Questions & Answers about Hrvatska ima dvadeset županija.
Why is županija in the genitive plural here?
In Croatian, any quantity of five or more (like dvadeset) requires the noun that follows it to be in the genitive plural. If it were two, three, or four counties, you would use the genitive singular instead (dvije županije).
Wait, isn't županija the nominative singular form?
In writing, yes—they look exactly the same! For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the genitive plural has an -a ending that is spelled identically to the nominative singular. In spoken Croatian, the final -a in the genitive plural is pronounced with a longer vowel sound to distinguish it. Context (like the number dvadeset) tells you which one it is.
Is the word županija ever capitalized?
Only when it is part of the official proper name of a specific county, such as Istarska županija (Istria County). When talking about counties generally, as in this sentence, it stays lowercase.
If the sentence used a preposition, like 'Croatia is divided into twenty counties', would the case of županija change?
No, it would still be dvadeset županija. Even if a preposition like na (into) normally demands the accusative case, the rule for numbers five and up is 'stronger' in this context. The number freezes the phrase, and the noun remains in the genitive plural.