Croatian/Main Contents/Level 2/Lesson 10

The genitive case is used primarily to denote possession. It is also used after a large number of prepositions. Examples:
Ovo je kuća moje tete. - This is my aunt's house.
Kuća je izgrađena od cigala. - The house is built from bricks.
Otac Quijote naručio je osamljenički ručak od svoje domaćice. - Father Quijote has ordered his solitary lunch from his housekeeper.
Krenuo je kupiti vino u mjesnoj zadružnoj prodavaonici udaljenoj osam kilometara od El Tobosa. - He set off to buy wine at a local cooperative eight kilometers away from El Tabos.

Endings

Singular

1) first or a-declination
ending: -a
Examples:
stol (m,table) -> stola
broj (m,number) -> broja
nebo (n, sky) -> neba
vrijeme (n, time) -> vremena
2) second or e-declination
ending: -e
Examples:
žena (f,woman) -> žene
ptica (f, bird) -> ptice
sluga (m, servant) -> sluge
vođa (m, leader) -> vođe
3) third or i-declination
ending: -i
Examples:
noć (f, night) -> noći
ljubav (f, love) -> ljubavi

Plural

Some nouns change stress! 1) first or a-declination
endings: long -a {ā}, -i
Examples:
medvjed {mèdvjed} (m, bear) -> medvjeda {mȅdvjēdā}
stol {stôl}(m, table) -> stolova {stȍlōvā}
selo {sèlo}(n, village) -> sela {sélā}
polje {pȍlje}(n, field) -> polja {pȏljā}

• in this form {genitiv plural} you have "a" that in other forms doesn't appears, but it's also long

Examples:
nokat (m, nail) -> nokata {nokātā}
pas {pȁs}(m, dog) -> pasa {pásā}
Some masculine nouns get an -i {ī}:
Examples:
sati, hvati, pari, ari, mjeseci, prsti, gosti, mravi, zubi, ljudi (
Nouns prst, gost, nokat have -iju: prstiju, gostiju, noktiju.
Some nouns can have more than one ending:
nokat - nokātā, noktiju
prst - prstā, prsti, prstiju
gost - gosti, gostiju
zub - zubā, zubi
2) second or e-declination
ending: long -a {ā} (long -a for masculine, and -a, -i, -u for feminine)
Ending -a can have every noun. Some of them have "nepostojano a".
Examples:
žena {žèna}-> žena {žénā}
ptica {ptȉca}-> ptica {ptȋcā}
vođa {vȍđa}-> vođa {vȏđā}
"nepostojano a" in feminine nouns
If group (nouns without -a that has more than one consonant) ends with -l (igla -> iglā/igala), -lj (zemlja -> zemljā/zemalja), -m (pjesma -> pjesmā/pjesama), -r (sestra -> sestrā/sestara), -v (bukva -> bukvā/bukava) or -k (djevojka -> djevojkā/djevojaka)
And in groups with db (naredba -> naredbā/naredaba), džb (svjedodžba -> svjedodžbā/svjedodžaba), žb (optužba -> optužbā/optužaba)
Ending -i
strepnji, sekundi, himni, pravdi
Ending -u
only noga, ruka and sluga {nogu, ruku, slugu}
Many nouns can have all three endings (a, i and a with "nepostojano a"): izložaba/izložba/izložbi, narudžaba/narudžba/narudžbi, priredaba/priredba/priredbi)
Some nouns can have -a and -i (nouns that don't have "nepostojano a"): tajna/tajni, strepnja/strepnji, sekunda/sekundi.
Groups nc and nč can have "nepostojano a", but they even don't: naranča/naranača/naranči
3) third or i-declination
ending: -i
ljubav -> ljubavi
laž -> laži
Nouns kokoš, kost and uš: kokoši/kokošiju, kosti/kostiju, uši/ušiju.