Prepositions and Their Cases

01

Prepositions with the Genitive

The largest group takes the genitive - most "from / of / without" meanings.

• od (from), do (up to), iz (out of), kod (at someone's), bez (without)

• Dolazim iz Hrvatske.

  I come from Croatia.

• kava bez šećera

  coffee without sugar

• Idem do trgovine.

  I am going up to the shop.

02

Prepositions with the Accusative

Several express movement through or along, and take the accusative.

• kroz (through), niz (down), uz (alongside), za (for)

• Šetamo kroz park.

  We are walking through the park.

• Ovo je za tebe.

  This is for you.

03

Prepositions with the Dative

A small group meaning "towards" takes the dative.

• prema (towards), k / ka (to)

• Idemo prema gradu.

  We are heading towards the city.

04

Prepositions with the Instrumental

"With" and a set of position words take the instrumental.

• s / sa (with), pred (in front of), nad (above), pod (under), među (among)

• Idem s prijateljem.

  I am going with a friend.

• Auto je pred kućom.

  The car is in front of the house.

05

Two Cases, Two Meanings

The key pair u (in/to) and na (on/to) takes two cases. With the accusative they mean motion into a place; with the locative they mean rest at a place.

• Idem u grad.

  I am going into town.

• Živim u gradu.

  I live in town.

• Stavi to na stol.

  Put it on the table.

• Knjiga je na stolu.

  The book is on the table.

06

Talking About: 'o'

o ("about") always takes the locative and is the standard way to say what you are talking or thinking about.

• Razgovaramo o filmu.

  We are talking about the film.

07

'with': 's' and 'sa'

The instrumental "with" is s, but it grows to sa before words that would otherwise be hard to pronounce - those starting with s, z, š, ž or an awkward cluster.

• kava s mlijekom

  coffee with milk

• sa mnom

  with me

• sa šećerom

  with sugar

08

Pronouns After Prepositions

A preposition always takes the long, stressed pronoun, never the clitic: za mene (for me), not the clitic me.

• Ovo je za mene.

  This is for me.

• Idem s njim.

  I am going with him.

• Misli na nas.

  He is thinking of us.

09

Telling Time and Days

Time phrases lean on prepositions with fixed cases: u plus the accusative for clock times and days, u plus the locative for months.

• u tri sata

  at three o'clock

• u ponedjeljak

  on Monday

• u svibnju

  in May