Is Croatian hard to learn?
I am learning Croatian myself, and the honest answer is: a little. Croatian is a Slavic language, like Polish, Czech and Russian. Words change their form depending on their role in the sentence, and every noun has a gender. That takes some getting used to if you speak English or Dutch.
But there is good news too. Croatian uses the Latin alphabet, and you pronounce everything the way it is written: every letter stands for exactly one sound. There are no articles like the or a. And a handful of set expressions will already get you a long way in Croatia.
Start with the alphabet and pronunciation
The Croatian alphabet has 30 letters. You already know most of them; the new ones are mainly č, ć, dž, đ, lj, nj, š and ž. Because every letter always sounds the same, after a few days of practice you can pronounce any word correctly, even if you do not know what it means.
That is why this is the best place to start. Good pronunciation makes everything after it easier: you remember words better and Croatians understand you sooner. Lesson 1: Abeceda lists all the letters, with example words and pronunciation exercises.
Learn the gender of words right away
Every Croatian noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. That later determines how adjectives and verbs change, so it is best to learn it from the start. The good news: you can usually tell from the last letter. A word ending in a consonant is masculine (grad); in -a feminine (kuća); in -o or -e neuter (selo, more). You practice exactly how that works in lesson 2: Rod.
Learn phrases, not just words
With Dobar dan, Hvala, Kako si? and Ne razumijem you can already get by in many situations, even without knowing the grammar behind them. Learn expressions like these as one unit, so you can use them straight away. Do pay attention to the difference between informal ti and formal Vi. You will find all of this in lesson 3: Izrazi.
Make your first sentences with biti
The verb biti (to be) is the most important verb in the language. With Ja sam umoran, Ona je iz Splita and Nisam student you are already making real sentences. Watch the word order: the short forms sam, si, je… never come first. After that you learn to ask questions, with question words and with Jesi li…? See lesson 4: Biti and lesson 5: Pitanja.
The hard part: the cases
What really makes Croatian challenging are the seven grammatical cases (padeži): the ending of a word changes depending on what it does in the sentence. Hrvatska, for example, becomes iz Hrvatske (from Croatia) and u Hrvatskoj (in Croatia). Do not let that scare you off. You have already used forms like these without noticing, and by learning them in set phrases they will start to sound natural. The cases are covered step by step in the coming lessons.
Tips to keep going
- A little every day. Fifteen minutes a day works better than one hour once a week. You do not have to do all the exercises at once.
- Speak out loud. Read sentences and conversations aloud, so you practice your pronunciation and remember them better.
- Review regularly. Quiz yourself with the word lists, and do the review conversations once you have a few lessons behind you.
- Do not be afraid of mistakes. Croatians usually appreciate it when you try their language, even if it is not perfect yet.
- Listen as much as you can. Croatian music, series or podcasts help you get used to the sound and rhythm of the language.
Getting started
All lessons are free, in English or Dutch. Follow them in order, do the exercises for each lesson, learn the vocabulary and review now and then with conversations. A new lesson is added roughly every week. Start with lesson 1, or first look at the overview of all lessons.