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Chapter 2 of 8

Talking About People, Family and Professions

Family vocabulary in Croatian is rich and follows gendered noun patterns. The core immediate family words are majka (mother), otac (father), brat (brother), sestra (sister), sin (son), and kći (daughter). Extended family includes baka (grandmother), djed (grandfather), ujak (uncle), teta (aunt), and rođak (cousin). A partner is referred to as muž (husband) or žena (wife, also the word for "woman"), while unmarried partners are dečko (boyfriend) and djevojka (girlfriend). To refer to people more generally, use muškarac for a man, žena for a woman, dječak for a boy, djevojčica for a girl, and dijete for a child. A friend is prijatelj and family as a whole is obitelj.

Professions in Croatian typically end in -nik, -čar, -ar, or -telj, and most are grammatically masculine. Common examples include liječnik (doctor), učitelj (teacher), student (student), inženjer (engineer), odvjetnik (lawyer), policajac (police officer), vozač (driver), kuhar (cook), konobar (waiter), and prodavač (shop assistant). The workplace is posao (job), and an office is ured. When describing what someone does, you can say On je liječnik (He is a doctor) or Ona je učiteljica (She is a teacher), noting that the feminine form of many professions is created by adding -ica.

Personal pronouns in Croatian mark person, number, and (in the third person) gender: ja (I), ti (you, singular informal), on (he), ona (she), ono (it), mi (we), vi (you, plural or formal), oni (they, masculine or mixed), and one (they, all feminine). Possessive pronouns agree with the noun they modify in gender and number: moj (my, masculine), moja (my, feminine), moje (my, neuter), with similar patterns for tvoj (your, informal), njegov (his), njezin (her), naš (our), vaš (your, plural/formal), and njihov (their). For example, Moj brat živi u Rijeci means "My brother lives in Rijeka," while Njezin pas je velik means "Her dog is big."

All chapters
  1. 1Greetings, Politeness and Basic Responses
  2. 2Talking About People, Family and Professions
  3. 3Food, Drink, Home and Everyday Objects
  4. 4Getting Around: Transport, Places and Directions
  5. 5Time, Numbers, Weather and the Calendar
  6. 6Describing the World: Adjectives, Colours, Body and Clothing
  7. 7Putting Sentences Together: Verbs, Pronouns and Grammar
  8. 8Practical Phrases and Croatian Culture

Drill it

Reading is not remembering. These come from the Croatian A2 deck:

Q

How do you say "Hello" in Croatian?

BokExample: Bok, kako si? (Hi, how are you?)

Q

How do you say "Hello (formal)" in Croatian?

Dobar danExample: Dobar dan, gospodine. (Good day, sir.)

Q

How do you say "Good morning" in Croatian?

Dobro jutroExample: Dobro jutro, kako ste spavali? (Good morning, how did you sleep?)

Q

How do you say "Good evening" in Croatian?

Dobra večerExample: Dobra večer, dobro došli. (Good evening, welcome.)