Croatian language
The Croatian language is spoken mainly throughout the countries of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the surrounding countries of Europe. Croatian grammar is the grammar of the Croatian language. As the Croatian language consists of three dialects[3] (Kaikavian, Chakavian and Shtokavian), here are presented both the histories and present states of all three dialects of the Croatian language.
Croatian grammar books show that the codification of the language is rich, and started at the beginning of the 17th century (the first grammar was written by Bartol Kašić in Latin in 1604). From 1604 to 1836 there were 17 grammars, most of them dominantly Štokavian, but some were Kajkavian. The grammar written by Bartol Kašić (17th century) described supradialectal form of Ikavian Štokavian with Čakavian admixture. In the 19th century, grammars dominantly based on Štokavian were written. They were "Nova ricsoslovnica illiricka", written by Šime Starčević (1812), and "Grammatik der illyrischen Sprache", written by Ignjat Alojzije Brlić (1833)[4], although it is not formally so. Even before the 19th century, the Croatian language had three dialects that were almost equally used (Kajkavian, Chakavian and Štokavian), but the orthography of each dialect differed on the Adriatic coast to that used near the Hungarian border, as one was under influence of Italian, and the other under the influence of the Hungarian language.[4][5] All grammars of the above period (1604-1836) used three accents: acute, grave and circumflex, Starčević's grammar is an exception as it uses a system of four accents.[4] In 19th century, Ljudevit Gaj proposed new letters from Czech (č,ž,š,ľ,ň,ď and ǧ). The letters that were accepted were č, ž and š, from Polish ć. For other phonems, the digraphs that were accepted were ie, lj, nj and dž. Later dj or gj was changed to đ (according to proposal by Đuro Daničić).[5]
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Orthography [change]
The Croatian language uses a Latin script of 30 letters and one diphthong "ie" or "ije", and "ŕ". This system is called gajica in Croatian (or Croatian Gaj's Latin alphabet). The name came from Ljudevit Gaj.[6] The letter order (and whole alphabet) is called abeceda in Croatian, because the first 4 letters are spelled "a, be, ce, de".[7] For writing foreign names and words, and in some professions, the Croatian language uses letters which do not belong to gajica, like "X, x (iks), Y,y (ipsilon)" and others.[7]
Croatian alphabet (Gaica) 1830.c
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(a)
-
(be)
-
(ce)
-
(če)
-
(će)
-
(de)
-
(dže)
-
(đe)
-
(e)
-
(ef)
-
(ge)
-
(ha)
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(i)
-
(je)
-
(ka)
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(el)
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(elj)
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(em)
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(en)
-
(enj)
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(o)
-
(pe)
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(er)
-
(es)
-
(eš)
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(te)
-
(u)
-
(ve)
-
(ze)
-
(že)
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Latin alphabet i+e.svg
(i(j)e)
-
Latin alphabet r+r.svg
(ŕ)
Grammatical cases [change]
In Croatian, nouns change form depending on the composition of the sentence. This is called declension. Declension has been proved the most difficult to master for people who are learning Croatian. It is very complicated and time consuming to explain it and because of that we will use simpler techniques. However, many languages have noun and pronoun declension including English. In English, though, only pronoun declension remained through the course of years. Let us start by explaining all of the seven Croatian grammatical cases. The technique that is most frequently used in determining grammatical cases (the same technique is used in Croatian schools when taught to children) is by asking yourself a question when you are trying to figure out which case a noun should be in. In Croatian, grammatical cases are called padeži (plural) and padež (singular).
- Example:
- In this example you will be shown how to determine a noun's grammatical case by using the table below.
- Krešimir is going to school. (Krešimir ide u školu.)
The question you will ask yourself here is: “Where is Krešimir going?”. And the answer is that he's going to school. By looking at the table below you will see that the question 'where' is used for the Locative case. Grammatical case The question you should ask yourself when determining the grammatical case *Example:
| Nominativ (Nominative) | Tko? Što? (Who or what?) | Jabuka je fina. (The apple is delicious.) |
|---|---|---|
| Genitiv (Genitive) | Koga? Čega? Čiji? (Who or what is missing? Who's?) | Ovo radim zbog jabuke. (I'm doing this because of the apple.) |
| Dativ (Dative) | Komu? Čemu? (Whom or what am I going toward?) | Idem prema jabuci. (I am going toward the apple.) |
| Akuzativ (Accusative) | Koga? Što? (Whom or what?) | Ne vidim jabuku. (I do not see the apple.) |
| Vokativ (Vocative) | Oj! Ej! (Oi! Hey!) | Oj, jabuko! (Oi, apple!) |
| Lokativ (Locative) | Gdje? U komu? U čemu? (Where? In what? In who?) | Živim u jabuci. (I live in the apple.) |
| Instrumental | S kime? S čime? (With whom or with what?) | Trčim s jabukom. (I am running with the apple.) |
- exercise - key:
Determine the grammatical case of the underlined nouns in the following sentences:
- Zvonimir je u svojoj sobi. (Zvonimir is in his room.)
- Domagoj ide kući biciklom. (Domagoj is going home by bike.)
- Hrvatska je pobijedila na nogometnom natjecanju. (Croatia won the football tournament.)
Genders [change]
Croatian nouns are divided into three genders: the masculine, feminine and neuter gender. To know a noun's gender is very important because it affects all the words that are tied to the noun, such as adjectives. 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 is also vital to know that nouns retain their gender in plural. For instance, the noun 'žene' (women) is of the feminine gender and not neuter which would be easy to think because the word ends with the letter -e.
| Ending | -a | -e, -o | -k, -l, -r, -d... (and all other) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine |
- example:
| Neuter nouns: | Feminine nouns: | Masculine nouns: |
|---|---|---|
| sunce, dijete, more, drvo, tijelo, oko, jezero. | žena, kuća, grana, stolica, knjiga, noga, slika. | metak, zvučnik, okvir, krov, toranj, prozor, medvjed, podložak, prag. |
- exercise - key
Determine the gender of the following nouns: Krov, dolina, papir, staklo, panj, igra, brak, jaje, hitac, iskra, stablo, ljuljačka, zelje, karton.
Grammatical aspects [change]
Croatian verbs have two grammatical aspects; the perfective and imperfective. The perfective aspect depicts an action that has already been finished or done with. The imperfective aspect depicts an action that is still going or underway. So, each verb in its infinitive form can be written in 2 ways; in its perfective and imperfective aspect. The table below is showing 5 verbs both in their perfective and imperfective aspects.
| Imperfective aspect in infinitive | Perfective aspect in infinitive |
|---|---|
| Trčati. (To run. infinite action) | Odtrčati. (Definite action, the running has been done with.) |
| Sjediti. (To sit. infinite action) | Sjesti. |
| Plivati. (To swim. infinite action) | Odplivati. |
| Graditi. (To build. - infinite action) | Izgraditi. |
| Popravljati. (To fix/repair/mend. infinite action) | Popraviti. |
Grammatical tenses [change]
In Croatian, there are seven grammatical tenses. They can be divided in two ways. By the time they take place in and by their complexity. Simple tenses consist of only 1 word (simple tenses are aorist, imperfect, present) while complex tenses consist of 2 or even 3 words (complex tenses are pluperfect, perfect, first future, second future) because they also consist of auxiliary verbs. Also, some grammatical tenses cannot be formed with both grammatical aspects, they work with only.
| Tense | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pluperfect | An action that has happened before another action (same as English past perfect). | Mladen je bio ručao. (Mladen had had lunch.) |
| Imperfect | Past tense that is formed only by imperfective verbs. An unfinished past tense. | Mladen trčaše. (Mladen was running.) |
| Aorist | Past tense (not used much nowadays). It is the same as Perfekt. Can be formed only with verbs in perfective states. | Mladen odtrčaše. (Mladen was running but he finished sometime in the past.) |
| Perfect | Main past tense. Can be formed by both imperfective and perfective verbs. | Mladen je trčao. (Mladen was running). |
| Present | Present tense. | Mladen ruča. (Mladen is having lunch.) |
| First future | Future tense. | Mladen će ručati. (Mladen will have lunch.) |
| Second future Before-future tense. | Used in expressing a future action that will happen before another future action. | Ako bude kiša uskoro pala, suša će prestati. (If rain soon falls, the drought will end.) |
- exercise - key
Determine the tenses of the underlined verbs:
- Jučer sam bio na poslu. (I was at work yesterday.)
- Rekla je da ga bude nazvala prije nego što će otići kući. (She said she would call him before she goes home.)
- Večeram. (I am having dinner.)
- Rekoh mu. (I told him.)
- Jučer cijeli dan pecijah peciva. (I was baking rolls the whole day yesterday.)
- Bio sam kupio novi auto ali mislim da nisam trebao. (I had bought a new car but I think I should not have bought it.)
Phrasebook [change]
- Basic and common expressions:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Da | Yes |
| Ne | No |
| Što | What |
| I | And |
| Ili | Or |
| Bok | Hi, bye |
| Zbogom | Goodbye |
| Dobar dan | Good day |
| Dobro jutro | Good morning |
| Dobra večer | Good evening |
| Laku noć | Good night |
| Možda | Maybe |
| Kada | When |
| Gdje | Where |
| Kako | How |
| Hvala | Thanks |
| Dođi | Come |
- Colours:
Zlatna Golden
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Zelena | Green |
| Crvena | Red |
| Žuta | Yellow |
| Smeđa | Brown |
| Narančasta | Orange |
| Crna | Black |
| Plava | Blue |
| Ružičasta | Pink |
| Ljubičasta | Purple |
| Siva | Grey |
| Bijela | White |
| Tirkizna | Turquoise |
| Srebrna | Silver |
- Days, months & seasons
The Croatian week starts with Monday and ends with Sunday, unlike weeks from some other countries where Sunday is the first day and Saturday the last.
- Days:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Ponedjeljak | Monday |
| Utorak | Tuesday |
| Srijeda | Wednesday |
| Četvrtak | Thursday |
| Petak | Friday |
| Subota | Saturday |
| Nedjelja | Sunday |
- Months:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Siječanj | January |
| Veljača | February |
| Ožujak | March |
| Travanj | April |
| Svibanj | May |
| Lipanj | June |
| Srpanj | July |
| Kolovoz | August |
| Rujan | September |
| Listopad | October |
| Studeni | November |
| Prosinac | December |
- Directions
Sides of the world:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Sjever | North |
| Jug | South |
| Istok | East |
| Zapad | West |
| Gore | Up |
| Dolje | Down |
| Lijevo | Left |
| Desno | Right |
- Prepositions
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Na | On |
| Uz | By |
| Ispod/pod | Under, below |
| Iznad/nad/ober | Above |
| U | In |
| Ispred | In front of |
| Iza | Behind |
- Numbers
| Numerically - Alphabetically |
|---|
| 0 - Nula |
| 1 - Jedan |
| 2 - Dva |
| 3 - Tri |
| 4 - Četiri |
| 5 - Pet |
| 6 - Šest |
| 7 - Sedam |
| 8 - Osam |
| 9 - Devet |
| 10 - Deset |
| 11 - Jedanaest |
| 12 - Dvanaest |
| 13 - Trinaest |
| 14 - Četrnaest |
| 15 - Petnaest |
| 16 - Šesnaest |
| 17 - Sedamnaest |
| 18 - Osamnaest |
| 19 - Devetnaest |
| 20 - Dvadeset |
| 30 - Trideset |
| 40 - Četrdeset |
| 50 - Pedeset |
| 60 - Šezdeset |
| 70 - Sedamdeset |
| 80 - Osamdeset |
| 90 - Devedeset |
| 100 - Sto |
| 1,000 - Tisuću |
| 1,000,000 - Milijun |
| 1,000,000,000 - Milijarda |
Different languages [change]
| English | Croatian | Serbian |
|---|---|---|
| Compare | Usporedba | Поређење (Poređenje) |
| Europe | Europa | Европа (Evropa) |
| Netherlands | Nizozemska | Холандија (Holandija) |
| Italians | Talijani | Италијани (Italijani) |
| Universe | Svemir | Васиона (Vasiona) |
| Spine | Kralježnica | Кичма (Kičma) |
| Air | Zrak | Ваздух (Vazduh) |
| Education | Odgoj | Васпитање (Vaspitanje) |
| Week | Tjedan | Седмица (Sedmica) |
| History | Povijest | Историја (Istorija) |
| Pantaloons | Hlače | Панталоне (Pantalone) |
| Belly | Trbuh | Стомак (Stomak) |
| Science | Znanost | Наука (Nauka) |
| Personally | Osobno | Лично (Lično) |
| Persona | Osoba | Лице (Lice) |
| United Nations | Ujedinjeni Narodi | Уједињене Нације (Ujedinjene Nacije) |
| Bread | Kruh | Хлеб (Hleb) |
| Artificial | Umjetno | Вештачки (Veštački) |
| Cross | Križ | Крст (Krst) |
| Democracy | Demokracija | Демократија (Demokratija) |
| Detection | Spoznaja | Сазнање (Saznanje) |
| Island | Otok | Острво (Ostrvo) |
| Officer | Časnik | Официр (Oficir) |
| Road traffic | Cestovni promet | Друмски саобраћај (Drumski saobraćaj) |
| Autobahn | Autocesta | Аутопут (Autoput) |
| Length | Duljina | Дужина (Dužina) |
| Association | Udruga | Удружење (Udruženje) |
| Factory | Tvornica | Фабрика (Fabrika) |
| General | Opće | Опште (Opšte) |
| Christ | Krist | Христoс (Hristos) |
| I'm sorry | Oprosti | Извини (Izvini) |
| Native language standard | Materinski jezićni standard | Матерњи језички стандард |
References [change]
- ↑ "Linguistic Lineage for Croatian". Ethnologue.com. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_lang_family.asp?code=hrv. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
- ↑ "Serbo-Croatian". Ethnologue.com. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=hbs. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
The official language of Croatia is Croatian (Serbo-Croatian). [...] The same language is referred to by different names, Serbian (srpski), Serbo-Croat (in Croatia: hrvatsko-srpski), Bosnian (bosanski), based on political and ethnical grounds. [...] the language that used to be officially called Serbo-Croat has gotten several new ethnically and politically based names. Thus, the names Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian are politically determined and refer to the same language with possible slight variations. ("Croatia: Language Situation", in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2 ed., 2006.) - ↑ Milan Moguš, "Povijest hrvatskoga književnoga jezika", Globus, Zagreb, 1993, ISBN 953-167-014-5, p. 12
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sanda Ham, "Povijest hrvatskih gramatika", Globus, Zagreb, 2006, ISBN 953-167-185-0, p. 16
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Težak-Babić, "Gramatika hrvatskoga jezika", Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 1994, ISBN 953-0-40008-X, p. 13
- ↑ Babić, Ham, Moguš, "Hrvatski školski pravopis", Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 2008., ISBN 978-953-0-40026-9, p. 11
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Babić, Ham, Moguš, "Hrvatski školski pravopis", Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 2008., ISBN 978-953-0-40026-9, p. 12
