Croatian Phrases To Learn

Written by

Pietro

Croatian is the official language of the country. English is widely spoken, especially amongst the younger generation, and those who work in hospitality and tourism. As the country shares a border with Italy, Italian is also spoken, especially in the north of the country in Istria. Before your Croatia trip, why not learn a few simple phrases to get you stuck into the local culture. Some basic phrases include:

We’ve put together some of the most basic, and most commonly used, words to use in Croatian.’Cheers’ will, arguably, be the most useful to celebrate your arrival in Croatia, with a cold local beer, or a delicious wine.

Hello Zdravo
How are you? Kako ste?
Fine, and you? Dobro a vi?
Goodbye Bog
Yes / No Da / Ne
Please Molim
Thank you Hvala
Excuse me Pardon
Cheers Živjeli
Good night Laku noć

Croatian is not the easiest language to learn, and its place names, city names and island names are a prime example. Here are a few of the main destinations, and how to pronounce them correctly.

Dubrovnik: doo-brov-nik
Plitvice lake: pleet-veets-eh lake
Krka: kr-kah
Trogir: troh-gear
Pula: poo-la
Rovinj: roh-veen
Zadar: za-dar
Sibenik: shi-ben-ik
Brac: brach
Korcula: cor-chu-la
Mljet national park: Mlet national park

Below are a few phrases that may come in useful during your Croatia trip. The first translation is how to write the phrase in Croatian. The second is how to pronounce the phrase in Croatian.

My name is… Zovem se / Zo-vem seh…
What’s your name? Kako se zovete? / Ka-ko se zo-ve-te?
Do you speak English? Govorite li Engleski? / Goh-vo-ree-the lee En-gless-kee?
That was delicious! Bilo je ukusno! / Bee-lo yeh oo-koos-no!
Please bring the bill. Račun, molim / Ra-choon, mo-leem.
How much is it? Koliko košta? / Ko-lee-ko kohsh-tah?