Language/Croatian/Grammar/Adjectives

Croatian Grammar - Adjectives

Hi Croatian learners! 😊

In this lesson, you will learn about Croatian adjectives, their endings, comparison forms, and other important information.

What are adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe or modify a noun or pronoun. In Croatian, adjectives can be found before or after the noun they describe.

Here are some examples:

• plava knjiga (blue book)
• visok muškarac (tall man)
• lijepa kuća (beautiful house)

As you can see, the adjective agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun it describes.

Adjective Endings

Croatian adjectives follow a specific pattern of endings depending on gender, number, and case.

Masculine Adjective Endings

• Singular: -i endings in nominative, genitive, and accusative cases; -om ending in the dative case.
• Plural: -i endings in all cases.

Here is an example table to show the masculine adjective endings:

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Case	Singular	-	Nominative	-i	-i	Genitive	-og	-ih	Dative	-om	-im	Accusative	-og	-e/-i	Vocative	-i	-i	Locative	-om	-im	Instrumental	-im	-im

Feminine Adjective Endings

• Singular: -a, -na, -ka or -ga endings in nominative, genitive, and accusative; -oj ending in dative case.
• Plural: -e, -ne or -ke endings in nominative, genitive, accusative, and dative.

Here is an example table to show the feminine adjective endings:

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Case	Singular	-	Nominative	-a, -na, -ka, -ga	-e, -ne, -ke	Genitive	-e, -ne, -ke	-ih	Dative	-oj	-im	Accusative	-u/-u/-u, -nu/-nu/-nu, -ku/-ku/-ku, -gu/-gu/-gu, depending on the ending	-e, -ne, -ke	Vocative	-a, -na, -ka, -ga	-e, -ne, -ke	Locative	-oj	-im	Instrumental	-om	-im

Neuter Adjective Endings

• Singular: -o ending in all cases except dative which has -om ending.
• Plural: -a ending in all cases.

Here is an example table to show the neuter adjective endings:

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Case	Singular	-	Nominative	-o	-a	Genitive	-og	-ih	Dative	-om	-im	Accusative	-o/-e	-a	Vocative	-o	-a	Locative	-om	-im	Instrumental	-im	-im

Adjective Comparison

Croatian adjectives can be used in three different comparison forms:

1. Positive: used to describe a single noun, without any comparison to others. 2. Comparative: used to compare two nouns. 3. Superlative: used to describe one noun as having the highest degree of a quality of all the nouns in a group.

To form the comparative and superlative forms, you can use the following patterns:

• Comparative form: [adjective] + -iji + od + [noun]
• Superlative form: naj + [adjective] + -iji + [noun]

Here are some examples:

• Marko je visok. (Marko is tall.) - Positive form
• Ana je viša od Marka. (Ana is taller than Marko.) - Comparative form
• Petra je najviša od svih. (Petra is the tallest of all.) - Superlative form

Note that not all adjectives follow this pattern, and some have irregular forms.

Adjective Agreement

As mentioned earlier, in Croatian, adjectives need to agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Here are some examples:

• Marija je [lijepa] [žena]. (Marija is a beautiful woman.)
• Ivan je [lijep] [muškarac]. (Ivan is a handsome man.)

In both cases, the adjective "lijep" agrees with the gender and number of the noun it describes.

Practice Dialogue

Here is a practice dialogue to help you understand Croatian adjectives in context:

• Person 1: Koliko je visok tvoj brat? (How tall is your brother?)
• Person 2: On je visok 1,90m. (He is 1.90m tall.)
• Person 1: Onda je tvoj brat [najviši] [čovjek] kojeg poznajem. (Then your brother is the tallest man I know.)

Conclusion

In conclusion, Croatian adjectives are an important part of the language and can make your speech more descriptive and interesting. Remember to pay attention to gender, number, and case when using adjectives, and don't hesitate to practice with native speakers on Polyglot Club. You can also find more information on Croatian Grammar on our website.

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