Croatian/Main Contents/Level 2/Lesson 10

The genitive case is used primarily to denote possession. It is also used after a large number of prepositions. Examples: Ovo je kuća moje tete. - This is my aunt's house. Kuća je izgrađena od cigala. - The house is built from bricks. Otac Quijote naručio je osamljenički ručak od svoje domaćice. - Father Quijote has ordered his solitary lunch from his housekeeper. Krenuo je kupiti vino u mjesnoj zadružnoj prodavaonici udaljenoj osam kilometara od El Tobosa. - He set off to buy wine at a local cooperative eight kilometers away from El Tabos.

Singular
1) first or a-declination ending: -a Examples: stol (m,table) -> stola broj (m,number) -> broja nebo (n, sky) -> neba vrijeme (n, time) -> vremena 2) second or e-declination ending: -e Examples: žena (f,woman) -> žene ptica (f, bird) -> ptice sluga (m, servant) -> sluge vođa (m, leader) -> vođe 3) third or i-declination ending: -i Examples: noć (f, night) -> noći ljubav (f, love) -> ljubavi

Plural
Some nouns change stress! 1) first or a-declination endings: long -a {ā}, -i Examples: medvjed {mèdvjed} (m, bear) -> medvjeda {mȅdvjēdā} stol {stôl}(m, table) -> stolova {stȍlōvā} selo {sèlo}(n, village) -> sela {sélā} polje {pȍlje}(n, field) -> polja {pȏljā} Examples: nokat (m, nail) -> nokata {nokātā} pas {pȁs}(m, dog) -> pasa {pásā} Some masculine nouns get an -i {ī}: Examples: sati, hvati, pari, ari, mjeseci, prsti, gosti, mravi, zubi, ljudi ( Nouns prst, gost, nokat have -iju: prstiju, gostiju, noktiju. Some nouns can have more than one ending: nokat - nokātā, noktiju prst - prstā, prsti, prstiju gost - gosti, gostiju zub - zubā, zubi 2) second or e-declination ending: long -a {ā} (long -a for masculine, and -a, -i, -u for feminine) Ending -a can have every noun. Some of them have "nepostojano a". Examples: žena {žèna}-> žena {žénā} ptica {ptȉca}-> ptica {ptȋcā} vođa {vȍđa}-> vođa {vȏđā} "nepostojano a" in feminine nouns If group (nouns without -a that has more than one consonant) ends with -l (igla -> iglā/igala), -lj (zemlja -> zemljā/zemalja), -m (pjesma -> pjesmā/pjesama), -r (sestra -> sestrā/sestara), -v (bukva -> bukvā/bukava) or -k (djevojka -> djevojkā/djevojaka) And in groups with db (naredba -> naredbā/naredaba), džb (svjedodžba -> svjedodžbā/svjedodžaba), žb (optužba -> optužbā/optužaba) Ending -i strepnji, sekundi, himni, pravdi Ending -u only noga, ruka and sluga {nogu, ruku, slugu} Many nouns can have all three endings (a, i and a with "nepostojano a"): izložaba/izložba/izložbi, narudžaba/narudžba/narudžbi, priredaba/priredba/priredbi) Some nouns can have -a and -i (nouns that don't have "nepostojano a"): tajna/tajni, strepnja/strepnji, sekunda/sekundi. Groups nc and nč can have "nepostojano a", but they even don't: naranča/naranača/naranči 3) third or i-declination ending: -i ljubav -> ljubavi laž -> laži Nouns kokoš, kost and uš: kokoši/kokošiju, kosti/kostiju, uši/ušiju.
 * in this form {genitiv plural} you have "a" that in other forms doesn't appears, but it's also long