Building with Words
Croatian frequently creates new nouns by joining two existing words. To make the new compound word flow smoothly, the two parts are connected by a linking vowel, most commonly -o-.
Take brod (ship) and gradilište (building site). Join them with -o-, and you get brodogradilište (shipyard).
| There is no old shipyard in this city anymore. | U ovom gradu više nema starog brodogradilišta. |
Similarly, combining brod and vlasnik (owner) gives you brodovlasnik.
| The shipowner went to the shipyard yesterday. | Brodovlasnik je jučer otišao u brodogradilište. |
Replacing Final Vowels
When the first word ends in a consonant, you simply add the -o- after it. But if the first word already ends in a vowel (like the feminine noun riba, meaning fish), you drop that final vowel and replace it with -o-.
So, brod + gradnja (construction) becomes brodogradnja. And riba + lov (hunt) becomes ribolov (fishing).
| This city lives from shipbuilding and fishing. | Ovaj grad živi od brodogradnje i ribolova. |
Here is ribolov used as the subject of the sentence:
| In winter, fishing is often dangerous. | Zimi je ribolov često opasan. |
Maritime Disasters and Innovations
This pattern applies to many concepts relating to the sea. Joining brod with lom (break or fracture) creates brodolom (shipwreck).
| Several sailors survived the shipwreck. | Nekoliko mornara je preživjelo brodolom. |
If the first word is para (steam), you drop the final -a and add the linking -o- before brod to get parobrod (steamboat).
| We saw a steamboat that was sailing toward the island. | Vidjeli smo parobrod koji je plovio prema otoku. |
Trade and Tides
Verbs and their noun derivatives can also form compounds. Joining the concepts of buying (kupiti) and selling (prodaja) yields kupoprodaja (trade, or buying and selling).
| The trade will be finished next week. | Kupoprodaja će biti gotova sljedeći tjedan. |
Returning to nature, joining voda (water) with the root for standing gives us vodostaj (water level).
| A low water level makes work in the port difficult. | Nizak vodostaj otežava posao u luci. |
Compass Directions
Finally, compound nouns are the standard way to express intermediate compass directions. You simply join two cardinal directions with -o-.
For example, jug (south) and zapad (west) become jugozapad.
| A strong wind is blowing in the southwest. | Jak vjetar puše na jugozapadu. |
Likewise, sjever (north) and istok (east) form sjeveroistok.
| We were watching the black clouds in the northeast. | Gledali smo crne oblake na sjeveroistoku. |