When you want to describe someone with a quality so extreme that it leads to a specific result—like being such a gossip that they know everything immediately—you use the correlative pair takav ... da (such a ... that).
Takav ... da (Such a ... that)
While toliko is used to emphasize adjectives and verbs, takav is used with nouns. Because takav acts like an adjective, it must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it describes.
Masculine Nouns (Takav)
For masculine nouns, use the masculine form takav. This structure is perfect for describing eccentric personalities.
| He is such a weirdo that he doesn't want to go out anywhere. | Takav je čudak da nigdje ne želi izaći. |
| Your brother is such a chatterbox that he constantly annoys me. | Tvoj brat je takav brbljivac da me stalno živcira. |
| He is such a miser that he never spends anything. | On je takav škrtac da nikada ništa ne troši. |
Feminine Nouns (Takva)
For nouns ending in -a, you must use the feminine form takva. Notice that many Croatian words for colorful personality traits—like tračara (gossip), spavalica (sleepyhead), and kukavica (coward)—are grammatically feminine. You must use takva with them, even when they describe a man or a male animal.
| She is such a gossip that she finds out everything immediately. | Takva je tračara da sve odmah sazna. |
| My dog is such a sleepyhead that he lies opposite the couch all day. | Moj pas je takva spavalica da cijeli dan leži nasuprot kauču. |
| Are you such a coward that you are afraid of the dark? | Jesi li takva kukavica da se bojiš mraka? |
Describing Unusual People
You will often see these expressive nouns used on their own, or combined with regular adjectives to paint a picture of an unusual neighbor or colleague.
| That loner is an ordinary coward. | Taj osobenjak je obična kukavica. |
| That chatterbox is a big gossip. | Taj brbljivac je velika tračara. |
