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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 44 Genive Plural 259 / 600

gender adj. G-pl example

fem.

velikih riba

big fishes

neut. -ih

velikih jezera

big lakes

masc.

velikih stolova

big tables

The adjective-often-used-as-pronoun sav (sv- +) has an alternative, non-standard

form that’s sometimes seen is G-pl: sviju, besides the expected svih.

We can review endings of adjectives in DL, G and I cases in both singular and plural:

adj. gender DL I G

fem. -oj -om -e

sing. neut. -om

-im

-og

masc. (-em) (-eg)

plur. all -im(+a) -ih

As you can see, they are much simpler than they could be in principle.

In the following chapters, we’ll see many uses of G-pl in counting and measuring.

________

® Besides plahta, words čaršav or čaršaf are often used in Bosnia and completely

prevail in Serbia, in meaning thin sheets, while plahta is used for thick covers.

The noun dečko is less common outside Croatia, and it’s not even used in some

Croatian regions; it’s most common in Zagreb and surrounding areas.

• Something Possibly Interesting

Many prescriptive manuals, dictionaries and grammars (i.e. books telling people how

they should speak) demand stress shift left in G-pl in words like:

policajac (policajc-) policeman → policajaca G-pl

Very few people use that stress in G-pl in real life – people say simply policajaca.

Consequently, the stress in G-pl of such words is a matter of dispute in Bosnia and

Serbia, where certain local “linguists” insist on the dictionary stress, which

consequently appears on the Public TV. This is much less debated in Croatia, where

most people don’t care much what dictionaries prescribe.

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