Croatian builds its "someone / anyone / everyone" words on a beautifully regular system: take a question word — tko ("who"), što ("what"), koji ("which"), or a question adverb like gdje ("where") — and bolt a prefix onto the front. The prefix ne- makes "some-" (netko "someone"), the prefix i- makes "any-" (itko "anyone"), and the prefix sva- makes "every-" (svatko "everyone"). The big payoff for the learner: because the body of each word is just tko / što / koji, these compounds decline exactly like their base — if you know koga and čega, you already know nekoga and nečega. The one genuine challenge is choosing between the ne- series and the i- series, which maps onto the English some/any distinction in a way that does not line up word-for-word.
The ne- series: "some-"
Ne- turns a question word into a positive indefinite — something that exists but isn't specified. This is the workhorse series of everyday affirmative sentences.
| Word | Meaning | Built on |
|---|---|---|
| netko | someone | tko |
| nešto | something | što |
| neki / neka / neko | some, a certain (+ noun) | koji |
| negdje | somewhere | gdje |
| nekad(a) | sometime, once | kad |
| nekako | somehow | kako |
Netko te traži na vratima.
Someone's looking for you at the door. — 'netko', subject.
Moram ti nešto reći.
I have to tell you something. — 'nešto', object (acc = nom for the neuter).
Vidio sam te negdje prije.
I've seen you somewhere before. — 'negdje', adverb.
Nekad smo se često viđali.
We used to see each other a lot. — 'nekad' = 'at one time, once upon a time'.
They decline like tko and što
Because netko is just tko with a prefix, it inherits tko's whole declension; the prefix rides along unchanged. Same for nešto / što.
| Case | "someone" | "something" |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | netko | nešto |
| Genitiv | nekoga | nečega |
| Dativ | nekomu (nekome) | nečemu |
| Akuzativ | nekoga | nešto |
| Lokativ | nekome | nečemu |
| Instrumental | nekim(e) | nečim(e) |
Bojim se da nekoga čekamo.
I'm afraid we're waiting for someone. — accusative 'nekoga'.
Razmišljam o nečemu važnom.
I'm thinking about something important. — locative 'nečemu' after 'o'.
Plati nečim drugim, kartica ne radi.
Pay with something else, the card isn't working. — instrumental 'nečim'.
neki vs netko — the adjective/pronoun split
A point that trips learners constantly: neki and netko are not interchangeable. Netko is a pronoun — it stands alone for an unnamed person, "someone". Neki is an adjective — it attaches to a noun and agrees with it, "some / a certain [noun]". You cannot swap one for the other.
Netko je zvao dok te nije bilo.
Someone called while you were out. — pronoun 'netko', no noun.
Neki čovjek te je tražio.
Some man was looking for you. — adjective 'neki' modifying 'čovjek'.
Nazvala je neka žena iz banke.
Some woman from the bank called. — 'neka' agreeing with feminine 'žena'.
The i- series: "any-" in questions, conditions, and after negation
The i- series means "any-", but — and this is the crux — it is a negative-polarity item. It does not appear in plain affirmative statements. It surfaces in three environments: yes/no questions, conditional (if) clauses, and after a negation or a word with negative force (such as bez "without", jedva "hardly", a comparison with nego). In these contexts it conveys "any (at all)".
| Word | Meaning | Built on |
|---|---|---|
| itko (iko) | anyone (at all) | tko |
| išta | anything (at all) | što |
| ikoji | any (one of them) | koji |
| igdje | anywhere | gdje |
| ikad(a) | ever | kad |
| ikako | in any way | kako |
Ima li itko pitanje?
Does anyone have a question? — 'itko' in a yes/no question.
Ako išta trebaš, samo javi.
If you need anything, just let me know. — 'išta' in a conditional clause.
Sumnjam da ćemo igdje stići na vrijeme.
I doubt we'll get anywhere on time. — 'igdje' under the negative force of 'sumnjam'.
Je li ikad bio u Hrvatskoj?
Has he ever been to Croatia? — 'ikad' (= ever) in a question.
The careful split to remember: ne- in plain positive statements, i- in questions and conditionals, and — as the next page covers — the ni- series once the clause is actually negated. Treba mi netko ("I need someone"); Treba li ti itko? ("Do you need anyone?"); Ne treba mi nitko ("I don't need anyone"). The note iko / itko is just a length variant — both are standard, itko being the fuller written form.
Treba mi netko da mi pomogne.
I need someone to help me. — affirmative → 'netko' (some-).
Treba li ti itko za sutra?
Do you need anyone for tomorrow? — question → 'itko' (any-).
The -god forms and bilo + question word: "any … at all / whoever"
To say "anyone at all, no matter who", Croatian has two equivalent patterns: the suffix -god glued to the question word (tko god, što god, koji god), and the prefix bilo placed before it (bilo tko, bilo što, bilo koji). Both are free-choice "any" — they invite a completely open selection — and both decline on their question-word core (the bilo / god part stays put).
Pitaj bilo koga, svi to znaju.
Ask anyone (at all), everyone knows it. — 'bilo koga' (acc), free-choice 'any'.
Tko god dođe, dobrodošao je.
Whoever comes is welcome. — 'tko god' = 'whoever'.
Uzmi bilo što iz hladnjaka.
Take anything (you like) from the fridge. — 'bilo što', free choice.
Što god kažeš, ja ti vjerujem.
Whatever you say, I believe you. — 'što god' = 'whatever'.
The three-way map: some / any / none
The cleanest way to hold all of this together is the three-prefix grid, because the prefixes line up with a meaning each and with the environment that triggers it. Ne- is the default for plain positive statements; i- is reserved for questions, conditionals, and other negative-polarity contexts; and ni- (the subject of the next page) is the negated "none", which forces double negation on the verb.
| Prefix | "who"-word | "what"-word | Use it… |
|---|---|---|---|
| ne- (some) | netko | nešto | in plain positive statements |
| i- (any) | itko | išta | in questions, conditionals, after negation |
| ni- (none) | nitko | ništa | in negated clauses (with 'ne' on the verb) |
The same triplet works for the adverbs: negdje / igdje / nigdje ("somewhere / anywhere / nowhere"), nekad / ikad / nikad ("sometime / ever / never"). Pick the row by the environment, then pick the column by whether you mean a person (-tko) or a thing (-što).
Negdje sam ostavila ključeve.
I left the keys somewhere. — positive statement → 'negdje' (some-).
Jesi li ga igdje vidio?
Have you seen him anywhere? — question → 'igdje' (any-).
The sva- series: "every-"
The prefix sva- builds the universal "every-" words: svatko ("everyone"), svašta ("all sorts of things, every kind of thing"), svugdje / posvuda ("everywhere"), svakako ("by all means, in any case"), and the adjective svaki / svaka / svako ("every, each"). Svatko takes singular verb agreement, just like English "everyone".
Svatko zna da je to teško.
Everyone knows it's hard. — 'svatko' with a singular verb.
Na sajmu se prodaje svašta.
They sell all sorts of things at the fair. — 'svašta' = 'all kinds of stuff'.
Tražila sam te svugdje.
I looked for you everywhere. — 'svugdje', adverb.
Svaki dan idem na kavu s njom.
Every day I go for coffee with her. — adjective 'svaki' + 'dan'.
Common mistakes
❌ Netko čovjek te traži.
Incorrect — before a noun you need the adjective 'neki', not the pronoun 'netko'.
✅ Neki čovjek te traži.
Some man is looking for you. — adjective 'neki' + noun.
❌ Trebaš netko pomoć?
Two errors — use the adjective 'neku' with 'pomoć', or rephrase; 'netko' can't modify a noun.
✅ Trebaš li neku pomoć?
Do you need some help? — 'neku' agreeing with feminine 'pomoć'.
❌ Ima li netko pitanje?
In a question Croatian prefers the 'any' series: 'itko', not 'netko' (though 'netko' is heard colloquially).
✅ Ima li itko pitanje?
Does anyone have a question? — 'itko' in a question.
❌ Razgovarali smo o nešto.
Incorrect — after 'o' you need the locative 'nečemu', not the nominative 'nešto'.
✅ Razgovarali smo o nečemu.
We talked about something. — locative 'nečemu'.
❌ Čekamo netko ispred kina.
Incorrect — 'someone' as object goes accusative 'nekoga', not nominative 'netko'.
✅ Čekamo nekoga ispred kina.
We're waiting for someone in front of the cinema. — accusative 'nekoga'.
Key takeaways
- One system, three prefixes on the question words: ne- = "some-" (netko, nešto, neki, negdje), i- = "any-" (itko, išta, igdje), sva- = "every-" (svatko, svašta, svugdje).
- The compounds decline like their base: netko / nekoga / nekomu, nešto / nečega / nečemu — learn tko / što and you have these for free.
- neki (adjective, "some [noun]") ≠ netko (pronoun, "someone"). Use neki with a following noun, netko on its own.
- The i- series is negative-polarity: it lives in questions, conditionals, and after negation, not in plain affirmatives — where you use ne- instead.
- bilo tko / tko god = free-choice "anyone at all / whoever"; the next page covers the ni- "none" series and obligatory double negation.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Negative Pronouns and Double NegationA2 — nitko, ništa, nikad and obligatory negative concord.
- Interrogative Pronouns: tko, što, kojiA1 — Question pronouns 'who', 'what', 'which' and their cases.
- The Question Particle liA2 — The yes/no question particle li in second position, the fixed je li opener and tag, and how it competes with the clitic cluster against colloquial da li and pure intonation questions.
- Basic Negation with neA1 — How to negate a Croatian sentence — ne before the verb, the fused negatives nisam, neću and nemam, and where negation lands in compound tenses.
- Question and Relative AdverbsB1 — kako, gdje/kamo/odakle, kada, zašto, koliko — the same words that ask questions also link clauses, and the location/destination/source split carries into the connective use.
- Quantity and Indefinite AdjectivesB1 — Pronominal words like takav, ovakav, sav, svaki, neki that agree and decline like adjectives.