicated. If a verb has suffix -n-, it changes to -nu- in the past; it's the property of the suffix, so I still call such verbs n-verbs.
A complication arises in the 0-verbs: if their root (e.g. tres) ends on a consonant, they get an a inserted in sg.m past part., but not in other forms. (I marked it as ä to emphasize that it's an a that is lost in other forms, but it's normally written and pronounced as any a).
The last two columns are also a problem, it's dealt with below. But an important fact first:
Past participle forms
All forms of past part., except the sg.m, are alike sg.f, and sg.f can usually be derived from sg.m.
For example, for the following verb (it means "grow") going from sg.m to sg.f is difficult, but all other forms are alike sg.f:
m n f nom.sg. rastäo raslo rasla nom.pl. rasli rasla rasle
I have already shown one of them in the first table (trčim). There's no other option but to memorize them: how else would you know that učim is a regular i-verb, but trčim is an i/a-verb?. Luckily, there are not too many such verbs. Therefore, for such verbs I will list both present and the past part. m. The frequent ones are (listed as 1st pers. sg. present, past part. sg. m):
bjëžim, bjëžao "run away"
brojim, brojao "count"
držim, držao "hold"
klečim, klečao "kneel"
ležim, ležao "lie, recline"
trčim, trčao "run"
vrištim, vrištao "scream"
zviždim, zviždao "whistle"
Since they are simple to learn, so I'm introducing them as soon as possible. For plain i-verbs, it's enough to show the present tense:
pušim "smoke (cigarette)"
radim "work"
sjëdim "sit"
So the past forms will be listed in this work only if they don't follow the simplest rules, that is, for verbs that don't belong to a-, i-, or n-verbs, and for 0-verbs that don't behave like pijem and tresem.
Unfortunately, there's a rather large group of verbs where past part. cannot be guessed. They all have -uj-em in the present, but some of them get -ova- and others -iva- in the past part. Even worse, there are couple of plain 0-verbs (e.g. čujem) that have -ujem in present but behave like normal 0-verbs (e.g. pijem), so their past. part sg. m is čuo!
Again, there's no other option but to memorize past part. forms, so for such verbs I will list both the present and the past. For example:
ispitujem, ispitivao "examine"
potpisujem, potpisivao "sign"
surađujem, surađivao "co-operate"
uključujem, uključivao "include; switch on"
Otherwise, since they are actually similar in many aspects, I will call them j/v-verbs: they include both j/iv and j/ov-verbs and some other classes I will explain a bit later...
There's another class of verbs does not fit to easy patterns described above. It a number of important verbs, and there's no other option but to memorize them. The class uses a peculiar pattern: in present, they have an -em, but in the past there's always an -a- that never disappears. I'll name it ’j/a-verbs for reasons that will become obvious a bit later. I will illustrate the class with the following useful verbs:
diš-em, dis-a-o "breathe"
dršć-em, drht-a-o "shiver"
grij-em, grij-a-o "heat"
laž-em, lag-a-o "lie"
mič-em, mic-a-o "move"
piš-em, pis-a-o "write"
puš-em, puh-a-o "blow"
skač-em, skak-a-o "jump"
smij-em, smij-a-o se "laugh"
šeć-em, šet-a-o "stroll, walk"
vež-em, vez-a-o "tie"
vič-em, vik-a-o "yell"
The major feature is a complex change of consonants: final consonants in roots in present are almost always different from ones in the past! You can regard them "irregular" if it makes life easier for you, but really they are not, since the alternation of consonants is not random, other verbs in this class have same consonant alternations as one of verbs I listed.
Here are few examples of their use:
Vjëtar puše. "Wind blows."
Vjëtar je puhao. "Wind was blowing."
Šećem. "I am walking."
Šetala säm. "I was walking." (female speaking)
Ivan skače. "Ivan is jumping."
Ivan je skakao. "Ivan was jumping."
Ana piše pismo. "Ana is writing a letter."
Ana je pisala pismo. "Ana was writing a letter."
There are other verb classes that are a bit harder to put into past participle form; one instance is jedem "eat", having past part. jeo. About them, a bit later. Then, there are verbs like zovem "call" where the past part. is unexpectedly zvao, and believe it or not — even weirder verbs.
In verb lists, I will list the past part. m form for all such verbs, and past part. f if there's some additional problem, e.g.:
ponašam se "behave" (plain a-verb)
pušim "smoke" (plain i-verb)
tonem "sink" (plain n-verb)
čujem "hear" (plain 0-verb)
jedem, jeo "eat"
pušem, puhao "blow"
perem, prao "wash"
zovem, zvao "call"
rastem, rastäo, rasla "grow"
For verbs like rastem, where past part. f is unexpectedly ras-la (other forms of past part. also lack the -t-, it got lost), I will list all forms you need to remember.
I will explain such verbs in a greater detail in 31 Weird Verbs. But you can just use them by remembering both present and the past part.
For the plain a-, i-, n- and 0-verbs, I will list only the 1st sg. present, as above.
Several verbs have irregular past participles (everything so far was kind of 'regular'):
hoću (irr.), htio, htjëla "want"
idem, išäo, išla "go"
säm (irr.), bio "be"
The verb säm has unexpectedly bio as its past part. m, but otherwise behaves as any other verb, its past follows the usual pattern:
Žedän säm. "I am thirsty." (male speaking)
Bio säm žedän. "I was thirsty." (male speaking)
Bila säm žedna. "I was thirsty." (female speaking)
Words bio, bila behave as any other past participles, only säm, si, je... have special placing rules and must be at the second place in a sentence.
Verbs that must use the word se in the present must use it in the past as well. The word se in the second place in a sentence, but after any short forms of verb säm. For instance:
Ana i Ivan su se smijali. "Ana and Ivan were laughing."
Ja säm se smijao. "I was laughing." (male speaking)
Smijao säm se. (the same meaning)
However, in the 3rd pers. sg. the short form of verb "to be" (je) is virtually always left out if there's a se:
Ana se smijala. "Ana was laughing."
Smijao se. "He was laughing."
For more details, check 30 Reflexive Pronoun.
Adverbs are normally placed before the past part., when pronouns are omitted, adverbs often go to the first position:
Ana je često kuhala. "Ana cooked often."
With the past tense, the following adverbs are often used to indicate a relative measure when the described action or state occurred:
adverb meaning davno "a long time ago" nekad "some time ago" (means "sometimes" with the present tense) nedavno "recently" malo prijë "just, moments ago"
For example:
Davno säm igrao nogomet. "I played football a long time ago."
Ivan je malo prije čitao knjigu. "Ivan was reading a book moments ago."
Also, there are two adverbs that indicate how long the action was happening:
adverb meaning dugo "for a long time" kratko "for a short time"
For example:
Kratko säm igrao nogomet. "I played football for a short time."
I stated that forms -o, -la, -lo, etc. are actually adjectives. Are they used just as ordinary adjectives, before nouns? Yes, but only a few, from some intransitive (having no objects) verbs. For instance:
Drvo je palo. "(A) tree fell."
Palo drvo leži u šumi. "(A) fallen tree is lying in the forest."
However, a great majority of past participles are not used as adjectives, but only to form past tense. When used to form the past tense, the resulting construct is really not the same as "X is A"; to illustrate this, let's compare spavala (from spavam "sleep") and gladna:
Ja säm spavala. "I was sleeping."
Ja säm gladna. "I am hungry."
Ja säm gladna i žedna. "I am hungry and thirsty."
However, this is impossible:
Ja sam spavala i žedna.(don't try to construct this!)
A more detailed overview of all verb types can be found in the Summary of Verb Forms.
JavaScript must be enabled. You don't have to use my special notation (e.g. ë) in answers, normal spelling will do as well. Letter case is ignored.
Updated 2014-09-28 v. 0.4
• • • Review: Genitive Case
Check in Easy Croatian: 45 Quantities and Existence
This chapter continues exploring some uses of the genitive case (there are many more uses!). Uses in this chapter are related to measured or approximate quantities (counts are covered in the next chapter). It's important to distinguish two types of nouns:
Basically, uncountable nouns have singular only. Some nouns can be both, depending on the context: čokolada can be just uncountable "chocolate", but can mean "chocolate bar" and then it can be counted.
Quantities use genitive plural of nouns (yes, it's the hardest-to-make case), but since uncountable nouns don't have plural, they use gen. sg.!
The existential construct is a way of expressing that something exists somewhere. In English, it's chiefly expressed as "there is/are", e.g. "there are apples on the table". It's so-called "dummy" or "existential there". In French, its il y a, in German es ist/gibt, etc.
In Croatian, it's completely different to English and more similar to German. There are several ways to express existence:
Croatian English use ima jabuka(G pl.) na stolu "there are apples on the table" unknown quantity nema jabuka(G pl.) na stolu "there are no apples on the table" non-existence jabuke su na stolu "apples are on the table" specific, known "apples" postoje zelene jabuke "green apples exist" fact, truth
Forms ima + gen. and nema literally mean "it has" / "it has not", therefore they are impersonal -- and the impersonal "it" is never expressed in Croatian, so such sentences always lack any subject. Note that imam is otherwise used as a normal verb "have"; this use is distinguished by being in the 3rd person sg. with omitted subject and an object in genitive:
Imam jabuku(A sg.). "I have an apple."
Imam jabuke(A pl.). "I have apples."
Imam jabuka(G sg.). "I have some/enough apples."
Ana ima jabuku(A sg.). "Ana has an apple."
Ana ima jabuke(A pl.). "Ana has apples."
Ana ima jabuka(G pl.). "Ana has some apples."
Ima jabuka. (no subject, 3rd pers. sg., gen. pl.) "There are some apples."
This is quite similar to Spanish hay and Portuguese tem or há, however it's a bit more restricted. Forms ima/nema are mainly used to express temporary states, availability of things, especially uncountable ones, and similar:
Ima vode(G sg.). "There's water.", "Water is available."
Nema plina(G sg.). "There's no gas.", "Gas is not available."
Ima kave(G sg.). "There's coffee.", "Coffee is available."
Nema problema(G pl.). (gen. pl., as problems can be counted!) "There are no problems.", "Everything is OK."
The last phrase, nema problema, is very frequently heard.
Important: the "non-existing" phrase nema... can be used with individuals, but ima... cannot!
Nema Ivana. "Ivan is not here." (OK)
Ima Ivana. (wrong!)
Ivan je ovdjë. "Ivan is here." (use this instead!)
It also applies to all known, defined persons, not just named individuals:
Nema mog brata. "My brother is not here." (OK)
Ima mog brata. (wrong!)
Moj brat je ovdjë. "My brother is here." (use this instead!)
The past tense of existential ima/nema is not formed from imam or nemam, but from the verb säm, bio in the 3rd person sg. and neuter gender (you'll see that all impersonal forms use neuter). Therefore, the past form of the existential construct is bilo + je/nije:
present past Ima jabuka.
"There are (some) apples."Bilo je jabuka.
"There were some apples."Nema plina.
"There's no gas."Nije bilo plina.
"There was no gas."Nema problema.
"There are no problems."
"Everything is fine."Nije bilo problema.
"There were no problems."
"Everything was fine."Ana ima jabuku.
"Ana has an apple."Ana je imala jabuku.
"Ana had an apple."
The last sentence is not existential, it's about possession, and therefore it's past is formed as usual.
Sometimes genitive is used instead of accusative of uncountable nouns to express "some" quantity (sometimes implying "enough"):
Trëbam vode(G sg.). "I need some water."
Imamo kruha(G sg.). "We have some/enough bread."
Imamo riže(G sg.). "We have (some/enough) rice."
Nemamo šećera(G sg.). "We don't have (any) sugar."
This is optional, as there are words for "some" and "enough" in Croatian. This is just a shorter version which one can use.
Quantity expressions in Croatian almost always in the form: (quantity) (noun-in-genitive).
Quantity can be an adverb or a noun. Nouns are used in expressions like "cup of tea", "bag of sand", "glass of water", "kilogram of rice", etc.
Imam vrëću(A sg.) pijëska(G sg.). "I have a bag of sand."
Vrëća(N sg.) pijëska(G sg.) je bila(sg.f) teška(sg.f). "The bag of sand was heavy."
The measured noun has the same form, regardless of how it's used in a sentence: always gen.sg. pijëska. It's 'locked' in case! The verb sees only the "bag", it does not care what it is of, what it contains!
Next, an example for countable nouns:
Vidim stado(A sg.) krava(G pl.). "I see a herd of cows."
Stado(N sg.) krava(G pl.) je bilo(sg.n) veliko(sg.n). "The herd of cows was big."
Please note that we are talking about a "herd" (stado) which is a neuter, singular noun, so verbs in the past tense and adjectives must adjust to it! (In the first example, they adjusted to vrëća — a feminine noun).
In the same way, one can ask for a kilogram (usually shortened to kila) of sugar, or half or it.
Molim kilu(A sg.) šećera(G sg.). "I would like a kilogram of sugar."
Molim pola kile(G sg.) šećera(G sg.). "I would like a half kilogram of sugar."
Again, the verb "sees" only kila, which is a noun of f gender. Common measure nouns are:
boca "bottle"
čaša "glass"
hrpa "heap"
gomila "bunch"
kila "kilogram"
kutija "box, pack of cigarettes"
litra "liter"
paket "packet"
šalica "cup"
vrëća "bag"
žlica "spoon"
žličica "teaspoon"
Other measures are generic quantity adverbs. They exist in three flavors; the often used ones are:
relative adverbs ništa (neg!) "no... at all" (for uncount.) nimalo (neg!) "no... at all" nešto "some" (for uncount.) malo "little, a bit" nekoliko "several" (for countables) par (!) "couple" (for countables) puno "lot" mnogo "lot" (for countables)
partial adverbs pola "half" (sg. or pl.) četvrt "quarter" (sg. or pl.) fulfillment adverbs premalo "too little" nedovoljno "not enough" dovoljno "enough" dosta "enough, quite lot" previše "too much"
I have basically invented their names. Some of them apply only to uncountable nouns (for uncount.), some only to countable ones, as indicated above.
Remember that these words are adverbs, not nouns or adjectives. Verbs agree with them in neuter singular:
Nekoliko ljudi je bilo u sobi. "Several people were in the room."
Puno knjiga je bilo u smeću. "A lot of books were in the trash."
Par jabuka je bilo na tanjuru. "Couple of apples were on the plate."
Important: observe that English verbs are in plural, but Croatian verbs are in (neuter) singular in such sentences!
Verbs can "see" only the adverbs, which to verbs appear as "impersonal" words, in neuter singular; nouns come after the adverbs, always in genitive sg. (uncountable) or pl. (countable), but verbs don't "see" them.
It helps that ending for adjectives in gen.pl. is the same (-ih) for all genders, since the general rule is that any adjectives must adapt to the gender of the noun they describe. However, endings are different in singular:
Imam puno crnog papra. (gen. sg.) "I have a lot or black peper." (papär mi)
Imam puno crne kave. (gen. sg.) "I have a lot or black coffee." (kava f)
Imam gomilu crne kave. (gen. sg.) "I have a bunch of black coffee." (gomila changes case to acc., it's a noun)
You see, it's impossible to be fluent in Croatian without mastering endings of adjectives in various cases and genders! That's why I have introduced them quite early.
Another important rule: when you use adverbs ništa and nimalo, you have to use negation (that is, put a ne in front of the verb). It's useful to remember that only these two measure adverbs begin with ni-:
Nemam ništa crne kave. "I have no black coffee at all."
Nisam imao nimalo šećera. "I had no sugar at all."
The word par "pair" can be a noun and then it means exactly "a pair" as well as an adverb when it means "couple, several"; unlike other measure-adverbs, it does not end on a consonant.
The adverbs pola and četvrt (also sometimes nešto) can be used with nouns in gen.sg. to mean "half of a..." and gen.pl. to mean "half of...", that is, half of one thing, or half of count of things:
Pojeo säm pola jabuke. (gen. sg.) "I ate half of an apple."
Pojeo säm pola jabuka. (gen. pl.) "I ate half of apples."
Noun dïo mi "part" has the same role. Unfortunately, it has very weird forms in other cases: dat.sg dijëla, nom.pl. dijëlovi: whenever it gets an ending, it's attached to dijël-!
There's an adverb još which is used to express additional quantities: it is used with measures to express that although there's some quantity, an additional quantity exists or is needed. It's used similar to English "more" when used at the end of the sentence:
Imam nekoliko jabuka. Trëbam još par. "I have several apples. I need a couple more."
There are some adjectives that can be used to express quantity, e.g. cijëli "whole". The behavior is completely different — the measured noun behaves as a normal noun, it can be in any case, the adjective adapts to the noun, etc. There's no difference in behavior to other adjectives, e.g. velik "big":
Imam cijëlu čokoladu. "I have a whole chocolate (bar)."
Cijëla čokolada je bila na stolu. "The whole chocolate (bar) was on the table."
Using these words, construct "I need (some) [stuff]", "I need a [measure] of [stuff] (e.g. trëbam žlicu brašna), and "I have a lot of [stuff]:
brašno "flour"
čaj "tea"
kava "coffee"
mlijëko "milk"
pijësäk "sand"
riža "rice"
ocät "vinegar"
senf "mustard"
sol f "salt"
šećer "sugar"
ulje "oil"
Observe that sol is an i-noun.
Updated 2014-06-01 (v. 0.4)
