Nouns and adjectives

Formation

A noun ending in a consonant is masculine (grad, stan, ključ, čaj), a noun ending in -a is feminine (kuća, žena, kava, knjiga), and a noun ending in -o or -e is neuter (selo, pivo, mlijeko, more). The common exceptions are learnt with the noun:

Use

The pronoun that stands for a noun takes its gender: on for a masculine noun, ona for a feminine noun, ono for a neuter noun, whether it names a person or a thing: Gdje je ključ? – On je na stolu. The gender also shows in the adjective: Kava je hladna, Čaj je hladan.

Formation

An adjective agrees with its noun in gender. In the nominative singular it has no ending with a masculine noun, -a with a feminine noun and -o with a neuter noun: nov stan, nova kuća, novo selo. After a soft consonant (č, ć, đ, j, lj, nj, š, ž), the neuter ends in -e: vruć, vruća, vruće. In many adjectives in -an and -ar, the a is dropped before an ending: dobar, dobra; sretan, sretna; and topao is shortened to topl-: topla, toplo. The question word kakav? (“what … like?”) takes the same endings: kakav, kakva, kakvo.

Use

After biti, an adjective agrees with the subject, and with a masculine subject it stands in this short form: Stan je nov. Hotel je star. Before a masculine noun an adjective often ends in -i (novi stan), and mali has only that form (mali stan, mala soba, malo selo); the choice between nov and novi is a point of A2. Kakav? is the question about what someone or something is like, and the answer is an adjective: Kakav je hotel? – Star, ali lijep. Kako? is the question about how someone is or how something is done, and the usual answer is an adverb such as dobro: Kako si? – Dobro.

Formation

Most nouns for a person’s job have a feminine form for a woman, formed by adding -ica: student → studentica, učitelj → učiteljica, konobar → konobarica, vozač → vozačica. In nouns in -ik, -ik is replaced by -ica: liječnik → liječnica. A nationality has a noun for a man and one for a woman, both written with a capital letter: Hrvat, Hrvatica; Amerikanac, Amerikanka; Talijan, Talijanka; Nijemac, Njemica; Englez, Engleskinja. The adjective, written with a small letter, ends in -ski, -čki or -ški and agrees with its noun: hrvatski grad, hrvatska kava, hrvatsko more.

Use

A person is named by the noun, a thing by the adjective: Ana je Hrvatica, but Volim hrvatsko vino. The masculine adjective is also the name of the language: Govorim hrvatski. A woman says Ja sam studentica, Ja sam Amerikanka; the masculine noun is used for a man and for a group of men and women.

Formation

The demonstratives agree with their noun like adjectives, and in the masculine singular they never end in -i. The question word koji? (“which?”) takes the same endings.

Use

Ovaj is used for what is near the speaker, taj for what is near the listener or has just been mentioned, onaj for what is further away. Before a noun they agree with it: Ova juha je hladna. Used alone to point out (To je kuća), ovo, to and ono stay neuter, as explained in Pointing out and asking: Tko je to? Što je to? To je…; the question words. Koji? is used to ask which one of several, kakav? to ask what kind or what like.

Formation

A masculine noun of two syllables or more takes -i: student → studenti, hotel → hoteli, prijatelj → prijatelji. Most masculine nouns of one syllable take the long plural -ovi, or -evi after č, ć, đ, dž, j, lj, nj, š, ž: grad → gradovi, sin → sinovi, stol → stolovi; ključ → ključevi, muž → muževi, nož → noževi. A few short nouns take only -i: dan → dani, zub → zubi. A noun in -a takes -e: žena → žene, kuća → kuće. A neuter noun takes -a: selo → sela, more → mora, jaje → jaja.

Use

The masculine plural is also used for a group of men and women: studenti may be a mixed group. With a plural subject the verb is in the plural, su for biti: Hoteli su skupi. A masculine noun in -a such as tata takes the feminine ending -e (tate).

Formation

Before the ending -i, the last consonant k becomes c, g becomes z and h becomes s. The change is seen in the nominative plural of masculine nouns (učenik → učenici, liječnik → liječnici, dječak → dječaci, jezik → jezici, otok → otoci) and in the locative singular of nouns in -a (Rijeka → u Rijeci, Amerika → u Americi, banka → u banci, knjiga → u knjizi, ruka → na ruci). In a noun in -ac, the a drops when an ending is added: Amerikanac → Amerikanci, muškarac → muškarci, Nijemac → Nijemci.

Use

The consonant does not change before any other ending: vlak → vlakovi, u vlaku; učenik → učenike (accusative plural); knjiga → o knjigama. It does not change either in personal names, in family words such as baka (baki), or in nouns in -čka and -ska (mačka, u mački).

Formation

In the plural, an adjective takes -i with a masculine noun, -e with a feminine noun and -a with a neuter noun: novi stanovi, nove kuće, nova sela. Demonstratives and possessives take the same endings: ovi, ove, ova; moji, moje, moja; naši, naše, naša. An adjective that drops its a before an ending drops it in the plural too: umoran → umorni, sretan → sretni, dobar → dobre.

Use

After biti, an adjective agrees with a plural subject: Studenti su umorni. Two subjects joined by i take the plural: men, or a man and a woman, the masculine (Luka i Maja su umorni); women only, the feminine (Maja i Lucija su umorne); neuter nouns, the neuter (Sela su mala).

Formation

A few common nouns have a plural that is a word of its own, learnt as a word:

Use

Ljudi is a masculine plural: ovi ljudi. Oči and uši are feminine plurals: plave oči. Djeca and braća take feminine singular forms before them (naša djeca, moja braća) but the verb in the plural: Djeca su ovdje.