Family in Croatian
Family is the first thing Croatians will ask you about and the first thing they'll tell you about — usually over coffee, at length. Here's the vocabulary, plus the possessives that make it all fit together.
The Core Four
| Croatian | Informal | English |
|---|---|---|
| majka | mama | mother |
| otac | tata | father |
| brat | — | brother |
| sestra | seka | sister |
Ovo je moja majka.
This is my mother.
Note: The ovo je pattern from First Sentences, meeting its favorite use.
The Wider Circle
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| baka | grandmother |
| djed | grandfather |
| sin | son |
| kći | daughter |
| dijete | child |
| obitelj | family |
Note dijete (child) with the classic ije, and kći (daughter) — a famously tricky little word; the colloquial kćer or affectionate kćerka will also get you understood.
Whose? moj, moja, moje
Possessives copy the gender of the thing owned — exactly like the adjectives you met in Noun Gender:
| Gender | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | moj | moj brat, moj otac |
| feminine | moja | moja sestra, moja baka |
| neuter | moje | moje dijete |
The same pattern runs tvoj/tvoja/tvoje (your), naš/naša/naše (our):
Tvoj brat i moja sestra su prijatelji.
Your brother and my sister are friends.
Note: Each possessive agrees with its own noun.
I Have a Brother — Imam brata
Introducing your people with imam brings a preview of things to come — watch the endings shift:
| Dictionary form | With imam |
|---|---|
| brat | Imam brata. — I have a brother. |
| sestra | Imam sestru. — I have a sister. |
| sin | Imam sina. — I have a son. |
That shape-shifting is the accusative case quietly doing its job — it gets a full lesson of its own soon. For now, learn these as ready-made phrases.
💬 The standard interrogation, survived
Imaš li braće i sestara?
Do you have brothers and sisters?
Imam brata. On živi u Zagrebu.
I have a brother. He lives in Zagreb.
A tvoja obitelj? Gdje su?
And your family? Where are they?
Mama i tata su u Splitu, kod bake.
Mum and dad are in Split, at grandma's.