Croatian Phrases To Learn

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:

Dubrovnik, Croatia
Croatia Sea

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

Aerial view of Croatia
Dubrovnik Rooftops

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

dubrovnik, croatia
Streets in Croatia

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?

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