Odakle, prezime, govorim

Odakle ste? asks where you are from. Iz takes a genitive: iz Njemačke, iz Hamburga. Languages after speak use simple forms: govorim njemački · engleski · hrvatski.

An identity noun does not need an article: Ja sam inženjer · inženjerka. Use real male/female profession and nationality words when talking about the learner. Formal Vi still takes plural verbs, govorite, even with a singular identity noun.

Learn repair requests: Ne razumijem, Možete li govoriti sporije?, Slovkajte, molim. Keep Becker’s written spelling. The complete Croatian alphabet includes digraph letters and is shown in this unit.

Croatian has30letters. The two-character letters dž, lj, and nj each count as one letter. Keep Becker’s foreign written spelling: B E C K E R. Imported names may also use Q,W,X,Y.

Nema stola, u kupaonici

Ima can mean there is/are as well as have. Nema says there is no: nema stola, nema kauča, nema stolica. This existence/absence pattern takes the genitive. Do not copy English there is/are into a person-conjugated be phrase.

A feminine noun in -a often has genitive -e: šalica → šalice. Many masculine nouns add -a: stol → stola. Genitive plural often has -a, but common phrases are learnt with their real form.

For a fixed location, u and na take the locative: u stanu, u kupaonici. For entry, learn Mogu li ući? and Uđi · Uđite. These imperative request chunks precede the fuller instructions lesson.

Žut, crvena, mali

Adjectives agree with the noun: masculine žuti kauč, feminine crvena svjetiljka, neuter kratko ime. Their endings also follow case: imam crvenu svjetiljku. Long forms such as mali and short forms such as malen are both useful, but learn the actual phrase.

The possessor does not decide the adjective’s gender: moja svjetiljka is feminine whoever owns it. Moj · moja · moje are a possessive set, not learner-sex variants.

Na kauču is a fixed place with locative; ispod kauča uses genitive. Čiji · čija · čije? asks whose and agrees with the item. Learn adjectives in a small table with all three genders.

Stolovi, stolice, jedna šalica

Typical plurals include stol · stolovi, ključ · ključevi, stolica · stolice, šalica · šalice, mjesto · mjesta. Some short masculine nouns add -ov · -ev. There is no universal rule that every consonant noun has the same plural.

Jedan · jedna · jedno agree with the noun. With two, use dva for masculine/neuter, dvije for feminine. The full counting constructions come with the number lesson.

Treba mi stol means I need a table. Mi is a dative pronoun; treba Vam politely says you need. Ovo je moj stol identifies ownership; ovo su moje stolice describes a plural.

Jesmo, smo, imate, nemamo

The short present of be is sam, si, je, smo, ste, su; stressed forms are jesam, jesi, jest, jesmo, jeste, jesu. Negatives are nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu. A clitic normally follows the first phrase: Mi smo ovdje.

Have is imam, imaš, ima, imamo, imate, imaju; its negative is nemam, nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju. Polite Vi imate · nemate takes second-person plural forms. Mi includes any group contextually; Croatian does not have a grammatical inclusive/exclusive we distinction.

Regular patterns include sviram · sviraš · svira · sviramo · svirate · sviraju, radim · radiš · radi · radimo · radite · rade, and pišem · pišeš · piše · pišemo · pišete · pišu. Learn common irregular idem · ideš · ide · idemo · idete · idu, rather than inventing endings from another language.

Ongoing or repeated actions and completed actions often use a related verb pair. Learn common examples as words: uzimati · uzeti (take), davati · dati (give), kupovati · kupiti (buy). A prefix or a change of stem does not by itself tell you when the action takes place.