Croatian pronouns have a familiar personal-pronoun system: ja (I), ti (you, singular), on (he), ona (she), ono (it), mi (we), vi (you, plural or formal), oni (they, masculine), and one (they, feminine). Possessive pronouns agree with the noun in gender: moj/moja/moje (my), tvoj/tvoja/tvoje (your), njegov (his), njezin (her), naš (our), vaš (your, plural/formal), and njihov (their). Demonstratives follow the same gender pattern: ovaj/ova/ovo (this) and taj/ta/to (that). Asking questions relies on words such as što (what), tko (who), gdje (where), kada (when), zašto (why), kako (how), koji (which), and koliko (how much).
Prepositions and conjunctions tie clauses and phrases together. The most frequent prepositions are u (in), na (on), s/sa (with), bez (without), za (for), iz/od (from), do (to), and o (about). Connecting words include i (and), ili (or), ali (but), jer (because), ako (if), and da (that). Negation uses ne (not), ništa (nothing), nitko (nobody), and nikada (never), and adverbial negatives such as nikada (never) and ponekad (sometimes). Place constructions include ovdje (here), tamo (there), blizu (near), daleko (far), unutra (inside), vani (outside), iznad (above), ispod (below), pored (next to), između (between), ispred (in front of), and iza (behind).
The verb system is rich, but a starter set covers most daily needs: biti (to be), imati (to have), raditi (to do/work), ići (to go on foot), doći (to come), htjeti (to want), moći (to be able to), znati (to know a fact), poznavati (to know a person), vidjeti (to see), čuti (to hear), slušati (to listen), govoriti (to speak), reći (to say), pitati (to ask), odgovoriti (to answer), čitati (to read), pisati (to write), učiti (to learn), predavati (to teach), misliti (to think), razumjeti (to understand), sjećati se (to remember), zaboraviti (to forget), sviđati se (to like), voljeti (to love), mrziti (to hate), trebati (to need), tražiti (to look for), naći (to find), dati (to give), uzeti (to take), donijeti (to bring), poslati (to send), primiti (to receive), kupiti (to buy), prodati (to sell), platiti (to pay), koštati (to cost), piti (to drink), jesti (to eat), kuhati (to cook), živjeti (to live), spavati (to sleep), probuditi se (to wake up), ustati (to get up), prati (to wash), obući se (to dress), hodati (to walk), trčati (to run), voziti (to drive), letjeti (to fly), plivati (to swim), igrati (to play), pjevati (to sing), plesati (to dance), početi (to start), stati (to stop), završiti (to finish), čekati (to wait), pomoći (to help), koristiti (to use), izgubiti (to lose), pobijediti (to win), otvoriti (to open), zatvoriti (to close), zvati (to call/phone), upoznati (to meet), otići (to leave), putovati (to travel), posjetiti (to visit), ostati (to stay), osjećati se (to feel), umrijeti (to die), roditi se (to be born), rasti (to grow), mijenjati (to change), and nositi (to wear).
Tying verbs to nouns and pronouns requires a few grammar patterns. Croatian has sedam padeža (seven cases): nominative, genitive (e.g., čaša vode, "a glass of water"), dative, accusative, vocative, locative (e.g., u Zagrebu, "in Zagreb"), and instrumental (e.g., pišem olovkom, "I write with a pen"). Nouns fall into three genders: masculine, often ending in a consonant (e.g., stol); feminine, typically ending in -a (e.g., žena); and neuter, ending in -o or -e (e.g., more). Plural endings are -i for masculine nouns, -e for feminine, and -a for neuter. Verbs also come in aspectual pairs: pisati (imperfective) versus napisati (perfective). The past tense (perfekt) uses the auxiliary sam/si/je plus a participle (e.g., Ja sam jeo ručak), and the future tense (futur 1) uses ću/ćeš/će plus the infinitive (e.g., Sutra ću putovati). Commands use imperative forms, with Dođi! (Come!) in the singular and Sjednite! (Sit down!) in the plural or formal register.