A shopping trip starts with the names of places. A trgovina or dućan is a shop, as in trgovina se zatvara u devet (The shop closes at nine). A tržnica is an outdoor market, used in idem na tržnicu po povrće (I am going to the market for vegetables). Buying is kupiti or kupovati (kupio sam kruh — I bought bread), and selling is prodati or prodavati (prodaju voće na tržnici — They sell fruit at the market). The noun for money is novac (masculine), so nemam dovoljno novca means "I do not have enough money." To ask the price, use koliko košta? (How much does it cost?), and you can comment on the answer with skupo je (it is expensive) or jeftino je (it is cheap). Phrases you may hear and use include imate li popust? (Do you have a discount?) and mogu li dobiti račun? (Can I get the receipt?), where popust or the related rasprodaja refers to a discount or sale.
When you are browsing, you can politely let the shopkeeper know with hvala, samo gledam (Thanks, I am just looking). If you want to try on clothes, ask mogu li probati? Clothing sizes are expressed with veličina or, more often, broj, as in koji broj nosite? (What size do you wear?). To pay, use platiti, choosing between karticom (by card) and gotovinom (in cash), as in želim platiti karticom and platit ću gotovinom.
Travel opens up another set of frequent nouns and verbs. The basic means of transport are vlak (train), autobus (bus), and autom or kolima (car), and the activity itself is putovati, seen in volim putovati vlakom (I like travelling by train). Tickets are called karta, and you can specify a karta u jednom smjeru (one-way ticket) or a povratna karta (return ticket). To inquire about schedules, ask kada polazi? (When does it leave?) — for example, kada polazi sljedeći vlak? — or kada stiže? (When does it arrive?). Major hubs are the kolodvor (station) and zračna luka or aerodrom (airport). To find your way, ask kako doći do...? (How do I get to...?) and follow the directions: lijevo (left), desno (right), ravno (straight ahead), blizu (near), or daleko (far).
Restaurant vocabulary centres on the three daily meals: doručak (breakfast), ručak (lunch), and večera (dinner). Asking for the menu, you say mogu li dobiti jelovnik?, and you signal the konobar (waiter) when you are ready. Orders are introduced politely with phrases like želio bih... or za mene..., molim (for example, za mene juha, molim — Soup for me, please). To comment on the food, use ukusno or fino (delicious), as in bilo je jako ukusno. At the end of the meal, ask račun, molim (the bill, please). Common ingredients include povrće (vegetables), voće (fruit), and meso (meat), and to express hunger or thirst, say gladan sam (masculine) or žedna sam (feminine).