C5 M2 L5 Grammar

5 | 2 | Lekcija 5: Sretna Nova godina!

| The Verb POZDRAVLJATI (SE)

The verb pozdravljati (to greet someone) is a regular -ati verb. When you want to greet someone, you will need to use the following structure:

This verb will require the Accusative case for personal pronouns that you already learned in previous modules.

The verb, however, can have a possessive-reflexive pronoun next to it. In this case, the verb will become a reflexive verb with the meaning of to greet each other: pozdravljati se.

Finish the following sentences by using the appropriate verb form of pozdravljati or pozdravljati se.

Nataša, ______________ te puno! U Puli je odlično! (pozdravljam)

Uvijek kad se sretnemo, Ana i ja __________________. (se pozdravljamo)

Ti uvijek ________________ starije ljude? (pozdravljaš)

Dragi roditelji, ________________ vas puno! (pozdravljam)

| The Verbs NOSITI, ČESTITATI, ŽELJETI

When we want to express that we are bringing a certain gift we should form the sentence as: Kad idem u goste ja nosim čokoladu. After the verb nositi we need to use a noun in the Accusative case.

The verb čestitati (to congratulate) will follow the same grammatical structure as the verb nositi. What follows after the verb will be a noun in the Accusative case. For example:

The verb željeti (to wish), even though technically can take the Accusative case, will usually take the Genitive case for any noun that follows it. You will learn more about the Genitive case in the future. At this point we will look only at nouns that you will most often use when expressing a wish to someone:

| Željeti genitive:

| Why the Genitive case and not the Accusative?

The answer is in the message that you are trying to convey when using each of the two cases:

Read the following statements and chose the correct one:

When we use the verb čestitati, the noun that follows has to be in:

Nominative case

Accusative case

Locative case

Genitive case

When we use the verb nositi, the noun that follows has to be in:

Nominative case

Accusative case

Locative case

Genitive case

When we use the verb željeti, the noun that follows has to be in:

Nominative case

Accusative case

Locative case

Genitive case

When we use the verb pozdravljati, the noun that follows has to be in:

Nominative case

Accusative case

Locative case

Genitive case

Finish the sentences by using the correct verb in its correct form.

Ja _________________ Novu godinu. (čestitam)

Mi uvijek _________________ mamu. (pozdravljamo)

Ona _________________ poklon. (nosi)

Ja _________________ sreće i ljubavi. (želim)

Ti uvijek _________________ rođendan. (čestitaš)

Vi _________________ dar za djecu. (nosite)

Oni _________________ uspjeha i zdravlja. (žele)

| Dative case - personal pronouns

In sentences with the verbs željeti, čestitati, and nositi you also encountered the usage of a personal pronoun, because these verbs usually indicate to whom you are sending your wishes, your greetings, or bringing your gifts.

In the given examples the personal pronoun is in the Dative case.

The Dative case is used to indicate the meaning of the direct object - “to someone.” For a better understanding, consider the sentence -- Želim ti uspjeha -- which could be translated as: To you I wish a lot of success. However, In English it is more common to say: I wish you a lot of success, in which the “to” is omitted.  

Just like with other cases that you have learned so far, personal pronouns in the Dative case also have stressed and unstressed forms. Below you will find the Dative forms for all personal pronouns. However, for now we are only focusing on the unstressed form želim ti (“I wish you”). More about the Dative case in the next unit.

Match the English sentences with their Croatian equivalents.

I wish you a happy birthday.                                              Želim ti sretan rođendan.

I bring gifts to him.                                                          Nosim mu poklon/dar.

I congratulate you all Happy New Year!                        Čestitam vam Novu godinu!

You bring me a present!                                                    Nosiš mi poklon/dar.

I wish her success, love, and happiness!                         Želim joj uspjeha, ljubavi i sreće!

I wish them health and friendship!                                   Želim im zdravlja i prijateljstva.

They wish you luck.                                                         Žele ti uspjeha.

She congratulates him name-day.                                  Čestita mu imendan.

He wishes her happy Valentine’s Day.                          Čestita joj Valentinovo.