Croatian Adjectives

Grammar Essentials

Adjectives in Croatian change based on gender, number, and case, making them an essential part of mastering the language. Whether describing a lijepa kuća (beautiful house) or a lijepi prozor (beautiful window), understanding these rules will help you speak more naturally. This guide covers the key rules for forming and using Croatian adjectives with practical examples.

Just as with nouns, adjectives change their forms according to the three grammatical categories gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular or plural) and case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative, instrumental).

1. Gender

Adjectives can be either masculine (lijep – beautiful), feminine (lijepa) or neuter (lijepo) – in accordance with the noun gender.

The masculine singular form is the basic form of the adjective and it ends with a consonant. All other forms – both singular and plural – are created by adding certain endings to this basic form.

To form feminine adjectives, an ending -a is added and an -o is added to make neuter adjectives.

MasculineFeminineNeuter

lijep prozor

(beautiful window)

lijepa slika

(beautiful picture)

lijepo more

(beautiful sea)

You might come across masculine adjectives ending in -i (lijepi) in the nominative singular. The difference between the two (lijep vs. lijepi) is that the first one is indefinite, while the second one is definite. This would be equivalent to the English articles (a vs. the):
lijep prozor → a beautiful window
lijepi prozor → the beautiful window

However, since Croatian has no articles, this difference is of no greater importance, especially not to those who learn Croatian as the second language!

Even though most masculine adjectives (like masculine nouns) end in a consonant, there is also a relatively small group of masculine endings that end in two vowels: either -ao or -eo. With these adjectives, an “-l” needs to be inserted before the usual endings:

debeo (fat) → debeladebelo
topao (warm) → toplatoplo
okrugao (round) → okruglaokruglo

2. Number

Adjectives have a singular and a plural form. Both forms also have genders. Plural endings of the adjectives in nominative are exactly the same as the noun endings (unless the noun is irregular):

Gender SingularPlural
Masculine

lijep prozor

(beautiful window)

lijepi prozori

(beautiful windows)

Feminine

lijepa slika

(beautiful picture)

lijepe slike

(beautiful pictures)

Neuter

lijepo more

(beautiful sea)

lijepa mora

(beautiful seas)

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3. Case

There are seven cases in Croatian. Unfortunately, the adjective ending doesn’t also match the noun ending, so these endings need to be learnt by heart.

Singular

Case MasculineFeminineNeuter
Nominativlijep prozorlijepa slikalijepo more
Genitivelijepog prozoralijepe slikelijepog mora
Dativelijepom prozorulijepoj slicilijepom moru
Accusativelijep prozor /lijepog čovjeka*lijepu slikulijepo more
Vocativelijepi prozorulijepa slikolijepo more
Locativelijepom prozorulijepoj slicilijepom moru
Instrumentallijepim prozoromlijepom slikomlijepim morem

 

*This change only applies to masculine nouns and adjectives which denote living beings (i.e. people and animals). These nouns receive the ending -a and adjectives receive the ending -og in the accusative case.

Plural

Case MasculineFeminineNeuter
Nominativlijepi prozorilijepe slikelijepa mora
Genitivelijepih prozoralijepih slikalijepih mora
Dativelijepim prozorimalijepim slikamalijepim morima
Accusativelijepe prozorelijepe slikelijepa mora
Vocativelijepi prozorilijepe slikelijepa mora
Locativelijepim prozorimalijepim slikamalijepim morima
Instrumentallijepim prozoromlijepim slikamalijepim morima

Good to know!

In plural all three genders have the same adjective ending, -im, in three cases: dative, locative and instrumental!

 

Exercise: How would you say the following?

This is a pretty little house. → Ovo je lijepa malena kuća.

The blue house is next to the red fence. → Plava kuća je kraj crvene ograde.

We have a good dog. → Imamo dobrog psa.

We’re talking about good friends. → Govorimo o dobrim prijateljima.

He likes intelligent women. → On voli inteligentne žene.

[female] I went to the cinema with a new boyfriend. → Išla sam u kino s novim dečkom.

We want a modern apartment. → Želimo moderan stan.

Are you going to the new café? → Ideš li u novi kafić?

I come from sunny Croatia. → Ja sam iz sunčane Hrvatske.

 

Exercise: Use the correct adjective

lijepu | debela | novi | moderan | široka | dosadan

Moja prijateljica je jako sretna zato što je kupila lijepu haljinu.
My friend is happy that she bought a beautiful dress.

Moji prijatelji žele imati moderan stan u Zagrebu. Ne vole staromodne stanove.
My friends want to have a modern flat in Zagreb. They don’t like old-fashioned flats.

Tvoja sestra je jako zanimljiva, ali tvoj brat je dosadan.
Your sister is very interesting, but your brother is boring.

Njezin novi dečko je jako dobar!
Her new boyfriend is a good guy!

Naša mama nije debela, ona je jako mršava.
Our mom isn’t fat, she’s very skinny.

Moja soba je široka, a tvoja je uska.
My room is wide and yours is narrow.

 

Exercise: Put in the correct form of the adjective

Danas idemo moja sestra mama i ja u veliki (velik) park. Park je blizu naše lijepe (lijep) kuće. U parku će biti puno vesele (veseo) djece. Njihovi sretni (sretan) roditelji će sjediti na drevinim (drven) klupama i pričati. Moja mama uvijek kupi veliku (velik) kavu s hladnim (hladan) mlijekom. Moja sestra i ja volimo jesti ukusan (ukusan) sladoled od čokolade i jagode. Tata ne voli jesti sladoled, piti kavu ili ići u park. On sjedi u urednoj (uredan) dnevnoj sobi, gleda zanimljiv (zanimljiv) sport i pije slatku (sladak) cedevitu.


Language guide

Explore grammar and learning tips in our Croatian language guide.

  • Croatian Diminutive Nouns

    Love & Relationships

    Add warmth to your speech with Croatian diminutives – learn how to form affectionate and cute versions of nouns.

  • Croatian Imperative

    Grammar Essentials

    Want to give a command or make a polite request? This guide teaches how to use and soften the imperative in Croatian.

  • Croatian Noun Gender: Masculine, Feminine & Neuter Explained

    Grammar Essentials

    Every noun in Croatian has a gender – learn to recognize masculine, feminine, and neuter forms with helpful patterns.

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