Adjectives in Croatian are the workhorse of description and follow predictable patterns: velik (big), malen (small), visok (tall), nizak (short/low), dugačak (long), širok (wide), uzak (narrow), nov (new), star (old), mlad (young), lijep (beautiful), ružan (ugly), lagan (easy), težak (hard), vruć (hot), topao (warm), svjež (cool/fresh), hladan (cold), otvoren (open), zatvoren (closed), jeftin (cheap), skup (expensive), brz (fast), spor (slow), jak (strong), slab (weak), sretan (happy), tužan (sad), umoran (tired), gladan (hungry), žedan (thirsty), bolestan (sick), and zdrav (healthy). These endings shift depending on the gender of the noun they describe (the masculine form nov becomes nova with feminine nouns and novo with neuter ones).
Colors follow the same adjectives: crven (red), plav (blue), zelen (green), žut (yellow), crn (black), bijel (white), siv (grey), smeđ (brown), narančast (orange), ružičast (pink), and ljubičast (purple). Sample sentences such as Trava je zelena. (The grass is green.) or Haljina je ružičasta. (The dress is pink.) show how the adjective's ending must agree with the noun. For superlatives and comparisons, learners reach for naj- as the superlative prefix (najbolji, "the best") and the comparative endings -iji/-ji (as in veći, "bigger," jači, "stronger," ljepši, "prettier"), along with the adverb više (more).
Body vocabulary in Croatian is largely transparent and helps with both everyday situations and medical visits: glava (head), kosa (hair), oko (eye), nos (nose), usta (mouth, plural), uho (ear), zub (tooth), ruka (hand or arm), noga (leg), stopalo (foot), leđa (back, plural), želudac (stomach), and srce (heart). Useful phrases include Boli me glava (I have a headache), Boli me ovdje (It hurts here), and Osjećam se umorno (I feel tired). Clothing builds on this descriptive vocabulary: košulja (shirt), hlače (trousers, plural), haljina (dress), suknja (skirt), cipele (shoes, plural), jakna (jacket), kaput (coat), and šešir (hat), paired with verbs like nositi (to wear) and obući se (to dress oneself).