Work and Study | Croatian Grammar

„What do you do?” is small-talk currency everywhere, and in Croatian it carries a grammatical surprise: the most idiomatic way to ask it, Čime se baviš?, puts the answer in the instrumental case — the case of „by means of.” You are literally asking „With what do you occupy yourself?” This page gives you the vocabulary of jobs and studies, the three ways to state your profession (baviti se, raditi kao, biti + profession), and the na-vs-u split that trips up learners when they say where they work or study.

Professions: male and female forms

Croatian profession names almost always come in two genders. The female form is usually built by adding -ica or -ka to the male stem. You must use the form that matches you (or the person you are describing) — a female doctor is a liječnica, not a liječnik.

Male	Female	Meaning
liječnik	liječnica	doctor
profesor	profesorica	(secondary/university) teacher, professor
učitelj	učiteljica	(primary-school) teacher
konobar	konobarica	waiter / waitress
student	studentica	(university) student
inženjer	inženjerka	engineer

Moja sestra je liječnica u bolnici.

My sister is a doctor in a hospital. — female form 'liječnica'.

On je učitelj, a ona je profesorica.

He's a primary teacher, and she's a secondary teacher. — 'učitelj' vs 'profesorica'.

💡

Croatian distinguishes učitelj/ica (primary-school teacher) from profesor/ica (teacher in secondary school and at university). „Professor” in English suggests a senior academic; in Croatia a high-school teacher is routinely a profesor. Don't assume profesor means a university chair.

Čime se baviš? — the instrumental question

The natural, idiomatic „What do you do (for a living)?” is Čime se baviš? (informal) / Čime se bavite? (formal). The verb baviti se („to occupy oneself with, to do”) governs the instrumental, so its question word is čime (the instrumental of što, „what”), and the answer also goes into the instrumental.

Croatian	Meaning
Čime se baviš?	What do you do? (informal)
Čime se bavite?	What do you do? (formal)
Bavim se programiranjem.	I work in programming. (lit. „I occupy myself with programming”)
Bavim se glazbom.	I'm into music / I do music.

Čime se baviš?

What do you do? — 'čime' is the instrumental of 'što'; 'baviti se' demands it.

Bavim se medicinom već deset godina.

I've worked in medicine for ten years. — answer in the instrumental 'medicinom'.

Moj tata se bavi turizmom u Splitu.

My dad works in tourism in Split. — 'bavi se turizmom', instrumental.

The instrumental endings are -om / -em (masc./neut.) and -om (fem.): programiranje → programiranjem, glazba → glazbom, medicina → medicinom. The full paradigm is on the instrumental forms, and the verb itself on baviti se.

💡

Čime se baviš? asks about your field or occupation in a slightly broad, polished way — it also covers hobbies (bavim se nogometom, „I play football”). If you just want the concrete job title, Što radiš? („What do you do/work?”) is the plainer everyday alternative.

Radim kao... and biti + profession

Two simpler ways to state your job. First, raditi kao + nominative — „I work as a ”: the profession stays in the nominative after kao („as”). Second, plain biti („to be”) + profession: *Ja sam . With *biti + profession, Croatian normally drops the article-like wording English keeps — ja sam liječnik, not „I am a doctor” with anything extra.

Croatian	Meaning
Radim kao konobar.	I work as a waiter.
Radim kao učiteljica.	I work as a teacher. (female)
Ja sam inženjer.	I'm an engineer.
Studiram pravo.	I study law.

Radim kao konobar u jednom kafiću na Trešnjevci.

I work as a waiter in a café in Trešnjevka. — 'kao' + nominative 'konobar'.

Ja sam inženjerka, radim u građevini.

I'm an engineer, I work in construction. — female 'inženjerka' + 'biti'.

Studiram pravo na drugoj godini.

I'm in my second year of law. — 'studirati' + direct object 'pravo'.

For raditi and studirati in full, see the verb raditi and the verb studirati.

Na poslu / na fakultetu: where you work and study

Here is the prepositional twist. „At work” and „at university/faculty” both take na + locative — na poslu, na fakultetu — even though English says „at.” Meanwhile „in the office” is u uredu and „in school” is u školi (with u). The split between u and na for institutions is partly lexical and must be learned item by item.

Croatian	Meaning	Preposition
na poslu	at work	na + locative
na fakultetu	at university (a faculty)	na + locative
u uredu	in the office	u + locative
u školi	at / in school	u + locative
na sastanku	at a meeting	na + locative

Cijeli dan sam na poslu, vraćam se oko šest.

I'm at work all day, I get back around six. — 'na poslu', not 'u poslu'.

Imam predavanje na fakultetu u devet.

I have a lecture at the university at nine. — 'na fakultetu' for university.

Šef je u uredu, možeš ga sad nazvati.

The boss is in the office, you can call him now. — 'u uredu' takes 'u'.

Why na and not u? Fakultet and posao belong to the set of nouns that idiomatically take na (alongside events, activities, and certain institutions), while ured and škola take u. There is no fully predictive rule — the safest approach is to memorise the high-frequency pairs. The logic and the full lists are on u vs na.

Common Mistakes

❌ Što se baviš?

Wrong case — 'baviti se' takes the instrumental, so the question word is 'čime', not 'što'.

✅ Čime se baviš?

What do you do? — instrumental 'čime'.

❌ Bavim se programiranje.

Wrong case — 'baviti se' needs the INSTRUMENTAL of the answer too.

✅ Bavim se programiranjem.

I work in programming. — instrumental 'programiranjem'.

❌ Ona je liječnik.

Wrong gender — a female doctor is 'liječnica', not the male 'liječnik'.

✅ Ona je liječnica.

She's a doctor. — female form 'liječnica'.

❌ Radim u poslu.

Wrong preposition — 'at work' is 'na poslu', with 'na'.

✅ Radim na poslu do pet.

I work until five. (lit. 'I'm at work until five') — 'na poslu'.

❌ Studiram na fakultet.

Wrong case — location needs the locative 'fakultetu', not the accusative.

✅ Studiram na fakultetu.

I study at the university. — 'na' + locative 'fakultetu'.

Key Takeaways

Professions come in male/female pairs: liječnik/liječnica, profesor/profesorica, učitelj/učiteljica. Use the form that matches the person.
Čime se baviš? is the idiomatic „What do you do?” — baviti se governs the instrumental, so both the question (čime) and the answer (programiranjem, medicinom) take it.
State your job with raditi kao
- nominative (radim kao konobar) or plain biti
  - profession (ja sam inženjer); studirati takes a direct object (studiram pravo).
„At work” and „at university” take na: na poslu, na fakultetu. „In the office / at school” take u: u uredu, u školi. The u-vs-na choice for institutions is largely lexical — memorise the common ones.

Now practice Croatian

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Croatian→