When you give instructions, tell a story, or argue a case, you need words that organise the order of points and what each point is about. These are the discourse markers of sequencing ("first… then… finally") and topic management ("as for…", "by the way…", "to sum up…"). Unlike the cause-and-result connectives, most of these do not change the grammar of the sentence at all — they are signposts dropped at the front, telling the listener where they are in your structure. The two genuinely tricky ones for English speakers are što se tiče "as for / regarding", which hides a reflexive verb and a genitive object, and kad smo već kod toga "speaking of which", a fixed multi-word formula you cannot assemble from parts. This page lays out the inventory by function and flags the cases where Croatian grammar peeks through.
Sequencing: ordering your points
To list steps or stages in order, Croatian uses a tidy series. Prvo "first" (or the more formal kao prvo "firstly", with kao drugo "secondly" and so on) opens. Zatim and onda both mean "then, next" — onda is the everyday spoken one, zatim a touch more formal and written. Nakon toga "after that" marks the next stage explicitly. Na kraju "in the end / finally" or konačno "finally, at last" closes the sequence.
| Marker | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|
| prvo / kao prvo | first / firstly | neutral / (formal) |
| zatim | then, next | (formal), written |
| onda | then, next | (informal), spoken |
| nakon toga | after that | neutral |
| na kraju / konačno | in the end / finally | neutral |
Prvo skuhaj tjesteninu, zatim dodaj umak i na kraju naribaj sir.
First cook the pasta, then add the sauce, and finally grate the cheese.
Kao prvo, hvala svima što ste došli.
Firstly, thank you all for coming.
Razgovarali smo satima i konačno smo se dogovorili.
We talked for hours and finally reached an agreement.
Note that na kraju here is the same frozen locative phrase from fixed prepositional phrases — "in the end". The distinction between konačno "finally (at long last)" and na kraju "finally (last in a list)" matters: konačno carries relief that something awaited has happened, while na kraju is the neutral last item.
Introducing a topic: što se tiče, u vezi s
To announce what a remark is about, Croatian fronts a topic-introducer. Što se tiče "as for / as regards" is the workhorse — and it conceals real grammar: it is the reflexive verb ticati se "to concern" (literally "as far as it concerns…"), and its object goes in the genitive: što se tiče novca "as for the money", što se tiče mene "as for me". U vezi s "regarding, in connection with" is the more formal alternative, and it takes the instrumental (it ends in the preposition s "with"): u vezi s tim pitanjem "regarding that question".
Što se tiče cijene, javit ćemo vam se sutra.
As for the price, we'll get back to you tomorrow. — 'što se tiče' + genitive 'cijene'.
Što se mene tiče, možeš ostati koliko želiš.
As far as I'm concerned, you can stay as long as you like. — pronoun in the genitive, 'mene'.
U vezi s vašim upitom, prilažemo tražene dokumente.
Regarding your enquiry, we enclose the requested documents. — 'u vezi s' + instrumental. (formal)
The grammar of što se tiče trips up learners precisely because the English "as for X" puts X in no special case, while Croatian demands the genitive of X. And the reflexive se is obligatory — it is the verb ticati se, never bare ticati. The verb's behaviour is detailed on the ticati se page.
Shifting topic: kad smo već kod toga, usput
Two markers let you swerve to a related or tangential point. Kad smo već kod toga "speaking of which / while we're on the subject" is a fixed formula (literally "while we're already at that") — you learn it whole; the kod toga "at that" is the frozen core. Usput "by the way, incidentally" introduces an aside, something occurring to you in passing.
Kupili smo nov auto. — Kad smo već kod toga, jesi li produžio osiguranje?
We bought a new car. — Speaking of which, did you renew the insurance?
Usput, jesi li čuo da se Marko vraća u Zagreb?
By the way, have you heard that Marko is moving back to Zagreb?
Summarising: ukratko, sve u svemu
To close and compress, Croatian uses ukratko "in short, briefly" and sve u svemu "all in all, on the whole". Ukratko signals a tight restatement of the main point; sve u svemu signals an overall verdict weighing everything together. Both open the closing sentence, set off by a comma.
Ukratko, plan je dobar, ali nedostaje nam novca.
In short, the plan is good, but we're short of money.
Bilo je i uspona i padova, ali sve u svemu, putovanje je bilo nezaboravno.
There were ups and downs, but all in all, the trip was unforgettable.
For how summarisers like ukratko sit alongside the cause-and-result markers, see connecting ideas: cause, result, purpose; for the whole web of inter-sentence linking, see discourse cohesion.
Common Mistakes
❌ Što se tiče novac, javit ćemo se.
Wrong case — 'što se tiče' governs the genitive: 'što se tiče novca', not the nominative 'novac'.
✅ Što se tiče novca, javit ćemo se.
As for the money, we'll be in touch. — genitive after 'što se tiče'.
❌ Što tiče mene, slažem se.
Missing reflexive — the verb is 'ticati se'; the 'se' is obligatory: 'Što se mene tiče, slažem se.'
✅ Što se mene tiče, slažem se.
As far as I'm concerned, I agree. — obligatory 'se', pronoun in genitive.
❌ U vezi vašeg upita, prilažemo dokumente.
Dropped preposition — the phrase is 'u vezi s' + instrumental: 'u vezi s vašim upitom'.
✅ U vezi s vašim upitom, prilažemo dokumente.
Regarding your enquiry, we enclose the documents. — 'u vezi s' + instrumental.
❌ Prvo skuhaj, onda dodaj, onda naribaj, onda posluži.
Monotonous — vary the sequence markers instead of repeating 'onda': 'Prvo … zatim … nakon toga … na kraju …'.
✅ Prvo skuhaj, zatim dodaj, nakon toga naribaj i na kraju posluži.
First cook, then add, after that grate, and finally serve. — varied sequencing.
Key Takeaways
- Sequencing: prvo / kao prvo (first), zatim (then, written) vs. onda (then, spoken), nakon toga (after that), na kraju / konačno (finally). Vary them rather than repeating onda.
- konačno = "finally, at long last" (with relief); na kraju = "last in the list" (neutral).
- Topic intro: što se tiče
- genitive "as for" — a reflexive verb (ticati se) with obligatory se; u vezi s
- instrumental "regarding" (formal).
- genitive "as for" — a reflexive verb (ticati se) with obligatory se; u vezi s
- Topic shift: kad smo već kod toga "speaking of which" (a fixed chunk), usput "by the way" (a light aside).
- Summing up: ukratko "in short" (tight restatement), sve u svemu "all in all" (overall verdict).
Now practice Croatian
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- ticati se (to concern)C1 — The genitive-governing 'ticati se' (3rd person only): the 'Što se tiče…' topic-shifter and the 'Ne tiče te se' idiom, kept apart from 'odnositi se na' + accusative.
- Building Cohesion Across SentencesC1 — How Croatian threads reference across a text — pro-drop and zero anaphora, demonstratives pointing back, connectives like stoga and međutim, and given-before-new ordering — without the articles English leans on.
- Connecting Ideas: Addition and ContrastB1 — Addition connectives (i, također, osim toga, štoviše) and contrast connectives (ali, međutim, ipak, naprotiv, s druge strane) — and the crucial split between sentence-internal conjunctions and sentence-initial discourse markers.
- Connecting Ideas: Cause, Result, PurposeB1 — Cause connectives (jer, budući da, zbog toga što), result and conclusion markers (zato, stoga, dakle, prema tome, ukratko) — and the split between subordinating jer mid-sentence and sentence-initial stoga/dakle.
- Fixed Prepositional PhrasesB2 — Memorized prepositional and adverbial phrases that behave as single units — u redu, na vrijeme, biti u pravu, s vremena na vrijeme, na primjer, u svakom slučaju, bez obzira, po mom mišljenju, na kraju — and why their case is frozen.