Accusative Case in Croatian
Croatian ⋙
Croatian A1
Welcome to our Croatian course for beginners! Today we're going to talk about accusative.
We recommend that you read our previous articles about other cases if you haven't already done that.
The
accusative case (
akuzativ) in Croatian is one of the seven grammatical cases used to indicate the grammatical function of nouns and adjectives in sentences. The accusative case primarily serves to mark the direct object of a verb, indicating the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb. Words in this case answer the questions
koga? (whom?) and
što? (what?). They are used to indicate measure, quantity, and manner of action, and they can also function as direct objects in a sentence. It is used with prepositions
kroz (through),
među (among),
mimo (past),
na (on),
nad (over),
niz (down),
o (about),
po (by),
pod (under),
pred (before),
u (in),
za (for).
Accusative case for singular nouns
For masculine nouns, the accusative case usually resembles the nominative case, but some masculine nouns can change in the accusative, particularly if they end in a consonant. In this case, they may add the suffix "
-a."
Examples:
stol (table, masc. nom.) - stol (table, masc. acc.)
muškarac (man, masc. nom.) - muškarca (man, masc. acc.).
Feminine nouns typically change the suffix "
-a" to "
-u."
Example:
knjiga (book, fem. nom.) - knjigu (book, fem. acc.).
Neuter nouns in the accusative also usually match the nominative form.
Example:
dijete (child, neut. nom.) - dijete (child, neut. acc.).
Accusative case for plural nouns
In the plural form, nouns typically follow the same pattern as in the nominative case. There are no significant changes for nouns in the accusative plural, but masculine nouns change the suffix "
-i" to "
-e."
Examples:
stolovi (tables, masc. nom.) - stolove (tables, masc. acc.)
knjige (books, fem. nom.) - knjige (books, fem. acc.).
Accusative case for adjectives
Masculine adjectives in the accusative singular typically add the suffix "
-og" for the masculine singular accusative form.
Example:
crven (red, masc. nom.) - crvenog (red, masc. acc.).
Feminine adjectives remain the same in the accusative singular as in the nominative.
Example:
crvena (red, fem. nom.) - crvena (red, fem. acc.).
Neuter adjectives also remain the same in the accusative singular.
Example:
crveno (red, neut. nom.) - crveno (red, neut. acc.).
Adjectives in the accusative plural generally follow the same pattern as in the nominative plural.
Examples:
crveni (red, masc. nom. plural) - crvene (red, masc. acc. plural);
crvene (red, fem. nom. plural) - crvene (red, fem. acc. plural);
crvena (red, neut. nom. plural) - crvena (red, neut. acc. plural).
Examples
Now, in order to finally clarify what nouns and adjectives look like in the accusative case, let's examine the examples we used in previous lessons. Let's look at examples in the singular:
Moju sestru - my sister (fem.)
Polarnu zvijezdu - polar star (fem.)
Dobru stvar - a good thing (fem.)
Moj rječnik - my dictionary (masc.)
Dobrog konja - a good horse (masc.)
Novi auto - a new car (masc.)
Veliko selo - a big village (neut.)
Zeleno polje - a green field (neut.)
Let's see what happens with words in the accusative case in the plural:
Moje sestre - my sisters (fem.)
Polarne zvijezde - polar stars (fem.)
Dobre stvari - good things (fem.)
Moje rječnike - my dictionaries (masc.)
Dobre konje - good horses (masc.)
Nove aute - new cars (masc.)
Velika sela - big villages (neut.)
Zelena polja - green fields (neut.)
In the plural, pay attention to the endings. In general, accusative forms repeat the forms of the nominative case, except for the masculine gender, where adjectives and nouns acquire the characteristic ending "
-e."
We hope that everything is clear about accusative after reading the article. We are waiting for you in the next lesson about the Vokativ case. Good luck in learning Croatian, and see you in the next lessons.