Demonstrative Declension and the Pronominal Pattern | Croatian Grammar

This page gives you the full case declension of taj / ta / to ("that"), and with it ovaj ("this") and onaj ("that over there"), which decline identically apart from the front prefix. But the real prize is bigger than the demonstratives themselves. Taj declines in the so-called pronominal pattern — the very same set of oblique endings (-og(a), -om(u/e), -im, -ih, -ima) that Croatian adjectives, possessives, and most determiners also use. Learn tog / tom / tim properly and you have, almost for free, learned the oblique endings of every adjective and possessive in the language. We will teach them as a single paradigm precisely to halve the workload.

The full singular declension of taj / ta / to

Here is taj (masculine), to (neuter), and ta (feminine) across all seven cases in the singular.

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominativ	taj	to	ta
Genitiv	tog(a)	tog(a)	te
Dativ	tom(u / e)	tom(u / e)	toj
Akuzativ	taj / tog(a)	to	tu
Vokativ	—	—	—
Lokativ	tom(e)	tom(e)	toj
Instrumental	tim	tim	tom

Read the structure off the grid the same way you would for an adjective. Masculine and neuter are identical in every oblique case (genitive, dative, locative, instrumental) — they part company only in the nominative and accusative (taj / to). The masculine accusative splits by animacy, exactly like adjectives and nouns: inanimate copies the nominative (taj), animate copies the genitive (tog). Demonstratives have no vocative — you don't call out to "that".

Tko je napisao tu poruku?

Who wrote that message? — feminine accusative 'tu' with 'poruka'.

Boja tog kaputa mi se baš sviđa.

I really like the colour of that coat. — masculine genitive 'tog' with genitive 'kaputa'.

Vjerujem tom čovjeku.

I trust that man. — masculine dative 'tom'.

Putujemo tim vlakom u sedam.

We're travelling on that train at seven. — masculine instrumental 'tim'.

The feminine in action

The feminine has its own tidy set: ta, te, toj, tu, tom, with dative and locative both collapsing into toj.

To je bila ta noć.

That was the night. — feminine nominative 'ta' (predicate).

Ne sjećam se te pjesme.

I don't remember that song. — feminine genitive 'te' after the verb 'sjećati se'.

Daj to onoj djevojci, ne toj.

Give it to that girl over there, not that one. — feminine dative 'toj' (and 'onoj').

Bili smo u toj kući prošle godine.

We were in that house last year. — feminine locative 'toj' after 'u'.

The optional -a / -u / -e extensions

You will have spotted the parentheses: tog(a), tom(u), tom(e). The masculine/neuter genitive and dative/locative each have a longer variant with an extra final vowel — and this is the same length variation you meet on the adjectives:

Genitive: tog ↔ toga
Dative: tom ↔ tomu
Locative: tom ↔ tome

These are stylistic length variants, not different cases or meanings. The longer forms read a touch more formal, literary, or rhythmic; the shorter forms dominate everyday speech. The neuter "fronted" forms toga and tome are especially common when the demonstrative stands alone (no following noun), where the extra syllable gives the bare pronoun some weight.

Nemam ništa protiv toga.

I have nothing against that. — the long neuter genitive 'toga', standing alone, after 'protiv'.

O tome ćemo razgovarati sutra.

We'll talk about that tomorrow. — the long neuter locative 'tome' after 'o'.

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When the demonstrative stands alone with no noun after it — especially the neuter "that thing / that matter" — reach for the long forms toga and tome. Bojim se toga ("I'm afraid of that"), o tome ("about that"). With a following noun, the short forms are more natural: tog kaputa, o tom problemu.

The plural

In the plural the genders merge heavily, just as adjectives do.

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominativ	ti	ta	te
Genitiv	tih	tih	tih
Dativ	tim(a)	tim(a)	tim(a)
Akuzativ	te	ta	te
Lokativ	tim(a)	tim(a)	tim(a)
Instrumental	tim(a)	tim(a)	tim(a)

The plural is far less work than the singular. The genitive is tih for all three genders; the dative, locative, and instrumental are all tim(a) for all three — one form covering three cases and three genders. Genders stay distinct only in the nominative and accusative (ti / ta / te). The dat/loc/instr tim also takes the optional final -a (tim ↔ tima), exactly the adjective pattern (novim ↔ novima).

Ti ljudi uvijek kasne.

Those people are always late. — masculine nominative plural 'ti'.

Sjećaš li se tih dana?

Do you remember those days? — genitive plural 'tih', shared by all genders.

Što ćemo s tim stvarima?

What shall we do with those things? — feminine instrumental plural 'tim(a)' with 'stvarima'.

ovaj and onaj follow the same paradigm

Everything above transfers directly to ovaj / ova / ovo ("this, near me") and onaj / ona / ono ("that, over there"). The endings are identical; only the stem differs (ov-, on-). So the masculine genitive is ovog(a) and onog(a); the dative ovom(u) and onom(u); the instrumental ovim and onim; the feminine genitive ove and one; and so on through the whole grid.

Ova torba je teža od one.

This bag is heavier than that one. — 'ova' nominative, 'one' genitive after 'od'.

Iz onog razloga ne idem.

I'm not going for that reason. — masculine genitive 'onog' after 'iz'.

Razgovarao sam o ovom problemu.

I talked about this problem. — masculine locative 'ovom' after 'o'.

After prepositions — and the za to / zato trap

Demonstratives appear constantly after prepositions, which is where their oblique forms get a real workout: s tim ("with that/those"), o tome ("about that"), za to ("for that"), prema tome ("accordingly, therefore"). Two practical notes for English speakers. First, the preposition always comes before the demonstrative — Croatian never strands prepositions at the end. Second, watch the spelling split between za to (two words, "for that thing") and zato (one word, "that's why, therefore"): same sounds, different meaning.

Hvala ti za to.

Thanks for that. — 'za to' (two words) = 'for that [thing]', accusative 'to'.

Zato te volim.

That's why I love you. — 'zato' (one word) = 'that's why / therefore', a conjunction.

Prema tome, kriv si ti.

Accordingly, you're the one to blame. — fixed 'prema tome' = 'therefore', dative/locative 'tome'.

The payoff: demonstratives, adjectives, and possessives are one paradigm

Here is the promise from the top made concrete. Set the demonstrative taj, a hard adjective novi, and a possessive moj side by side in the masculine singular, and the shared signature is unmistakable.

Case (masc sg)	Demonstrative	Adjective	Possessive
Nominativ	taj	novi	moj
Genitiv	tog(a)	novog(a)	mojeg(a) / mog(a)
Dativ	tom(u)	novom(u)	mojem(u) / mom(u)
Instrumental	tim	novim	mojim
Gen. plural	tih	novih	mojih
Dat/Loc/Instr pl.	tim(a)	novim(a)	mojim(a)

The endings line up case by case: genitive -og / -eg, dative/locative -om / -em, instrumental -im, genitive plural -ih, and the merged dat/loc/instr plural -im(a). This is why a phrase such as tom mojem novom susjedu (dative, "to that new neighbour of mine") has every modifier ending the same way — they all belong to one declension, the pronominal one. Master tog / tom / tim here and the oblique endings of the adjectives (see hard-stem adjective declension) and the possessive pronouns come almost without extra study. The full cross-category endings grid is on the case-endings map.

Dao sam ključ tom mom novom susjedu.

I gave the key to that new neighbour of mine. — dative throughout: 'tom mom novom' all end -om.

Razgovarali smo s tim tvojim prijateljima.

We talked with those friends of yours. — instrumental plural: 'tim tvojim' both -im.

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Don't learn three separate paradigms for demonstratives, adjectives, and possessives. Learn one set of oblique endings — -og(a), -om(u/e), -im; -ih, -im(a) — and apply it to all of them. The only thing that changes from word to word is the stem in front of those endings.

Common mistakes

❌ Sjećam se taj dan.

Incorrect — 'sjećati se' takes the genitive, so 'taj dan' must become 'tog dana'.

✅ Sjećam se tog dana.

I remember that day. — genitive 'tog dana'.

❌ Vidio sam taj čovjeka.

Incorrect — 'čovjek' is animate, so the masculine accusative copies the genitive: 'tog', not 'taj'.

✅ Vidio sam tog čovjeka.

I saw that man. — animate accusative 'tog čovjeka'.

❌ Govorili smo o to.

Incorrect — after 'o' you need the locative; 'to' must become 'tome' (or 'tom').

✅ Govorili smo o tome.

We talked about that. — locative 'tome' after 'o'.

❌ Hvala za sve to, za to te volim.

Mixed up — when you mean 'that's why', use one word 'zato', not 'za to'.

✅ Hvala za sve to, zato te volim.

Thanks for all that, that's why I love you. — 'za to' (for that) vs 'zato' (that's why).

❌ S te djevojke sam išao u kino.

Incorrect — 'with' takes the instrumental, so 'te' should be 'tom': 's tom djevojkom'.

✅ S tom djevojkom sam išao u kino.

I went to the cinema with that girl. — instrumental 'tom djevojkom'.

Key takeaways

Taj / ta / to (and ovaj, onaj) follow the pronominal declension: masc/neut tog(a), tom(u/e), tim; fem te, toj, tu, tom; plural tih (gen) and tim(a) (dat/loc/instr).
Masculine = neuter in all oblique singular cases; the masculine accusative obeys animacy. Demonstratives have no vocative.
The long forms toga / tome / tomu are length/register variants; prefer them for a standalone neuter ("about that", "afraid of that").
The same oblique endings power adjectives and possessives — learn tog / tom / tim once and you have the lot.
Prepositions come before the demonstrative; mind the za to ("for that") vs zato ("that's why") spelling split.

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