Title : GC's official Eudial Posts : 1955 Join date : 2015-02-25 Age : 31 Location : Mentally still in Zagreb
Subject: Hrvatski Jezik – The Croatian Language 5th September 2016, 11:09 pm
In this thread you will find the following topics: Croatian Language Facts, Croatian Grammar Facts, Useful Phrases, Fun Words and Phrases, Count to Ten in Croatian, as well as a little forum game at the very end to earn a bumper!
~~~Croatian Language Facts~~~
Croatian is a member of the Slavic Language group, like Russian, but it does not use the Cyrillic alphabet. Instead it uses the Latin Alphabet with the additional letters Č, Ć, Dž, Đ, Lj, Nj, Š, Ž. Note: The letters Q, W, X, and Y are absent from the Croatian language.
It did however use the Cyrillic alphabet continuously from the 12th century to the 19th century. Cyrillic was mostly abandoned by the 20th century, though there were some cases of it still being used.
Croatian has three main dialects: Čakavian (Čakavstvo), Kajkavian (Kajkavstvo), and Štokavian (Štokavstvo). Štokavian is the nation's standard dialect, whereas Čakavian is spoken along the coastline, on islands, and in the Lika region; and Kajkavian is spoken in the north and northwest.
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.
To get the most out of the next sections in this thread, please take a moment to review this short video in which Youtuber Grgo Petrov teaches you how to pronounce the Croatian Alphabet.
***If the video is not loading for you or is blocked in your country for some reason, there is an alternative short pronunciation guide with audio examples HERE toward the bottom of the page.
~~~Croatian Grammar Facts~~~
In the Croatian language, R is sometimes treated as a vowel. Here are a few examples where R is being used as a vowel: vrt (garden), grm (bush), srce (heart), grk (Greek), Krk (name of a Croatian island), brdo (hill), prst (finger/toe), milosrđe (compassion), brk (mustache)
Verbs are conjugated based on the gender of the subject/speaker. An adjectives will also correspond to the gender of the subject/speaker unless it is already modifying some other noun that describes something about the subject/speaker.
Examples: Usagi nije položila ispit. (Usagi didn't pass the exam.) Umino je položio ispit. (Umino passed the exam.) Viluy je jako pametna. (Viluy is very smart.) Viluy je jako pametni zlikovac. (Viluy is a very smart villain.)
Croatian has both Ti (informal) and Vi (formal) speech.
Ti is the singular form of the pronoun you. It is used to address friends, family, and children; and it is also used among adolescents and their peers. In addition, middle-aged adults and senior citizens typically use ti when addressing young adults. Vi is the plural form of the pronoun you.It is used to address somebody that you do not know very well—especially if they have seniority over you—or somebody of importance such as the president, your professor, or your boss. Vi and its declensions are always capitalized whenever you are writing formally of a person. When addressing somebody formally, all corresponding verbs and adjectives are always in the masculine plural regardless of the person's actual gender. Aside from formal speech, vi can be used to address a group of people—after all, it is a plural pronoun! It is not capitalized in this situation unless of course it is the first word in the sentence. The corresponding verbs and adjectives used to address the group will depend on the whether the group is all girls, all boys, or a mixture of both. If one man is present in a group of women, the group is always referred to in the masculine plural. However, if one woman is in a group of all men, the group will still be referred to in the masculine plural. A group of all women is referred to in the feminine plural.
Examples: Kako ste Vi? (How are you? (Formal)) Kako si ti? (How are you? (Informal)) Molim Vas, slušajte me! (Please listen to me! (Formal)) Molim te, slušaj me! (Please listen to me! (Informal)) Vi znate čitati na engleskom. (You know how to read English. (Formal)) Ti znaš čitati na engleskom. (You know how to read English (Informal)) Gdje ste sad vi stretni ljudi? (Where are all you happy people now?) Pa, vi ste ludi! (Well, you [guys] are crazy! (Plural, addressing a group of men or a mixed gender group)) Pa, vi ste lude! (Well, you [girls] are crazy! (Plural, addressing a group of women))
Croatian has seven grammatical cases or declensions for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative, locative, and instrumental. Sounds scary, right? But it doesn't have to be! If you learn nominative, and accusative, dative, (and a little bit of genitive so that you can ask for X number of something) first, you can usually get around using the other cases in basic/beginner conversations.
If you are a woman and your name does not end in -a, guess what? It will remain as is throughout all seven grammatical cases no matter what!
There are three categories of nouns in the Croatian language: masculine, feminine, and neuter. These categories affect how verbs are conjugated and how adjectives will decline with the nouns they are modifying.
Most feminine nouns end in -a (e.g. mrkva (carrot), biljka (plant)), but there are also many exceptions to this rule! Here are a few: krv (blood), mladost (youth), jesen (autumn), glupost (nonsense), prst (finger). Neuter nouns end in -o or -e (e.g. more (sea), brdo (hill)). Most masculine nouns end in a consonant (e.g. pas (dog), sladoled (ice cream)), though there are a handful that end in -a, such as tata (dad) and deda (grandpa). Some masculine names even end in -a, such as Luka and Nikola!
Let's take a quick look at how feminine, masculine, and neuter nouns generally change with each grammatical case. Now, I say generally because there are several rules within the general rule (e.g mobile -a- which occurs near the end of some masculine nouns; certain consonants change with the case when they are at the end of a word, etc.) that cause some nouns to have slightly different declension patterns, but we won't get into all of that.
Singular Feminine Noun: Mačka (Cat)
Case Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Vocative Locative Instrumental
Example Mačka je pametna. Momak traži svoju mačku. Vidim tri mačke. Dala/Dao sam mački hranu. Šic, mačko! Muha je na mački. Idem u park s svojim mačkom
English Translation The cat is smart. The boy is looking for his cat. I see three cats. I gave the cat food. Shoo, cat! The fly is on the cat. I am going to the park with my cat
Singular Neuter Noun: More (Sea)
Case Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Vocative Locative Instrumental
Example More je lijepo. Idem ja na more. Morski psi živi ispod mora. Radujem se moru. Pjevam ti pjesmu, more! On je na moru. Brodovi plove morem.
English Translation The sea is pretty. I am going to the sea. Sharks live under the sea. I am looking forward to the sea. I am singing a song to you, sea!*** He is in the sea. Boats float on the sea.
Singular Masculine Noun: Udžbenik (Textbook)
Case Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Vocative Locative Instrumental
Example Ovo je moj udžbenik. Rekla je učiteljica, "Pročitajte svoj udžbenik!" Imam četiri udžbenika kod kuće. Miš je trčao prema udžbeniku. Napokon sam te našla/našao, udžbeniče! Student crta na svojem udžbeniku. Moj mali brat se igra udžbenikom.
English Translation This is my textbook. The teacher said, "Read your textbook!" I have four textbooks at home. The mouse ran toward the textbook. I have finally found you, textbook!*** The student is drawing on his textbook. My little brother is playing with a textbook.
***Note: Although every noun theoretically has a vocative case, you should really only use vocative when calling or yelling at people (e.g. Hey, Luna! What's up?; Don't do that, you moron!), not inanimate objects. It's pretty uncommon—and really just plain weird XD—to hear the vocative form of objects unless it is somebody's nickname, an endearment, or some drunk guy trying to be funny yelling at random things as if they were people. (Trust me, I have heard drunk guys address their alcohol in the vocative case. XD) So please, don't take my vocative sentences too seriously.
Unlike English, Croatian has a reflexive possessive pronoun svoj, so there is no way to confuse the actions of two people in a sentence.
Let's look at a quick example: Tina gave Sanja her book.
With a sentence like this in English, the following question arises: whose book did Tina give to Sanja? Was it her own or was it really Sanja's?
In Croatian we could have the following two scenarios: Tina je dala Sanji njezinu knjigu. (Tina gave Sanja her book.) Tina je dala Sanji svoju knjigu. (Tina gave Sanja her book.)
As you can see both sentences translate back into English the same way—BUT—in Croatian, the first sentence makes it clear that Sanja owns the book and that Tina was just giving it back, whereas the second sentence makes it clear that Tina owns the book and that she was giving it to Sanja to borrow, keep, look at, etc.
~~~Useful Phrases~~~
Here you will find some basic, but useful phrases from the Croatian language. If you click on a word or phrase you can hear how it is pronounced!
Bok/Bog – literally just means god in all of the other Ex-Yugoslav nations, but it is used as a casual greeting in Croatia.
Samo malo – If you ever visit or live in Croatia, this is a phrase that you will hear all of the time. It can be used in the following ways: Just a little,Hang on just a second, or Excuse me (when you want to get past people).
Hoćeš/hoćete li ići na kavu? – Would you like to go for coffee? (informal/formal) This is a very important phrase to know because Croats love their coffee!
Molim – it is the first person present tense form of the verb moliti (to ask, request). It can be used as a more polite What? if you missed something somebody said; as response to thank you; or simply as please.
Izvolite – May I help you? in shops; Also means Here you go! (formal) if said when handing something out to another person.
Doviđenja! – Goodbye!/See you! You will always hear shopkeepers saying this to you as you leave their store. It's always nice for you to also say it to them as well when you leave a shop.
Vidimo se! – See you!
Da – Yes
Ne – No
Hvala! - Thank you!
Nema na čemu! – Don't mention it!/You're welcome!
Dobro jutro! – Good morning!
Dobar dan! – Good afternoon!
Dobra večer! – Good evening!
Kako si? – How are you? (Informal)
Kako ste? – How are you? (Formal)
Dobro sam, hvala. – I am fine, thank you.
Laku noć! – Good night!
Volim te. – I love you.
~~~Fun Words and Phrases~~~
'Ajde!/'Ajmo! – Come on! / Let's go!
Fora! – Cool!
Ne gori kuća! – lit. The house is not burning > Translation:There is no rush.
Luk i voda. – lit. Onion and water > Translation:Piece of cake!/Too easy!
Fućka mi se za to! – lit. I feel like whistling for that! > Translation:I couldn't care less!
Ravno mi je do mora – lit. To me, it's straight to the sea. > Translation:I don't care./It's all the same to me.
Luda Kuća – lit. Mad house > Translation:Chaos
...na bjelom konju – lit. on the white horse > Translation:on the toilet XD
Rt – Cape (as in geographical feature)
Srdžba – Wrath, anger
Kukavica – Coward
Budala – Fool
Mjesečeva ratnica – Moon warrior (It's what they called Sailor Moon when it was originally dubbed in Croatia)
Riba – lit. Fish; slang for girl. The English equivalent would be chick XD
Komad – lit. Piece; slang for an attractive guy. The English equivalent would be hunk
Brodolom – Shipwreck
Moj je život brodolom – My life is a wreck!
~~~Count to 10 in Croatian~~~
“Brojevi (Numbers)”:
1 Jedan 2 Dva 3 Tri 4 Četiri 5 Pet 6 Šest 7 Sedam 8 Osam 9 Devet 10 Deset
~~~Game: Guess the Words~~~
Vrijeme je za igru! It's time for a game! As stated before, Croatian has a lot of borrowed words from other languages, including French, German, Italian, English, and Hungarian! See if you can guess the meaning of these words without looking them up! I will add the translation to the list whenever somebody posts the correct word. You can guess as many or as few as you would like! All participants will be able to claim this lovely bumper created by Gemma!
Last edited by Andalusite on 26th September 2016, 9:08 pm; edited 3 times in total
Cosmos-Hime
Moderator
Title : ミ☆ GC's official Sailor Cosmos! ミ☆ Posts : 12832 Join date : 2014-11-14 Age : 31 Location : ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Subject: Re: Hrvatski Jezik – The Croatian Language 17th September 2016, 12:41 pm
Okay, I'm just gonna try my hand at all 40, and claim the bumper. Feel free to laugh at my guesses, as I'm well aware these are totally far off the mark.
Title : Drinker of Roleplayers' Tears ~ The Internationaliest™ Posts : 9577 Join date : 2013-07-25 Age : 36 Location : Canada
Subject: Re: Hrvatski Jezik – The Croatian Language 20th September 2016, 8:48 am
Tbh some of these sound like Indonesian words xD I was like, why not. Balkon, hobi, and balon especially are Indonesian words which mean the same things xD
Andalusite
Lotus Crystal
Title : GC's official Eudial Posts : 1955 Join date : 2015-02-25 Age : 31 Location : Mentally still in Zagreb
Subject: Re: Hrvatski Jezik – The Croatian Language 20th September 2016, 8:55 am
xD Lmao that's funny! xD
Edit: Added 10 new words to the master post balance out what was already guessed.
Eidolune
Moderator
Title : GC's Official Princess Serenity Posts : 897 Join date : 2015-07-28 Age : 27 Location : Louisiana
Subject: Re: Hrvatski Jezik – The Croatian Language 24th September 2016, 6:27 pm