Participles for Readers
Welcome to Mastering Croatian — the chapter that hands you real prose. First stop: the participles. You've been reading them since your first ZATVORENO sign; now the whole family gets names and jobs.
The -n/-t Forms on Every Door
The passive participle runs Croatia's public space:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| OTVORENO | open |
| ZATVORENO | closed — the saddest sign in the language |
| RASPRODANO | sold out |
| REZERVIRANO | reserved |
Croatian
OTVORENO
English
open
Croatian
ZATVORENO
English
closed — the saddest sign in the language
Croatian
RASPRODANO
English
sold out
Croatian
REZERVIRANO
English
reserved
Forbidden Things
zabranjeno + noun is the official no:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Zabranjeno pušenje | No smoking |
| Zabranjeno parkiranje | No parking |
| Zabranjeno kupanje | No swimming — when the bura says no, it's no |
Croatian
Zabranjeno pušenje
English
No smoking
Croatian
Zabranjeno parkiranje
English
No parking
Croatian
Zabranjeno kupanje
English
No swimming — when the bura says no, it's no
In Sentences
The same forms behave like adjectives, agreeing as usual — and they build the news style you learned to skim:
| Croatian | English |
|---|---|
| Muzej je otvoren 2005. godine. | The museum was opened in 2005. |
| Trgovina je danas zatvorena. | The shop is closed today. (feminine -a) |
| Stol je rezerviran. | The table is reserved. |
| Dogovoreno! | Agreed! — the deal-sealer from the invitations lesson, decoded |
Croatian
Muzej je otvoren 2005. godine.
English
The museum was opened in 2005.
Croatian
Trgovina je danas zatvorena.
English
The shop is closed today. (feminine -a)
Croatian
Stol je rezerviran.
English
The table is reserved.
Croatian
Dogovoreno!
English
Agreed! — the deal-sealer from the invitations lesson, decoded
The -ći Forms — Read Only
Written Croatian loves adjectives in -ći — decode them as "which is …-ing":
| Croatian | Decode as |
|---|---|
| putujući cirkus | a circus which travels |
| sljedeći vlak | the following train — yes, «next» was a participle all along |
| tekući račun | a running account — your current account at the bank |
Croatian
putujući cirkus
Decode as
a circus which travels
Croatian
sljedeći vlak
Decode as
the following train — yes, «next» was a participle all along
Croatian
tekući račun
Decode as
a running account — your current account at the bank
Muzej je otvoren svaki dan osim ponedjeljka.
The museum is open every day except Monday.
Note: osim + genitive — except. The sentence guarding every museum door in the country.