Numbers in Croatian

How numbers work in Croatian

The numbers 0 to 10 are nula, jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet, šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset. From 11 to 19 you add -naest: jedanaest, dvanaest, trinaest. Note četrnaest (14), petnaest (15) and šesnaest (16).

The tens end in -deset: dvadeset, trideset, četrdeset, pedeset, šezdeset, sedamdeset, osamdeset, devedeset. The unit follows with or without i (and): dvadeset i jedan or dvadeset jedan. Both are correct; this page uses the form with i.

Among the hundreds, 200 is dvjesto, and from 300 you add -sto: tristo, četiristo, petsto, šesto (600). A thousand is tisuća (tisuću when counting), then dvije tisuće and pet tisuća. A million is milijun. In Serbia and Bosnia people say hiljada and milion.

Jedan and dva agree with the noun: jedan muškarac, jedna žena, jedno dijete; dva grada, dvije kuće. After dva, tri and četiri the noun takes a special form (dva grada); from five it is in the genitive plural (pet gradova).

The ordinals up to ten are prvi, drugi, treći, četvrti, peti, šesti, sedmi, osmi, deveti, deseti. They decline like adjectives.

In conversation you simply give the hour and the minutes joined by i (and): sedam i pet, tri i četvrt. In the second half of the hour you use do (until): dvadeset do devet is 8:40. Tri i pol is 3:30; in northern Croatia you will also hear pola četiri, which, as in German, counts towards the next hour.

The 24-hour clock is common even in everyday speech: četrnaest i dvadeset. Noon is podne and midnight is ponoć.