In Croatian, certain nouns refer to groups of people collectively. The three most common collective nouns are djeca (children), braća (brothers), and gospoda (gentlemen).
Tricky Agreement Rules
These collective nouns have a unique mixed-agreement rule: they look like feminine singular nouns because they end in -a, but their meaning is plural.
- Adjectives modifying them take the feminine singular form.
- Verbs agreeing with them take the plural form.
For example, when describing noisy children, the adjective is feminine singular (bučna), but the verb is plural (su).
| The noisy children are on the playground, and nobody is sleeping. | Bučna djeca su na igralištu, a nitko ne spava. |
| Good children are playing on the new playground. | Dobra djeca se igraju na novom igralištu. |
This same pattern applies to gospoda and braća.
| The distinguished gentlemen are sitting in the restaurant and drinking wine. | Ugledna gospoda sjede u restoranu i piju vino. |
| Waiter, the distinguished gentlemen are waiting for the bill! | Konobaru, ugledna gospoda čekaju račun! |
| Her brothers are united and they always work together. | Njezina braća su složna i uvijek rade zajedno. |
| My brothers are not united and they never agree. | Moja braća nisu složna i nikada se ne slažu. |
Declining Collective Nouns
Because these collective nouns behave grammatically like feminine singular words, they decline exactly like regular nouns ending in -a (such as žena). Any attached adjectives also follow the feminine singular declension.
For instance, the preposition s (with) requires the instrumental case. Braća becomes braćom, and its adjectives take the feminine singular instrumental ending (-om).
| I am talking with your noisy brothers. | Razgovaram s tvojom bučnom braćom. |
