Quantity and Indefinite Adjectives | Croatian Grammar

Sitting between true adjectives and true pronouns is a family of words that agree with a noun and decline like adjectives, but whose meaning is "pointing" or "quantifying" rather than "describing": takav ("such, that kind"), kakav ("what kind"), sav ("all"), svaki ("every"), neki ("some"), nikakav ("no kind of"), ostali ("the rest"), isti ("same"), drugi ("other"), sam ("alone, -self"). They take the pronominal endings — the same -og / -om / -im set the demonstratives use — and they agree in gender, number, and case with whatever noun they modify. The single most useful insight on this page: the kakav / ovakav / takav set is a quality-deixis mirror of the koji / ovaj / taj thing-deixis set, and seeing that correspondence makes the whole family fall into place.

The quality-deixis set: kakav, ovakav, takav, onakav

Croatian has a tidy three-way "this/that" system for pointing at things: ovaj (this, near me), taj (that, near you), onaj (that, over there). It has an exactly parallel system for pointing at kinds/qualities, built on the root -akav:

Thing-deixis (which one)	Quality-deixis (what kind)	Meaning
koji?	kakav?	which? / what kind?
ovaj	ovakav	this (one) / this kind
taj	takav	that (one) / that kind
onaj	onakav	that (yonder) / that kind (yonder)

So takav literally means "of that kind", ovakav "of this kind", kakav "of what kind". English collapses all of these into the single word such plus a vague gesture, or into "this/that kind of" — which is why learners rarely notice that Croatian has a clean, productive system here. These words agree with the noun: takav čovjek ("that kind of man", masc), takva žena ("that kind of woman", fem), takvo ponašanje ("that kind of behaviour", neut).

Nikad nisam vidio takav nered.

I've never seen such a mess. — 'takav' (that kind of) agreeing with masculine 'nered'.

Kakav ti je bio dan?

What was your day like? — 'kakav' asks 'what kind', agreeing with masculine 'dan'.

Želim ovakav telefon, ne onakav.

I want this kind of phone, not that kind. — 'ovakav' (this kind) vs 'onakav' (that kind yonder).

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Map the kind-words onto the thing-words you already know: ovaj→ovakav, taj→takav, onaj→onakav, koji→kakav. If you can point with taj, you can describe a kind with takav — same prefix, same logic, both agreeing like adjectives.

These take pronominal endings, so the oblique cases show -og / -om / -im, and note the fleeting a: the -av of the nominative drops its a in the oblique forms (takav → takvog, takvom, takvim).

Od takvog čovjeka svašta se može očekivati.

From a man like that you can expect anything. — genitive 'takvog', the fleeting 'a' gone (takav → takvog).

U takvoj situaciji ne bih znao što reći.

In a situation like that I wouldn't know what to say. — feminine locative 'takvoj'.

kakav also exclaims

Kakav has a second life as an exclamative: dropped in front of a noun without a question, it means "what a...!" — Kakav dan! ("What a day!"), Kakva ljepota! ("What beauty!"). It still agrees with the noun, so the gender of the noun decides the form.

Kakav prekrasan pogled!

What a gorgeous view! — exclamative 'kakav' (masc) with 'pogled'.

Kakva šteta što ne možeš doći!

What a shame you can't come! — feminine 'kakva' with 'šteta'.

The quantity set: sav, svaki, neki, nikakav, ostali

The second branch of this family quantifies. They all agree and decline pronominally, but each has its own quirk.

sav / sva / sve — "all, the whole (of)". It points to the totality of a mass or set. The neuter sve also stands alone meaning "everything", and the plural svi / sve / sva means "everyone / all of them". Note its slightly irregular declension (genitive svega, dative svemu, plural svih, svima).

Potrošio je sav novac na knjige.

He spent all his money on books. — 'sav' (all the) with masculine 'novac'.

Sve je u redu, ne brini.

Everything's fine, don't worry. — neuter 'sve' standing alone = 'everything'.

Svi su došli na vrijeme.

Everyone came on time. — plural 'svi' = everyone.

svaki / svaka / svako — "every, each". Unlike sav, it picks out members one by one, so it is almost always singular and never combines with a plural noun.

Svaki dan idem na trening.

Every day I go to training. — 'svaki' (each/every) is singular.

Svaka kuća u ulici ima vrt.

Every house on the street has a garden. — feminine 'svaka'.

The contrast sav vs svaki vs cijeli (the third member, "whole, entire") is subtle enough to have its own page: see sav vs svaki vs cijeli. In short: sav = all of a mass, svaki = each individual, cijeli/čitav = one entire single thing (cijeli dan "the whole day").

Čekao sam te cijeli dan.

I waited for you all day. — 'cijeli' (whole/entire) modifies a single span, 'dan'.

neki / neka / neko — "some, a certain". It marks something existing but unspecified, the closest Croatian comes to an indefinite article. Neki čovjek = "some man / a certain man".

Zvao te neki gospodin.

Some gentleman called you. — 'neki' (a certain) flags an unknown but real person.

nikakav / nikakva / nikakvo — "no kind of, none whatsoever". It is the negative of kakav, and like all Croatian negative words it requires the verb to also be negated (double negation): Nemam nikakav plan ("I have no plan at all").

Nemam nikakav problem s tim.

I have no problem with that whatsoever. — negative 'nikakav' demands the negated verb 'nemam'.

To nije nikakvo rješenje.

That's no solution at all. — neuter 'nikakvo' + negated 'nije'.

ostali / ostala / ostalo — "the rest, the other (remaining)". It is used mostly in the plural for "the others / the rest": ostali studenti ("the rest of the students").

Jedan je ostao, ostali su otišli.

One stayed, the rest left. — plural 'ostali' = the others / the rest.

isti, drugi, sam — the look-alikes

Three more members round out the family, each agreeing and declining like an adjective.

isti / ista / isto — "(the) same". Isti čovjek ("the same man"). It is also how you say "the same as": isti kao + nominative.

Nosiš istu majicu kao jučer.

You're wearing the same shirt as yesterday. — 'isti' (same) agreeing with feminine 'majica' in the accusative 'istu'.

drugi / druga / drugo — does double duty: "second" (the ordinal) and "other / another". Context decides. Drugi dan can be "the second day" or "the other/next day"; netko drugi is "someone else".

Sjedi na drugu stranu, ima više mjesta.

Sit on the other side, there's more room. — 'drugi' here = 'other', feminine accusative 'drugu'.

Stigli smo drugi dan ujutro.

We arrived the second day in the morning. — same word 'drugi' here as the ordinal 'second'.

sam / sama / samo — "alone, by oneself" and emphatically "(the very) -self". Sam sam = "I'm alone"; sam predsjednik = "the president himself". Don't confuse it with the homograph clitic sam ("I am").

Živi sama u velikom stanu.

She lives alone in a big flat. — 'sama' (alone) agreeing with the feminine subject.

Sam predsjednik je to potvrdio.

The president himself confirmed it. — emphatic 'sam' = '-self / the very'.

They agree and decline — that is the whole point

Whatever the meaning, these words behave grammatically like adjectives: they match the noun in gender, number, and case and take pronominal endings. This is what separates them from invariable quantifiers like malo ("a little") or puno ("a lot"), which don't change form. Several of them also appear as pronouns/determiners in their own right and are cross-treated on demonstratives and quantifiers — but in their adjective use, the rule is simply: agree like any adjective.

Razgovarali smo o svim tim problemima.

We talked about all those problems. — 'svim tim' both in the instrumental/locative plural, agreeing with 'problemima'.

Daj isti odgovor svakom učeniku.

Give the same answer to every pupil. — 'isti' (acc) and 'svakom' (dat) each agreeing with their noun.

Common mistakes

❌ Svaki dani idem na trening.

Incorrect — 'svaki' (each) takes a singular noun; 'dani' is plural.

✅ Svaki dan idem na trening.

Every day I go to training. — singular 'svaki dan'.

❌ Nemam nikakav problem... imam.

Incorrect — a negative word like 'nikakav' forces the verb to stay negated.

✅ Nemam nikakav problem.

I have no problem at all. — double negation: 'nemam' + 'nikakav'.

❌ Od takav čovjeka svašta se može očekivati.

Incorrect — after 'od' the genitive is required; 'takav' must become 'takvog' (with the fleeting 'a' gone).

✅ Od takvog čovjeka svašta se može očekivati.

From a man like that you can expect anything. — genitive 'takvog'.

❌ Potrošio je sve novac.

Incorrect — 'sav' must agree with masculine 'novac'; 'sve' is the neuter/standalone form.

✅ Potrošio je sav novac.

He spent all the money. — masculine 'sav' with 'novac'.

❌ Nosiš isti majicu kao jučer.

Incorrect — 'majica' is feminine accusative, so 'isti' must become 'istu'.

✅ Nosiš istu majicu kao jučer.

You're wearing the same shirt as yesterday. — feminine accusative 'istu'.

Key takeaways

These words agree and decline like adjectives (pronominal endings -og / -om / -im) — that is what unites the family.
The quality-deixis set kakav / ovakav / takav / onakav mirrors the thing-deixis set koji / ovaj / taj / onaj: same prefixes, same logic.
Watch the fleeting a: takav → takvog, nikakav → nikakvog in the oblique cases.
Quantity words split by scope: sav (all of a mass), svaki (each, singular only), cijeli/čitav (one whole thing), neki (some/a certain), ostali (the rest).
Negative nikakav requires double negation with a negated verb.
drugi = "second" or "other"; sam = "alone / -self"; isti = "same" — all agreeing like adjectives.

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