Talking about pets is a perfect A1 conversation, and it quietly drills one of Croatian's most important rules: the animacy accusative. When the object of a verb is a living masculine being — a dog, a cat's owner, a brother — the accusative borrows the genitive ending, so Imam psa ("I have a dog") looks different from Imam stan ("I have a flat"). This dialogue pairs that rule with the everyday verb imati ("to have"), basic adjective agreement (the adjective must match its animal in gender), and a handful of plain present-tense verbs. Two friends in ti compare their pets.
The dialogue
— Iva: Imaš li ti kakvu životinju? — Marko: Imam psa. Zove se Reks. A ti? — Iva: Ja imam mačku. Mala je i jako mazna. — Marko: Slatka! Kakav je tvoj pas, velik ili malen? — Iva: Reks je tvoj pas, ne moj! — Marko: Ha-ha, da, Reks je moj. Velik je i voli trčati. — Iva: Moja mačka spava cijeli dan. Volim je jako. — Marko: Imamo li još neku životinju u kući? Moja sestra ima papigu. — Iva: Stvarno? Papige puno pričaju! — Marko: Da, njezina papiga pjeva svako jutro. — Iva: Mi nemamo pticu, ali imamo i ribice.
Grammar in action
The verb imati — to have. Imati ("to have") is one of the first verbs you need, and it is regular in the present: imam, imaš, ima, imamo, imate, imaju. Its negative is irregular and written as one word: nemam, nemaš, nema… ("I don't have…"). You also use imati to ask about existence — imaš li…? ("do you have…? / is there…?").
Imaš li ti kakvu životinju?
Do you have any kind of animal? — 'imaš li…?' = do you have…?; 'kakvu životinju' = accusative of feminine 'životinja' with 'kakvu' (some kind of).
Mi nemamo pticu, ali imamo i ribice.
We don't have a bird, but we do have little fish. — negative 'nemamo' (one word); 'pticu' = accusative of 'ptica'; diminutive 'ribice' (little fish).
The full conjugation of imati, its negative, and its use for "there is / there are" are on the verb imati.
The animacy accusative — imam psa, imam mačku. Here is the rule with no English parallel. In the accusative case, masculine nouns that denote a living being take an -a ending borrowed from the genitive: pas → psa ("dog"), brat → brata ("brother"), konj → konja ("horse"). Masculine nouns for non-living things stay unchanged: stan → stan ("flat"), auto → auto ("car"). So Imam psa (animate, ends in -a) contrasts with Imam stan (inanimate, unchanged). Feminine nouns ignore this entirely and just take -u whether alive or not: mačka → mačku, kuća → kuću.
Imam psa.
I have a dog. — animate masculine 'pas' takes the genitive-like accusative 'psa'; an inanimate noun like 'stan' (flat) would stay unchanged: 'imam stan'.
Ja imam mačku.
I have a cat. — feminine 'mačka' simply takes '-u' in the accusative; the animacy rule applies only to masculine nouns.
Which masculine nouns count as animate, and how the accusative ending is formed, is on accusative forms; the broader job of the accusative as the direct-object case is on the accusative direct object.
Adjective agreement — velik pas, mala mačka. An adjective must agree with its noun in gender, number, and case. A dog (pas, masculine) is velik and sladak; a cat (mačka, feminine) is mala and mazna. The same English "small" becomes malen / mali for the dog but mala for the cat. The adjective bends to the animal it describes.
Mala je i jako mazna.
She's small and very cuddly. — feminine adjectives 'mala', 'mazna' agreeing with 'mačka' (cat); 'jako' = very.
Kakav je tvoj pas, velik ili malen?
What's your dog like, big or small? — masculine 'kakav', 'velik', 'malen' agreeing with 'pas'; 'tvoj' = your.
The basics of making adjectives match their nouns are on adjective agreement.
Basic present-tense verbs — spava, voli, pjeva, priča. Describing a pet's habits uses plain present-tense verbs, the same form for "sleeps" and "is sleeping": spava (sleeps), voli (loves / likes), pjeva (sings), priča (talks), trči (runs). Note the possessive adjectives moj / moja and njezin / njezina, which also agree with the noun they own.
Moja mačka spava cijeli dan.
My cat sleeps all day. — present 'spava' (= sleeps / is sleeping); possessive 'moja' agreeing with feminine 'mačka'; 'cijeli dan' = all day (accusative of duration).
Da, njezina papiga pjeva svako jutro.
Yes, her parrot sings every morning. — present 'pjeva'; possessive 'njezina' agreeing with 'papiga'; 'svako jutro' = every morning.
Vocabulary
| Croatian | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| imati | to have | 'imam, imaš…'; negative 'nemam' |
| životinja | animal | fem.; acc. 'životinju' |
| pas | dog | masc. animate; acc. 'psa' |
| mačka | cat | fem.; acc. 'mačku' |
| ptica / ribica | bird / little fish | fem.; 'ribica' is a diminutive |
| papiga | parrot | fem.; acc. 'papigu' |
| mazan / mazna | cuddly / affectionate | masc. / fem. forms |
| velik / malen | big / small | agree with the animal |
| voljeti | to love / like | 'volim, voliš, voli' |
| zvati se | to be called | 'zove se Reks' = it's called Reks |
Culture & register note
Key Takeaways
- imati ("to have") is regular — imam, imaš, ima… — but its negative is the one-word nemam, nemaš, nema….
- The animacy accusative: a living masculine noun takes a genitive-like -a (imam psa, imam brata), while a non-living one stays unchanged (imam stan).
- Feminine nouns ignore animacy and simply take -u in the accusative (imam mačku, imam papigu).
- Adjectives and possessives agree with their noun: velik pas but mala mačka; moj pas but moja mačka.
- Routine actions use the plain present — one form for "sleeps" and "is sleeping": spava, voli, pjeva.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- imati (to have)A1 — Full reference for 'to have' and the existential ima/nema.
- Accusative: FormsA1 — Accusative endings, with animacy and the acc=nom/gen rules.
- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative as the default object of transitive verbs.
- Adjective AgreementA1 — How adjectives match nouns in gender, number, and case.
- Dialogue: Catching Up at a CafeA2 — An annotated catch-up between friends — the perfect tense with gender agreement (bio sam, čula sam), aspect in past narration, diminutives (kavica), and discourse fillers (pa, znači).