A single interjection like joj can express a feeling, but to say what you are reacting to — how beautiful something is, what a mess this is, how much you missed someone — you need a full exclamatory sentence. Croatian builds these on the same little words it uses to ask questions (kako, kakav, koliko), but with a falling, emphatic intonation and, usually, no inversion. The neat thing is that once you learn the three or four patterns here, you can exclaim about anything. They are close cousins of the wh-questions: the same words, a different melody.
kako + adjective/adverb — „how …!"
The most common pattern is kako („how") followed by an adjective or adverb. This is the Croatian equivalent of English „How beautiful!", „How kind of you!", „How fast he runs!". The adjective agrees with whatever it describes; with an adverb, kako simply intensifies it.
Kako lijepo!
How lovely! — 'kako' + adverb, the all-purpose admiring exclamation.
Kako si porastao!
How you've grown! — 'kako' + verb; said to a child you haven't seen in a while.
Kako je ovdje mirno.
How peaceful it is here. — 'kako' + adjective, falling intonation makes it an exclamation, not a question.
Kako lijepo pjeva!
How beautifully she sings! — 'kako' + adverb 'lijepo' + verb.
Notice that Kako lijepo! (exclamation, „how lovely!") and Kako? („how? / what did you say?") share the same word; intonation and context separate them. The adjective/adverb forms behind these are on comparison, irregular and adverbs.
kakav / kakva / kakvo + noun — „what a …!"
When you exclaim about a noun — „What a day!", „What nonsense!", „What a view!" — you use kakav, and it agrees in gender with that noun: kakav (masculine), kakva (feminine), kakvo (neuter), with plurals kakvi / kakve / kakva. This agreement is the single most important thing to get right in this pattern, because the noun's gender drives the ending.
| Gender | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | kakav | Kakav dan! (What a day!) |
| feminine | kakva | Kakva glupost! (What nonsense!) |
| neuter | kakvo | Kakvo iznenađenje! (What a surprise!) |
| plural (f.) | kakve | Kakve gluposti! (What nonsense — pl.!) |
Kakav dan!
What a day! — masculine 'dan' → 'kakav'.
Kakva glupost!
What nonsense! — feminine 'glupost' → 'kakva'.
Kakvo iznenađenje, baš mi je drago!
What a surprise, I'm so glad! — neuter 'iznenađenje' → 'kakvo'.
Kakva prekrasna kuća!
What a gorgeous house! — 'kakva' agrees with feminine 'kuća', with an adjective added.
koliko — „how much / how many!"
To exclaim about quantity or degree, use koliko („how much, how many"). It pairs with a genitive noun (koliko ljudi! „how many people!") or stands before a verb (koliko sam te čekao! „how long I waited for you!").
Koliko ljudi! Nisam očekivao toliku gužvu.
How many people! I didn't expect such a crowd. — 'koliko' + genitive 'ljudi'.
Koliko sam te čekao!
How long I waited for you! — 'koliko' over a verb, expressing degree.
The bare exclamation: just a word
Croatian very often drops everything but the heart of the matter and exclaims with a single word — usually a neuter adjective or an adverb standing alone. This is the most natural reaction of all: Predivno!, Užasno!, Savršeno!. There is no verb and no kako; the word and the intonation do all the work. This is one face of the nominal (verbless) sentence.
Predivno!
Wonderful! / Gorgeous! — bare neuter adjective as a full reaction.
Užasno! Kako se to moglo dogoditi?
Awful! How could that have happened? — bare 'užasno' then a 'kako' exclamation.
Savršeno, baš to sam htio.
Perfect, that's exactly what I wanted. — one-word exclamation 'savršeno'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Kakav glupost!
Wrong agreement — 'glupost' is feminine, so it must be 'Kakva glupost!'.
✅ Kakva glupost!
What nonsense!
❌ Kako dan!
Wrong word — 'kako' goes with adjectives/adverbs; before a noun use 'kakav': 'Kakav dan!'.
✅ Kakav dan!
What a day!
❌ Kakav lijepo!
Wrong word — before an adjective/adverb use 'kako', not 'kakav': 'Kako lijepo!'.
✅ Kako lijepo!
How lovely!
❌ Koliko ljudje!
Wrong form — the genitive plural of 'ljudi' is 'ljudi': 'Koliko ljudi!'.
✅ Koliko ljudi!
How many people!
Key Takeaways
- kako + adjective/adverb = „how …!" — Kako lijepo!, Kako si porastao!; same word as the question „how?", told apart by intonation.
- kakav / kakva / kakvo + noun = „what a …!" — and it agrees in gender: Kakav dan! (m.), Kakva glupost! (f.), Kakvo iznenađenje! (n.).
- koliko = „how much / how many!" — with a genitive noun (Koliko ljudi!) or over a verb (Koliko sam te čekao!).
- The bare one-word exclamation (Predivno! Užasno! Savršeno!) is the most natural reaction — no verb, no kako, just the word and the tone.
- The watch-points are choosing kako vs kakav and getting kakav's gender agreement right.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Verbless and Nominal SentencesB2 — Where Croatian drops the copula — headlines, labels, proverbs, definitions and exclamations — and why je/su is otherwise required, unlike in Russian.
- Wh-Questions (Question Words)A1 — Croatian content questions with tko, što, koji, kakav, čiji and the place/time/manner words — the question word comes first, drags any preposition with it, and takes whatever case the verb assigns.
- Irregular Comparison and Comparing AdverbsB1 — Suppletive forms and the comparison of adverbs.
- InterjectionsA2 — The interjections of spoken Croatian — joj, ajme, jao, opa, uf, ma daj, baš, ajde/hajde, pst, fuj — plus the presentatives evo, eto and eno, which 'point' at something and govern the genitive.
- Toasts and Set ExclamationsA2 — The fixed exclamatory formulas of Croatian — toasts like Živjeli and Nazdravlje, wishes like Sretno and Dobar tek, cries of surprise like Bože and Zaboga, and agreement like Točno and Svaka čast.