Dates and Ordinal Numbers

01

Ordinals Are Adjectives

An ordinal agrees in gender, number and case with what it counts, taking the definite adjective endings.

• prvi (first), drugi (second), treći (third), četvrti (fourth), peti (fifth)

• prvi dan

  the first day (masculine)

• druga ulica

  the second street (feminine)

• treće mjesto

  third place (neuter)

02

The Month Names

Croatian months are old Slavic names tied to nature and the farming year, quite unlike the international words.

• siječanj (January), travanj (April), svibanj (May)
• lipanj (June), listopad (October), prosinac (December)

• Rođen sam u travnju.

  I was born in April.

03

Writing the Date

The month is always genitive - svibanj May becomes svibnj-a, "of May". The ordinal in front of it depends on what you are doing with the date, and the two forms are worth keeping apart.

Naming the date - answering "what is today?" - uses the plain nominative ordinal.

• prvi svibnja

  the first of May

• Danas je drugi travnja.

  Today is the second of April.

Saying on a date puts the ordinal in the genitive too, and that genitive is the whole of English "on".

• Rođendan mi je petog lipnja.

  My birthday is on the fifth of June.

• pet-og genitive, lipnj-a genitive - no preposition anywhere

• Rođen sam dvanaestog kolovoza.

  I was born on the twelfth of August.

04

Days and the Date Question

The day of the month is likewise an ordinal, and there are fixed ways to ask for it.

• Koji je danas datum?

  What is the date today?

• Koji je danas dan?

  What day is it today?

Written in figures, a Croatian ordinal carries a full stop: 1. is prvi, 12. is dvanaesti. So a date written 12. 8. reads as the twelfth of August - day first, then month, both with their stops.

05

The Days of the Week

The weekday names are their own set; you say "on" a day with u plus the accusative.

• ponedjeljak (Monday), utorak (Tuesday), srijeda (Wednesday)
• četvrtak (Thursday), petak (Friday), subota (Saturday), nedjelja (Sunday)

• Vidimo se u petak.

  See you on Friday.

06

Telling the Time

Full hours use a cardinal number with sat (hour, o'clock); "at" a time uses u plus the accusative.

• Koliko je sati?

  What time is it?

• Sad je deset sati.

  It is ten o'clock now.

• Nalazimo se u osam.

  We are meeting at eight.

07

Years

A year is read as an ordinal, and "in" a year is expressed with the genitive.

• Rođen sam dvije tisuće prve.

  I was born in 2001.

• Sada je dvije tisuće dvadeset peta.

  It is now the year 2025.