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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 28 Asking Who and What 167 / 600

An older version of the question word was something like ča (it’s still used in some

regions of Croatia). The word to was so much used after the older question word

that it eventually fused with it, and lost its meaning. Later the word to was

introduced again.

Various versions of the question-word what are used as traditional criteria for

dividing various dialects in Croatia.

Russian, a not-so-distant relative of Croatian, still spells the question word что –

which is just čto, but in Russian Cyrillic script. (However, it’s pronounced što, the

same as in Croatian!)

The same happened in tko – the older form was kto, i.e. k + to. Again, Russian has

still the older form, while certain regions in Croatia have only ki.

• Exercise

Fill in the right forms of question words (and verbs, where necessary):

Ivan čeka Anu. Ivan is waiting for Ana.

________(a) Ivan čeka? Who is Ivan waiting for?

Ivan čeka vlak. Damir is waiting for a train.

________(b) Damir čeka? What is Damir waiting for?

________(c) čeka vlak? Who is waiting for a train?

Marija je pisala pismo. Marija was writing a letter.

________(d) je ________(e) pismo? Who was writing a letter?

________(f) je Marija ____________(g)? What was Marija doing?

Check answers here.

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