EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 47 Of Flowers, Thorns and Counng Children 274 / 600
povrće vegetable(s)
oružje weapon(s)
rublje laundry, underwear
suđe dishes ®
voće fruit(s)
The noun piće drink is sometimes seen in plural, when it stands for more than one
single drink, but it can be used in singular for a number of drinks on a table. The noun
rublje stands both for a mass of clothes that needs to be washed, dried etc. and for
underwear and other frequently washed items of clothing. (Colloquially, you will
often hear another mass noun, veš – with exactly the same meaning – instead of
rublje.)
Two more common mass nouns are similar to the nouns above, but they end in -a.
They are feminine (singular, of course, but stand for any amount):
obuća footwear odjeća clothes
Then, there are two important nouns that have completely lost their plural, and
collective nouns are always used instead. They are:
noun (no pl.)
brat brother
dijete child
collective noun
braća
djeca
At first, they appear as normal, feminine singular nouns ending in -a:
Čekam djecu A . I’m waiting for my children.
Pomažem tvojoj braći DL . I’m helping your brothers.
pomagati
However, when they are subjects of a sentence, verbs come in plural:
Djeca N čekaju mamu A . Children are waiting for their mum.
Braća N su gladna N . Brothers are hungry.
Braća N su bila gladna N . Brothers were hungry.
Adjectives and past forms of verbs always have feminine singular forms with these
two nouns, even when the verbs come in plural.
(This special behavior doesn’t apply to e.g. odjeća, only to braća and djeca.)
What about collective nouns in I have no... sentences? Is A or G used? It seems the
special collective nouns djeca children and braća brothers are used in both G and A
with negative sentences, with the same frequency.®
form hits
"nemam djece G " 6470
"nemam djecu A " 6310
Finally, how to count children in Croatian? If you have less than 5 children, you can