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In Croatian, as in English, many adjectives (e.g. deep) have associated abstract nouns (e.g. depth).
As in English, various adjectives use various suffixes to create abstract nouns in Croatian. For some adjectives, -ina gets added to create an abstract noun:
brz fast →
brzina speed, velocity
topao (topl-) warm →
toplina warmth, heat
®
vješt skilled →
vještina skill
vruć hot →
vrućina heat (extreme)
Of the two nouns standing for heat, only the noun toplina is used in the generic sense, e.g. in science. As you can see, the resulting noun has always stress on the i from the suffix.
Some the derived nouns have a non-abstract meaning:
divlji wild →
divljina wilderness
šupalj (šuplj-) hollow →
šupljina cavity
Adjectives that discard a part of them when making a comparative (e.g. -ok or -ak), discard it as well when making abstract nouns:
dubok deep →
dubina depth
širok wide →
širina width
težak (tešk-) heavy →
težina weight
visok high →
visina height, altitude
For some adjectives, there’s a shift in consonants, the same as in comparatives:
debeo (debel) thick, fat →
debljina thickness
jak strong →
jačina strength
tih quiet, silent →
tišina silence
(Abstract nouns don’t always have a shift when comparatives have one: for instance, from visok, the comparative is viši, but the abstract noun is visina, without the shift s → š.)
Abstract nouns can even be derived from some question-words that behave like adjectives, and even from few comparatives; results are often very generic nouns:
kolik how big →
količina quantity
manji smaller →
manjina minority
velik big →
veličina size
veći bigger →
većina majority
Certain once abstract nouns evolved specific meanings, e.g. nizina means lowlands.
Abstract nouns in -ina have relational adjectives in -ski:
dubina depth →
dubinski toplina heat → toplinski |
većina majority →
većinski visina height → visinski |
Few adjectives make abstract nouns by adding -oća:
čist clean →
čistoća cleanliness
gluh deaf →
gluhoća deafness
hladan (hladn-) cold →
hladnoća cold
Very few adjectives add -ota. If adjectives contain a sequence ije, it’s shortened to je in abstract nouns:
lijep nice, pretty →
ljepota beauty
slijep blind →
sljepoća blindness
Next, there are few adjectives that add -stvo, creating neuter nouns (after discarding the final -n in adjectives, if present). The stress is on the syllable right before the suffix:
bogat rich →
bogatstvo richness
iskusan (iskusn-) experienced →
iskustvo experience
siromašan (siromašn-) poor →
siromaštvo poverty
zadovoljan (zadovoljn-) satisfied →
zadovoljstvo satisfaction
This suffix is use to create abstract nouns out of a couple of other nouns as well (the process is not always regular):
car emperor →
carstvo empire
član member →
članstvo membership
kralj king →
kraljevstvo kingdom
prijatelj friend →
prijateljstvo friendship
The vast majority of adjectives use another suffix to make abstract nouns: -ost (or a variation, -nost). It can be, in fact, regarded as the default suffix for abstract nouns. The result is always a feminine noun ending in a consonant:
glup stupid →
glupost f stupidity
mlad young →
mladost f youth, young age
slab weak →
slabost f weakness
star old →
starost f age
This suffix creates three quite important nouns, from present adjectives and a past adjective:
budući future →
budućnost f future
moguć possible →
mogućnost f possibility
prošao (prošl-) past →
prošlost f past
The stress is mostly moved to the syllable that precedes the suffix. More important nouns created by this suffix:
opasan (opasn-) dangerous →
opasnost f danger
sličan (sličn-) similar, alike →
sličnost f similarity
slučajan (slučajn-) accidental →
slučajnost f coincidence
stvaran (stvarn-) real →
stvarnost f reality
udaljen distant →
udaljenost f distance
važan (važn-) important →
važnost f importance
Passive adjectives always use this suffix to create abstract nouns, usually corresponding to English -ness:
gledan watched (also popular)→
gledanost f viewer ratings
otvoren open →
otvorenost f openness
The noun gledanost f means literally watchedness (however, this is an extremely rare English word).
Potential adjectives always use this suffix to create abstract nouns as well:
vidljiv visible →
vidljivost f visibility
osjetljiv sensitive →
osjetljivost f sensitivity
This is maybe the place to show the full range of derived words from a single (perfective) verb (of course, not all verbs have all the possible forms):
verb | adjectives | (verbal) nouns |
---|---|---|
isključiti («) perf. exclude (also turn off) |
isključen excluded (turned off) |
isključenje excluding |
isključenost f exclusion | ||
isključiv exclusive, strict |
isključivost f exclusiveness, strictness |
In addition, there are (for most potential and passive adjectives), negated adjectives, and derived negated abstract words; for example:
vidljiv visible vidljivost f visibility |
nevidljiv invisible nevidljivost f invisibility |
Such negated adjectives and abstract nouns are always derived by appending ne-.
Some nouns created by -ost have meaning that’s not obvious from the adjective they are derived from:
umjetan (umjetn-) artificial →
umjetnost f art
While English art has a wide meaning, Croatian umjetnost f means only painting, making sculptures and other high arts.
Some nouns changed meaning over time, or the adjectives they were created from fell out of use:
prednost f priority, advantage radost f joy |
znanost f science
® žalost f sadness |
Abstract nouns that don’t end in -ina usually don’t have relational adjectives – the adjectives they are derived from are used in relational meaning too – or form relational adjectives irregularly:
starost f old age →
starački
umjetnost f art →
umjetnički
znanost f science →
znanstven scientific
®
The relational adjectives starački and umjetnički are actually derived from nouns starac (starc-) old man and umjetnik artist.
Finally, it’s interesting that there are more abstract feminine nouns that don’t end in -a, which seem to be (at least historically) derived with -t. Common ones are:
bit f essence, gist čast f honor moć f might, power pomoć f help pov |
propast f downfall smrt f death strast f passion v vlast f authority, government |
________
® The word znanost f science is specific to Croatia. In Bosnia and Serbia, the word nauka is more common; instead of toplina heat, toplota is used in Bosnia and Serbia. For nauka, the relational adjective is simply naučni.
Instead of povijest, the word for history is historija in parts of Bosnia, and istorija in Serbia and parts of Bosnia with Serbian majority.

nice
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