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Croatian

Getting behind the wheel for the first time can be nerve-wracking. When talking about intense feelings like fear or shame, Croatian often uses a completely different sentence structure than English.

### Fear and Shame as "Things"

In English, you say "I am afraid" or "I am ashamed," using an adjective to describe yourself. In Croatian, feelings like fear (**strah**) and shame (**sram**) act as nouns that "happen" to you. 

The construction looks like this: 
**Emotion noun + Accusative pronoun + je (is)**

Literally, you are saying "Fear is me" or "Shame is me." For the first person ("I"), use the short accusative pronoun **me**:
- **strah me je** (I am afraid)
- **sram me je** (I am ashamed)

Let's see this in action when talking about taking a driving exam (**polagati ispit**):

{{item:1084430}}

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Notice that **polagati** means *to take* an exam. When you successfully finish it, you use the completed action verb **položiti** (to pass an exam).

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### Expressing Other People's Feelings

To describe how other people are feeling, simply swap the accusative pronoun **me** for the person experiencing the emotion. 

Here are the accusative clitic pronouns for other people:
- **ga** (him / it)
- **ju / je** (her)
- **nas** (us)
- **vas** (you, formal/plural)
- **ih** (them)

If the driving instructor (**instruktor**) or the examiner (**ispitivač**) gets nervous, you use their matching pronouns, like **ga** (him) or **ih** (them).

{{item:1084436}}

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### In the Driving School

As you navigate the driving school (**autoškola**), you will need to keep track of the pedestrians on the road and handle the car's controls, like the rearview mirror (**retrovizor**), turn signal (**žmigavac**), and gearbox (**mjenjač**). 

{{item:1084439}}

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Accusative affective states (strah me je)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular pronouns and to be (sam, si, je)

Noun genders (-Ø, -a, -o/-e)

Demonstrative pronouns (ovaj, ova, ovo)

Plural pronouns and to be (smo, ste, su)

Masculine plural nouns (-i)

Feminine plural nouns (-e)

Neuter plural nouns (-a)

Full verb to be (jesam, jesi)

Negative verb to be (nisam, nisi)

Yes/no questions (je li)

Wh- questions (tko, gdje)

Formal vs informal address (ti vs Vi)

Regular present tense (-ati)

Regular present tense (-iti)

Regular present tense (-jeti)

Verb negation (ne)

The verb to have (imati / nemati)

Inanimate direct objects

Feminine direct objects (-u)

Plural direct objects (-e, -a)

Accusative pronouns (me, te, ga, ju)

Adjective agreement

Plural adjectives

Accusative adjectives

Numbers 1 to 10 (jedan, dva, tri)

The locative case (-u)

Feminine locative (-i)

The verb to go (ići)

Destination (u, na)

The genitive case (-a)

Accusative pronouns (nas, vas, ga, ih)

Animate masculine accusative (-a)

Adjective agreement for animate masculine (-og, -eg)

The verb can (moći)

The verb must (morati)

The verb to want (htjeti, hoću)

The future tense (ću/ćeš + infinitive)

The past tense: l-participle (radio, radila)

Past tense word order (Prvo sam radio...)

Past tense with plural subjects (-li, -le, -la)

Feminine genitive singular (-e)

Possession and origin (od, iz)

Negative existence (nema)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Genitive plural (-a)

Numbers 11 to 20

Past tense negation (nisam)

Past tense questions (jeste li)

Dative singular

Dative pronouns (ti, mu, joj)

Past tense negation (nisam, nisi...)

Double object pronouns (mu ga, ti ju...)

Reflexive verbs (se)

Reflexive clitic word order

Commands and requests (radi, radite)

Plural demonstratives (ovi, ove, ova)

Possessive determiners (moj, naš, njegov)

Greetings (Dobar dan, doviđenja)

The body: Boli me glava

Directions (lijevo, desno, ravno)

There is, there are (ima)

Politeness (molim vas, hvala lijepa)

How you feel (Sviđa mi se)

Counting by tens to 100 (trideset, četrdeset...)

Quantifiers with the genitive case (malo, puno...)

Adjective agreement in the genitive singular (-og, -e)

Adjective agreement in the genitive plural (-ih)

Genitive prepositions (kod, do, bez...)

Asking what kind and which (kakav, koji)

Possessive determiners (njegov, njezin...)

Possessives in the accusative case

The reflexive possessive (svoj)

Indefinite pronouns (netko, nešto, neki)

Negative pronouns (nitko, ništa)

The verb to need (trebati)

Reciprocal verbs (se)

Introduction to verbal aspect

Perfective verbs with prefixes

Perfective verbs with stem changes

Irregular perfective verbs

Aspect in the past tense

Aspect in the future tense

Vehicular motion (voziti se, putovati)

Arrival and departure ('doći', 'otići')

Entering and exiting ('ući', 'izaći')

Singular accompaniment ('s', 'sa')

Question	Answer
to take an exam	polagati
I am taking an exam tomorrow and I am afraid.	Sutra polažem ispit i strah me je.
shame	sram
I am taking the exam again, but I am ashamed.	Opet polažem ispit, ali sram me je.
to pass an exam	položiti
I will pass the exam instead of panicking.	Položit ću ispit umjesto da paničarim.
instructor	instruktor
The instructor is sitting behind us and he is afraid.	Instruktor sjedi iza nas i strah ga je.
examiner	ispitivač
rearview mirror	retrovizor
The examiner is looking in the rearview mirror, and I am ashamed.	Ispitivač gleda u retrovizor, a sram me je.
pedestrian	pješak
The pedestrian is in front of the car and I am afraid.	Pješak je ispred auta i strah me je.
turn signal	žmigavac
gearbox	mjenjač
I will turn on the turn signal instead of looking at the gearbox.	Upalit ću žmigavac umjesto da gledam mjenjač.
driving school	autoškola
Will you turn on the turn signal in the driving school?	Hoćeš li upaliti žmigavac u autoškoli?
The instructor and the examiner are sitting in the driving school.	Instruktor i ispitivač sjede u autoškoli.
They won't pass the exam because they are afraid.	Oni neće položiti ispit jer ih je strah.
I will look in the rearview mirror and use the gearbox.	Gledat ću u retrovizor i koristiti mjenjač.
The driver must see the pedestrian in front of himself.	Vozač mora vidjeti pješaka ispred sebe.