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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 25 Plural 148 / 600There are few verbs – otherwise irregular – that have a bit irregular pres-3pl as well.They end in -ći in infinitive, have pres-3 in -če, but the pres-3pl in -ku. Common onesare:peći (peče) bake → pekuteći (teče) flow → tekutući (tuče) beat, smack → tukuvući (vuče) pull → vukuIf a verb has pres-3 in -če, but its infinitive ends in -ti, there’s no such complication:the pres-3pl is completely regular:vikati (viče) yell → vičuWhat about feminine nouns in a consonant? It’s quite simple – they just get an -i intheir N-pl, and the accusative is the same as nominative:Noći N su duge N . Nights are long.fNow, there’s a small problem. Croatian has usually specific words for male andfemale people/animals – pairs like prijatelj friend (m) and prijateljica friend (f).How do you call a group of friends, if some of them are male, some female?Croatian has then a notion of default gender. For most terms, the default gender ismasculine. You simply use the masculine noun in plural, but the meaning is rathergeneric or mixed.However, for some animals, the default gender is feminine. Such animals are:feminine masculinecow kravabik bullvol oxfox lisica lisac (lisc-)cat mačka mačak (mačk-)duck patka patak (patk-)(There are more.) So, if you see a bunch of cats, either of mixed sex, or you don’tknow their sex, you simply refer to them as if all were feminine.Let’s summarize changes of feminine (and all nouns that end in -a) and neuter nounsin plural:noun type (N)NA-plnouns in -a (≈ fem.) -a → -eneuter nouns (≈ in -o, -e) -o or -e → -afem. not in -a (e.g. noć) add -i
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 25 Plural 149 / 600Plural of masculine nouns and the corresponding adjective forms are a bit morecomplicated, so they will be explained a bit later.________® In Serbia, and often in Bosnia, the following nouns are used instead of the nounslisted above (forms used there are given after arrows); they have plural forms onlyas well:hlače → pantalonenaočale → naočare / naočariškare → makazetraperice → farmerkeIn Dalmatia, you’ll sometimes hear and read -u in all verbs, for example from trčati(trči) run, pres-3 is trču; this not standard.In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely dominates in Serbia, there’s asmall group of verbs which have another pattern. The most common is razumetiunderstand: its pres-3 is regular, but pres-3pl has a specific pattern:pres-3 razume → pres-3pl razumejuYou can think about them in this way: verbs which change -e to -u in pres-3pl alsochange vowel from inf to pres-3; they are all kind of ‘irregular’. However, the“Ekavian” verb razumeti is completely regular, as e.g. čitati read which gets -ju inpres-3pl, it just has a different vowel before it.In the “Ikavian” pronunciation (which is used colloquially in parts of Croatian coast,including Split), such verbs behave usually like other verbs in -iti (i.e. the verb israzumiti).• Something Possibly InterestingThe rules above apply to all nouns. English sometimes borrows plural forms alongsingular forms, so some people use e.g. singular bacterium vs. plural bacteria. Not soin Croatian: the singular is bakterija and the plural is only the expected formbakterije.• ExamplesMirno teku rijeke Rivers flow peacefully is a song from 1959. It starts with simple,but poetic verses:Mirno teku rijeke Nmirno žita N šumeRivers flow peacefullywheat hisses peacefullytećisvjetlo N njiše misli Amisli N njišu šume Athe light sways thoughtsthoughts sway forestsnjihati | ff | njihatiThe verb teći (teče, tekao, tekla) flow is one of few verbs having pres-3 in -ku,already mentioned above. The verb šumiti means boom, but the English likes hiss
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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 25 Plural 149 / 600
Plural of masculine nouns and the corresponding adjective forms are a bit more
complicated, so they will be explained a bit later.
________
® In Serbia, and often in Bosnia, the following nouns are used instead of the nouns
listed above (forms used there are given after arrows); they have plural forms only
as well:
hlače → pantalone
naočale → naočare / naočari
škare → makaze
traperice → farmerke
In Dalmatia, you’ll sometimes hear and read -u in all verbs, for example from trčati
(trči) run, pres-3 is trču; this not standard.
In the “Ekavian” pronunciation, which completely dominates in Serbia, there’s a
small group of verbs which have another pattern. The most common is razumeti
understand: its pres-3 is regular, but pres-3pl has a specific pattern:
pres-3 razume → pres-3pl razumeju
You can think about them in this way: verbs which change -e to -u in pres-3pl also
change vowel from inf to pres-3; they are all kind of ‘irregular’. However, the
“Ekavian” verb razumeti is completely regular, as e.g. čitati read which gets -ju in
pres-3pl, it just has a different vowel before it.
In the “Ikavian” pronunciation (which is used colloquially in parts of Croatian coast,
including Split), such verbs behave usually like other verbs in -iti (i.e. the verb is
razumiti).
• Something Possibly Interesting
The rules above apply to all nouns. English sometimes borrows plural forms along
singular forms, so some people use e.g. singular bacterium vs. plural bacteria. Not so
in Croatian: the singular is bakterija and the plural is only the expected form
bakterije.
• Examples
Mirno teku rijeke Rivers flow peacefully is a song from 1959. It starts with simple,
but poetic verses:
Mirno teku rijeke N
mirno žita N šume
Rivers flow peacefully
wheat hisses peacefully
teći
svjetlo N njiše misli A
misli N njišu šume A
the light sways thoughts
thoughts sway forests
njihati | f
f | njihati
The verb teći (teče, tekao, tekla) flow is one of few verbs having pres-3 in -ku,
already mentioned above. The verb šumiti means boom, but the English likes hiss
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