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Chapter 7 of 8

Numbers and Countries

The number system in Croatian is mostly straightforward, with the small numbers illustrating gender agreement: nula (zero), jedan (one), dva (two), tri (three), četiri (four), pet (five), šest (six), sedam (seven), osam (eight), devet (nine), and deset (ten). From these, teens and tens follow recognizably: jedanaest (eleven), dvanaest (twelve), trinaest (thirteen), dvadeset (twenty), trideset (thirty), pedeset (fifty), along with sto (hundred), tisuću (thousand), and milijun (million). Ordinals follow a different pattern, with prvi (first), drugi (second), treći (third), and zadnji (last), and the superlative prefix naj- building forms like najbolji.

Sample numerical phrases cover everyday transactions: Koliko košta? (How much does it cost?), Deset eura, molim. (Ten euros, please.), Imam četiri jabuke. (I have four apples.), and Pedeset godina iskustva. (Fifty years of experience.). Numbers are also closely tied to time and dates, so phrases such as Šest sati ujutro. (Six in the morning.) and Dvanaest mjeseci. (Twelve months.) quickly become familiar. Tallies and shopping language also rely on numbers, where the gender agreement of dva and tri with nouns becomes important (e.g., Dva sata for two hours vs. Tri sata for three hours).

Country names in Croatian mostly take the feminine ending -ska for European nations with adjective-style names: Hrvatska (Croatia), Njemačka (Germany), Francuska (France), Engleska (England), Španjolska (Spain), Austrija (Austria), Slovenija (Slovenia), Mađarska (Hungary), Srbija (Serbia), Italija (Italy), and the longer Bosna i Hercegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Outside Europe, Amerika (America) keeps a familiar form. Sentences like Iz Engleske sam (I'm from England), Slovenija je sjeverni susjed (Slovenia is the northern neighbour), and Zagreb je glavni grad Hrvatske (Zagreb is the capital of Croatia) combine country names with basic sentence patterns and the prepositions iz (from) and u (in).

All chapters
  1. 1First Encounters: Greetings, Politeness, and Basic Responses
  2. 2At the Table: Food, Drinks, and Daily Meals
  3. 3Home, Travel, and the Wider World
  4. 4Time and Nature: Days, Months, Weather, and Seasons
  5. 5People, Family, and Work
  6. 6Describing the World: Adjectives, Colors, Body, and Clothing
  7. 7Numbers and Countries
  8. 8Grammar Foundations: Verbs, Pronouns, and Building Sentences

Drill it

Reading is not remembering. These come from the Croatian Basics 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.)