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007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare

16/3/2020

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In English, the names of cities and towns are just that – names, or nouns. I think that they might be technically called proper nouns. The names London, Fremantle, Toronto, Beijing, Madrid, Capetown, Islamabad, and Lima are all just nouns.

Well, native English speakers are in for a shock when they come to put Croatian place names into sentences. The names change from sentence to sentence! Yes, they decline according to their role in sentneces.

​But before we can decline place names, we have to know whether they are nouns or adjectives, masculine or feminine, and singular or plural.

Just look at some examples:

 
Names which are singular nouns:
Masculine: Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik
Feminine: Rijeka, Jelsa, Krapina, Petrinja
Neuter: Dugopolje, Đakovo, Zastražišće, Oroslavje
 
Names which are plural nouns:
Masculine: Vinkovci, Križevci
Feminine: Plitvice, Vodice
Neuter: I don’t know of any. Do you?

Names which are adjectives, singular:
Masculine: Imotski
Feminine: Makarska
Neuter: Jastrebarsko
 
Names which are adjectives, plural:
I don’t know of any. Do you?
 
Compound names (two words):
Adjective + noun, singular masculine: Stari Grad, Slavonski Brod, Mali Lošinj
Adjective + noun, singular feminine: Vela Luka, Velika Gorica, Donja Stubica
Adjective + noun, singular neuter: Markovo Polje
 
Adjective + noun, plural masculine: ?
Adjective + noun, plural feminine: ?
Adjective + noun, plural neuter : Plitvička Jezera
 
Adjective + adjective, singular masculine: Novi Vinodolski
 
The endings of some place names do not allow us to unambiguously classify them ……

How do I know that Oroslavje is a singular neuter noun, and not perhaps a plural feminine noun (like
Plitvice)? I was told that is so by Mateja, my Croatian language teacher.

How do I know that Imotski is a singular masculine adjective, and not a plural adjective? Mateja told me so!
​
I have enough trouble declining “The little girl walked toward the old ladies”! Declining the names of Croatian towns and cities is just another level, and we’ll talk about that in another post: Declension of place names.

The only thing that I am sure about is that to decline place names in sentences, we have to be able to classify them (eg; plural masculine noun, or feminine singular adjective, ….),  as I have done above.

Inače, moji djed se rodio u Vodicama. Just saying ……. (and looking ahead).
 
A challenge, anyone?
​

Are you (Am I?) ready to decline place names in sentences? If you would like to test yourself, classify the following place names, following the example of the first one, shown. (How textbook is that!?)

Answers pop up below only after you have had a go .....

Karlovac                       noun, masculine, singular
Vrboska                       
Vrbosko                       
Dugi Rat                     
Pula                            
Plitvice                        
Gornja Stubica            
Lastovo                        
Markovo Polje             
Šibenik                        
Korčula                       
Križevci                       
Sveta Nedilja               
Bogomolje                   
Dugo Selo                   
Čista Mala                   
Primorski Dolac          
Baška Voda                 
Oskorušno                   
Novi Vinodolski           

 
Answers

Karlovac                       noun, masculine, singular
Vrboska                        adjective, feminine, singular
Vrbosko                        adjective, neuter, singular
Dugi Rat                       adjective + noun, masculine singular
Pula                              noun, feminine, singular
Plitvice                         noun, feminine, plural
Gornja Stubica             adjective + noun, feminine singular
Lastovo                         adjective, neuter, singular
Markovo Polje              adjective + noun, neuter singular
Šibenik                         noun, masculine, singular
Korčula                        noun, feminine, singular
Križevci                        noun, masculine, plural
Sveta Nedilja                adjective + noun, feminine singular
Bogomolje                    noun, neuter, singular
Dugo Selo                    adjective + noun, neuter singular
Čista Mala                    adjective + noun, feminine singular
Primorski Dolac           adjective + noun, masculine singular
Baška Voda                  adjective + noun, feminine singular
Oskorušno                    adjective, neuter, singular
Novi Vinodolski            adjective + adjective, masculine singular
 


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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
    • Vicevi (Jokes)
  • 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