Language/Croatian/Grammar/Nouns-and-Cases

Croatian → Grammar → Nouns and Cases

Nouns are essential elements of any language, they are the words we use to refer to things, people, places, and ideas. Croatian nouns, like in any other language, have various forms. They change according to different cases, number, and gender.

In this lesson, you will learn about Croatian noun declension and how to use different cases. You will also learn about the cases of the nouns in the Croatian language, including nominative, accusative, and genitive.

Consider exploring these related pages after completing this lesson: Present Tense of Regular Verbs & How to Use Have.

Croatian Noun Declension

Croatian nouns have seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumental, and locative. Each case has its own suffix, which is used to change the meaning of the word.

There are three genders in the Croatian language: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender of a noun affects its declension. For instance, masculine nouns have a different declension pattern from feminine and neuter ones.

Nouns with stressed syllables and nouns with unstressed syllables have different endings. There are also irregular nouns, which form their cases in unique ways. However, don't be overwhelmed by the number of rules and exceptions! With practice, it will become easier to recognize the patterns and use the correct forms.

Below is a declension table for the word "dom" (meaning "house"). It is an example of a masculine noun in the singular form:

Croatian	Pronunciation	English
dom (nominative)	dom	house
doma (genitive)	'dɔ.ma	of the house
domu (dative)	'dɔ.mu	to the house
dom (accusative)	dom	house
dome (locative)	'dɔ.me	in the house
dome (vocative)	'dɔ.me	house
domom (instrumental)	'dɔ.mɔm	with the house

You can observe that the word "dom" has multiple forms, each indicating a different case. In this case, the word "dom" is in the nominative case. In the genitive case, the word changes to "doma". In the dative case, it changes to "domu", and so on.

Common Nouns in Different Cases

Understanding Croatian noun declension requires practice, as there are different patterns and exceptions to learn. Here are some examples of common nouns in different cases to give you a sense of how they are formed:

Masculine Nouns

• krevet (bed)
  • krevet (nominative)
  • kreveta (genitive)
  • krevetu (dative)
  • krevet (accusative)
  • krevete (vocative)
  • krevetom (instrumental)
  • krevetu (locative)

• prijatelj (friend)
  • prijatelj (nominative)
  • prijatelja (genitive)
  • prijatelju (dative)
  • prijatelja (accusative)
  • prijatelju (vocative)
  • prijateljem (instrumental)
  • prijatelju (locative)

Feminine Nouns

• riječ (word)
  • riječ (nominative)
  • riječi (genitive)
  • riječi (dative)
  • riječ (accusative)
  • riječi (vocative)
  • riječju (instrumental)
  • riječi (locative)

• pjesma (song)
  • pjesma (nominative)
  • pjesme (genitive)
  • pjesmi (dative)
  • pjesmu (accusative)
  • pjesmo (vocative)
  • pjesmom (instrumental)
  • pjesmi (locative)

Neuter Nouns

• dijete (child)
  • dijete (nominative)
  • djeteta (genitive)
  • djetetu (dative)
  • dijete (accusative)
  • dijete (vocative)
  • djetetom (instrumental)
  • djetetu (locative)

• mjesto (place)
  • mjesto (nominative)
  • mjesta (genitive)
  • mjestu (dative)
  • mjesto (accusative)
  • mjesto (vocative)
  • mjestom (instrumental)
  • mjestu (locative)

Tips for Learners

Learning Croatian noun declension can be challenging, but it is a crucial step in mastering the language. Here are some tips to help you along the way:

1. Focus on the most common declension patterns and practice them until they become automatic. 2. Learn vocabulary together with their gender and the nominative form to recognize the right pattern. 3. Pay close attention to nouns with different declension patterns (e.g., oči/oka) and irregular nouns (e.g., sat/sata). 4. Practice, practice, practice - use the new vocabulary in context and check with a native speaker.

Sources

• Croatian Grammar
• Croatian Language Wikipedia Page

Other Lessons

• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Questions
• Croatian Syntax and Style
• How to Use Be
• Give your Opinion
• Croatian Idiomatic Expressions
• Negation
• Prepositions and Pronouns
• 0 to A1 Course

Sources

• Serbo-Croatian grammar - Wikipedia
• Quickly Learn The Different Grammatical Cases In Croatian
• Understanding the Cases in the Croatian Language
• Croatian language basics: cases, articles and genders