Cardinal Numbers 0-10 | Croatian Grammar

The numbers one to ten are among the first words you'll learn in Croatian — jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet, šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset — but they hide a grammatical surprise that English does not prepare you for. In English a number is just a fixed word: "one cat", "two cats", "five cats", the number never changes shape. In Croatian, the first few numbers behave very differently from each other: jedan acts like an adjective and agrees with its noun, dva even changes for gender (dva vs dvije!), and five and up are frozen but force the following noun into the genitive plural. Getting dva / dvije right from day one is the single most important habit on this page — it's a gender distinction English simply doesn't have.

The numbers and how to say them

Numeral	Croatian	Pronunciation note
0	nula	NOO-lah
1	jedan	YEH-dahn
2	dva	dvah
3	tri	tree
4	četiri	CHEH-tee-ree (č = "ch")
5	pet	peht
6	šest	shest (š = "sh")
7	sedam	SEH-dahm
8	osam	OH-sahm
9	devet	DEH-vet
10	deset	DEH-set

Every letter is pronounced — Croatian spelling is phonemic, so there are no silent letters. Watch the diacritics: č in četiri is "ch", and š in šest is "sh". The vowels are pure and short here (the e in pet, šest, devet, deset is like the e in "bet", never a diphthong).

Brojim do deset: jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet, šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset.

I'll count to ten: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. — the full count.

Koliko je sati? — Pet.

What time is it? — Five. — the bare numeral as an answer.

jedan agrees like an adjective

Jedan ("one") is not a fixed word — it behaves like an adjective, matching its noun in gender, number, and case. It has three genders: jedan (masculine), jedna (feminine), jedno (neuter). And because it declines, you'll meet forms like jednog, jednom, jednu in the oblique cases.

Gender	"one"	Example
masculine	jedan	jedan stol (one table)
feminine	jedna	jedna jabuka (one apple)
neuter	jedno	jedno pivo (one beer)

Imam jednu sestru i jednog brata.

I have one sister and one brother. — feminine accusative 'jednu', masculine animate accusative 'jednog'.

Daj mi jedno pivo, molim te.

Give me one beer, please. — neuter 'jedno' agreeing with 'pivo'.

Ostala je samo jedna karta.

Only one ticket is left. — feminine 'jedna' with 'karta'.

After jedan the noun stays singular, exactly as you'd expect — it's "one" of something.

dva vs dvije: the gender split

Here is the trap to nail immediately. The number two has two forms by gender:

dva — with masculine and neuter nouns
dvije — with feminine nouns

There is no English equivalent; you simply have to decide the noun's gender before you say "two". Two men is dva čovjeka; two women is dvije žene; two beers (neuter pivo) is dva piva. Note the spelling: dvije with ije (the long yat reflex), pronounced roughly "DVEE-yeh".

Imam dva brata i dvije sestre.

I have two brothers and two sisters. — masculine 'dva brata', feminine 'dvije sestre'.

Naručila je dvije kave i dva soka.

She ordered two coffees and two juices. — feminine 'dvije kave' (kava), masculine 'dva soka' (sok).

Trebaju mi dva dana.

I need two days. — masculine 'dva dana' (dan).

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Before you say "two", check the noun's gender. Feminine → dvije (dvije žene, dvije kave); masculine or neuter → dva (dva čovjeka, dva piva). Saying dva žene is one of the most immediately noticeable beginner slips — fix it from day one.

The numbers three (tri) and four (četiri) do not change for gender — they're the same with any noun (tri žene, tri muškarca, tri sela). After dva/dvije, tri, četiri the noun takes a special "few" form called the paucal, which for masculine and neuter looks like the genitive singular (dva brata, tri dana) and for feminine looks like the plural (dvije sestre, tri kave). That pattern has its own page — see the paucal (2–4).

U sobi su tri stolice i četiri stola.

There are three chairs and four tables in the room. — 'tri'/'četiri' invariable; nouns in the paucal form.

Five and up are frozen — and trigger the genitive plural

From pet (5) onward, the numbers stop changing: pet, šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset are invariable in everyday use. But they impose their own rule on the noun: a noun counted by 5–10 (and higher) goes into the genitive plural. So "five apples" is pet jabuka (genitive plural of jabuka), "ten years" is deset godina. This is the opposite of English, where the number is fixed and the noun just adds a plural -s; in Croatian the number is fixed but the noun takes a special case.

Number	Phrase	Noun form
1	jedna jabuka	nominative singular
2–4	dvije / tri / četiri jabuke	paucal ("few" form)
5–10	pet … deset jabuka	genitive plural

Kupila sam pet jabuka i šest banana.

I bought five apples and six bananas. — genitive plural 'jabuka', 'banana' after 5 and 6.

Ima sedam dana u tjednu.

There are seven days in a week. — genitive plural 'dana' after 'sedam'.

Čekam te već deset minuta.

I've been waiting for you for ten minutes already. — genitive plural 'minuta' after 'deset'.

You don't need to master the full government rules yet — that's the numeral government page — but seeing the three-way split (1 / 2–4 / 5–10) early will save you a lot of confusion later.

oba / obje: "both" patterns with dva / dvije

The word for "both" copies the dva/dvije gender split exactly: oba for masculine/neuter, obje for feminine. It behaves like dva/dvije grammatically (it also takes the paucal noun form).

Oba brata žive u Zagrebu.

Both brothers live in Zagreb. — masculine 'oba', matching 'dva'.

Obje sestre studiraju medicinu.

Both sisters study medicine. — feminine 'obje', matching 'dvije'.

Common Mistakes

❌ Imam dva sestre.

Incorrect — 'sestra' is feminine, so 'two' must be 'dvije'.

✅ Imam dvije sestre.

I have two sisters. — feminine 'dvije'.

❌ Naručila je dvije soka.

Incorrect — 'sok' is masculine, so 'two' is 'dva', not 'dvije'.

✅ Naručila je dva soka.

She ordered two juices. — masculine 'dva'.

❌ Kupila sam pet jabuke.

Incorrect — after 5–10 the noun goes genitive plural, 'jabuka', not the paucal 'jabuke'.

✅ Kupila sam pet jabuka.

I bought five apples. — genitive plural 'jabuka'.

❌ Imam jedan sestru.

Incorrect — 'jedan' must agree with the feminine noun: 'jednu sestru'.

✅ Imam jednu sestru.

I have one sister. — feminine accusative 'jednu'.

❌ Oba sestre žive ovdje.

Incorrect — 'both' for feminine nouns is 'obje', matching 'dvije'.

✅ Obje sestre žive ovdje.

Both sisters live here. — feminine 'obje'.

Key Takeaways

The cardinals 0–10 are nula, jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet, šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset; every letter is pronounced (mind č in četiri, š in šest).
jedan behaves like an adjective: jedan/jedna/jedno, agreeing and declining; the noun stays singular.
two has gender: dva (masc/neut) vs dvije (fem). Learn this from day one — dvije žene, dva čovjeka.
tri and četiri don't change; dva/dvije, tri, četiri take the paucal noun form.
5–10 are frozen and force the noun into the genitive plural (pet jabuka, deset minuta).
oba (masc/neut) / obje (fem) "both" copies the dva/dvije split.

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