Learn Hardcore Croatian: Hrvatski je službeni jezik u našoj državi. - Croatian is the official language in our country.

Why does the sentence start with Hrvatski and not with Jezik, like in English “The Croatian language is the official language in our country”?

Croatian word order is flexible, and both of these are possible:

Hrvatski je službeni jezik u našoj državi.
Službeni jezik u našoj državi je hrvatski.

The given version starts with Hrvatski to emphasize the language itself: It is Croatian (not something else) that is the official language. Starting with Službeni jezik would emphasize the official language as a role or category.

Both are grammatically correct; the difference is mostly in emphasis and style, not in basic meaning.

Is Hrvatski here a noun or an adjective? Why is there no word for language directly after it?

Formally, hrvatski is an adjective meaning Croatian. However, in Croatian, the adjective for a language can stand alone and mean the Croatian language. The noun jezik is understood from context.

So:

Hrvatski je službeni jezik… literally: Croatian is the official language…
Here Hrvatski is functioning like a noun (“Croatian [language]”).

You could also say Hrvatski jezik je službeni jezik u našoj državi, but it’s a bit repetitive; everyday speech usually drops the first jezik.

Why is Hrvatski capitalized? Are names of languages always written with a capital letter in Croatian?

Hrvatski is capitalized here because it is the first word of the sentence, not because it is the name of a language.

In standard Croatian spelling:

Names of languages (hrvatski, engleski, njemački,…) are normally written with a lowercase letter.
The first word in a sentence is always capitalized.

So in the middle of a sentence you would normally write:

Govoriš li hrvatski? – Do you speak Croatian?

What exactly is je in this sentence?

Je is the third-person singular present tense of the verb biti (to be). It corresponds to English is.

The full present tense is:

ja sam – I am
ti si – you are (sg.)
on/ona/ono je – he/she/it is
mi smo – we are
vi ste – you are (pl./formal)
oni/one/ona su – they are

So in Hrvatski je službeni jezik u našoj državi, je links the subject (Hrvatski) with the predicate (službeni jezik u našoj državi), just like is does in English.

What does službeni mean exactly, and why does it end in -i?

Službeni means official.

It is an adjective that describes jezik (language). In Croatian, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

jezik is masculine, singular, nominative (the basic “dictionary” form).
Therefore, the adjective describing it must also be masculine singular nominative: službeni.

Other forms of the same adjective:

službena – feminine singular nominative (e.g. službena odluka – official decision)
službeno – neuter singular nominative (e.g. službeno priopćenje – official announcement)

Why is there no word like “the” or “a/an” in službeni jezik? How do I know if it means the official language or an official language?

Croatian does not have articles like the, a, or an. Nouns are normally “bare”: jezik, kuća, auto, etc.

Definiteness (whether it’s the or a/an) is understood from context or from additional words, not from a separate article:

Hrvatski je službeni jezik u našoj državi.
→ In this context, it clearly means the official language, because every state has a specific official language (or languages).

If you needed to stress that it’s one of several official languages, you’d express that in other ways, for example:

Hrvatski je jedan od službenih jezika… – Croatian is one of the official languages…

Why does u našoj državi use u + this form državi? What case is that?

Državi is in the locative singular case.

The preposition u (in) can trigger different cases depending on the meaning:

u
- accusative – motion into something
  - Idem u školu. – I am going into school.
u
- locative – being in / inside something (location)
  - Sam u školi. – I am in school.

In u našoj državi, we are talking about location (in our country), not movement into it, so u requires the locative:

base form (nominative): država – state, country
locative singular: državi → u državi – in the state/country

Why is it našoj državi and not naša država?

Našoj is the locative singular feminine form of the possessive pronoun naš (our).

Because državi is in the locative feminine singular, the possessive must match it in gender, number, and case:

nominative: naša država – our country (subject form)
locative: u našoj državi – in our country

So:

naša – feminine nominative singular
našoj – feminine dative/locative singular

Other persons, same pattern (feminine locative):

u mojoj državi – in my country
u tvojoj državi – in your country
u njegovoj/njezinoj državi – in his/her country
u njihovoj državi – in their country

What is the basic form and meaning of državi?

The basic dictionary form is država, which means state or country (a political entity).

Cases for država (singular):

nominative: država – the country (as subject)
genitive: države
dative: državi
accusative: državu
locative: državi → used after u for location
instrumental: državom

In the sentence, državi is locative singular: u našoj državi – in our country.

Can I say u našu državu instead of u našoj državi?

You can, but it means something different:

u našoj državi – in our country (location, static) → locative
u našu državu – into our country (motion towards / entry) → accusative

In the original sentence, we are describing where Croatian is the official language (a static situation), so u našoj državi (locative) is correct.

Can I also say Službeni jezik u našoj državi je hrvatski? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, this sentence is also correct:

Službeni jezik u našoj državi je hrvatski.

The basic meaning is the same, but the emphasis shifts:

Hrvatski je službeni jezik u našoj državi.
→ Emphasizes Hrvatski (Croatian) – It is Croatian that is the official language…
Službeni jezik u našoj državi je hrvatski.
→ Emphasizes službeni jezik u našoj državi (the role “official language in our country”) and then identifies it as Croatian.

Both word orders are natural; Croatian allows this kind of movement for nuance.

How do you pronounce Hrvatski? The hrv at the beginning looks difficult.

Hrvatski is pronounced roughly: HRV-ats-kee.

h – like English h in house.
r – rolled or tapped (a quick tongue tap against the ridge behind your teeth).
hrv – this whole cluster is pronounced smoothly, without inserting extra vowels (no “hə-rə-v”).
a – like a in father.
ts – written as c in Croatian; like ts in cats.
ki – k as in key, i as in see.

Syllable breakdown: hrvats-ki. Many learners want to add a vowel between h and r or r and v, but in standard Croatian there isn’t one.

What is the difference between Hrvatska, Hrvat, and hrvatski?

They are related but have different grammatical roles:

Hrvatska – the country name (Croatia), feminine noun.
- Živim u Hrvatskoj. – I live in Croatia.
Hrvat / Hrvatica – a Croat (male / female person).
- On je Hrvat. – He is a Croat.
- Ona je Hrvatica. – She is a Croat (female).
hrvatski – Croatian as an adjective (and, by extension, the language).
- hrvatski jezik – Croatian language
- hrvatski film – Croatian film
- Hrvatski je službeni jezik u našoj državi. – Croatian is the official language in our country.

In your sentence, Hrvatski stands for hrvatski jezik (the Croatian language).