Impress the Croats around you – common Croatian phrases, part 2

Here are some tips and tricks on how to improve your Croatian language skills and charm all the locals around you.

Do you live in Croatia or you are just planning to visit? Is Croatia the country of your ancestors or you have fallen in love with a charming Croatian but can’t understand him/ her a thing? Take a look at the second part of our series with common Croatian phrases! You can find the first part by clicking here.

Meet & greet

If you are brave enough and want to meet someone in Croatian, you can ask them about their name by saying: “Kako se zoveš?” and get a response: “Ja sam Ivan.” (I’m Ivan.) or: “Zovem se Marija.” (My name is Marija.). When asked: “Koliko imaš godina?”, someone wants to know your age and when you hear: “Odakle si?”, you are required to state where you are from.

When you meet someone, you will most definitely hear the expression: “Drago mi je!” This is simply: Nice to meet you! and the polite way to respond is: “Drago mi je!”/ “Također!” or “I meni!” (Nice to meet you, too). 

If, on the other hand, you are still not sure how to say something in Croatian, you can always use the expressions: “Nisam iz Hrvatske.” (I’m not from Croatia.), “Nisam Hrvat / Hrvatica.” (I’m not Croatian (male/ female).) or simply: “Ne govorim hrvatski.” (I don’t speak Croatian.).

When asked: “Kako si?”, your Croatian friends want to know how you are. You can answer with: “dobro” (fine), “jako dobro” (very good), “odlično” (great), “tako-tako” (so-so) or “loše” (not well). If you are asked: “Zašto?” after that, this means that Croatians are curious about why you’re feeling happy or blue and that is a perfect chance to use the best excuse for being in a bad mood: “Umoran sam.” / “Umorna sam.” (male/ female for: I’m tired).

One of the things you are most definitely required to answer when in Croatia is: “Koja je tvoja adresa?” (What’s your address?) and the proper way to answer is: “Moja adresa je…” (state your address, for example: Amruševa 6, Zagreb). While in Croatia, you can live in a house (“kuća”) or a flat (“stan”) and your “adresa” can include “ulica” (street), “trg” (square), “avenija” (avenue), “broj” (number), as well as “grad”/ “mjesto” (city/ town).

Having a drink

As you probably know, Croats are big coffee lovers and coffee shops enthusiasts so when you are faced with the question: “Hoćeš li na kavu?” or “Idemo na kavu?”, you have been invited to drink Croatia’s favorite beverage in one of its numerous coffee places. If you want to order coffee, you can simply say: “Molim kavu!” (I’ll have coffee, please). Your “kava” can be “sa šećerom” (with sugar) or “bez šećera” (without sugar) as well as “s mlijekom” (with milk) or “bez mlijeka” (without milk). “Konobar” (the waiter) will probably ask you if you want to use “gotovina” (cash) or “kartica” (credit card) and you can ask him for “račun” (receipt). In the end, you greet with “bok” (informal) or “doviđenja” (formal) and you can wish someone to have a nice day by saying: “Ugodan dan!”

Here are more Croatian words and phrases that you can find useful no matter if you are starting to learn Croatian or not:

We hope you will find these Croatian words and phrases useful! If you want to learn Croatian A1 or higher, check out Intellecta’s Croatian courses for beginners and advanced students 🙂