Cjelina 2: Priroda i društvo
🔗 2 | 5 | Gramatika: Vokativ
The Vocative case
♂️ Masculine
The Vocative Case – masculine gender
So far you have encountered situations in which our students call each other. Let’s look at two examples in which our male students were called.
| Name (type) | Example |
|---|---|
| Davor | Onda, Davore, kako je bilo na vjenčanju? |
| Luka | Luka, što ti jedeš za doručak? |
| Mario | A ti, Mario? Što želiš raditi nakon što diplomiraš? |
| James | James, reci nam više o tvojem gradu? |
When directly addressing someone, a personal name has to be in the Vocative case. It’s the only case that functions to address someone. Here are the rules you need to have in mind for Vocative Case when addressing someone with a masculine name.
The rules for masculine Vocative case:
| Name (type) | Rule |
|---|---|
| Luka, Vanja, Dario, Mario, Frane, Ante | Masculine names that end in –a, –o, and –e will have their forms equal to Nominative. No change occurs with these names. |
| James, John, Steve | Foreign names (if considered foreign in Croatian) will have the same form as the Nominative case. No change occurs with these names. |
| Davor, Adam | Names that end in a consonant will take the ending –e. Example: when one of our students in Croatia wants to call Davor, they need to say Davore. Adam is a foreign name, but it fits with the naming system in Croatian, so it does take the ending –e (Adame, reci mi…). |
| Blaž | If a masculine name ends in a palatal consonant (i.e. Croatian letter): –č, –ć, –dž, –đ, –š, –ž, –lj, –nj, –j → they will take the ending –u. Example: Blažu, reci mi istinu. |
Personal names, when in Vocative case, always have to be separated by a comma in the sentence.
| Name (type) | Example |
|---|---|
| Marin | Onda, Marine, kako je bilo na putovanju? |
| Andrija | Andrija, što radiš sutra? |
| Santiago | A ti, Santiago? Što radiš ovaj vikend? |
| John | John, kako si? |
2.5 Zadatak 1: Ej…!
Read the short descriptions of several people and what they like to do. Then, complete each sentence with the correct name in the vocative case, based on the given information.
- Steve voli pričati o svojoj djeci.
- Santiago voli putovati po Europi.
- Ante voli pričati o svojoj karijeri.
- Andrija voli spavati, stalno je umoran.
- Luka voli izlaziti i biti dugo vani.
- Vanja voli glazbu, posebno rock.
- Perić voli pomagati ljudima. (Perić = last name)
- John voli jesti, uvijek je gladan.
- Dario voli piti kavu s društvom.
♀️ Feminine
The Vocative Case – feminine gender
| Noun (type) | Example |
|---|---|
| majka | Majko, mogu li ići u kino? |
| prijateljica | Prijateljice moja, drago mi je da si došla! |
| Marica | Marice, kako si? |
| Tanja | Tanja, kako si? Nismo se dugo vidjele. |
| Doris | Doris, zvala sam te! Nisi se javila. |
The rules for feminine Vocative case:
| Noun (type) | Rule |
|---|---|
| nouns in –a | Most of the general nouns that end in –a will take the ending –o in the Vocative case |
| nouns in –ica | General nouns that end in –ica, and consist of two or more syllables, will take the ending –e in the Vocative case |
| personal names in –ica | Personal names such as Ljubica, Marica, or Katica will take the ending –e in the Vocative case |
| personal names in –a | Many female personal names in –a will keep the same form as in the Nominative case |
| Foreign names | Female foreign names (Ines, Nives, or Dolores) will never change their forms |
2.5 Zadatak 2: Hej, …!
Read the short descriptions of several people and what they like to do. Then, complete each sentence with the correct name or noun in the vocative case, based on the given information.
- Sestra voli individualne sportove.
- Baka voli biti u kuhinji i raditi kolače.
- Rodica voli glazbu, ima odličan glas.
- Teta voli putovati po svijetu, stalno nekamo ide.
- Marija voli gledati filmove, satima je ispred TV-a.
- Anica voli biti u prirodi, vrlo je aktivna osoba.
- Maja uživa u glazbi, voli tango i valcer.
- Vanja je jako talentirana, obožava umjetnost.
- Maris guta knjige. Voli romane, posebno trilere.
Media Attributions
- Calling someone by their name, AI Generated Image
