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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 83 Depth and Distance: Abstract Nouns 463 / 600

dubina depth → dubinski

toplina heat → toplinski

većina majority → većinski

visina height → visinski

Few adjectives make abstract nouns by adding -oća:

čist clean → čistoća cleanliness

gluh deaf → gluhoća deafness

hladan (hladn-) cold → hladnoća cold

Very few adjectives add -ota. If adjectives contain a sequence ije, it’s shortened to

je in abstract nouns:

lijep nice, pretty → ljepota beauty

slijep blind → sljepoća blindness

Next, there are few adjectives that add -stvo, creating neuter nouns (after

discarding the final -n in adjectives, if present). The stress is on the syllable right

before the suffix:

bogat rich → bogatstvo richness

iskusan (iskusn-) experienced → iskustvo experience

siromašan (siromašn-) poor → siromaštvo poverty

zadovoljan (zadovoljn-) satisfied → zadovoljstvo satisfaction

This suffix is use to create abstract nouns out of a couple of other nouns as well (the

process is not always regular):

car emperor → carstvo empire

član member → članstvo membership

kralj king → kraljevstvo kingdom

prijatelj friend → prijateljstvo friendship

The vast majority of adjectives use another suffix to make abstract nouns: -ost (or a

variation, -nost). It can be, in fact, regarded as the default suffix for abstract nouns.

The result is always a feminine noun ending in a consonant:

glup stupid → glupost f stupidity

mlad young → mladost f youth, young age

slab weak → slabost f weakness

star old → starost f age

This suffix creates three quite important nouns, from present adjectives and a past

adjective:

budući future → budućnost f future

moguć possible → mogućnost f possibility

prošao (prošl-) past → prošlost f past

The stress is mostly moved to the syllable that precedes the suffix. More important

nouns created by this suffix:

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