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Croatian

### The Path of Motion

You already know that the Instrumental case can describe tools or companions. It has another use: describing the path or route of a journey.

When moving *through* an open area or *along* a path, Croatian often uses the bare Instrumental case—without prepositions. The case itself expresses the traversal of a space.

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Notice how both the adjective *mračna* (dark) and the noun *šuma* (forest) take the feminine Instrumental ending **-om**.

### Through the Wilderness

This works beautifully for journeys through various terrains.

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Notice the neuter noun *more* takes the ending **-em**, while its adjective takes the neuter/masculine Instrumental ending **-im** (*beskrajnim*).

### Moving Along

The bare Instrumental can also mean moving "along" a specific path or boundary.

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Here, the masculine noun *rub* (edge) becomes *rubom*. The hero is moving *along* the edge, rather than *through* it.

### Verbs of Motion

You will naturally see this construction paired with continuous movement verbs like *lutati* (to wander), *jahati* (to ride), *hodati* (to walk), and *letjeti* (to fly).

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Path of motion (Instrumental)

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
The hero is wandering through the dark forest.	Junak luta mračnom šumom.
knight	vitez
enchanted	začaran
What a knight! He is wandering through the enchanted valley.	Kakav vitez! On luta začaranom dolinom.
to ride	jahati
desert	pustinja
Do not ride through the hot desert!	Nemojte jahati vrućom pustinjom!
elf	vilenjak
expanse	prostranstvo
The elf will certainly travel through the unknown expanse.	Vilenjak će sigurno putovati nepoznatim prostranstvom.
endless	beskrajan
kingdom	kraljevstvo
We sailed through the endless sea towards the hidden kingdom.	Plovili smo beskrajnim morem prema skrivenom kraljevstvu.
swamp	močvara
The knight fell because he was walking through the swamp.	Vitez je pao jer je hodao močvarom.
chasm	provalija
The hero is stepping carefully along the edge of the chasm.	Junak oprezno korača rubom provalije.
The king and the elf are riding through the enchanted kingdom.	Kralj i vilenjak jašu začaranim kraljevstvom.
We are walking through the dark tunnel.	Hodamo mračnim tunelom.
What a swamp! We cannot pass through this vast expanse.	Kakva močvara! Ne možemo proći ovim velikim prostranstvom.
The dragon flew through the chasm and fell.	Zmaj je letio provalijom i pao.
Do not ride through the forest, elf!	Nemoj jahati šumom, vilenjače!
The knight rides through the endless desert.	Vitez jaše beskrajnom pustinjom.