A greeting card is one of the first real texts you can write in Croatian, because it is built from a small set of fixed phrases. But even these short lines teach three core pieces of grammar at once: the set wishes whose adjective changes form to match the noun's gender (Sretan rođendan! "Happy birthday!" but Sretna Nova godina! "Happy New Year!"), the vocative case for addressing the reader by name (Draga Ana! "Dear Ana!"), and the verb želim "I wish" steering the little word ti "to you" — the dative. Here is an original short card; read it line by line, then learn the four patterns that let you write your own.
The text
Draga Ana,
Dear Ana,
sretan rođendan!
happy birthday!
Želim ti puno sreće, zdravlja i ljubavi.
I wish you lots of happiness, health and love.
Neka ti se ostvare svi snovi!
May all your dreams come true!
Uživaj u svom danu!
Enjoy your day!
Tvoj prijatelj, Marko
Your friend, Marko
P.S. Vidimo se na proslavi — sretna Nova godina unaprijed!
P.S. See you at the party — happy New Year in advance!
Pusa i sve najbolje!
A kiss and all the best!
Set wishes and gender agreement: Sretan vs Sretna
The word for "happy" in a wish is sretan, and — like every Croatian adjective — it must agree in gender with the noun it describes. This is why the same English "Happy _!" comes out with different endings:
- Sretan rođendan! "Happy birthday!" — rođendan "birthday" is masculine, so sretan (masculine).
- Sretna Nova godina! "Happy New Year!" — godina "year" is feminine, so sretna (feminine).
- Sretno putovanje! "Have a good trip!" — putovanje "journey" is neuter, so sretno (neuter).
- Sretni blagdani! "Happy holidays!" — blagdani "holidays" is masculine plural, so sretni.
The same three-way pattern drives the other festive wishes: Čestit Božić! "Merry Christmas!" (masc.) and Čestita Nova godina! "Happy New Year!" (fem.). You cannot pick one fixed form — you match the adjective to the noun.
Sretan rođendan, tata!
Happy birthday, Dad! (rođendan is masculine → sretan)
Sretna Nova godina svima!
Happy New Year to everyone! (godina is feminine → sretna)
Sretni blagdani i puno radosti!
Happy holidays and lots of joy! (blagdani is masculine plural → sretni)
The vocative: addressing the reader
When you open a card with a name, Croatian does not just use the plain (nominative) name — it uses the vocative, the case for calling out to or addressing someone. With the adjective drag "dear" the greeting is Drag*a Ana! "Dear Ana!". For most feminine names ending in -a, the vocative ends in -o or stays -a: *Ana → Ana (often unchanged in modern usage), Maja → Majo. Masculine names take -e or -u: Marko → Marko (unchanged), Ivan → Ivane, Tomislav → Tomislave. Common nouns of address change clearly: prijatelj "friend" → prijatelju, mama "mum" → mama/mamo, brat "brother" → brate.
The adjective in front agrees and also goes vocative: drag "dear" → dragi for a man, draga for a woman: Dragi Ivane! "Dear Ivan!", Draga Ana! "Dear Ana!". This is the standard, warm way to begin any card or letter.
Draga mama, hvala ti za sve!
Dear Mum, thank you for everything! (vocative: draga mama)
Dragi Ivane, sretan ti rođendan!
Dear Ivan, happy birthday to you! (vocative: dragi Ivane, with name change Ivan → Ivane)
The wish verb and the conditional: Želim ti… and Neka…
The engine of a card is the verb željeti "to wish": Želim "I wish". It comes in two flavours. The plain present Želim ti… "I wish you…" is the everyday workhorse. But cards also use the softer, more heartfelt conditional, Želio bih ti… "I would like to wish you…", which sounds gentler and more formal — the conditional is built from htjeti/željeti plus the clitics bih, bi, bi…. Both introduce the thing wished, which sits in the genitive after puno "a lot of": puno sreće, zdravlja, ljubavi "lots of happiness, health, love".
A second wish pattern uses neka "may / let": Neka ti se ostvare svi snovi! "May all your dreams come true!" — neka plus a present-tense verb expresses a hope for the future, exactly like English "May _!". And the imperative carries warm commands: Uživaj! "Enjoy!", Budi sretan/sretna! "Be happy!".
Želim ti puno sreće i zdravlja u novoj godini.
I wish you lots of happiness and health in the new year. (želim ti + genitive: sreće, zdravlja)
Želio bih ti zaželjeti sve najbolje.
I would like to wish you all the best. (conditional želio bih — softer, warmer)
Neka ti ova godina donese samo lijepe trenutke!
May this year bring you only beautiful moments! (neka + present = a wish for the future)
The dative ti: "to you"
The little word ti in Želim *ti… is not the subject "you" — it is the *dative, "to you", the recipient of the wish. This is the dative of the indirect object: Želim ti sreću literally is "I-wish to-you happiness". The dative answers komu? "to whom?". Its forms for "you" (singular) are the clitic ti (unstressed, the normal choice) and the full tebi (stressed, for emphasis): Tebi želim posebno puno sreće! "To you especially I wish lots of happiness!".
Notice ti slots into second position in the sentence, right after the first word: Sretan *ti rođendan! "Happy birthday to you!", Neka **ti se ostvare snovi! "May your dreams come true". For "to you (plural/polite)" use *vam: Želim *vam sve najbolje! "I wish you all the best!". This same dative *ti shows up in hvala ti "thank you" (lit. "thanks to-you") and drago mi je "nice to meet you" (lit. "it-is-dear to-me").
Sretan ti rođendan i još mnogo godina!
Happy birthday to you and many more years! (dative ti = 'to you', in second position)
Hvala ti na lijepoj čestitki!
Thank you for the lovely card! (hvala ti — dative ti 'to you')
Želim vam ugodne blagdane!
I wish you (plural/polite) pleasant holidays! (vam = dative 'to you' plural/polite)
Vocabulary gloss
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| drag / draga / dragi | dear | agrees with the name's gender |
| sretan rođendan | happy birthday | masc.: sretan + rođendan |
| sretna Nova godina | happy New Year | fem.: sretna + godina |
| čestit Božić | Merry Christmas | masc.; also Sretan Božić |
| blagdani | holidays (festive days) | masc. pl. → sretni blagdani |
| želim ti | I wish you | ti = dative "to you" |
| puno sreće | lots of happiness | sreće = genitive after puno |
| zdravlje / ljubav | health / love | gen. zdravlja, ljubavi |
| neka | may, let | neka + present = a wish |
| ostvariti se | to come true | snovi se ostvare = "dreams come true" |
| sve najbolje | all the best | standard sign-off |
| pusa | a kiss (affectionate) | informal close among friends/family |
A register note: nearly all card language is (informal) and warm — ti, pusa, Draga Ana. For a boss, an elder you do not know well, or a formal occasion, switch to the polite plural: Želim *Vam sve najbolje (capital *Vam in writing), Poštovani gospodine… "Dear Sir…" instead of Dragi…. The wish nouns and the Sretan… phrases stay the same; only the address and the pronoun become formal.
Common Mistakes
❌ Sretna rođendan!
Gender error — rođendan is masculine, so the adjective is masculine: sretan rođendan. Sretna goes with feminine godina.
✅ Sretan rođendan!
Happy birthday!
❌ Sretan Nova godina!
Gender error — godina is feminine, so the adjective is feminine: sretna Nova godina, not the masculine sretan.
✅ Sretna Nova godina!
Happy New Year!
❌ Želim te puno sreće.
Case error — the recipient of a wish is the DATIVE ti 'to you', not the accusative te. Te would mean 'you' as a direct object.
✅ Želim ti puno sreće.
I wish you lots of happiness.
❌ Draga Ivan, sretan rođendan!
Vocative/gender error — for a man use the masculine vocative: Dragi Ivane! (dragi agrees, Ivan → Ivane). Draga is feminine.
✅ Dragi Ivane, sretan rođendan!
Dear Ivan, happy birthday!
Now practice Croatian
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- The Vocative: Direct AddressA1 — Why Croatian has a living vocative and when you must use it.
- Dative: The Indirect ObjectA2 — The recipient/beneficiary role — 'to/for someone'.
- Conditional I (kondicional prvi)A2 — The 'would' form: bih/bi + l-participle.
- Congratulations and Good WishesA2 — Croatian good wishes — 'Sretan rođendan!', 'Sretna Nova godina!', 'Čestitam!', and 'Želim ti sreću', with the gender agreement of 'sretan/sretna' and the dative + accusative of 'želim'.
- Declining the Personal PronounsA2 — Full case forms of ja, ti, on, mi, vi, oni.
- Annotated PostcardA2 — A real holiday postcard to a friend, decoded line by line — the perfect tense for the trip's events (Bili smo, Kupali smo se), the present for what's true right now (Lijepo je, Vrijeme je divno), informal ti address, the locative for where you are (na moru, u Splitu), and the everyday connectives i, ali, pa that hold a friendly note together.