20 At My Friend’s: Genitive

→  You can also read this chapter in French.

N

A

DL

G

There’s another case to learn, and it’s a very useful case. It’s used in constructions like my sister’s apartment and car keys, but also in measuring, counting, with many prepositions, etc. It’s called genitive (just G for short). In some other languages (e.g. German) the genitive case is mainly associated with possession. In Croatian, expressing possession is just one of many uses of the genitive case, and it’s not its main use!

Nouns get the following endings in genitive:

noun type (N)	G
nouns in -a (≈ fem.)	-a → -e
neuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e)	-o or -e → -a
masc. nouns not in -a	add -a
fem. not in -a (e.g. noć)	add -i

Like in the DL case, the endings of most masc. nouns and or neuter nouns are the same, and there’s no distinction for people and animals.

We can put it immediately to use. First, it’s used when English uses something-of-something, e.g.:

kraj filma end of the movie

The second word is always in G, regardless of the role the whole phrase gets. If you use the phrase when e.g. the DL case is required, only the first word changes:

To je na kraju filma. That’s at the end of the movie.

This construction is frequently used when something ‘belongs’ to something, but it’s not possession:

broj telefona phone number vlasnik bicikla bicycle owner

ključ auta car key vrh planine mountain top

While in such expressions in English, phone and car are used like adjectives, in Croatian they are nouns in genitive (lit. number of the phone, top of the mountain, etc.) If you want to describe a noun (e.g. vrh peak) with an adjective, you need to adapt the adjective to the noun gender and case, and normally place it in front of the noun (in poetry and some other circumstances, the adjective can be after the noun):

visoki vrh (N, N)
na visokom vrhu (DL, DL)

But if you describe a noun with another noun, you should put it after the noun, in the G case, and it stays in the G case, no matter what! (Another way is to turn the noun into an adjective and follow the previous procedure: it’s described in 33 School Yard and Bunk Bed: Relations):

vrh planine (N, G)
na vrhu planine (DL, G)

Now, there’s a problem. The form planine also means mountains (that is, plural, as you’ll see very soon). So, is it on the top, followed by the plural noun mountains, or the noun + G construction on the top of the mountain? In such cases, always assume it’s noun + G, of course, if it makes sense.

To help you decipher G forms while you’re learning them, they will be highlighted with  pink , if you place your mouse over an example sentence – or touch it, if you use a touchscreen – like in the other cases.

The G case is also used by several verbs. The often used ones are:

bojati (boji) se² be afraid
sjećati se² have memories, remember

The first verb always uses the particle se². For example:

Goran se bojibojati se mraka. Goran is afraid of dark.

Perhaps the most common use of the genitive case in Croatian is with prepositions. In fact, only a limited number of prepositions in Croatian demand cases other than G. You’ll see that the genitive case is the default case if a preposition, adverb or number is used before a noun. A very common preposition is:

kod¨ + G (roughly) at/by

This preposition covers many meanings. It’s very often used to specify location by a prominent feature, or someone’s home, shop or office:

Čekam Anu kod mosta. I’m waiting for Ana by the bridge.

Ana je kod zubara. Ana is at the dentist’s.

Goran je kod tete. Goran is at his aunt’s. (place)

If you refer to someone’s house or apartment as a location, it’s normal just to use such an expression, without stating is it a kuća house or a stan apartment, or something else. In this manner, the Croatian preposition kod¨ is very similar to the French chez.

Also, if you know some German, you’ll see it’s also very similar to e.g. German beim Zahnarzt; however, the German preposition bei requires the German Dative case – Croatian and German cases are not equivalent in some constructions.

When kod¨ is used before people, the ‘location’ can be understood figuratively – including inside someone’s pocket or purse – so it sometimes corresponds to English have:

Ključ je kod Ane. (roughly) Ana has the key.

However, this can be used only for temporary possession of movable things. You cannot use such expression to say Ana has a brother or Ana has a new house, but you can use it for e.g. cars:

Tvoj auto je kod Ane. (roughly) Ana has (= is using) your car.

There’s a special phrase kod kuće – it means simply at home, regardless if you’re living in a house or not:

Nisam kod kuće. I’m not at home.

The same meaning can be expressed with doma, which is very common, and kući, which is a bit less common:

Nisam doma. (ways to express the same meaning)

Nisam kući. (a bit rarer, non-standard)

Another frequent preposition used with G is:

zbog¨ + G because of

It’s used when cause is a thing, or an event expressed by a noun:

Trava je mokra zbog kiše.  ▶  The grass is wet because of the rain.

It corresponds to English because of and due to, but not to English because without of, e.g. because I’m tired. It’s not hard to remember, since the English of often corresponds to the Croatian genitive case. (How to express a simple because will be explained later.)

We must not forget adjectives in G; they get quite different endings:

gender	adj. G	example
fem.	-e	velike ribe big fish
neut.	-og (some -eg)	velikog jezera big lake
masc.		velikog konja big horse

The endings -og vs. -eg in neut. and masc. follow the usual rule as in other cases in neut. and masc. genders. Again, you will sometimes see longer endings -oga and -ega, mainly in writing.

To help you remember -o- is the ordinary vowel in endings, while -e- is used exceptionally, after Croatian-specific letters, note o-rdinary and e-xceptional. This is a coincidence, of course!

The G case is used when something is related to descriptions or teaching a language. Recall that languages are usually referred to simply by adjectives:

gramatika španjolskog Spanish grammar

udžbenik hrvatskog Croatian textbook

With nouns rječnik dictionary and gramatika grammar you can also use just adjectives before them – then adjectives change case as nouns do:

španjolska gramatika Spanish grammar

The possessive adjectives similar to moj my have a specific, shortened form in neut. and masc. genders in the G too:

gender	N	G
neut.	moje	mog mojeg
masc.	moj

This example combines a preposition, possessive adjective and a noun:

Ana je kod moje sestre. ‘Ana is at my sister’s.’

We can finally say your sister’s apartment. In Croatian you can make a possessive only out of single nouns. If you want to express possession by something expressed by more than one word, you must put them to G, regardless of the case of the possessed noun and place them after the possessed noun. Here tvoja sestra your sister (G tvoje sestre) owns the apartment:

Ovo je stan tvoje sestre. ‘This is an apartment of your sister’ (= your sister’s apartment)

Ivan je u stanu tvoje sestre. Ivan is in your sister’s apartment.

Observe how changing case of stan apartment doesn’t affect the words tvoje sestre at all. Here I’ve put the matching Croatian and English possessive phrases in square brackets:

Ivana je sestra [moje žene]. Ivana is [my wife]’s sister.

Čekam sestru [moje žene]. I’m waiting for [my wife]’s sister.

Pišem poruku sestri [moje žene]. I’m writing a message to [my wife]’s sister.

(Croatian has precise words for wife’s sister etc. but you can always use expressions like these.)

There’s something interesting with street names. We have already encountered Branimirova ulica, lit. Branimir’s street. However, the official name of the street is Ulica kneza Branimira (knez is a title, roughly prince).

People are talking about the same street either as Branimirova – often leaving out ulica – or as Ulica kneza Branimira, e.g. when writing their address, even business address, some people prefer one form over another. If you’re not aware of the grammar behind it – as foreigners often aren’t – you can get an impression these are two different streets! Here I took a photo of a shop door and an official street sign few meters away from it:

There’s one more issue: with possessives (e.g. Anin), you could say:

Auto je Anin. The car ‘is Ana’s’. (= belongs to Ana)

You cannot do it when something belongs to someone expressed by more than one word (e.g. moja sestra). There are two other ways.

The formal way is to use the verb pripadati belong (introduced in 16 Giving to Someone, Going to Someone). You can use it with any expression that stands for possessor. Keep in mind that this verb requires the DL case:

Auto pripada mojoj sestri. The car belongs to my sister.

Auto pripada Ani. The car belongs to Ana.

Another universal way – but very colloquial – is to use the verb biti (je² +) be with the preposition od¨ + G:

Auto je od moje sestre. (colloq.!) The car ‘is of my sister’.

Auto je od Ane. (colloq.!) The car ‘is of Ana’.

The same very colloquial construction is sometimes used instead of possessive adjectives:

Anin brat brat od Ane (colloq.!)

Ana’s brother

In such constructions, of course, the word after od¨ is always in G. For example (you will mostly hear this, it’s much rarer in writing):

On je brat od Ane. (colloq.!) He is Ana’s brother.

↓ Something Possibly Interesting (click to show)

In Croatian and Serbian grammatical traditions, the G case is always listed second, after the nominative case. In some Serbian grammars, it’s even called ‘the second case’. When the traditional N-G-... order of listing cases in primary school textbooks in Croatia was changed to N-A-... – about a decade ago – a lot of Croatians complained: they have learned the N-G... order in school, often memorizing it like a song (and mostly not thinking what the cases really are, which is expected for 11-year-olds).

The use of kod¨ + G for possession is kind of opposite of using DL (or possessive adjectives), and it’s really a different kind of possession: kod¨ + G indicates really having something (e.g. tickets in the pocket), while D indicates some intrinsic bond – body parts, personal items, especially when “on” someone.

Different kinds of possession can be combined, as in tvoj auto je kod Ane – the car is yours, but Ana has it (at the moment).

In Russian, the first way – a preposition + G (Russian uses the preposition u) – is the main way to indicate any kind of possession, including having brothers. The Russian verb meaning have is rarely used.

↓ Examples (click to show)

This is an intersection of two streets in Zagreb: one named after Vice Vukov and the other after Ivo Robić (both were singers). Their names, in genitive, follow the word ulica street. Note that their first names get -e in G, since they change as nouns in -a:

Try finding the intersection on the map.

Zbog jedne divne crne žene Because of a Gorgeous Black Woman is one of greatest hits by late Croatian singer-songwriter Krunoslav Slabinac (usually known under his nickname Kićo) from 1970’s.

(Note that crna žena in Croatia means just a woman with black hair and dark eyes. There are very few black women in Croatia in e.g. the American sense, and if somebody would refer to any, a special term Crnkinja would be used.)

The chorus contains a number of zbog¨ + G because of, with adjectives and nouns:

Zbog jedne divne crne žene	Because of a gorgeous black woman
zbog njene divne crne kose	Because of her gorgeous black hair
zbog jednog pogleda tužnog u noći	Because of a sad look in the night
zbog obećanja [da će mi doći]	Because of the promise [she is going to come to me]
tužan i sam, čekam je ja	Sad and alone, I’m waiting for her {m}
(Krunoslav Slabinac)

The third verse has one adjective after the noun, likely for rhythmic purposes; this is not ungrammatical, just uncommon in everyday speech.

The fourth verse something a bit advanced: a content clause (what was promised?) They will be introduced later; for now we just say that da is mandatory to express that in promise (that)... Within it, there is a DL form of a personal pronoun and a verb in future tense. You’ll learn both soon.

You can find various performances on YouTube™.

This is a recent performance by Stjepan Lach on the Croatian public TV flagship music show, featuring young performers:

And here’s Kićo Slabinac in 1970’s:

↓ Exercise (click to show)

Fill in the missing words:

Show a pop-up Croatian keyboard

Goran . Goran is at his mother’s place.

Mačka . The cat is afraid of water.

Tražim . I’m looking for the key of the wardrobe.

je kod . Ana has the book.

Ivan je vrhu . Ivan is on the top of a high mountain.

Goran se boji . Goran is afraid of the black dog.

Ne sjećam . I don’t remember that night.

Nismo . We’re not at home.

Hladno je . It’s cold because of the wind.

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