Hrvatski jezik

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Mamok
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Hrvatski jezik

Post by Mamok »

I opened this subject because I would like to know more about the Croatian grammar...

Anyone who wants to participate just has to join ;)

I would like to know about :
Cases (uses, endings, etc...)
Word order in sentences...
Verbs (How to form the most used past and future tenses)

Thanks :P
M·Å·M·Ø·K
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bambino
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Post by bambino »

Hi!

I think that Helene and me are the only Croatians in this forum. I used to teach it here, but there were few of them who were interested in learn my language. First of all, it's very difficult and especially to be taught here, by internet. I'd like to try, but it's a difficult homework for me as well... :roll:

Croatian has 7 cases. Here they are:
NOMINATIV
GENITIV
DATIV
AKUZATIV
VOKATIV
LOKATIV
INSTRUMENTAL

We use all of them and you know that the use is very logical for us (I mean, we don't think what case should / not go now etc...for you it'll be a bit complex) -->I meant for Brits and Americans;French;Spaniards;Italians etc...because they don't use them except in some pronouns (I-ME...)
For all Slavic nations here (except Bulgarians and Macedonians), Germans, Hungarians, Greeks etc...it'll be logic, but still, they HAVE TO BE MEMORIZED!!!

The good thing is that we don't use too many tenses. Here are they:
PREZENT; PERFEKT; AORIST; IMPERFEKT;PLUSKVAMPERFEKT;FUTUR 1; FUTUR 2;KONDICIONAL 1; KONDICIONAL2; OPTATIV and 4 kinds of past particples. (we don't use all the tenses during a conversation between teenagers)....but though, they are all used in literature.

The most difficult thing for all would be the vocal and consonant changes during the declensions. For example: boy (momAk) in genitiv is momKa
[see the difference] as well in this word: grape in sg. (grozd), but in pl. (groŽĐE), aweful, isn't it? :lol:

The word order is not as in German, so it's easy :D (I mean just like in Italian and in Spanish), it's not strict.



Now...who's still interested, tell me...Mamok, you'll enjoy ;)

Helena, javi mi se molim te, jer će ovo biti vrlo teško, barem za mene jer nisam neki ekspert u ovome iako znam dosta o našoj gramatici. Sve u svemu, budi tu :confused: :sweat: :D
Super ono...što ste spali na to da vam sada ja moram tu odgovarati...jâd i bijeda...želim vam više uspjeha u radu...by: Ja
sv
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Post by sv »

Hi, Mamok & Bambino

:hello:
I would like to know something knew about our Slavic languages. I'm Russian and understand Ukrainian & Belorussian well, as well as some Polish, Bulgarian, and other related languages (though worse), but I never learned any of them. I'm from Latvia, and speak Russian, Latvian, and English. I would like to know something about Croatian. Bambino, your introduction wasn't aweful at all :) I don't feel scared for now :sun:

I see differences in cases (Vokativ and Lokativ), but I know what they are for. Though I don't know how they look.

And could you explain how do you use tenses? We have only three tenses here (well some westerners say we have five, but we don't care). I wanna understand what those tenses really are and how they look like and what for do you need them all.... :confused:

Is it too much (i wanna know)?
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bambino
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Post by bambino »

Yeah I know...it would of been too boring if i had put everything in my first post.....let's just go slowly, ok?

Only for you, cuz you're Slavic, vokativ is used when you're calling somebody. You should use it when you call somebody with his name...but as well as: friend, uncle, aunt, dad etc...
Lokativ is very related to dativ, but the prepositions are different.

I'll have to take a look at my grammar...i forgot those rules :sweat:

Some regards:

HI/HELLO: bog (but nobody writes it or pronounce it as bog, but as BOK) Write it like that too! It is BYE as well
Good morning: DOBRO JUTRO
Good afternoon: DOBAR DAN (we use it quite a lot, me, for instance for morning and evening :lol:
Good evening: DOBRA VEČER
Good night: LAKU NOĆ

As you can see above...DOBAR/DOBRA/DOBRO change. That's because we have 3 genders. Jutro is neutrum, dan is masculin and večer is feminine. The adjectives, pronouns, nouns and some adverbs change through genders.
Declensions: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, some adverbs, numbers (1,2,3,4 and all that end in those four numbers)
Super ono...što ste spali na to da vam sada ja moram tu odgovarati...jâd i bijeda...želim vam više uspjeha u radu...by: Ja
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Post by sv »

Dobar dan, (it's midnight, but who knows... ;))

What's the ending of vokativ?
You're Bambino. How to make it vokativ to call you?

I understand about genders and declinations nicely.

A question about letters.
Č = ch
Ć = shch??
C = ts??

what is laku? i don't understand this word. and I don't understand the sense of "bog". what does it mean? why do you use it as hi?

i have to download the dictionary. :)

bog,
sv
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bambino
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Post by bambino »

Lako means easy

Bog means God, but as you might know, Croatia is the country with the highest % of Catholics, though, it's the second worst language in the word, behing Hungary....(bad words, you know what i mean? :lol: )

Bambino doesn't have a vocativ...but from Mamok it'll be Mamoče! (it requires "!")
And there's no rule for vocativ...there're some endings, but you have to learn it by heart. Tell me your name please, I'll tell it. My name is Matej and it doesn't have vocativ form. :cry: :D

Croatian alphabet and pronounciation:
A, B, C, Č, Ć, D, DŽ, Đ, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, LJ, M, N, NJ, O, P, R, S, Š, T, U, V, Z, Ž

The vocals should be pronounced clearly, just like in Spanish or Italian.
The consonants (strange ones):
C [tz] (always!!!)
Č [ch] it's a hard one, so pronounce it more or less like in English or in German like -tsch-
Ć [ch] it's the same sound, but softer, like in Spanish muchacha...the tongue is more further, to teeth ...in Č, in Ć it's back
DŽ [russian dž, or english J]
Đ [eng. J] it's the case like with č/ć.... dž is hard, đ is softer. It sounds like Y in Spanish in word YO
H [like in english]
J [y] as in English y
LJ [ly, no l+y] The biggest problem in pronounciation for English (and most other non-Slavic native speakers, with the exception of Spanish and Italian speakers, who have the phonetic equivalent) is the sound LJ.
The vast majority tend to pronounce it as two separate phonems: L-J, which is not correct, but somewhat acceptable.
I am not a phonetics expert, but have developed my own, empirically-based :-) method in explaining how to achieve the sound LJ: the tounge has to be stuck to the pallat all the way from the upper front teeth to the throat, and the sound produced simultaneously with the "unsticking" of the tongue from the pallat. Try it. :-)
I wrote for all Slavic, but I was wrong cuz in other Slavic languages there's no LJ. They use it, but as L+J (like in Russian or Slovenian). This sound i've heard only in serbian and macedonian
NJ [ny, no n+y] just as lj, pronounce it together, like ñ
R [rr] as in Spanish or Italian. It's faaaaaar from English or French R
Š [sh]
T As I have already mentioned, I am not a phonetic expert, so I can explain this only empirically, i.e. from practical experience.
English (and German, even more so) speakers tend to produce the sound T much farther from the teeth than Croatians, as well as with much more air coming out of the mouth and with the tip of their tongue.
Croatian T should be produced with the tongue (a millimeter or two from its tip) pressed to the border of the pallat and the front teeth and with much less air coming out of your mouth.
Place a paper in front of your mouth and try to pronounce T in such a way.The paper should not move.
Also, there is NO such a thing as American-English "soft T" (as in the word greater, for example) in Croatian language. All the ts in Croatian should be audible.
Ž [french/port. J] as in Je t'aime ;)

CASES:
Nominative: basic form of all nouns, pronouns, adjectives; subject in the sentence (subject=the person or a thing in a sentence that performs the action or is in the state described with the verb in that sentence)

Genitive: used after certain location-related prepositions (BLIZU, IZA, ISPRED, ISPOD, IZNAD...); used to denote the PART of something, i.e. after quantities (after NUMBERS whose last digit is higher than 1, after quantitive adverbs as MNOGO, MALO etc...), or after possessors expressed in two words (the appartment of FAMILY IVIĆ etc.); used as an object of some reflexive verbs (BOJATI SE, SJEĆATI SE...)

Dative: indirect object (the beneficiary of the action denoted with the verb in the sentence, as in "I am writing a letter to my mother.", where LETTER is a direct, and MY MOTHER indirect object), after prepositions describing motion towards (K, PREMA), object of the most of reflexive verbs

Accusative: direct object (word or a group of words upon which the action of the verb is directly performed, as in "I have a book.", where BOOK is a direct object), after certain prepositions (ZA, KROZ), and after otherwise locational prepositions, when used with verbs of motion (U, NA in "Idem u kino." = "I am going to the cinema.")

Vocative: the case of "vocation", as in addressing or calling someone ("Oh, Ivan!" = "Ivane!"; "Maja, can you do this?" = "Majo, možeš li to napraviti?")

Locative: denotes location. Highly prepositional. Used after prepositions U, NA, PO (in, on, "on, but moving on it"), and the preposition O (about, as in "I am thinking ABOUT you.", NOT about as "around")

Instrumental: denotes either company or combination (after preposition S = "with" --> "Coffee with milk", "I am going to the cinema with Ivan."), or instrument (without preposition in Croatian: "Putujemo vlakom." = "We are travelling by train.")
Also after some locational prepositions (NAD, POD, PRED), and for some adverbial expressions of time (SUBOTOM, NEDJELJOM, VIKENDOM = on Saturdays, on Sundays, on weekends)
Super ono...što ste spali na to da vam sada ja moram tu odgovarati...jâd i bijeda...želim vam više uspjeha u radu...by: Ja
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Post by Mamok »

Hvala Bambino !!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this usefull information :D
If you have anything else, go on, i'm taking notes !! :P
Thanks again !

Bok !! :hello:
M·Å·M·Ø·K
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Sanya
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Post by Sanya »

Just watching..
You are doing great Bambino. :hello:
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Post by sv »

hi Matej

my name is Svetlana. i have to think a little about what to ask next, ok?
The problem is that I understand what you say only comparing it with Russian, then I say: ok, we use it the same way, I understand it. e.g. I know that 'bog' is god, I just couldn't imagine this word could be used as greeting. I understand what is 'lako' now, cause we say it legko (lehko). it means 'light' speaking about weight, or 'easy' about actions.

it happened so that I’m more aquatinted with English grammar than with Russian as it is represented to foreigners. there are differences in introducing grammar to native speakers and foreigners. so it happened that I have no idea how Slavic languages are taught to non-Slavic peoples. it creates the problem that I understand your explanation of cases only comparing them with Russian (or Latvian). But could easily (lako) stuck seeing just grammatical categories mentioned. eh? I understand what the cases are, and how to use them, but when I see just list of prepositions and case names and description of noun relations – I find myself understanding nothing. I could be upset, if I didn’t know what it really is.

so I have to think what to ask next to get what I want to know in the way I can easily understand (just a bad habit you know).

for now, could you please write something in Hrvatski jezik? I just wanna check out what I can understand, what I can't understand, and what creates more problems in understanding the language.

About grammar, I wanna see some basic noun inflections, since there are three genders and surely some of them have several declensions, how many are they and how they look? Can you decline here some main ones? You mentioned three words: jutro, dan, večer. Could be a good start.
And the same about verbs. How many conjugations do you have? How do they flex in present tense?
So need some demo.

thanks/hvala/спасибо
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bambino
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Post by bambino »

Dobro, sada ću napisati nešto na hrvatskom jeziku. Ja jako volim svoj jezik. Mislim da je dosta težak, naročito za strance, tj. za ne-Slavene. za tebe, SVETLANO (vokativ) ne bude bio težak jer si pametna :D

So, the declensions:

JUTRO (neutrum=srednji rod) sg.
N. jutro
G. jutra
D. jutru
A. jutro
V. jutro
L. jutru
I. jutrom

DAN (masculin=muški rod)
N. dan
G. dana
D. danu
A. dan
V. dane
L. danu
I. danom

VEČER (feminin=ženski rod)
N. večer
G. večeri
D. večeri
A. večer
V. večeri
L. večeri
I. večeri
(As you can see, večer is irregular)

Now some regular word, for example, a female name:
PETRA
N. Petra
G. Petre
D. Petri
A. Petru
V. Petro
L. Petri
I. Petrom

Present tense (verb "to be"= BITI)
Ja sam
Ti si
On/Ona/ono je
Mi smo
Vi ste
Oni/one/ona su

(speak=GOVORITI)
ja govorim
ti govoriš
on govori
mi govorimo
vi govorite
oni govore

(sing=PJEVATI)
pjevam, pjevaš, pjeva, pjevamo, pjevate, pjevaju

etc....

PERFEKT (take the present tense of "biti"-->atoned + past participle)
Ja sam govorio
ti si govorio etc...for male speaking

female: ja sam govorila, ti si govorila

neutrum: ono je govorilo

FUTUR 1 (present tense of "will=HTJETI + infinitiv)
ja ću govoriti
ti ćeš govoriti
on će govoriti
mi ćemo govoriti
vi ćete govoriti
oni će govoriti

FUTUR 2 (present tense of "biti"-->toned + past participle)
Ja budem govorio
Ti budeš govorio
on bude..
mi budemo..
vi budete..
oni budu... (as you can see, it's russian future), but we use more the first one, though, sometimes, you have to use second onde too. When you have two futures in a sentence, the first one is fut.1 and the othr one fut.2!!!)

for instance: ja ću pjevati, a ti budeš govorio.

and so on... i won't talk about other tenses...it's too hard for the first time, don0t you think?! :lol:

Now...please tell me, did you understand the pronounciation? ČĆŠĐ,DŽ, Ž
??
Super ono...što ste spali na to da vam sada ja moram tu odgovarati...jâd i bijeda...želim vam više uspjeha u radu...by: Ja
sv
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Post by sv »

Zdravo, Bambino! Jasno, hvala :)

Now I see. The main problem (for me) was that you use 'to be' as an auxiliary verb.

Dobro, sada ću napisati nešto na hrvatskom jeziku
Good, now will write something in Hrvatski jezik.

Ja jako volim svoj jezik.
I love very much my language.

Mislim da je dosta težak, naročito za strance, tj. za ne-Slavene.
Think (it) is indeed hard, especially for (stran? = states?) those (?) non-Slavic

za tebe, SVETLANO (vokativ) ne bude bio težak jer si pametna
for you Svetlana won't be hard as (you) are smart (?)

Well, I used the dictionary, though 2/3 of words are understandable without translation.

Cases and conjugations. Take a look:

Hrvatski – Russkij (russian latin alphabet)
ja budem - ja budu
ti budeš - ty budesh
on bude - on budet
mi budemo - mi budem
vi budete - vy budete
oni budu - oni budut

jutro – utro
N. jutro - utro
G. jutra - utra
D. jutru - utru
A. jutro - utro
V. jutro - ... (utro!)
L. jutru - ... (utre; we use the case called predlozhnyj with 'about')
I. jutrom - utrom

No it wasn't too hard, it wasn't hard at all :)
For to speak it, one must have lists of noun/pronoun/number/adjective/verb inflexions.
Now, how do you decline the pronouns like this, that, it, he, she? And what about adjectives?

Sounds. There is no problem with č, š, ž, dž. With two others, ć and đ I had to think… ;) I’ve found an online Hrvatski radio http://www.hrt.hr/streams/streams.html to listen how it really sounds. I see the difference between č and ć, and dž and đ now. In Russian we have ć, not č; and dž but not đ.

Sada ću iskazati nešto. Je zanimaliv hrvatski jezik. Ja htjem naučiti se govoriti pomalo na tomu (? - pronouns in need!).

Well, at least I tried :)

doviđenja Matej. bog.
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Sanya
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Post by Sanya »

sv wrote: In Russian we have ć, not č; and dž but not đ.
Sorry to jump in this topic, but I believe you made mistake. In Russian you have č (=ч), and not ć (=ћ). The others are (dž=џ, dj=đ=ђ).
sv wrote:Sada ću iskazati nešto. Je zanimaliv hrvatski jezik. Ja htjem naučiti se govoriti pomalo na tomu
Well.. here Bambino will have work to do.
:hello: to all
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bambino
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Post by bambino »

I think i've got a problem with this forum. I don't see all the posts that you send....for example, now, I'm writing in these theme, 1st page...but actually, there're two pages... :( :-?

Sanya...slobodno se ti uključi. To što ti je materinji srpski, ne znači da ništa ne razumiješ :D ... slobodno...kaj se vi svi sramite...Helena, ti također ;)

(malo mi je neugodno tu podičavati hrvatski kao da sam neki profesor ili kaj ja znam što...(možda je pola toga krivo :confused: )) ;)
Super ono...što ste spali na to da vam sada ja moram tu odgovarati...jâd i bijeda...želim vam više uspjeha u radu...by: Ja
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Post by bambino »

Sada ću iskazati nešto. Je zanimaliv hrvatski jezik. Ja htjem naučiti se govoriti pomalo na tomu
Yes, Sanja...I'll have to work a bit in that sentence.

Now, Svjetlana (in Cro.), where have you found all those (sorry, but strange) words?

We don't use iskazati for say (you took that from Russian-->skazat')
Say=REĆI(used only as past participle: rekao/rekla/reklo), KAZATI
Speak=GOVORITI

Sorry...but now i see that your Croatian isn't bad at all...how come you know that the verb is reflexive or not. Naučiti se!!! Bravo!!! (that se doesn't change through the tenses) BUT! naučiti se means to teach myself...if you wanna say learn, it isn't reflexive. So, it's naučiti!

So, the correct form of your sentence:

"Sada ću reći nešto. Hrvatski jezik je zanimljiv. Ja ga hoću malo naučiti."

As Sanja said, in Russian there's only Č, Ć is used only in Polish, Croatian, Serbian and (i think) in Macedonian. But dž is in Russian, đ not!

PRONOUNS:

N JA(I)
G mene/me
D meni/mi
A mene/me
V %
L meni
I mnom(e)

N TI(you)
G tebe/te
D tebi/ti
A tebe/te
V ti
L tebe
I tobom

N ON(he) & ONO(it)
G njega/ga
D njemu/mu
A njega/ga/nj
V %
L njemu(u)
I njim(e)

N ONA(she)
G nje/je
D njoj/joj
A nju/je/ju
V %
L njoj
I njom(e)

N MI(we)
G nas
D nam(a)
A nas
V mi
L nama
I nama

N VI(you formal)
G vas
D vam(a)
A vas
V vi
L vama
I vama

N ONI & ONE & ONA(they)
G njih/ih
D njima/im
A njih/ih
V %
L njima
I njima

MY sg. (moj/moja/moje) pl.(moji/moje/moja)
YOUR sg.(tvoj/tvoja/tvoje) pl.(tvoji/tvoje/tvoja)
HIS sg(njegov/njegova/njegovo) pl...
HER sg(njezin/njezina/njezino)....
OUR sg(naš/naša/naše)...
YOUR form. sg(vaš/vaša/vaše)...
THEIR sg(njihov/njihova/njihovo)...

And...the declensions...i'm too tired now...sorry :sweat: :hello:
Super ono...što ste spali na to da vam sada ja moram tu odgovarati...jâd i bijeda...želim vam više uspjeha u radu...by: Ja
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Mamok
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Post by Mamok »

Zdravo !

Dobro radu ! (Good work????)

It's more difficult for me to learn the language, obviously, I've never spoken any slavic language before and my mother tongue is french...But I do not lose any interest in learning Hrvatski jezik... :D Thanks so much for all these "courses" :P

:hello:
M·Å·M·Ø·K
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