EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 75 Friends and Family 424 / 600
75 Friends and Family
The following nouns for people are frequently used with possessive adjectives. For
each term, there’s a male and a female version:
male female
neighbor susjed ® susjeda ®
godfather/godmother kum kuma
acquaintance poznanik poznanica
boss šef šefica
coworker kolega kolegica ®
The word kolega is similar to tata: the word ends on -a, changes like any other word
on -a, but has masculine gender!
For women, you must use female versions of such nouns. For example:
Ivan N je tvoj susjed N . Ivan is your neighbor.
Ana N je moja susjeda N . Ana is my neighbor.
Terms kum and kuma stand for family friends who are traditionally witnesses at
marriage, child baptism, etc.
Croatian has many words for family members. For instance, where English has only
uncle, Croatian has three words: stric, tetak (tetk-) and ujak! I will introduce only
main family members and relatives here. Terms in square brackets [] are formal
terms, not used among family members, only when you are talking to someone
outside family, in writing, etc. Basic terms for parents and grandparents are:
mama [majka] Mom/mother
tata [otac (oc-)] Dad/father
baka Grandma/grandmother
deda [djed] Grandpa/grandfather
In some regions, there are other words for relatives (see below).
Here are terms for father’s and mother’s sisters and brothers (various kinds of aunts
and uncles) and their spouses:
teta mother’s or father’s sister
tetak (tetk-) husband of teta ®
stric father’s brother ®
strina wife of stric
ujak mother’s brother ®
ujna wife of ujak
Colloquially, teta has more meanings: children will call any older, non-related