PONAVLJANJE GRAMATIKE

(GRAMMAR OVERVIEW)

VERBS
In Croatian language we have few group of verbs, few irregular verbs, auxiliary verb to be (biti) and
to want (htjeti), and modal verbs.

PRESENT TENSE
We have only one tense for telling present: prezent.

VERB TO BE

ja (je)sam mi (je)smo

ti (je)si vi/Vi (je)ste

on je(st) oni (je)su

ona je(st) one (je)su

ono je(st) ona (je)su

Short form of verb to be we use in a normal sentence: Ja sam iz Hrvatske. Oni su moji prijatelji.

Long form we use in „yes“ or „no“ questions: Jesi li iz Hrvatske? Jesu li oni tvoji prijatelji?

Long form we use in a short answer: Jesu. Jesam.

The only exeption is 3rd person singular: Je li on tvoj prijatelj? Jest.

NEGATIVE FORM OF VERB TO BE

ja nisam mi nismo

ti nisi vi/Vi niste

on, ona, ono nije oni, one, ona nisu

Example: Je li on tvoj muž? Nije.

 Jesu li oni tvoji prijatelji? Nisu. Oni nisu moji prijatelji.

-ATI VERBS
First group of verbs is a group that have ending -ati, like znati, kuhati, trenirati, svirati, slušati, igrati.
In present tense this ending -ati shpuld go away, and then we have endings:

ZNATI

ja znam mi znamo

ti znaš vi/Vi znate

on, ona, ono zna oni, one, ona znaju

Znaš li kuhati? Ne znam.

-ITI VERBS
This group of verbs has -iti ending that in conjugation goes away, and then we have endings:

RADITI

ja radim mi radimo

ti radiš vi/Vi radite

on, ona, ono radi oni, one, ona rade

Radiš li svaki dan? Ne radim svaki dan.

Some verbs from this group: misliti, nositi, slaviti, položiti, odlaziti, dolaziti, učiti, moliti.

-JETI VERBS
This group has -jeti ending, but it has the same conjugation as -iti group of verbs:

VOLJETI

ja volim mi volimo

ti voliš vi/Vi volite

on, ona, ono voli oni, one, ona vole

Some verbs from this group: željeti, letjeti, štedjeti, boljeti, vidjeti.

Voliš li kavu? Ne volim kavu. Volim čaj.

OVATI, -EVATI, -IVATI VERBS

-

This group has a little bit longer ending, so it is not only -ati. In present tense this ending goes away
and then we add following endings:

PUTOVATI

ja putujem mi putujemo

ti putuješ vi/Vi putujete

on, ona, ono putuje oni, one, ona putuju

Putuješ li sutra? Ne putujem.

Some other verbs from this group: kupovati, vjerovati, iznajmljivati, kraljevati, razmjenjivati,
ispuhivati, razlikovati, bolovati

MODAL VERBS
Same as in english, in Croatian we have 5 modal verbs: morati, trebati, smjeti, htjeti, moći.

MORATI IS -ati verb (ja moram, oni moraju) and it comes with infinitive form: Moram učiti.

TREBATI is -ati verb (ja trebam, oni trebaju) and it comes with infinitive form or noun in accusative:
Trebam muža. Trebam putovati.

SMJETI is irregular verb (ja smijem, ti smiješ, on, ona, ono smije; mi smijemo, vi smijete, oni smiju)
and it comes with infinitive form: Smijem pušiti. Ne smijem skakati.

HTJETI is irregular verb (ja hoću, ti hoćeš, on, ona, ono hoće, mi hoćemo, vi hoćete, oni hoće) and it
comes with infinitive form or noun in accusative: Hoću šetati. Hoću kavu. Verb htjeti is also an
auxiliray verb, and we use it for making future tense. Negative form is a little bit different: instead of
„ho“ we use „ne“: neću, nećeš…

MOĆI is irregular verb (ja mogu, ti možeš, ona, ona, ono može, mi možemo, vi možete, oni mogu) and
it comes with infinitive form: Mogu dobro pjevati. Ne možemo letjeti.
VERB IĆI (TO GO)
This is an irregular verb, and it always comes with accusative.

IĆI

ja idem mi idemo

ti ideš vi/Vi idete

on, ona, ono ide oni, one, ona idu

Ideš li na fakultet? Ne idem.

VERB JESTI (TO EAT)

This is also an irregular verb, it has -sti ending: ja jedem, ti jedeš, on, ona, ono jede, mi jedemo, vi
jedete, oni jedu. This verb comes with accusative form: Jedem pizzu. On jede tjesteninu.

VERB PITI (TO DRINK)

This is also an irregular verb: ja pijem, ti piješ, on, ona, ono pije, mi pijemo, vi pijete, oni piju

-ATI >EM VERBS

Some verbs have -ati ending, but their conjugation has -e instead of -a. Sometimes occurs some
other change, like in pisati – ja pišem; or plesati – ja plešem.

PLESATI

ja plešem mi plešemo

ti plešeš vi/VI plešete

on, ona, ono pleše oni, one, ona plešu

Some other verbs from this group: SLATI (ja šaljem, oni šalju); BRIJATI (ja brijem, oni briju); PRATI (ja
perem, oni peru); BRATI (ja berem, oni beru).

REFLEXIVE VERBS
Some verbs in Croatian language are reflexive. They always come with „se“, and that is the same for
all persons (yourself). They can have different conjugations (-ati, -iti, -ati>em…), but they always have
„se“. Some of these verbs are: zvati se (ja se zovem, oni se zovu); češljati se (ja se češljam, oni se
češljaju), tuširati se (ja se tuširam, oni se tuširaju), kupati se (ja se kupam, oni se kupaju), sjećati se (ja
se sjećam, oni se sjećaju), bojati se (ja se bojim, oni se boje).

When we use this verb without personal pronoun, „se“ again comes on the 2nd place in a sentence:
Ja se kupam. / Kupam se.

PAST TENSE
In Croatian language we have more tenses for telling the past, but mostly we use PERFEKT (past
tense).

We have one formula for past tense: first we need present tense of verb to be, and a verb with
specific ending: each verb should drop final -ti or -ći ending, and then we add -o for masculine
singular, -a for feminine singular, -o for neutral singular; in plural we have ending -li for masuline, or
mixed men and women, -le for feminine, and -la for neutral

Example: Ja sam bio u Splitu. Ja sam bila u Splitu.

Jučer sam plivala u moru. On je također plivao.

In past tense it doesn't matter if verb is -ati, -iti etc. Always -ti goes away. Ja sam kuhala. Ja sam
radila.

Only with -jeti verbs you should be carefull with masculine singular: Ja sam voljela, Ona je letjela, Mi
smo željeli; but On je volio, On je želio, on je letio.

This rule applies also to verbs htjeti and smjeti: Ona je htjela. On je htio. Ona je smjela. On je smio.

Verb jesti in past tense doesn't have „s“: On je jeo, Ona je jela, Mi smo jeli…

VERB IĆI IN PAST TENSE

Ići is irregular in past tense:

ja sam išao/ išla mi smo išli /išle

ti si išao/išla vi ste išli/išle

on je išao oni su ušli

ona je išla one su išle

ono je išlo ona su išla

Same like ići (with „š“ in past tense) are verbs doći, proći, naći, otići, ući, izići: Oni su došli. Mi smo
prošli ispit. Prijatelji su otišli.

VERB MOĆI IN PAST TENSE

Moći is irregular in past tense:

ja sam mogao/mogla mi smo mogli/mogle

ti si mogao/mogla vi ste mogli/mogle

on je mogao oni su mogli

ona je mogla one su mogle

ono je moglo ona su mogla

Same like moći in past tense are verbs: leći, pomoći, pobjeći, stići: Oni su legli na krevet. Prijatelj mi je
pomogao. Lopov je pobjegao. Poruka je stigla.

VERB REĆI IN PAST TENSE

Reći is irregular in past tense. This verb we usually use in past tense for sentence like he said (on je
rekao). In present tense we would use verb „kazati“ (ja kažem, ti kažeš, on, ona, ono kaže, mi
kažemo, vi kažete, oni kažu), although instead of „reći“ in past tense, we also could use „kazati“: Ja
sam rekao da… ili Ja sam kazao da…

ja sam rekao/rekla mi smo rekli/rekle

ti si rekao/rekla vi ste rekli/rekle

on je rekao oni su rekli

ona je rekla one su rekle

ono je reklo ona su rekla

Same like „reći“ in past tense are verbs: peći, teći, vući, tući: Mi smo pekli meso. Rijeka je tekla.
Turisti su vukli torbe. On je tukao psa.

REFLEXIVE VERBS IN PAST TENSE

We have some additional rules for reflexive verbs in the past tense: only for 3rd person singular in
past tense we dont have this „je“ part from verb to be: On se tuširao. So, it is not „On je se tuširao“,
like it would be Ti si se tuširao.

We must be carefull with the word order in past tense for reflexive verbs:

Ti si se tuširao. / Tuširao si se.

On se tuširao. / Tuširao se.

Jesi li se tuširao?

Je li se tuširao?

Ti se nisi tuširao. / Nisi se tuširao.

On se nije tuširao. / Nije se tuširao.

FUTURE TENSE
Future tense is compound tense, and for making future tense we need verb to want (htjeti): ja hoću,
ti hoćeš, on, ona, ono hoće, mi hoćemo, vi hoćete, oni hoće + infinitive form. Verb htjeti in a normal
sentence comes in a short form, without „ho“:

ja ću učiti mi ćemo učiti

ti ćeš učiti vi ćete učiti

on, ona, ono će učiti oni, one, ona će učiti

If we use it without personal pronoun, than we drop final -i in verbs that have -ti ending: Učit ću, učit
će; but ići ću, ići će

For making questions we use full formo f verb htjeti: Hoćemo li ići na kavu? This also could be a
sentence in present tense, and that is the reason why we sometimes in present use verb „željeti“
instead of „htjeti“: Želiš li ići na kavu? / Hoćeš li ići na kavu?

REFLEXIVE VERBS IN FUTURE TENSE

Ja ću se tuširati /Tuširat ću se.

On će se tuširati. / Tuširat će se.

Hoću li se tuširati?

Hoće li se tuširati?

Ja se neću tuširati. / Neću se tuširati.

On se neće tuširati. / Neće se tuširati.

VERBS WITH DIFFERENT CASES:

Some verbs always come with a certain case. Here is a list of some of them

AKUZATIV DATIV INSTRUMENTAL GENITIV LOKATIV

IMATI TELEFONIRATI BAVITI SE BOJATI SE OVISITI O
ZNATI GOVORITI VOZITI SE SJEĆATI SE RAZGOVARATI O
KUHATI VJEROVATI RUKOVATI ODRICATI SE ČITATI O
ČITATI VESELITI SE BOLOVATI OD PJEVATI O
SLUŠATI RADOVATI SE FRAZE:
IGRATI DIVITI SE biti ZADOVOLJAN
PISATI ČUDITI SE biti IZNENAĐEN
ČEKATI PRIGOVARATI biti ODUŠEVLJEN
TRENIRATI KAZATI
UČITI REĆI
NOSITI POMOĆI
ZVATI SMETATI
IZNAJMLJIVATI SMIJATI SE
KUPOVATI ZAHVALJIVATI
IĆI DATIV KAO
INDIREKTNI
OBJEKT:
DOĆI PISATI
PROĆI SLATI
VOLJETI DATI
ŽELJETI DAROVATI
HTJETI… POKLONITI
LAGATI
PRIĆI
 NOUNS
Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in Croatian language have cases (nominativ, akuzativ, dativ, lokativ,
instrumental, genitiv, vokativ). Nouns have one declination, and pronouns and adjectives have other
declination in each case.

NOMINATIV (tko, što) names people, things and phenomenon.

Feminine form has ending -a in singular, and -e in plural (žena – žene).

Masculine form has a consonant in the singular (muškarac, mobitel), and -i ending in the plural form
(muškarci, mobiteli).

Neutral form has -o or -e ending in the singular, and -a in the plural form (sunce, nebo; sunca, neba).

We have a few rules for masculine nouns:

1. Masculine nouns with only one syllable should get -ov or -ev ending in plural, before final -i: slon –
slonovi; stan – stanovi; puž – puževi; ključ – ključevi.

Ending -ov get nouns that have palatal as the last letter: č, ć, dž, đ, š, ž, lj, nj, j, (r, c).

2. Masculine nouns with -k in the end in plural change k into c: radnik – radnici; liječnik – liječnici.
Same thing happens with g, that changes into -z (kovčeg – kovčezi); and -h, that changes into -s (orah
– orasi).

3. In masculine nouns in plural sometimes happens „floating“ a: muškarac – muškarci; Amerikanac –

Amerikanci; starac – starci. Ussually that happens when a word ends on -ac.

We have a specific group of nouns that are feminine, but have consonant in the end. They have
specific declination. Some of theese nouns are following nouns:

obitelj, večer, noć, smrt, bol, sol, stvar, budućnost, sadašnjost, povijest, krv, strast…

singular plural

N: obitelj obitelji

A: obitelj obitelji

D, L: obitelji obiteljima

I: obitelji obiteljima

G: obitelji obitelji
V: obitelji obitelji

Irregular noun is posao (masculine form):

singular plural

N: posao poslovi

A: posao poslove

D, L: poslu poslovima

I: poslom poslovima

G: posla poslova

V: poslu poslovi

AKUZATIV (koga, što) we use for direct object (Čitam knjigu), with verbs in motion (Idem na plažu),
with prepositions u, na, za, po, kroz, and with days in week.

We must be carefull with masculine singular: If it's alive, it gets ending -a (Imam muža); if it's not
alive, it stays the same as in nominativ.

This rule doesn't appear with other genders or in plural.

Feminine nouns in accusative gets -u ending (imam kuću, ženu), and -e in plural (imam kuće, žene).

Masculine nouns (alive) get ending -a in singular (Imam muža), nonanimated nouns stays the same
(Imam mobitel), and in plural nouns get -e (Imam prijatelje, Imam mobitele).

Neutral nouns stay the same as in nominativ (Imam stablo. Imam stabla.)

LOKATIV (komu, čemu) we use for location (where?), for topic (with preposition „o“(about)), and
with months. Lokativ always comes with a preposition. It could be preposition u, na, o, po.

Masculine and neutral nouns get ending – u in singular (Ja sam u stanu. Jabuka je na stablu), and
ending -ima in plural: (Mi smo u stanovima, Jabuke su na stablima).

Feminine nouns get ending -i in singular (Ja sam u sobi. Razgovaramo o politici), and ending -ama in
plural (Mi smo u sobama. Razgovaramo o ženama).

We have rule k +i = ci; g +i = zi; h + i = si in feminine form (o politici; u knjizi).

DATIV (komu, čemu) has the same endings as lokativ, but different usage. We us dativ for indirect
object (Pišem pismo prijatelju; Šaljem poklon djevojci). Dativ comes with specific verbs, listed above.
(Veselim se ljetu, Divim se političarima, Smijem se šalama).

Prepositions with dativ: prema, k/ka, unatoč, usprkos, nasuprot.

INSTRUMENTAL (kim, čim) we use for company (Živim s prijateljem), for instrument (Pišem
olovkom), and for two things together, or when we add one thing to another (kava s mlijekom, votka
s ledom), and for vehicles (Idem na posao autobusom; Vozim se vlakom).

Masculine nouns in singular get ending -om or -em (if the last letter is palatal): Živim s bratom i
prijateljem. Masculine nouns in plural get ending – ima: Živim s prijateljima.

Feminine nouns in singular get ending -om: Živim sa sestrom. In plural ending is -ama: Živim s
prijateljicama.

Neutral nouns get ending -om: stablom, or -em: morem. In plural ending -ima: stablima, morima

Prepositions with instrumental: s/sa, pod, nad, pred, među.

GENITIV (koga, čega) has a lot of prepositions: kraj, pokraj, pored, blizu, iznad, ispod, ispred, iza,
između, oko, od, do, iz, zbog, protiv, bez., iz, prije, poslije, nakon..

Genitiv we use for quantity, with adverbs malo, puno, više, manje, još, premalo, previše, nekoliko,
toliko, koliko.

Genitiv we use when you want to say what is something made from: sok od jabuke, torta od jagoda,
čaj od mente, juha od povrća…

Genitiv we use as something possesive: Ulica kralja Zvonimira; kuća moje mame.

When two nouns come together, the other noun i sin genitiv: profesorica hrvatskog jezika; trener
nogometa; instruktor joge, čaša vode…

Genitiv we use with numbers: numbers 2, 3, 4, (34, 52…) + Genitiv singular

numbers 5, 6, 7… 25, 107… + Genitiv plural

Genitiv we use with specific verbs: sjećati se (to remember); bojati se (to be affraid of), odricati se (to
give up), bolovati od (to suffer from).

ADJECTIVES
Adjectives also could be masculine, feminine, or neutral, in singular or plural. They correspond to
noun that follows. Rhey describe the noun.

In adjectives sometimes we have „mobilno a“:

pametan, pametna, pametno (smart)

dosadan, dosadna, dosadno (boring)

hrabar, hrabra, hrabro (brave)

žedan, žedna, žedno (thursty)

plitak, plitka, plitko (shallow)

That ussually happens when we have -an, -ak, or -ar ending.

Other change that sometimes happens is changin -o into -l:

debeo, debela, debelo (fat)

veseo, vesela, veseo (cheerfull)

zreo, zrela, zrelo (mature, ripe)

Possesive adjectives could be for something that is not alive, and then they have ending -ski, -ški, -
čki:

hrvatski i njemački jezik

paški sir i drniški pršut

talijanske cipele

Ending must correspond to the noun that follows.

Possesive adjectives for persons have ending -ov or -ev for masculine (Ivanov prijatelj; mužev sat),
and -in for feminine (Mamina kuća, sestrin ručak).

PRONOUNS
Pronouns could be personal pronouns: ja, ti, on, ona, ono, mi, vi, oni, one, ona

Pronouns could be possesive pronouns: moj, tvoj, njegov, njezin, naš, vaš, njihov.

Possesive pronouns have correspond to the noun that follows, but we must be carefull with „palatal“
letter: moje nebo, njegovo nebo.

Pronouns have their declination in each case.

NOMINATIV: JA TI ON ONA ONO MI VI ONI,
ONE,
ONA
AKUZATIV: MENE/ME TEBE/TE NJEGA/GA NJU/JU/JE NJEGA/GA NAS VAS NJIH/IH
LOKATIV: o MENI o TEBI o NJEMU o NJOJ o NJEMU o o o
NAMA VAMA NJIMA
DATIV: MI TI MU JOJ MU NAM VAM IM
INSTRUMENTAL sa MNOM s s NJIM s NJOM s NJIM s s s
TOBOM NAMA VAMA NJIMA
GENITIV MENE/ME TEBE/TE NJEGA/GA NJE/JE NJEGA/GA NAS VAS NJIH/IH