Croatian dates are a dense pile-up of genitives, and they catch every learner the same way: there is no preposition. To say "on the seventeenth of June," you do not translate "on" or "of" — you simply put the day-ordinal and the month into the genitive and let the case do everything. Sedamnaestog lipnja. Add a year and it too goes genitive: ...godine. This page covers the date system, the genitive-of-time expressions for parts of the day and recurring periods (jednog dana, prošle godine, svakog jutra), and where these contrast with the accusative and locative time phrases. Date grammar is best drilled as a memorized unit, so the patterns are laid out explicitly.
Dates: pure genitive, no preposition
English wraps a date in two prepositions: "on the 17th of June." Croatian uses zero prepositions. The day is an ordinal number in the genitive, the month is a noun in the genitive, and they simply stand next to each other.
Rođendan mi je sedamnaestog lipnja.
My birthday is on the seventeenth of June. — ordinal 'sedamnaestog' + month 'lipnja', both genitive, no preposition.
Vidimo se petog ožujka.
See you on the fifth of March. — 'petog' (gen. of 'peti') + 'ožujka' (gen. of 'ožujak').
Ispit je dvadeset trećeg svibnja.
The exam is on the twenty-third of May. — compound ordinal in genitive 'dvadeset trećeg' + 'svibnja'.
The "on" is built into the genitive case itself. This is the temporal genitive: Croatian uses the genitive to locate a point in time when the time word is a date or a defined period. There is no missing word — supplying na or u in front of a date is simply wrong.
The Croatian month names and their genitives
Croatian month names are native words (not Latin loans like English), and you need their genitive forms for dates. Several have a fleeting a that drops in the genitive (ožujak → ožujka, travanj → travnja), so the genitive is not always predictable from the nominative.
| Month | Nominative | Genitive (used in dates) |
|---|---|---|
| January | siječanj | siječnja |
| February | veljača | veljače |
| March | ožujak | ožujka |
| April | travanj | travnja |
| May | svibanj | svibnja |
| June | lipanj | lipnja |
| July | srpanj | srpnja |
| August | kolovoz | kolovoza |
| September | rujan | rujna |
| October | listopad | listopada |
| November | studeni | studenoga |
| December | prosinac | prosinca |
Praznik je prvog siječnja.
The holiday is on the first of January. — 'prvog' + genitive 'siječnja'.
Škola počinje prvog rujna.
School starts on the first of September. — 'rujna', genitive of 'rujan'.
Note that studeni (November) is an adjective-type noun, so its genitive is studenoga (or studenog), not studenija. The others follow ordinary masculine/feminine noun patterns; the fleeting-a months are the main trap. (You will also meet the international names januar, februar... but standard Croatian uses the native set above.)
The full date with the year
Add the year and you get a chain of genitives. The year is itself an ordinal in the genitive followed by godine ("of the year"), exactly as covered on the reading-numbers page — only the final element of the year becomes the ordinal.
Drugog svibnja dvije tisuće dvadeset pete godine.
On the second of May, 2025. — day, month, and year all genitive; year ends '...pete godine'.
Potpisali su ugovor petnaestog lipnja prošle godine.
They signed the contract on the fifteenth of June last year. — full date genitive + 'prošle godine'.
In writing, the day and month are usually given as numerals with a dot (the dot marks an ordinal): 17. lipnja 2025. — read aloud as sedamnaestog lipnja dvije tisuće dvadeset pete godine. The trailing dot after the year also signals an ordinal.
Years on their own
To say "in [year]," you use the same ordinal-genitive + godine. No preposition — the genitive alone means "in that year."
Rođen sam tisuću devetsto devedesete godine.
I (m.) was born in 1990. — 'devedesete', genitive ordinal, + 'godine'.
Hrvatska je ušla u EU dvije tisuće trinaeste godine.
Croatia joined the EU in 2013. — 'trinaeste godine', genitive ordinal of the year.
Koje godine se to dogodilo?
In which year did that happen? — the question word 'koje godine' is also genitive.
Genitive of recurring and indefinite time
Beyond dates, the genitive locates many other time expressions — especially defined or recurring periods modified by an adjective or determiner. The pattern is [adjective/determiner + time-noun], both in the genitive, again with no preposition.
| Genitive time phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| jednog dana | one day (in the future / once) |
| jednog jutra | one morning |
| prošle godine | last year |
| iduće / sljedeće godine | next year |
| ovog tjedna | this week |
| ovih dana | these days / lately |
| svakog jutra | every morning |
| ove zime | this winter |
Jednog dana sve ćeš razumjeti.
One day you'll understand everything. — genitive 'jednog dana' for indefinite future time.
Prošle godine smo bili u Italiji.
Last year we were in Italy. — 'prošle godine', genitive time phrase, no preposition.
Svakog jutra trčim uz rijeku.
Every morning I run along the river. — genitive 'svakog jutra' for habitual time.
Ovih dana ne mogu spavati.
These days I can't sleep. — genitive plural 'ovih dana' = lately.
Where the genitive is NOT used: accusative and locative time
The temporal genitive is for dates and determined/recurring periods. Other time phrases use other cases — do not over-extend the genitive. Two big competitors:
- u + accusative for a day of the week or a clock-relative point: u ponedjeljak (on Monday), u subotu (on Saturday). These take the accusative, not the genitive.
- u + locative for "in [a month]" or "in [a year, with the year as a number]": u svibnju (in May), u devetom mjesecu (in the ninth month).
Vidimo se u ponedjeljak.
See you on Monday. — 'u' + accusative 'ponedjeljak', NOT the genitive.
Vjenčali su se u svibnju.
They got married in May. — 'u' + locative 'svibnju' for 'in May' (no specific date).
So compare: a specific date in May = petog svibnja (genitive), but the month of May in general = u svibnju (locative). The genitive pins down a point or a determined period; the u + locative frames a whole month. The accusative time uses (days of the week, u srijedu) are detailed on the accusative time expressions page, and the broader picture on time and dates expressions.
Rođendan mi je u svibnju, točnije devetog svibnja.
My birthday is in May — to be precise, on the ninth of May. — locative 'u svibnju' for the month, genitive 'devetog svibnja' for the exact date.
Common mistakes
❌ na sedamnaesti lipanj
Incorrect — dates take NO preposition and go genitive: 'sedamnaestog lipnja'.
✅ sedamnaestog lipnja
on the seventeenth of June — bare genitive, day-ordinal + month.
❌ Rođen sam u tisuću devetsto devedeset.
Incorrect — the year is an ordinal in the genitive + 'godine': 'devedesete godine', and no 'u'.
✅ Rođen sam tisuću devetsto devedesete godine.
I was born in 1990. — genitive ordinal year + 'godine', no preposition.
❌ petog svibanj
Incorrect — the month must also be genitive: 'svibnja', not the nominative 'svibanj'.
✅ petog svibnja
on the fifth of May — both day-ordinal and month in the genitive.
❌ Vidimo se u petak prošlog tjedna → Vidimo se prošli ponedjeljak
Mismatch — days of the week take 'u' + accusative, not the genitive.
✅ Vidimo se u ponedjeljak.
See you on Monday. — 'u' + accusative for a weekday, reserve the genitive for dates/periods.
❌ Vjenčali su se svibnja.
Incorrect — for the whole month (no date) use 'u' + locative: 'u svibnju'.
✅ Vjenčali su se u svibnju.
They got married in May. — 'u svibnju' (locative) for a month; bare genitive 'svibnja' only inside a full date.
Key takeaways
- Dates use no preposition: day-ordinal (genitive) + month (genitive), e.g. sedamnaestog lipnja — the genitive itself means "on… of."
- Month genitives are not always obvious (ožujak → ožujka, lipanj → lipnja, studeni → studenoga); memorize the twelve forms.
- The full date chains genitives: drugog svibnja dvije tisuće dvadeset pete godine; years stand alone as ordinal-genitive + godine.
- The genitive also marks determined/recurring periods: jednog dana, prošle godine, ovog tjedna, svakog jutra, ovih dana — again no preposition.
- Don't over-extend it: weekdays take u + accusative (u ponedjeljak), and whole months take u + locative (u svibnju).
Now practice Croatian
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Ordinal NumbersA1 — First, second, third — and the period that writes them.
- Reading Numbers, Years, and Prices AloudA2 — How to say large numbers, years, and amounts.
- Days, Months, and SeasonsA1 — The week, Croatia's striking NATIVE month names (siječanj, not januar), and the seasons — plus the rule that splits 'on Monday' (u + accusative) from 'in May' (u + locative).
- Accusative in Time ExpressionsB1 — Durations and 'on/at' time phrases with the accusative.
- Telling Time and DatesA2 — Asking the time, telling it (half past, quarter to), the days of the week, and Croatian's striking NATIVE month names — siječanj, veljača, ožujak — plus the genitive date.
- Genitive after PrepositionsA2 — The large family of prepositions that take the genitive.