Country Names as Adjectives
Many country names in Croatian end in -ska, -ška, or -čka (such as Hrvatska). These are historically feminine adjectives (short for "Croatian land", "French land", etc.) that now function as nouns.
Because they are fundamentally adjectives, they take adjective case endings when they decline.
For the nominative (the subject) and accusative (destination or direction), the endings look just like regular feminine nouns: -a and -u.
| Switzerland is a very rich country. | Švicarska je vrlo bogata država. |
| This year we are traveling to France. | Ove godine putujemo u Francusku. |
| My mother wants to move to Spain. | Moja majka se želi preseliti u Španjolsku. |
| He got on the train for Poland. | Sjeo je na vlak za Poljsku. |
Expressing Location: The Locative Case
When you want to say you are in one of these countries, you use the locative case with the preposition u. This is where the adjective declension stands out: instead of the regular noun ending -i, these country names take the feminine adjective ending -oj.
| Do you remember that winter in France? | Sjećate li se te zime u Francuskoj? |
| I ate the best fish in Spain. | Jeo sam najbolju ribu u Španjolskoj. |
| We have many friends in Czechia. | Imamo mnogo prijatelja u Češkoj. |
This -oj ending also applies when talking about a country using the preposition o:
| What do you know about Sweden? | Što znaš o Švedskoj? |
Expressing Origin: The Genitive Case
When expressing origin with iz (from) or making comparisons with od (than), you use the genitive case. For these countries, the genitive ending is -e.
| Do you know anyone from England? | Znaš li nekoga iz Engleske? |
| Norway is much more expensive than Germany. | Norveška je puno skuplja od Njemačke. |