Aha! Learning Croatian: Vocabulary #006Country 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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