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Jasna Kellner
Nouns - Imenice
A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.
Nouns stand for persons (John), beings (pas "dog"), various objects (soba
"room"), feelings (bol "pain"), or abstractions (odlazak "departure").
As in English, there are three genders in Croatian Language:
masculine (abbr. M ) , feminine (abbr. F) and neuter (abbr. N).
Capital letters are used to write:
personal names, city, country
Lower case is used when writing:
languages - engleski, hrvatski, njemački...
days of the week
months
The names of days, months, languages, also adjectives derived from country
names are not capitalized.
In English, it is a general practice to capitalise all first characters of the words in
titles, names, etc, and sometimes middle characters in words too. Bear in mind
that this is an error for the Croatian texts.
Only the first word is capitalized.
-1-
Jasna Kellner
Nominative is the default, "dictionary" case.
Genders - rodovi
To know a noun's gender is very important because it affects all the words that
are tied to the noun, such as adjectives. Such thing do not exist in English
language. There is a way of telling what gender a noun is without memorizing it
for each and every one. A gender is determined by the noun's ending (with some
exceptions). See the table below.
It's easy to do it for nouns that denote living things – if a person or an animal is
male, its grammatical gender will be masculine, and for living things that are
female, the grammatical gender will be feminine.
There are three
genders in Croatian
Language:
Gender
Rod
Ending
(ž)
Feminine
ženski
-a, ost
(s)
Neuter
srednji
-e, -o
muški
-k, -l, -r, -d...
(and all other
consonants)
(m)
Masculine
Masculine (abbr. M),
Most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine,
Feminine (abbr. F)
Nouns ending in -a or in -ost are mostly feminine, Some
exceptions: večer (evening) and noć (night) are feminine.
Neuter (abbr. N).
Nouns ending in -o or -e are neuter.
example:
Neuter nouns: sunce, dijete, more, drvo, tijelo, oko, jezero.
Feminine nouns: žena, kuća, grana, stolica, knjiga, noga, radost.
(ONO oko)
(n)
(OVO oko)
(ONA čaša)
(OVA čaša)
exception: noć (night), jesen (autumn) among 250+.
Masculine nouns:
metak, zvučnik, okvir, krov, toranj, prozor,
medvjed, podložak, prag, exception (tata,
pijetao)
Jasna Kellner
(ONAJ čovjek)
(OVAJ čovjek)
(m)
-2-
(f)
-2-
exercise:
Determine the gender of the following nouns:
Masculine
(m)
(ONAJ/OVAJ čovjek)
Feminine
(f)
(ONA/OVA čaša)
Neuter
(n)
(ONO/OVO oko)
krov
iskra
igra
prozor
prag
panj
zelje
jaje
staklo
ljuljačka
brak
papir
stablo
dolina
mrav
radost
mladost
stol
vrata
janje
pod
olovka
nož
miš
selo
sat
ulje
dječak
ime
vrat
tele
učenik
slika
most
dijete
polica
pijetao (pijevac)
rukavica
noć
-3-
Jasna Kellner
General rules for forming plural nouns
Remember:
The nominative, or "subject case" is the "default" case — you have to know the
dictionary form of a noun if nothing else, and there are rules how to make a plural.
Forming plural nouns in the feminine (ženski rod) and neuter (srednji rod) genders is
very straightforward.
It's also vital to know that nouns retain their gender in plural. For instance, the noun
"žene" (women)(p) is of the feminine gender and not neuter which would be easy to
think because the word ends with the letter -e.
(f)
Feminine
ženski rod: jednina
Ženski rod
(s)
a
- množina
(p)
e
Feminine: Singular: The –a at the end of the word changes into –e (plural)
singular(s)
plural(p)
kuća
--
house
žena
--
woman
stolica
--
chair
A handful of feminine nouns end in consonants.
These nouns receive the ending –i in the plural such as:
singular
plural
bolest
--
sickness
(ova bolest)
smrt
--
death
(ova smrt)
kost
--
bone
(ova kost)
jesen
--
autumn
(ova jesen)
radost
--
joy
(ova radost)
mladost
--
youth
(ova jesen)
Jasna Kellner
-4-
Neuter
(n)
Srednji rod
The final –o or –e in the word is always changed into –a:
srednji rod:
jednina (s) o ili e
množina (p) a
neuter:
singular
plural (p) a
singular(s)
(s)
o or e
plural(p)
pivo
–
beer
srednji rod: jednina o / e - množina a
vino
–
wine
neuter end: singular o / e - plural a
sunce –
sun
more
sea
–
Exceptions:
There are some neuter nouns that are not irregular, but really form a
set of small sub-classes within (n) -nouns. Some common nouns are
among them. A prototype of such nouns is ime (n) "name".
dijete – djeca
tele – telad
oko – oči
pile – pilad/pilići
ime -- imena
-5-
Jasna Kellner
Masculine
(m)
Muški rod
The rule for masculine (muški rod) is also generally simple, but with a few
exceptions.
In most cases the plural is formed by adding an i at the end:
(m)
singular
plural -
televizor –
i
singular
plural
muški rod: jednina Ø - množina i
televizori
TV
prijatelj
--
friend, friends
susjed
--
neighbor, neighbors
zub
--
tooth, teeth
dan
--
day, days
konj
--
horse, horses
pas
--
dog, dogs
For masculine nouns with only one syllable, we add the ending –ovi:
singular
plural
most
--
bridge
stol
--
table
trg
--
square
krov
--
roof
lakat
--
elbow
-6-
Jasna Kellner
For the words which end in - k, lose the final k, the plural ending changes to +ci:
singular
plural
dječak
--
boy
liječnik
--
doctor
poznanik
--
acquaintance
A few common words don’t follow any of these rules, which it's best just to learn by
heart. For example:
plural
singular
čovjek
man
--
people
brat
brother
--
brothers
kći
daughter
--
daughters
dijete
child
--
children
Masculine nouns of one syllable which end with a palatal consonant (i.e. č, ć, đ,
dž, š, ž, lj, nj, j) receive the ending – +evi:
singular
plural
nož
–
knife
knives
miš
–
mouse
mice
muž
–
husband
husbands
-7-
Jasna Kellner
Words which end in –ac, lose the final – -a and receive the ending – +ci:
plural
singular
Amerikanac –
American
policajac
policeman
–
vatrogasac –
Nominative
Nomen = IME
Tko-who (animate)
muški rod (j.)
muški rod (mn.)
ženski rod (j.)
ženski rod (mn.)
srednji rod (j.)
srednji rod (mn.)
firefighter
Nominative
Što-what (non-animate)
masculine
singular
masculine
plural
feminine
singular
feminine
plural
neuter
singular
neuter
plural
(s)
-o
(p)
-i
(s)
-a
(p)
-e
(s)
-o
(p)
-a
Tko-who (animate)
consonant stol
-ist
-e
Nomen = IME
Što-what (non-animate)
lonac
papir
panj
zid
stolovi
lonci
papiri
panjevi
zidovi
knjiga
torba
lutka
marama
jakna
knjige
torbe
lutke
marame
jakne
selo
pismo
ravnalo
šiljilo
oko
sela
pisma
ravnala
šiljila
oči
Jasna Kellner
-8-
Form the plural of the following nouns and indicate their gender:
singular
plural
gender
singular
prijatelj
šišmiš
prijateljica
soba
sestra –
mlijeko
miš
glumac
polaznik
vlak
djevojčica
bolest
jaje
kaput
ogledalo
nos
književnik
naočale
napitak
staklo
Jasna Kellner
plural
gender
-9-
Determine the gender and plural form of the following nouns:
Gender
ROD
JEDNINA
SINGULAR
MNOŽINA
Gender
JEDNINA
MNOŽINA
PLURAL
ROD
SINGULAR
PLURAL
oko
eye
sat
krov
roof
lopta
balls
čaša
glass
tanjur
plates
čizma
boot
žlica
spoon
girl
vilica
fork
ograda
fence
sapun
soap
tele
calf
djevojčica
konj
krava
kuhača
horse
cow
wooden
spoon
watch
lonac
pot
dom
home
mačka
cat
selo
village
noga
leg
more
sea
ploča
board
sunce
sun
poklopac
lid
jezero
lake
arm
stablo
tree
ruka
-10-
Jasna Kellner
Gender
ROD
JEDNINA
SINGULAR
stol
škare
tata
spužva
MNOŽINA
Gender
JEDNINA
MNOŽINA
PLURAL
ROD
SINGULAR
PLURAL
table
tijelo
body
scissors
kuća
house
staklo
glass
dad
sponge
žena
woman
štala
bar
grana
branch
torba
bag
slika
picture
animal
okvir
frame
prozor
window
životinja
pas
dog
nož
knife
medvjed
bear
pencil
prozor
window
olovka
magarac
donkey
dijete
children
stolica
chair
vrata
doors
dolina
valley
jaje
egg
mama
mom
panj
stump
-11-
Jasna Kellner
Circle all nouns and indicate their gender. Write down nominative (s), case-root for each noun.
Different noun endings are the cases - padeži.
Root of nouns: Nominative--pre-determined gender
Remember noun endings:
Masculine (m) - consonant
Feminine (f) - a, ost
Neuter (n) - o, e
1.
Djevojčica se igra na livadi.
3.
Lopta je upala u potok na livadi.
4.
Pojavio se oblak.
6.
Otvorila je mali kišobran.
8.
Na nogama je imala sandale.
10.
2.
5.
Ima loptu.
Počela je padati kiša.
7.
Noge su joj se smočile.
9.
Pošla je kući.
Mama je napravila topli čaj.
-12-
Jasna Kellner
10.
13.
Tata kuha jaje.
12.
Snijeg je hladan.
14.
15.
Plešemo u kolu.
17.
Mama joj je dala ručnik da obriše noge.
18.
Od maslina dobijemo ulje.
16.
Dijete plače.
Stric živi na selu.
Ime mu je Kristijan.
19.
Stablo je visoko.
-13-
Jasna Kellner
Nouns - Imenice
ANSWERS:
There are around 500,000 words in the Croatian language. Many of these words are
not etymologically Croatian in origin.
Croatian is a fully phonetic language, meaning that you will also say the word when
you spell it out letter by letter. Every letter is pronounced the same no matter what, so
you could place a letter (such as R ) next to any other letter in the alphabet (such as a
C or an E ) and it would not affect how they are pronounced.
A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.
Nouns stand for persons (John), beings (pas "dog"), various objects (soba
"room"), feelings (bol "pain"), or abstractions (odlazak "departure").
As in English, there are three genders in Croatian Language:
masculine (abbr. M ) , feminine (abbr. F) and neuter (abbr. N).
Capital letters are used to write:
personal names, city, country
Lower case is used when writing:
languages - engleski, hrvatski, njemački...
days of the week
months
The names of days, months, languages, also, adjectives derived from country
names are not capitalized.
In English, it is a general practice to capitalise all first characters of the words in
titles, names, etc, and sometimes middle characters in words too. Bear in mind
that this is an error for the Croatian texts.
Genders - rodovi
Only the first word is capitalized.
Nominative is the default, "dictionary" case.
To know a noun's gender is very important because it affects all the words that
are tied to the noun, such as adjectives. Such thing do not exist in English
language. There is a way of telling what gender a noun is without memorizing it
for each and every one. A gender is determined by the noun's ending (with some
exceptions). See the table below.
-1-
Jasna Kellner
It's easy to do it for nouns that denote living things – if a person or an animal is
male, its grammatical gender will be masculine, and for living things that are
female, the grammatical gender will be feminine.
There are three
genders in Croatian
Language:
Gender
Rod
Ending
(ž)
Feminine
ženski
-a, ost
(s)
Neuter
srednji
-e, -o
muški
-k, -l, -r, -d...
(and all other
consonants)
(m)
Masculine
Masculine (abbr. M),
Most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine,
Feminine (abbr. F)
Nouns ending in -a or in -ost are mostly feminine, Some
exceptions: večer (evening) and noć (night) are feminine.
Neuter (abbr. N).
Nouns ending in -o or -e are neuter.
(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.)
Prefix for easier
determining of a gender:
example:
Neuter nouns: sunce, dijete, more, drvo, tijelo, oko, jezero.
(ONO oko)
(OVO oko)
(n)
sun, child, sea, tree, body, eye, lake.
Feminine nouns: žena, kuća, grana, stolica, knjiga, noga, radost.
exception: noć (night), jesen (autumn) among 250+.
Masculine nouns:
(ONA čaša)
(OVA čaša)
(f)
woman, house, branch, chair, book leg, joy.
metak, zvučnik, okvir, krov, toranj, prozor,
medvjed, podložak, prag, exception (tata,
pijetao).
(ONAJ čovjek)
(OVAJ čovjek)
(m)
bullet, speaker, frame, roof, tower, window, bear, cushion, threshold, exceptions dad, rooster
-2-
Jasna Kellner
exercise:
Determine the gender of the following nouns:
krov
Masculine
(m)
(ONAJ/OVAJ čovjek)
Feminine
(f)
(ONA/OVA čaša)
Neuter
(n)
(ONO/OVO oko)
iskra (spark)
(m)
(f)
igra
roof
prozor
(f)
game
(m)
prag (threshold)
(m)
panj (stump)
(m)
jaje
(n)
staklo
(n)
window
zelje
(n)
cabbage-greens
ljuljačka
egg
brak
(f)
swing
stablo
(m)
dolina
tree
(f)
(f)
nož
(m)
sat
ime
učenik
calf
(m)
dijete
slika
Jasna Kellner
(f)
picture
(n)
child
(m)
neck
student
(m)
bridge
vrat
name
(n)
(n)
oil
(n)
boy
(m)
ulje
watch
(m)
most
miš
mouse
(m)
village
(m)
floor
knife
(n)
(m)
pod
lamb
(f)
tele
stol
table
(n)
pencil
(m)
ant
(f)
janje
door
dječak
mrav
youth
joy-rejoicing
selo
(f)
mladost
(m)
paper
valley
radost
olovka
papir
marriage
(n)
vrata
glass
polica
(f)
shelf
-3-
General rules for forming plural nouns
Remember
Nominative is the default, "dictionary" case, and is used as a
subject of sentence ("she is writing").
The nominative, or "subject case" is the "default" case — you have to know the
dictionary form of a noun if nothing else, and there are rules how to make a plural.
Forming plural nouns in the feminine (ženski rod) and neuter (srednji rod) genders is
very straightforward.
It's also vital to know that nouns retain their gender in plural. For instance, the noun
"žene" (women)(p) is of the feminine gender and not neuter which would be easy to
think because the word ends with the letter -e.
(f)
Feminine
ženski rod: jednina
(s)
a
Ženski rod
- množina
(p)
e
Feminine: Singular: The –a at the end of the word changes into –e (plural)
singular(s)
plural(p)
kuća
--
kuće
house
žena
--
žene
woman
stolica
--
stolice
chair
A handful of feminine nouns end in consonants.
These nouns receive the ending –i in the plural such as:
singular
plural
singular
plural
bolest
-- bolesti
sickness
(ova bolest)
jesen
-- jeseni
autumn
smrt
-- smrti
death
(ova smrt)
radost
-- radosti
joy
kost
-- kosti
bone
(ova kost)
mladost
-- mladosti
youth
(ova jesen)
(ova radost)
(ova jesen)
-4-
Jasna Kellner
Neuter
(n)
Srednji rod
(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.)
The final –o or –e in the word is always changed into –a:
srednji rod:
jednina (s) o ili e
množina (p) a
neuter:
singular
plural (p) a
(s)
o or e
singular(s)
plural(p)
pivo
–
piva
beer
srednji rod: jednina o / e - množina a
vino
–
vina
wine
neuter end: singular o / e - plural a
sunce –
sunca
sun
more
mora
sea
–
Exceptions:
There are some neuter nouns that are not irregular, but really form a
set of small sub-classes within (n) -nouns. Some common nouns are
among them. A prototype of such nouns is ime (n) "name".
dijete – djeca
child-children
tele – telad
calf-calves
oko – oči
eye-eyes
pile – pilad/pilići
chick-chicks
ime -- imena
name-names
-5-
Jasna Kellner
Masculine
(m)
Muški rod
The rule for masculine (muški rod) is also generally simple, but with a few
exceptions.
In most cases the plural is formed by adding an i at the end:
(m)
singular
i
plural -
singular
plural
muški rod: jednina Ø - množina i
televizor – televizori
TV
prijatelj – prijatelji
friend, friends
susjed – susjedi
neighbor, neighbors
zub
-
zubi
dan
-
dani
"day, days"
konj
-
konji
"horse, horses"
pas
-
psi
Some exceptions when pluralising
masculine nouns
"tooth, teeth"
"dog, dogs"
For masculine nouns with only one syllable, we add the ending –ovi:
singular
plural
most
mostovi
bridge
stol
stolovi
table
trg
trgovi
square
krov
krovovi
roof
lakat
laktovi
elbow
-6-
Jasna Kellner
For the words which end in –k, the plural ending changes to –ci:
singular
plural
dječak – dječaci
boy
liječnik –
doctor
liječnici
poznanik – poznanici
acquaintance
A few common words don’t follow any of these rules, which it's best just to learn by
heart. For example:
plural
singular
čovjek
man
-- ljudi
people
brat
brother
-- braća
brothers
kći
daughter
-- kćeri
daughters
dijete
child
-- djeca
children
Masculine nouns of one syllable which end with a palatal consonant (i.e. č, ć, đ,
dž, š, ž, lj, nj, j) receive the ending – +evi:
singular
plural
nož
– noževi
knife
knives
miš
– miševi
mouse
mice
muž
– muževi
husband
husbands
-7-
Jasna Kellner
Words which end in –ac, lose the final – -a and receive the ending – +ci:
plural
singular
Amerikanac – Amerikanci
American
policajac
policeman
–
policajci
vatrogasac – vatrogasci
Nominative
Nomen = IME
Tko-who (animate)
muški rod (j.)
muški rod (mn.)
ženski rod (j.)
ženski rod (mn.)
srednji rod (j.)
srednji rod (mn.)
Što-what (non-animate)
masculine
singular
masculine
plural
feminine
singular
feminine
plural
neuter
singular
neuter
plural
firefighter
Nominative
Nomen = IME
Tko-who (animate)
table
Što-what (non-animate)
pot
paper
stump
wall
(s)
-o consonant
stol
lonac
papir
panj
zid
(p)
-i
stolovi
lonci
papiri
panjevi
zidovi
book
bag
doll
jacket
scarf
(s)
-a -ist
knjiga
torba
lutka
marama
(p)
-e
knjige
torbe
lutke
marame jakne
village
letter
ruler
jakna
sharpener
eye
(s)
-o -e
selo
pismo
ravnalo
šiljilo
oko
(p)
-a
sela
pisma
ravnala
šiljila
oči
-8-
Jasna Kellner
Form the plural of the following nouns and indicate their gender:
singular
plural
gender
plural
singular
gender
prijatelj –
prijatelji
friend
(m)
šišmiš –
šišmiši
bat
(m)
prijateljica –
prijateljice
friend
(f)
soba –
sobe
room
(f)
sestra –
sestre
sister
(f)
mlijeko –
mlijeka
milk
(n)
miš –
miševi
mouse
(m)
glumac –
glumci
actor
(m)
polaznik –
polaznici
participant (m)
vlak –
vlakovi
train
(m)
girl
(f)
bolest --
bolesti
illness
(f)
egg
(n)
kaput --
kaputi
coat
(m)
mirror
(n)
nos --
nosovi
nose
(m)
glasses (n)
djevojčica --
djevojčice
jaje --
jaja
ogledalo --
ogledala
književnik --
književnici
author/writer
(m)
naočale
naočale
napitci
drink-potion
(m)
staklo --
stakla
napitak --
Jasna Kellner
(n)
glass
-9-
Determine the gender and plural form of the following nouns:
Gender
ROD
JEDNINA
MNOŽINA
Gender
JEDNINA
MNOŽINA
PLURAL
ROD
SINGULAR
PLURAL
SINGULAR
(n)
oko
oči
eye
(m)
sat
satovi
watch
(m)
krov
krovovi
roof
(f)
lopta
lopte
balls
(f)
čaša
čaše
glass
(m)
tanjur
tanjuri
plates
(f)
čizma
čizme
boot
(f)
žlica
žlice
spoon
girl
(f)
vilica
vilice
fork
(f)
djevojčica
djevojčice
(m)
konj
konji
horse
(f)
ograda
ograde
fence
(f)
krava
krave
cow
(m)
sapun
sapuni
soap
(f)
kuhača
kuhače
(n)
tele
telad
calf
(m)
lonac
lonci
pot
(m)
dom
domovi
home
(f)
mačka
mačke
cat
(n)
selo
sela
village
(f)
noga
noge
leg
(n)
more
mora
sea
(f)
ploča
ploče
board
(n)
sunce
sunca
sun
(m)
poklopac poklopci
lid
(n)
jezero
jezera
lake
arm
(n)
stablo
stabla
tree
(f)
ruka
ruke
wooden
spoon
-10-
Jasna Kellner
Gender
ROD
JEDNINA
MNOŽINA
Gender
JEDNINA
MNOŽINA
PLURAL
ROD
SINGULAR
PLURAL
SINGULAR
(m)
stol
stolovi
table
(n)
tijelo
tijela
body
(n)
škare
škare
scissors
(f)
kuća
kuće
house
(m)
tata
tate
dad
(n)
staklo
stakla
glass
(f)
spužva
spužve
sponge
(f)
žena
žene
woman
(f)
štala
štale
bar
(f)
grana
grane
branch
(f)
torba
torbe
bag
(f)
slika
slike
picture
(f)
životinja
životinje
animal
(m)
okvir
okviri
frame
(m)
pas
psi
dog
(m)
prozor
prozori
window
(m)
nož
noževi
knife
(m)
medvjed
(m)
prozor
prozori
window
(f)
(m)
magarac
magarci
donkey
(f)
stolica
stolice
(f)
dolina
(f)
mama
medvjedi
bear
olovka
olovke
pencil
(n)
dijete
djeca
children
chair
(f)
vrata
vrata
doors
doline
valley
(n)
jaje
jaja
mame
mom
(m)
panj
panjevi
egg
stump
-11
Jasna Kellner
Circle all nouns and indicate their gender. Write down nominative (s) case-root for each noun.
Different noun endings are the cases - padeži.
Root of nouns: Nominative--pre-determined gender
Masculine (m) - consonant
Feminine (f) - a, ost
Neuter (n) - o, e
(f)
1.
(f)
(f)
Djevojčica se igra na livadi.
djevojčica-livada
2.
Girl is playing in the meadow.
(f)
3.
Ima loptu.
lopta
She has a ball.
(m)
(f)
Lopta je upala u potok na livadi.
lopta-potok-livada
The ball fell in to a stream in the meadow.
(m)
4.
(f)
Pojavio se oblak. oblak
5.
Počela je padati kiša.
Cloud appeared.
It started to rain.
(m)
6.
Otvorila je mali kišobran.
kišobran
7.
She opened a small umbrella.
8.
(f)
(f)
Noge su joj se smočile. noga
Her feet got wet.
(f)
Na nogama je imala sandale. noga-sandala
She had sandals on her feet.
(f)
10.
kiša
(f)
9.
Pošla je kući.
kuća
She went home.
(m)
Mama je napravila topli čaj.
mama-čaj
Mom made warm tea.
-12-
Jasna Kellner
(m)
(n)
Tata kuha jaje.
10.
(n)
tata-jaje
12.
Dad is cooking an egg.
Snijeg je hladan.
(m)
snijeg
14.
The snow is cold.
Stric živi na selu.
Plešemo u kolu.
(n)
kolo
16.
I dance in a circle.
stric-selo
(m)
Ime mu je Kristijan. ime-Kristijan
His name is Kristijan.
(m)
(f)
17.
(n)
Uncle lives in a village.
(n)
15.
dijete
Child is crying.
(m)
13.
Dijete plače.
(f)
Mama joj je dala ručnik da obriše noge.
mama-ručnik-noga
Her mom gave her a towel to dry off her feet.
(f)
18.
(n)
(n)
Od maslina dobijemo ulje.
maslina-ulje
We get oil from the olives.
19.
Stablo je visoko.
stablo
The tree is high/tall.
-13-
Jasna Kellner
Adjectives formed from proper nouns:
Adjectives are never capitalized, as illustrated with europski and londonski .
All adjective are written with a small letter, even when formed from proper nouns:
Ovo je zagrebačka zračna luka.
This is Zagreb airport.
Ovo je hrvatska zastava.
This is Croatian flag.
Volim londonske ulice.
I like London streets.
Volim švicarski sir.
I like Swiss cheese
Volim londonske parkove.
I like London parks.
Kupam se u jadranskom moru.
I am swimming in the Adriatic sea.
Idem u hrvatsku školu.
I am going to Croatian school.
Ovo je europski grad.
This is a European city.
The adjective is never capitalized, nouns always are.
country/
region name
male ~ female
country-region name in
Croatian
inhabitant
adjective
(= language)
America
Amerika
Amerikanäc ~ Amerikanka
američki
Arabia
Arabija
Arapin, Arap ~ Arapkinja
arapski
Canada
Kanada
Kanađanin ~ Kanađanka
kanadski
Croatia
Hrvatska
Hrvat ~ Hrvatica
hrvatski
Czech
Češka
Čeh ~ Čehinja
češki
England
Engleska
Englez ~ Engleskinja
engleski
Germany
Njemačka
Nijemac ~ Njemica
njemački
Italy
Italija
Talijan ~ Talijanka
talijanski
Romania
Rumunjska
Rumunj ~ Rumunjka
rumunjski
Turkey
Turska
Turčin (see note) ~ Turkinja
turski
Jasna Kellner
-14-
Hrvati uče engleski (jezik). "Croats are learning English (language)."
Ja sam Amerikanka. "I'm (an) American (woman)."
Francuski predsjednik je doputovao u Hrvatsku. "(The) French president has
arrived to Croatia."
Većina Amerikanaca živi u gradovima. "Most Americans live in cities." (lit. "Most
of Americans..."
Insert the appropriate forms of possessive adjectives:
Auto je
. "The car belongs to Ivana."
Ivanin
Vidio sam
kćer.
Hrvojevu
Ključevi su u
On je u
"I saw Hrvoje's daughter."
džepu.
njegovom
"The keys are in his pocket."
dvorani.
školskoj
or "It's Ivana's car."
"He is in the school hall."
Try making sentences like above ones with various nationalities and country names
and adjectives:
uče
Francuzi
uče
Nijemci
U
On je
arapski
. "Frenchmen are learning Arabic."
se govori
Italiji
Čeh
.
engleski
"Germans are learning English."
talijanski
.
"Italian is spoken in Italy."
. "He is a Czech."
-15-
Jasna Kellner
Word Origin-toponyms
Language Rules
noun
a place name.
Capitalization Rules
a name derived from the name of a place.
The English language has a more widespread use of capital letters than Croatian.
The main difference is that the relative adjectives derived from toponyms and names are NOT
capitalized. In Croatian, use these basic guidelines in capitalization.
(with examples):
Beginning of the sentence even if the sentence is included in another one as a
separate statement. (Dobar dan tugo. Rekli su nam: Odlazite odavde!).
Proper (personal) names and possessive adjectives derived from proper names
(Petar, Zagreb, Zagrepčanin, Hrvatska, Petrov, Hrvatov)
Do NOT capitalize the relative adjectives (zagrebački, hrvatski) derived from
toponyms. Possessive adjectives are capitalized however (Zagrepčankin).
Only capitalize the first word of titles, last names and name of products .
Do not capitalize words after colon and semicolon, unless they are at the
beginning of a title or subtitle.
Beginning of the names of historic monuments, national or religious
holidays (Kineski zid-Chinese wall, Duhovi -- Ghosts)
Days and months:
The names of days and months are not capitalized like in English. The Croatian
week starts on Mondays.
-16-
Jasna Kellner
Adjectives formed from proper nouns:
Toponyms, names of continents and names of their citizens//inhabitants and nations
(Afrika, Novi svijet, Alžirac).
country/
region name
country-region name in
Croatian
male ~ female
adjective
inhabitant
(= language)
Africa
Afrika
Afrikanac ~ Afrikanka
afrički
America
Amerika
Amerikanac ~ Amerikanka
američki
Arabia
Arabija
Arapin, Arap ~ Arapkinja
arapski
Austria
Austrija
Austrijanac ~ Austrijanka
austrijski
Australia
Australija
Australac ~ Australka
australski
Brazil
Brazil
Brazilac ~ Brazilka
brazilski
Britain
Britanija
Britanac ~ Britanka
britanski
Belgium
Belgija
Belgijac ~ Belgijka
belgijski
Bosnia
Bosna
Bosanac ~ Bosanka
bosanski
Bulgaria
Bugarska
Bugarin, Bugar ~ Bugarka
bugarski
Canada
Kanada
Kanađanin ~ Kanađanka
kanadski
China
Kina
Kinez ~ Kineskinja
kineski
Croatia
Hrvatska
Hrvat ~ Hrvatica
hrvatski
Cyprus
Cipär
Cipranin ~ Cipranka
ciparski
Czech
Češka
Čeh ~ Čehinja
češki
Dalmatia
Dalmacija
Dalmatinac ~ Dalmatinka
dalmatinski
Denmark
Danska
Danac ~ Dankinja
danski
Egypt
Egipat
Egipćanin ~ Egipćanka
egipatski
England
Engleska
Englez ~ Engleskinja
engleski
Finland
Finska
Finac ~ Finkinja
finski
France
Francuska
Francuz ~ Francuskinja
francuski
Germany
Njëmačka
Nijemäc ~ Njemica
njëmački
Greece
Grčka
Grk ~ Grkinja
grčki
Herzegovina
Hercegovina
Hercegovac ~ Hercegovka
hercegovački
Hungary
Mađarska
Mađar ~ Mađarica
mađarski
India
Indija
Indijac ~ Indijka
indijski
Ireland
Irska
Irac ~ Irkinja
irski
Istria
Istra
Istranin ~ Istranka
Istrijan ~ Istrijanka
Jasna Kellner
istarski
-17-
country/
region name
country-region name in
Croatian
male ~ female
adjective
inhabitant
(= language)
Italy
Italija
Talijan ~ Talijanka
talijanski
Latvia
Latvija
Latvijac ~ Latvijka
latvijski
Lithuania
Litva
Litavac ~ Litavka
litavski
The Netherlands
Nizozemska
Nizozemac ~ Nizozemka
nizozemski
Holland
Holandija
Holanđanin ~ Holanđanka
holandski (Dutch)
Norway
Norveška
Norvežanin ~ Norvežanka
norveški
Poland
Poljska
Poljak ~ Poljakinja
poljski
Portugal
Portugal
Portugalac ~ Portugalka
portugalski
Romania
Rumunjska
Rumunj ~ Rumunjka
rumunjski
Russia
Rusija
Rus ~ Ruskinja
ruski
Scotland
Škotska
Škot ~ Škotkinja
škotski
Serbia
Srbija
Srbin ~ Srpkinja
srpski
Slavonia ‡
Slavonija
Slavonac ~ Slavonka
slavonski
Slovakia
Slovačka
Slovak ~ Slovakinja
slovački
Slovenia
Slovenija
Slovenac ~ Slovenka
slovenski
Spain
Španjolska
Španjolac ~ Španjolka
španjolski
Sweden
Švedska
Šveđanin ~ Šveđanka
švedski
Turkey
Turska
Turčin ~ Turkinja
turski
Wales
Vels
Velšanin ~ Velšanka
velški
Dutchman
-18-
Jasna Kellner