Cases
First of all, a case indicates the grammatical function of noun, pronoun or modifier in relation to a clause or phrase. In the Croatian language there are 7 of these cases: nominative, accusative, dative, instrumental, genitive, vocative, and locative.
Note: Cases in Croatian are probably the most difficult thing for a person whose first language is English to learn. There's no getting around cases, so you just have to practice, practice, practice.
| Name | Use | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativ (Nominative) | Subject | Who? What? |
| Akuzativ (Accusative) | Direct Object | Whom? What? |
| Dativ (Dative) | Indirect object | To who? To What? |
| Genitiv (Genitive) | Possession | Of who? Of what? (Note: Of who is different from whose in Croatian) |
| Instrumental (Instrumental) | Denotes accompaniment/utilization of something to complete an action | With what? With who? |
| Vokativ (Vocative) | Used for calling | N/A |
| Lokativ (Locative) | Denotes location | Where? In what? In who? |
Nominativ (Nominative)
The nominative case is used simply as the subject of the sentence.
Example: Ana je lijepa.
Akuzativ (Accusative)
The accusative case is used as the direct object, a word or group of words in which the action of the verb is performed upon, of a sentence.
Example: Ana voli vodu.
Dativ (Dative)
The dative case is used as the indirect object, the beneficiary of the action of the verb, of a sentence.
Example: Dajem Ani čokoladu.
Genitiv (Genitive)
The genitive case denotes possession of a noun in a sentence.
Example: Ane nema.
Instrumental (Instrumental)
The instrumental case denotes the object used to complete an action. It's also used to denote accompaniment and is used with the preposition for with in Croatian, s/sa.
Example: Putujem s Anom.
Vokativ (Vocative)
The vocative case is simply used to address someone.
Example: Ana!
Lokativ (Locative)
The locative case denotes the location of a noun in a sentence.
Example: Ana je u kući.