Quantities and the Genitive Case
When you want to express quantities without using exact numbers, you use indefinite quantifiers such as malo (a little), puno (a lot), mnogo (much/many), dosta (enough), and previše (too much).
In Croatian, these words force the noun that follows them into the genitive case. When referring to uncountable things like food or materials, you will usually use the genitive singular.
Feminine Nouns in the Genitive
For feminine nouns that end in -a in their dictionary form, the genitive singular ending changes to -e.
- hrana (food) becomes hrane
- mrkva (carrot) becomes mrkve
Masculine and Neuter Nouns in the Genitive
Most masculine nouns (which typically end in a consonant) and neuter nouns (which end in -o or -e) take the ending -a in the genitive singular.
- maslac (butter) becomes maslaca
- brašno (flour) becomes brašna
- limun (lemon) becomes limuna
The Fleeting "a"
Some masculine nouns that end in certain consonant pairs (often -ar or -ac) contain an a in their final syllable that disappears when you add a grammatical ending. This is called the "fleeting a".
For example, the final a in the word papar (pepper) drops out entirely when adding the genitive ending, becoming papra.
Counting with "Nekoliko"
When you use the quantifier nekoliko (a few / several), you are talking about countable items. This means the noun must be placed in the genitive plural.
For feminine nouns like minuta (minute), the genitive plural ending happens to be -a (making the plural genitive form minuta).
Expressing Absence (Nema)
Just like indefinite quantifiers, the word nema (there is not / there are not) also forces the following noun into the genitive case because it describes an amount—in this case, zero.
