Dialogue: Introducing Your Family | Croatian Grammar

Croatian family vocabulary carries information English throws away. Uncle is one word in English; in Croatian you must already know whether he is your mother's brother or your father's brother before you can name him. Showing a friend a photo of your relatives therefore forces you to make distinctions English never makes — and to choose, sentence by sentence, between a possessive adjective (mamin, "mum's") and a genitive (sestra moje mame, "my mum's sister"). This short exchange over a phone full of photos puts every one of those choices on the table at once.

The dialogue

— Iva: Gle, ovo je slika s djedovog rođendana. Cijela obitelj na okupu. — Petar: Lijepo! A tko je ova gospođa pored tebe? — Iva: To je mamina sestra, moja teta Vesna. A pored nje je njezin muž, dakle moj tetak. — Petar: A taj čovjek s brkovima? — Iva: To je tatin brat, znači moj stric. Njega zovemo stric Ivo. — Petar: Znači, ujak bi bio s mamine strane? — Iva: Točno. Mamin brat je ujak, a tatin brat je stric. Stalno to brkaš! — Petar: Ima logike, samo nije lako zapamtiti. A ova djeca? — Iva: To su bratovi klinci, moji nećaci. A ovaj mali je sestrin sin. — Petar: Imaš veliku obitelj. Koliko braće i sestara imaš? — Iva: Imam dva brata i jednu sestru. Braća su mi blizanci, zamisli. — Petar: Ajme, dvojica braće odjednom. To je gužva!

Grammar in action

Ujak vs stric — the maternal/paternal split. This is the headline lesson and the thing English speakers forget for years. Croatian splits uncle and aunt by which parent's side they belong to. Ujak is your mother's brother; stric is your father's brother. The split is not symmetric for aunts: teta covers an aunt on either side (and any older woman, affectionately), while ujna is specifically the wife of your ujak and strina the wife of your stric. The husband of a teta is tetak.

Mamin brat je ujak, a tatin brat je stric.

Mum's brother is an 'ujak', and dad's brother is a 'stric'. — the single English word 'uncle' splits by which parent's side he is on.

To je mamina sestra, moja teta Vesna.

That's mum's sister, my aunt Vesna. — 'teta' covers an aunt on either side.

There is no shortcut here — the maternal/paternal terms are simply learned as separate words, the way English speakers learn brother and sister. The full kinship map, including in-laws, is on family and relationships.

Possessive adjectives from people — mamin, tatin, bratov, sestrin. Croatian builds a possessive adjective from a person noun rather than always saying "of X." From mama you get mamin ("mum's"), from tata → tatin, from brat → bratov, from sestra → sestrin, from djed → djedov. These behave like full adjectives: they agree with the thing possessed in gender, number, and case. So mamin in mamin brat (masculine) becomes mamina in mamina sestra (feminine).

To su bratovi klinci, moji nećaci.

Those are my brother's kids, my nephews. — 'bratovi' (from 'brat') agrees with the masculine plural 'klinci'.

A ovaj mali je sestrin sin.

And this little one is my sister's son. — 'sestrin' (from 'sestra') agrees with masculine 'sin'.

Notice the endings shift: -in for feminine bases (mamin, sestrin, tetin), -ov/-ev for masculine bases (bratov, djedov). How these are formed and declined is on possessive adjectives.

Possessive adjective vs genitive — when to use which. Croatian has two ways to say "X's Y," and they are not freely interchangeable. The possessive adjective (mamin brat) is preferred when the possessor is a single, unmodified person-word. The moment you add anything — a modifier, my, a surname, a phrase — you must switch to the genitive: sestra moje mame ("my mum's sister"), not a non-existent mojemamin. Iva uses both in the photo description: mamina sestra (bare possessor → adjective) but slika s djedovog rođendana uses the adjective djedov in the genitive because it is governed by the preposition s.

Gle, ovo je slika s djedovog rođendana.

Look, this is a photo from grandpa's birthday. — 'djedovog' is the possessive adjective 'djedov' itself put in the genitive after 's(a)'.

A pored nje je njezin muž, dakle moj tetak.

And next to her is her husband, so my uncle (aunt's husband). — once you'd add 'my mum's', you'd switch to the genitive 'muž moje tete'.

The decision rule — bare person-word takes the adjective, a modified possessor takes the genitive — is laid out on possessive adjective vs genitive.

Braća — the collective for "brothers." This trips up every learner. The plural of brat ("brother") is not brati; it is the collective braća, which is grammatically a feminine singular noun even though it means several brothers. So you say braća su with a plural verb in agreement-by-sense, but it declines like a feminine -a noun: koliko braće ("how many brothers," genitive braće). To count brothers as individuals you switch to the masculine-personal numeral phrase dvojica braće ("two brothers").

Koliko braće i sestara imaš?

How many brothers and sisters do you have? — 'braće' is the genitive of the collective 'braća'; 'sestara' is the genitive plural of 'sestra'.

Braća su mi blizanci, zamisli.

My brothers are twins, imagine. — collective 'braća' takes a plural verb 'su' by sense; 'mi' is the possessive dative 'my'.

The same collective pattern covers djeca ("children") and gospoda ("gentlemen"). It is explained on collective nouns.

Vocabulary

Croatian	English	Note
ujak	maternal uncle	mother's brother
stric	paternal uncle	father's brother
teta	aunt	either side; also any kind older woman
tetak	uncle (aunt's husband)	husband of a 'teta'
mamin / tatin	mum's / dad's	possessive adjectives, agree like adjectives
bratov / sestrin	brother's / sister's	'-ov' from masculine, '-in' from feminine
braća	brothers	collective; feminine-singular declension
nećak	nephew	'nećakinja' = niece
klinci	kids	(informal) for 'djeca'
blizanci	twins	'blizanac' singular

Culture & register note

💡

Croatian families lean on these precise kinship terms in daily speech far more than English families do — a relative is almost never just "my uncle" but specifically moj ujak or moj stric, and getting it wrong (as Petar does) is a gentle running joke. Teta and striček are also used warmly by children for any friendly adult, well beyond blood relatives. When you meet a partner's extended family, expect to be quizzed on exactly who is whose, and expect Sunday lunches (nedjeljni ručak) where three generations sit at one table — the social glue that keeps all this vocabulary alive.

Key Takeaways

Uncle and aunt split by parent's side: ujak = mother's brother, stric = father's brother; teta covers either side.
Build a possessive adjective from a person: mamin, tatin (-in from feminine), bratov, djedov (-ov/-ev from masculine); it agrees with the thing possessed.
Use the possessive adjective for a bare person-word (mamina sestra); switch to the genitive the moment the possessor is modified (sestra moje mame).
braća ("brothers") is a collective: it means several but declines as a feminine singular (koliko braće), while taking a plural verb by sense.
To count brothers individually, use the masculine-personal numeral phrase dvojica braće.

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