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Croatian

When planning a retreat to a quiet cabin, you might want to disconnect completely—talking to no one, depending on no one, and worrying about nothing. To express these absolute boundaries in Croatian, you need negative pronouns like **nitko** (no one) and **ništa** (nothing).

However, when combining these negative pronouns (which start with the prefix **ni-**) with a preposition, the preposition jumps inside the word, splitting it into three separate parts.

### Splitting the Pronoun

Instead of placing the preposition in front of the pronoun, Croatian splits the pronoun into its prefix (**ni**) and its core declined form (**kim**, **čemu**, etc.), placing the preposition right in the middle.

The formula is: **ni** + **preposition** + **declined pronoun**.

Let's look at how this works in the Instrumental case with the preposition **s** (with):
- **nitko** (no one) -> **s kim** (with whom) -> **ni s kim** (with no one)
- **ništa** (nothing) -> **s čim** (with what) -> **ni s čim** (with nothing)

{{item:1085488}}

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### Locative and Genitive Cases

This splitting rule applies to all prepositions across all cases. If you want to talk about finding peace, you might use the Locative preposition **o** (about):
- **ništa** -> **o čemu** -> **ni o čemu** (about nothing)
- **nitko** -> **o kome** -> **ni o kome** (about no one)

{{item:1085497}}

{{item:1085500}}

The same structure applies with the Genitive preposition **od** (from):
- **nitko** -> **od koga** -> **ni od koga** (from no one)

{{item:1085505}}

### Double Negatives

Don't forget the golden rule of Croatian negatives: double negatives are strictly required. Even though your split pronoun is already negative (**ni s kim**, **ni o čemu**), the main verb in your sentence must still be negated with **ne**.

You can even stack multiple split pronouns in the same sentence, provided the verb remains negative.

{{item:1085504}}

Preposition splitting with negative pronouns (ni s kim)

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
to isolate oneself	osamiti se
cabin (hut)	koliba
I want to isolate myself in the cabin and talk to no one.	Želim se osamiti u kolibi i ni s kim ne razgovarati.
to disturb	ometati
to chatter	brbljati
Here no one disturbs me, and I don't chatter with anyone.	Ovdje me nitko ne ometa i ni s kim ne brbljam.
everyday life	svakodnevica
to burden oneself	opterećivati se
I escaped from everyday life and I don't burden myself with anything.	Pobjegao sam od svakodnevice i ni s čim se ne opterećujem.
tranquility	spokoj
solitude	osama
I found tranquility in solitude and I am not thinking about anything.	Pronašao sam spokoj u osami i ni o čemu ne razmišljam.
to turn off	isključiti
tranquil	spokojan
I turned off my mobile phone, I am tranquil, and I depend on no one.	Isključio sam mobitel, spokojan sam i ni o kome ne ovisim.
Why aren't you talking to anyone about everyday life in the cabin?	Zašto u kolibi ni s kim ne razgovaraš o svakodnevici?
If you want to isolate yourself, you must turn off the internet.	Ako se želiš osamiti, moraš isključiti internet.
I don't argue with anyone in solitude because nothing disturbs me.	U osami se ni s kim ne svađam jer me ništa ne ometa.
A tranquil person doesn't chatter with anyone about anything.	Spokojan čovjek ni s kim ne brblja ni o čemu.
I didn't get a message from anyone, but I'm not burdening myself.	Nisam dobio poruku ni od koga, ali se ne opterećujem.
I am enjoying the tranquility and I don't need help from anyone.	Uživam u spokoju i ne trebam pomoć ni od koga.