Usmeni mi je bio lakši od pismenog.

to be

Breakdown of Usmeni mi je bio lakši od pismenog.

• mi: me (dative short form)
• od: than
• lakši: easier

Questions & Answers about Usmeni mi je bio lakši od pismenog.

What do usmeni and pismeni mean here? Aren’t those adjectives?

Yes. In this sentence, usmeni and pismeni are adjectives being used as nouns.

They are short for:

• usmeni ispit = oral exam
• pismeni ispit = written exam

Croatian does this very naturally. If the noun is obvious from context, it is often left out.

So:

• Usmeni mi je bio lakši od pismenog. literally means something like:
• The oral one was easier for me than the written one.

The hidden noun is usually ispit.

Why does pismenog end in -og?

Because it comes after od, and in this kind of comparison od requires the genitive case.

So:

• pismeni = nominative
• pismenog = genitive masculine/neuter singular

The full underlying phrase is:

• od pismenog ispita = than the written exam

Since ispita is omitted, the adjective stays in the form it would have if the noun were still there:

• od pismenog (ispita)

That is why you see pismenog, not pismeni.