In Croatian, possession for people (like Marko's or Ana's) is expressed by turning proper names and family members into possessive adjectives using specific suffixes.
Masculine Possessors (-ov / -ev)
For most masculine names and family members, add the suffix -ov. If a name ends in -o (like Marko), drop the -o first.
If the masculine noun ends in a "soft" consonant (č, ć, š, ž, j, lj, nj), use -ev. Note that otac (father) undergoes a sound change to become očev.
Feminine Possessors (-in)
For feminine names and family members ending in -a, drop the -a and add -in (Ana → Anin, sestra → sestrin). Some nouns undergo a consonant shift, like majka (mother) becoming majčin.
Adjective Agreement
Because these possessive words are adjectives, they must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe (the owned object), not the possessor.
- If Marko (masculine) owns a clinic (feminine), use the feminine form Markova.
- When describing an action happening to a grandmother's dog, the adjective matches the dog's case (e.g., genitive bakina psa).
