Croatia gained its independence in 1991. Before that, it was a federal republic, part of Yugoslavia. It is not surprising that many nationalities live on its territory. The vast majority of them speak Croatian. It is used in all government institutions. In a number of cities on the Istrian peninsula, Italian has been given the status of an official language.

Geography of the Croatian language

The Croatian language belongs to the western subgroup of the southern group of Slavic languages. It is spoken by about 6.2 million people. These are not only residents of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also some residents of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia. You can also easily hear melodic Croatian speech in countries where there are Croatian communities: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Canada, the USA, Germany and even Australia. This fact does not at all mean that the Croatian language claims to have international status, but it gently encourages people to start learning it.

How difficult is the Croatian language?

Russian-speaking tourists coming to Croatia quite easily come into contact with the locals. There are a lot of words in Russian and Croatian that have similar sounds. Often entire phrases are perceived by ear. For example, “good afternoon” sounds like “dobar dan”, “good morning” - “dobro jutro”, “good evening” - “dobra večer”, “bus” - “autobus”.

However, when trying to understand the speaker, you should keep in mind that certain Croatian words have only a general sound, and their meaning can be completely different. So, “pozor” is nothing more than “attention”. “Sutra” is not “in the morning”, but “tomorrow”.

In principle, a couple of days of diligently poring over a phrasebook is enough to remember the most common words and expressions designed to facilitate communication with Croatians.

Mastering them is especially easy for those who speak another Slavic language. For example, Ukrainian.

Local variations of the Croatian language

Apart from the so-called literary language the population actively uses dialects. The overwhelming percentage of Croats use the Shtokavian dialect, which was chosen as the language standard during the reform of 1836. Its goal was to unite with the Serbian people at the linguistic level.

A third of Croats are native speakers of the Kajkovian dialect. About 10% resort to the Chakavian dialect. All of them introduce significant differences in the rules of spelling and pronunciation, which is why residents of neighboring areas sometimes misunderstand each other.

Reading Rules

The Croatian alphabet is based on Latin. It consists of 27 letters and 3 digraphs. One letter - one sound. It reads as it is written.

But there are exceptions that need to be learned: c - “ts”, č - “h”, ć - more soft sound“ch”, đ - “j”, g - “g”, j - “th”, š - “sh”, ž - “zh”.

Words are divided by gender, each of them has its own ending.

Brief Russian-Croatian phrasebook

Below we lay out the most common words and phrases that may be useful to you during your holiday in Croatia.

Greetings

Hello / Hello Zdravo / Bog Hello / God
Good morning Dobro jutro Dobro jutro
Good afternoon Dobar dan Dobar dan
Good evening Dobra vecer
Good night Laku noc Laku night
Goodbye / Bye Dovidenja / Bok Dovidenja / bok

Common phrases

Thank you Hvala Praise
Please Molim We pray
You're welcome Nema na cemu Nema na cemu
Sorry Oprostiti Sorry
Allow (pass) Dozvolite (proci) Allow (other)
What is your name? What do you mean? What is the name?
My name is... Moje ime... My name...
Very nice! Draga mi je! Draga mi e!
Yes Da Yes
No Ne Ne
How are you? What? What ste?
Good Dobro Good
Bad Loš Loshe
Doesn't matter (nothing) U redu U redu
Maybe (probably) Moguce (vjerojatno) Mighty (very likely)

Questions

Why? Zasto? Why?
Where are you going? Where (kamo)idete? Where (kamo) idete?
Where is it? Gdje je to? Where is it?
How far is it from here? Je li daleko odavde do...? Is it far away from you?
How many are there? Koliko je ovdje? Koliko ye ovdye?
Could you show me? Mozete li mi pokazati? Can you show me?
Can you help me? Mozete li mi pomoci? Can you help me?
It's free? Je li ovo free? Is it free?

Transport

Trolleybus Trolejbus Trolleybus
Train Vlak Vlak
Avion aircraft Avion
Airport Aerodrom Aerodrom
Is there a bus to the city (centre)? Ima li autobus do (centra) grada? Is there a bus to the city center?
Stop Stanica Stanitsa
Please make a stop Molim vas, stati We beg you, stati
Arrival of Dolazak Dolazak
Departure Odlazak Odlazak

Purchases

How much does it cost? Koliko to kosta? How much is it worth?
How will you pay? How about cete platiti? How much should you pay?
Cash Gotovinom Gotovinom
Credit card Creditnom karticom Credit card
Discount Popust Popust
Very expensive Je preskupo Je preskupo
Cheap Jeftin Jeftin

Exclamations

Finally! Najzad! Back down!
Continue Nastavite Nastavite
This is true! To je istina! That's not true!
Never! Niposto! No way!
Can't be! Nije moguce! No more powerful!

Words that can be misleading

Belly Trbuh Tyrbukh
Life Zivot Belly
Experience Iskustvo Art
Kiss Ljubiti Ljubiti
Loving Voljeti Voljeti
Valid, useful Vrijedan Harmful
Letter Slovo Word
The word Riječ
Gift Poklon Bow
Guess Pogoditi Wait
Understand Ponoviti Ponoviti
Pregnant Trudna Difficult
Rush Zuriti Zuriti
Entertainment, jokes, pranks Zajebavati, zajebancija Zajebavati, zajebancija
Almost Skoro Soon

We wish you success!