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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 20 At My Friend’s: Genive 117 / 600

into an adjective and follow the previous procedure: it’s described in 33 School Yard:

Relational Adjectives):

vrh planine (N, G)

na vrhu planine (DL, G)

Now, there’s a problem. The form planine also means mountains (that is, plural, as

you’ll see very soon). So, is it on the top, followed by the plural noun mountains, or

the noun + G construction on the top of the mountain? In such cases, always assume

it’s noun + G, of course, if it makes sense.

The G case is also used by several verbs. The often used ones are:

bojati (boji) se² be afraid

sjećati se² have memories, remember

The first verb always uses the particle se². For example:

Goran N se boji mraka G . Goran is afraid of dark.

bojati se

Perhaps the most common use of the genitive case in Croatian is with prepositions.

In fact, only a limited number of prepositions in Croatian demand cases other than

G. You’ll see that the genitive case is the default case if a preposition, adverb or

number is used before a noun. A very common preposition is:

kod¨ + G (roughly) at/by

This preposition covers many meanings. It’s very often used to specify location by a

prominent feature, or someone’s home, shop or office:

Čekam Anu A kod mosta G . I’m waiting for Ana by the bridge.

Ana N je kod zubara G . Ana is at the dentist’s.

Goran N je kod tete G . Goran is at his aunt’s. (place)

If you refer to someone’s house or apartment as a location, it’s normal just to use

such an expression, without stating is it a kuća house or a stan apartment, or

something else. In this manner, the Croatian preposition kod¨ is very similar to the

French chez.

Also, if you know some German, you’ll see it’s also very similar to e.g. German beim

Zahnarzt; however, the German preposition bei requires the German Dative case –

Croatian and German cases are not equivalent in some constructions.

When kod¨ is used before people, the ‘location’ can be understood figuratively –

including inside someone’s pocket or purse – so it sometimes corresponds to English

have:

Ključ N je kod Ane G . (roughly) Ana has the key.

However, this can be used only for temporary possession of movable things. You

cannot use such expression to say Ana has a brother or Ana has a new house, but

you can use it for e.g. cars:

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