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006 Country names: nouns and adjectives

14/3/2020

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Aha! Learning Croatian: Vocabulary #006

Country names: Some nouns, some adjectives

In Croatian, the names of the countries of the world are either nouns or adjectives. They are listed below.

Clarification: Several Croatian people have objected: they say that all names are nouns. To be more specific, some names behave (in declination) like nouns, and some have all the characteristics, in word ending and declination, of adjectives.
 
Country names which are nouns:
Listed here, in alphabetical order according to the English names, are the Croatian names that are nouns. Some are masculine nouns (indicated by (m) for muški rod), and some are feminine nouns (ending with –a, and indicated by (ž) for ženski rod).

The gender of the names is important because it decides their declination – that is, how the endings of the names change, according to the role of the name in sentences. For example:
​

               Nominative:         Australia is a large country.             Australija je velika zemlja.
               Accusative:          I am going to Australia                     Idem u Australiju.

The declination of place names can be tricky for us novice Croatian speakers, and is the subject of another blog: Declination of place names.

          Afghanistan                        Afganistan (m)
          Albania                                Albanija (ž)
          Algiers                                 Alžir (m)
          America                               Amerika (ž)
          Andorra                               Andora (ž)
          Angola                                 Angola (ž)
          Argentina                            Argentina (ž)
          Austria                                 Austrija (ž)
          Bangladesh                         Bangladeš (m)
          Belgium                               Belgija (ž)
          Bosnia and Hercegovina   Bosna i Hercegovina (ž)
          Brazil                                   Brazil (m)
          Burma                                 Burma (ž)
          Canada                                Kanada (ž)
          China                                   Kina (ž)
          Columbia                             Kolumbija (ž)
          Costa Rica                           Kostarika (ž)
          Cuba                                    Kuba (ž)
          Cyprus                                 Cipar (m)
          Chile                                    Čile (m)
          Egypt                                   Egipat (m)
          Ethiopia                               Etiopija (ž)
          Gambia                                Gambija (ž)
          Ghana                                  Gana (ž)
          Great Britain                       Velika Britanija (ž)
          Haiti                                     Haiti (m)
          Hawaii                                  Havaji (m)  Plural!
          India                                     Indija (ž)
          Indonesia                            Indonezija (ž)
          Iraq                                      Irak (m)
          Iran                                      Iran (m)
          Iceland                                Island (m)
          Italy                                     Italija (ž)
          Israel                                   Izrael (m)
          Japan                                   Japan (m)
          Jordan                                 Jordan (m)
          Kenya                                  Kenija (ž)
          Korea                                   Koreja (ž)
          Lebanon                              Libanon (m)
          Libya                                    Libija (ž)
          Luxemburg                         Luksemburg (m)
          Macedonia                          Makedonija (ž)
          Malaysia                              Malezija (ž)
          Malta                                   Malta (ž)
          Morocco                              Maroko (m)
          Mexico                                Meksiko (m)
          Mongolia                             Mongolija (ž)
          Montenegro                        Crna Gora (ž)
          Nepal                                   Nepal (m)
          New Zealand                       Novi Zeland (m)
          Nigeria                                 Nigerija (ž)
          Pakistan                              Pakistan (m)
          Palestine                             Palestina (ž)
          Paraguay                             Paragvay (ž)
          Peru                                     Peru (m)
          Philippines                          Filipini (m)
          Portugal                               Portugal (m)
          Russia                                  Rusija (ž)
          Salvador                              Salvador (m)
          Senegal                               Senegal (m)
          Serbia                                  Srbija (ž)
          Slovenia                               Slovenija (ž)
          Somalia                               Somalija (ž)
          Syria                                     Sirija (ž)
          Sudan                                  Sudan (m)
          Thailand                               Tajland (m)
          Tunis                                    Tunis (m)
          Uruguay                               Urugvaj (m)
          Vietnam                                Vijetnam (m)

Country names which are adjectives

You may have looked for some names in the list above, and not been able to find them. For example, Croatia is not there. That is because these names are adjectives and I have put them into a different list, below.

These names are characterised by the endings –ska, -ška, and -čka,and are all feminine nouns – Examples are Hrvatska, Norveška, and  Njemačka.

You might ask, as I do, why these country names have the feminine ending –ska (and not masculine –ski, or neuter –sko). I can only think that, since the Croatian word for “country” is zemlja, a name like Hrvatska has evolved from Hrvatska Zemlja.

Actually, I should be more careful with my description of a name like Hrvatska as an adjective. A good friend of mine, Marina, once scolded me severely for saying that Hrvatska is an adjective. "No", she said, "it is a noun. But in sentences it declines like an adjective". Language is not objective!

 
          Bulgaria                               Bugarska
          Croatia                                 Hrvatska
          Czech Republic                   Češka
          Denmark                              Danska
          England                               Engleska
          Finland                                Finska
          France                                  Francuska
          Germany                              Njemačka
          Greece                                 Grčka
          Holland                                Nizozemska
          Hungary                              Mađarska
          Ireland                                 Irska
          Norway                                Norveška
          Poland                                 Poljska
          Romania                              Rumunjska
          Scotland                              Škotska
          Slovakia                               Slovačka
          Spain                                    Španjolska
          Sweden                               Švedska
          Switzerland                         Švicarska
          Turkey                                 Turska
​
​The way that these names change in sentences is also the subject matter of the blog Declension of place names.

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      • 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
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      • 020 Koliko kiše smo imali?
      • 021 Požuri polako
      • 022 Mi, mi, mi, mi
      • 023 Why should we learn the grammar?
      • 024 Words for youngsters are neuter
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    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 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?
      • 011 Declension of place names
      • 012 Dati - dativ
      • 013 Verb endings: Who is the doer?
      • 014 Sibilarization and palatalization
      • 015 Iotation (jotacija)
    • Grammar: Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 Vodice su grad u Hrvatskoj
    • Grammar reference section >
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        • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
        • 002 All nouns have gender
        • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
        • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
        • 004a A universal declension table?
        • 005 Declension of regular masculine nouns
        • 006 Declension of regular feminine nouns
        • 008 Masculine plural - infix or not?
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      • 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!
    • DAKLE, ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako ....
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
  • VOCABULARY
    • POSTS 1 - 15 >
      • 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?
      • 011 Čak
      • 012 Još or više? (More of something)
      • 013 Još or više? (Time-related)
    • FRAZEOLOGIJA - HOME >
      • Based on NOUNS >
        • 001 RUKA
      • Based on VERBS >
        • 001 UZIMATI/UZETI
    • VERB BUILDING: HOME >
      • 001 GOVORITI verbs
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
      • 003 Uništiti
  • 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 - 15 >
        • 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
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        • THE CITY >
          • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • PEOPLE and CULTURE >
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          • 002 Interliber book fair
          • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
          • 005 A night at the ballet
      • DALMACIJA: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
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          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • 003 Dalmatinski rječnik
      • Zagorje: HOME >
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