EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 58 Colloquial and Formal 338 / 600
colloq. loc. dest.
close ovdje
ovamo
(here) tu
not close tamo
tamo
(there)
(onamo)
For example, on the newspaper site jutarnji.hr, the adverb tamo is 5 times more
frequent than ondje. On the discussion site forum.hr, it’s 27 times more frequent.
The adverb onamo is also less frequent than the others, so I’ve put it into brackets.
Sometimes, the Standard Croatian slowly accepts forms actually used. One example
is the verb koristiti use. It can be used in three ways, and two of them have the
same meaning:
koristiti + A (very common, but non-standard)
koristiti se² + I (less common, but standard)
Using this verb simply with A is being gradually accepted as standard.
Other colloquial words are regional, they are known only in one region, e.g. šlapa
house slipper, to the point that frequently people from other regions will not be able
to understand it.
The following colloquial nouns are commonly used in the coastal region (this is just a
short list, there are many more):
Std./inland coast
bed sheet plahta lancun
fork vilica pirun
pillow jastuk kušin
towel ručnik šugaman
As you’ll see later, many such terms are related to home, especially food an cooking.
Often, there are triplets – one colloquial word dominates inland, another dominates
coastal areas, and there’s a standard word which is used only rarely: