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REFERENCE:  001 Questions that define the case of nouns

23/5/2019

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​If you have been learning Croatian for more than 10 minutes, you will know that the language uses each noun in different “cases” (in both singular and plural), depending upon the role of the noun in various sentences.

In Croatian the noun “house” can be kuća, kuće, kući, kuću, or kućom, depending upon the role of “house” in any sentence.

For example, in the sentence “This house is big." (​Ova kuća je velika) the noun is in a different case (nominative) than it is in the sentence “I see a house.” (Vidim kuću) in which the noun is in accusative case, or “We are talking about a house.” (Razgovaramo o kući) where the noun is in locative case.

Similarly, the plural noun "houses" can be kuće, kuća, or kućama, depending on its case in any sentence.

A table that lists the different endings for nouns in different cases (for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns, both singular and plural) is shown in another post in this reference section Declensions of nouns.
​
The importance of “tuning in” to the endings of nouns is discussed in the post Padeži and the endings of nouns.

Other types of words that change according to the case in a sentence are adjectives (see post Declension of adjectives) and pronouns (see post Declension of pronouns).

​
Hey, English speakers, don’t think that the Croatian language is strange in this way: all languages have cases. Croatians indicate the case of a noun by changing the word – usually by changing the ending – while in English we indicate the case by use of prepositions such as in, on, to, for, of, and about, rather than change the word.

Now before I go on with the theme of this post, you should be aware that my teacher Mateja (at SpeakCro) is of the opinion that the following table of questions is counterproductive to beginning students. And that was, and continues to be, my experience.

But you will almost certainly encounter this table of questions in some grammar book or website, so you might find it useful to access it here.
​
Picture

The source of these questions, and how these questions are used to define case, is discussed in another post  Declensions of Tko? and Što?
 

Footnote

If a sentence(or phrase) can be seen as an answer to one of the case-defining questions, then we know the case of the noun in the sentence.

For example, the sentence Misli o Ivanu (He is thinking about Ivan) is a response to the question O komu misli? (About whom is he thinking?). Then we know that the noun Ivan is in locative case, and takes the form Ivanu.

That is OK, but there are also other reasons that determine the case of nouns in sentences. For example:
               Pas je na stolu. (The dog is on the table).
In this sentence, the noun stol is also in the locative case (stolu), but it is not derived from an answer to O čega …? Rather the sentence is an answer to the question Gdje je pas?

There are many more examples of cases that are defined according to reasons other than the case-defining criteria defined above.

​


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  • HOME
    • Navigation: A ROAD MAP
    • Contacts
  • LEARNING CROATIAN
    • CROATIAN: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Kosa, koza, koža
      • 002 Pronouncing 'au'
      • 003 Can language influence behaviour?
      • 004 First day of the week
      • 005 Do Croatians assign gender to objects?
      • 006 Za četiri dana, na dva dana
      • 007 My brain becomes full!
      • 008 Sretan rođendan ti
      • 009 Na kavu, po kavu, za kavu?
      • 010 Until you don't do it
    • CROATIAN: Posts 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
    • DAKLE ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako!
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Where are the pronouns?
      • 002 Padeži and noun endings
      • 003 Endings of pronouns and adjectives
      • 004 "u" ili "na" ?
      • 005 The declensions of Tko? and Što?
      • 006 Ja sam na Trgu bana Josipa Jelačića
      • 007 Going and coming: u-iz, but na-sa
      • 008 Sav - All, every
      • 009 Number of subjects and the verb 'biti'
      • 010 Koga nazoveš? Komu telefoniraš?
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Declension of place names
    • GRAMMAR TITBITS - HOME >
      • 001 Dati - dativ
    • GRAMMAR REFERENCE SECTION HOME >
      • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
      • 002 All nouns have gender
      • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
      • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
      • 005 Declension of regular nouns
  • SAYINGS
    • SAYINGS: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Ne daj se!
      • 002 U tom grmu leži zec!
      • 003 Baš me briga!
      • 004 Mačji kašalj!
      • 005 Što je, tu je!
      • 006 Eto ti ga na!
      • 007 Na licu mjesta
      • 008 Sve si to ti kriv!
  • VOCAB
    • Vocabulary: POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Even dying is not easy!
      • 002 To laugh or to smile?
      • 003 Nahraniti, sahraniti .... schmahraniti
      • 004 Prefixes that modify verb meanings
      • 005 Prefixes on base verb stati
      • 006 Country names - noun or adjective?
      • 007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare
      • 008 Countries: What do we call their citizens?
      • 009 Baš
      • 010 What a joke! vic or šala?
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
  • STUFF
    • STUFF: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Bookara
      • 002 Crossies?
      • 003 Jučer ili sutra?
      • 004 Ućitelji
      • 005 Požuri polako
      • 006 Kakav stil!
      • 007 The people of Magorje
      • 008 Where did the "j" go?
      • 009 koliko je kiše 50 litara po kvadratom metru?
      • 010 The dark side of the moon
  • EXPERIENCES
    • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 10 HOME >
      • 001 Licitarska srca
      • 002 My Aussie accent
      • 003 The upside down SIM card
      • 004 Buying fritule in Split
  • ABOUT CROATIA
    • Republika Hrvatska: HOME >
      • 001 Anthem: LIJEPA NAŠA
      • 002 Map of Croatia
      • 003 Županije: The counties of Croatia
    • Where/What/Who is that? HOME >
      • Where/What/Who? Pages 1 - 10 >
        • 001 A girl and a bird
        • 002 His left foot
        • 003 A rebel
        • 004 Čuvarica Omiša
        • 005 Giorgio or Juraj?
        • 006 Tovar and friend
        • 007 Up on high
        • 008 On an island
        • 009 Water wonderland
    • REGIONS, CITIES, TOWNS: HOME >
      • ZAGREB: HOME >
        • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • 002 Advent in Zagreb
        • 003 Interliber book fair
        • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
      • Dalmacija: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • Dalmatinski rječnik HOME >
            • Keywords A - J
            • Keywords K - N
            • Keywords O - R
            • Keywords S - Ž
            • English to Dalmatian
      • Zagorje: HOME >
        • 001 Autumn tones
    • SPORT: HOME
    • CULTURE: HOME >
      • 001 A night at the ballet
  • TKO SAM JA?
    • Tko sam ja? Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 The way we spoke