→ You can also read this chapter in French, German or Spanish.
With the knowledge of the accusative case and a few verbs, we can talk about travel and express destinations. The useful verbs are:
dolaziti come, arrive putovati (putuje) travel |
ići (ide) go odlaziti leave |
There are couple of nouns that we can use with verbs to demonstrate use of destinations:
Amerika America bolnica ▶ hospital hotel hotel Hrvatska ▶ Croatia grad city kafić cafe bar |
kino cinema
® park park Split (a city) restoran restaurant škola ▶ school Zagreb (a city) |
To express destinations, we have to put the preposition u¨ in front of the noun in accusative, and then we can make sentences like these:
Ana odlazi u Ameriku. Ana is leaving for America.
Ivan putujeputovati u Hrvatsku. ▶ Ivan is traveling to Croatia.
Idemići u Zagreb. I’m going to Zagreb.
Goran ideići u bolnicu. Goran is going to hospital.
We again see the two dots, introduced with ne¨; their meaning is the same (the word is pronounced with the following word, stress moves to it in some words, for some speakers).
However, I won’t specially mark words and forms where stress moves to u¨, as it would be too complicated; besides, this feature doesn’t completely overlap with the standard stress area. You can just leave the stress on the noun, but be prepared to hear the stress moved from some speakers (e.g. u + vodu = u vodu.)®
While English leave usually uses for instead of to, Croatian verbs use the same prepositions.
The expression ide u školu can mean somebody is a school student, i.e. ‘goes to school’:
Goran ideići u školu. Goran goes to school.
However, if you go to an island or mountain, you must use the preposition na¨ instead of u¨. There are names of bigger Croatian islands:
Brač Cres ▶ Hvar ▶ |
Korčula Krk ▶ Lošinj |
Pag Rab Vis |
For instance:
Ana putujeputovati na Krk. Ana is traveling to the island of Krk.
Odlazim na Korčulu. I’m leaving for the island of Korčula.
Of course, this applies to the following nouns as well:
otok island ® | planina mountain |
The preposition na¨ is used for all destinations that are perceived as surfaces, or when the destination is on top – it’s usually translated as onto or on: you would use it for roofs, tabletops, walls, etc.
Next, it would be great if we could say not just I’m... but also we’re! It’s quite simple: Croatian again prefers not to use personal pronouns (I, we...) but a special verb form, 1st person plural present (for short, pres-1pl). It’s a form quite simple to make, just add an -o to the pres-1 form (one that ends in a -m):
idem I’m going → idemo we’re going
For instance:
Putujemoputovati na Lošinj. We’re traveling to the island of Lošinj.
Odlazimo u Ameriku. We’re leaving for America.
The preposition na¨ also applies to the following popular destinations:
plaža beach |
trg (city) square |
For example:
Idemoići na plažu. We’re going to the beach.
The preposition na¨ must be used with the cardinal points when used as directions:
sjever
▶
north zapad ▶ west |
istok
▶
east jug ▶ south |
For example:
Putujemoputovati na jug. We’re traveling south.
The preposition na¨ is used with many metaphorical destinations (or rather, activities):
na fakultet to university na more to the seaside na posao to work |
na praznike to holidays na put on a trip na selo to countryside |
(I’ve listed nouns in the phrases above in the accusative case; the form praznike is in accusative plural, a form that will be explained later.) For instance:
Ana ideići na posao. ▶ Ana is going to work.
Idemoići na more. We’re going to the seaside.
(Some of these destinations can be used also with u¨ – it makes their meaning literal, e.g. u more means literally into the sea, to swim or dive, throwing something into the sea, etc. Nouns that require the na¨ are marked in the Core Dictionary.)
The metaphorical na¨ includes all ‘activities’, such as meals, meetings and sport events:
na čaj to have a tea na kavu to have a coffee ® na koncert to a concert na nogomet to football game ® na odmor to vacation/break |
na pivo to have a beer na ples to dance na ručak to lunch na sastanak to a meeting na večeru to supper |
When you say na kavu, it requires motion to a destination (where you will have a coffee or more than one), not just drinking coffee wherever you are. The ‘destination’ na nogomet means both playing football or just watching a game (this applies to other sports and public performances as well).
The same holds for celebrations and parties:
na feštu to a local feast/party
na rođendan
▶
to a birthday party
na zabavu to a party
For instance:
Idemići na kavu. I’m going to have a coffee.
Idemoići na sastanak. We’re going to a meeting.
If it’s a bit confusing what ‘activities’ are, they are simply not literally places. Consider this:
not true places | true places |
---|---|
concert | concert hall |
dinner | restaurant |
football | playground |
meeting | meeting room |
movie premiere | cinema |
Finally, the ‘destination’ na sunce usually doesn’t imply taking a spaceship, but rather going to an open space, to get exposed to the sunlight:
na sunce in the sun | na zrak to (fresh) air ® |
Pay attention: everything I’ve explained here are destinations, and not locations. If you say idemo na plažu, you aren’t describing where the action takes place, but where you’re heading to (and you may get there or not). To help you distinguish locations vs destinations, consider the following sentences:
I’m running to the gym. (You aren’t in the gym, just want to get there.) | = a destination |
I’m running in the gym. (You are in the gym, and running there.) | = a location |
If you feel that the word to is a better fit in English, it’s definitely a destination. Confusingly, English uses on in e.g. going on vacation, when you’re actually not on vacation yet – but Croatian treats this case as a destination too. While English sometimes uses the same grammar for both, Croatian strongly distinguishes destinations from locations.
So, what about locations? You will have to wait a while, since we have to learn another noun form to express them. Destinations come cheap, if you know how to make the accusative case.
The sentences above can be made more precise if we add one of the following useful adverbs of time:
sad(a) now danas ▶ today sutra tomorrow ® uskoro ▶ soon |
prekosutra day after tomorrow sljedeće godine next year sljedeći mjesec ▶ next month sljedeći tjedan next week ® |
(As in English, you can talk about events in future and still use the present tense.) Such words and expressions are often used to begin sentence with:
Sutra idemići na sastanak. I’m going to a meeting tomorrow.
Danas idemoići u kino. We’re going to cinema today.
Sljedeće godine putujemoputovati na Hvar. We’re traveling to the island of Hvar next year.
Finally, there are the following often used generic directions:
blizu close, near daleko far away dalje further, away unutra inside |
ovamo here natrag / nazad back van outside ® tamo / onamo there |
For example:
Ana uskoro dolazi ovamo. Ana is coming here soon.
To ask where to something or someone goes/travels, just start a question with:
kamo where... to
Nothing else except this word is needed, there’s no change of word order:
Kamo Ana ideići? ▶ Where is Ana going to?
— Na posao. To work.
— Ideići na posao. She’s going to work.
It’s normal to answer with just a destination, leaving the verb out; you can include the verb if you want to emphasize it. In colloquial communication, especially in some regions, you will hear e.g. gdje or kuda instead of kamo in such questions.®
As you can see, the accusative case is not used only for objects. In fact, almost all cases in Croatian have more than one use. If you find somewhere on the Internet a table where each case has one use, and even better, where each case “answers to questions”, bear in mind that explains only a small part of the real use. I will introduce other uses of accusative gradually.
________
® The following words or phrases are usually not used Serbia and most of Bosnia; words or phrases pointed by arrows are used instead:
kava → kafa kino → bioskop nogomet → fudbal |
otok → ostrvo van → napolje zrak → vazduh |
sljedeći tjedan → sljedeće nedjelje / sljedeće sedmice |
In Bosnia, in parts where Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) live, kahva is used for coffee as well.
The word napolje is heard in parts of Croatia as well.
The stress moves to prepositions like u¨ and na¨ – only with specific nouns! – in Bosnia, parts of Croatia (Dalmatia and Slavonia), and western parts of Serbia (not including Belgrade) and western parts of Montenegro.
Instead of sutra, a slightly different form, sjutra, is used in Montenegro.
In Bosnia and Serbia, kuda is usually used to ask for destinations, kamo is not used. Also, especially in speech, gdje (in Serbia gde) is frequently used in these countries.

Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteAny chance you can add a sound clip of the word "posao"? I always hear the ending a little different than it seems to be spelt, almost like the "o" gets dropped.
Yes, I will add it. Not all people pronounce it in the same way. Many people will pronounce it as "poso", in Dalmatia it's often "posa", in some other regions "posal". I will give a clip the standard pronunciation (my wife speak close to the standard). lp Daniel
DeleteDo these regional differences affect the grammar? For example, if posao is pronounced "posa," would the it act like an a-noun (similar to "tata")? I assume it would never change genders (I think posao is masculine).
DeleteThis is an excellent question. Posao comes from posǝl > posal, posel (both forms are still used in some regions), later posao, poso, posa. The word originally meant "(person) sent (to do something)", and is derived from the verb perf. verb poslati "send". The word always kept its gender (masculine), despite changes in form.
DeleteThis was not so for some other words. For example večer, which is feminine, in many dialects (parts of Dalmatia, Bosnia, Serbia) has lost the -r and was reanalyzed as neuter (due to -e, but in plural it's still feminine!
It can be very complex, and unfortunately I cannot touch every complication so early :/ lp Daniel
But yes, regional differences exist in grammar. A lot of people consider e.g. auto neuter. A lot of people have different verb and even noun endings in various cases. A lot of people use tenses differently. It is all covered later. Differences within Croatia are described as "spectacular" :P
DeleteThanks again for the quick reply! Your hard work is always appreciated.
DeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteI am using different books to learn Croatian but definitely this blog has a variety of useful examples and explanation of the Croatian grammar. Thank you and we are waiting for more lessons!
ReplyDeleteSo far there are more than 60 lessons, you can expand the "Chapters" list on the right to get the full list of them. :)
DeleteGreat lessons I have always been confused with Hrvatska grammar!!!
ReplyDeleteHello--just one small correction for you..."na more" in English we would say "to THE seaside", not just " to seaside".
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this website. It is so awesome.
Thanks! I will correct it immediately. As you see, English is not my native tongue, and such "the" does not make any sense to me (since there could be more than one seaside, and so on), but that's the way it is!
DeletePlease feel free - if you see an English phrase that sounds unnatural to you - just correct me!
br Daniel
I will send you corrections as I find them, but I'm sure that there won't be many--your English is nearly perfect!
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI've been using this blog to learn Croatian. I actually bought Croatian grammar book in Croatia but let me tell you, this blog is much more helpful and I really appreciate your work!
Thank you for doing this :)
Thanks! If your native language is English, you can help me by pointing out any error. Just comment under each 'chapter'. If not, you can help by pointing out parallels with your language. LP Daniel
DeleteTvoj blog tačno je što mi treba da ponovim jezik. Pokušat ću da pročitam jednu lekciju svaki dan.
ReplyDeleteU ovoj lekciji ne razumjem:
sljedeći mjesec/tijedan ali sljedeće godine/[nedjelje/sedmice]?
Nominativ s muškim i genitiv s ženskim rjecima? Ali je to najlakše?
Uvijek sam rekao 'sledeću godinu' jer sam mislao da su bile akusative. To je očito pogrešno.
Padeži su akuzativ i genitiv (A i G), i nije pogrešno sljedeću godinu, ali je sljedeće godine češće u govoru u Hrvatskoj.
DeleteOvdje samo uvodim te izraze bez objašnjenja, detalji su kasnije: http://www.easy-croatian.com/2014/11/39.html
LP Daniel
I see something else in your comment: you're using syntax prevailing in Serbia (pokušat ću da pročitam, etc.). Keep in mind that I focus on colloquial use in Croatia, and Serbian use is just in footnotes. But feel free to comment on ANYTHING. LP Daniel
Delete“na sunce usually doesn’t imply taking a spaceship” :D
ReplyDeleteThis is the best site for learning gramatika so far. Thank you a lot!
Hi Daniel! Zovem se Dago i sam iz Kolumbije. Hvala lijepa for this blog because it is my main tool to learn Croatian. I wanted to ask you something... Is kafić the Serbian form and kavić a Croatian form? You've labeled kafić in the beginning of this section as a word that is different in BiH/Serbia but you didn't put at the end what is its Serbian/Bosnian version (so I'm guessing there was a typo in here).
ReplyDeleteNo, the form kafić is the most common in Croatia. There is kavić but it's very rare. The reason is that kafić is not derived from kava or kafa, but from the foreign word café.
DeleteYou can verify such things yourself: just enter into Google:
kafić site:hr
or
kavić site:hr
and you'll see how many hits you'll get!
Also, one correction, you cannot say i sam iz Kolumbije. Words like sam, si... cannot come after words that don't count (prepositions, i, ni etc). You can only say:
Zovem se Dago i iz Kolumbije sam.
I hope this helps. lp
This is different from words kavana and kafana which do vary (and kavana is Croatian). It's even better to enter locative phrases (will be introduced in chapter 15):
Delete"u kafiću" site:hr
"u kaviću" site:hr
since kavić is also a last name, so you get some false hits. lp
Thanks a lot Daniel! (For the quick reply, the corrections... everything!)
DeleteA reason I've added (R) mark with kafić is that I had an impression it's a less common word in Bosnia. However, I forgot to add that remark, and I'm not sure is it really true. I'll write something in the (R) section. lp
DeleteHi Daniel thank you for your blog, its amazing. There are some things I am confused on though.
ReplyDeleteYou said that you use the preposition "na" when you are doing an activity that is usually done in company. I am confused because in one of your examples you used the phrase "Danas idemo u kino". I was wondering why you wouldn't use "Danas idemo na kino" instead?
Also, could you try explaining the difference between location and destination a little bit more? I am still a little confused on the difference.
Thanks for everything.
Ok, this is likely confusing. So imagine you want to play football (nogomet) in a hall (dvorana). Then nogomet is an activity done in company, which is NOT TIED to a specific place, but dvorana is just a place. Consequently:
DeleteIdemo na nogomet.
Idemo u dvoranu.
Locations vs destinations are very simple, the same difference exists in English, but it's less strict there (it's much more strict in German). Check this:
I'm running in the gym. = you are IN THE GYM and RUNNING = location
I'm running to the gym = you are NOT IN THE GYM, but your're heading to it = DESTINATION
If you are not actually there, it's a destination.
Furthermore, some places (like, igralište playground, islands, town squares etc) use always na which means basically on.
Just remember, lunch, football, concert, meeting are NOT real places. These are activities that are organized somewhere. Using them as "places" is a METAPHOR. But a cinema is a real place, it's a building.
I'll add some explanations above. Thanks. Feel free to ask anything.
lp
I expanded the chapter a bit. Is it less confusing now? Do you have any suggestions? lp
DeleteYeah it makes much more sense now, Thank you for everything! :)
DeleteHi Daniel, I am just wondering if i have this correct. I get confused when to put "u" and "na"
ReplyDeleteIs it proper to say "idemo na kavu u restoran"
and do you put "na" when you don't specify the actual place (other than the exceptions like for islands, mountains, etc) and "u" when you actually specify the destination?
I noticed that other than for countries, cities and the exceptions you mentioned, it seems like if in English the sentence requires the word "the", you use "u" instead of "na". I was wondering if this is usually true.
Also, it seems like you forgot the word "the" in a few of your examples. It should be "Goran is going to THE hospital" and "We're going to THE cinema today"
Sorry for the super long question and thanks for everything!
Your examples are all correct!
DeleteI don't think "the" has anything to do with u / na. It's essentially in vs on. You can go to the party, or to the beach, both require na in Croatian.
I know I miss some articles: English is NOT my native language
Hi Daniel !
ReplyDeleteYour blog is amazing. I was searching a lot for a book to learn Croatian, but it was the best resource for a person who is self-studying a foreign language.
Thank you soooo sooo sooo much!
Thank you! Feel free to ask, comment and suggest anything! Lp
DeleteThank you so much for this website. I am finding it an absolute nightmare trying to wrap my head around the grammar, but at least your explanations clarify some of the rules for me.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Grammar has to be learned gradually. No way it can be absorbed in a week or month. Read the chapters in their order and you'll get it feature by feature! Don't give up! lp
DeleteHi Daniel..what's the diffference between a facultet and a sveučilište ? BD
ReplyDeletežž+
The spelling is fakultet.
DeleteThis is interesting. As there was only one university, with several semi-autonomous departments, people were always talking about departments because they are specific buildings etc. So medicinski fakultet is the department of medicine, Medical school of the university.
In everyday speech, sveučilište is very seldom used. It's a rather abstract institution, you'll hear it only in TV news and political discussions.
In daily speech, people use fakultet for all university-related things.
Is it clearer now? lp
Very clear thank you v much
ReplyDelete