Understanding Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions in Croatian

What Are Conjunctions in Croatian?

Conjunctions are words that connect clauses, sentences, or words. In Croatian, conjunctions play a crucial role in linking ideas smoothly and clearly. They are divided mainly into two types: coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating Conjunctions in Croatian

Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, or independent clauses that are of equal grammatical importance. They are similar to the English conjunctions like "and", "but", and "or".

• i (and)
• ali (but)
• ili (or)
• pa (so, then)
• nego (but rather)

Example sentences:

- Volim kavu i čaj. (I like coffee and tea.)

- On je umoran, ali sretan. (He is tired but happy.)

Subordinating Conjunctions in Croatian

Subordinating conjunctions connect a dependent clause to an independent clause, showing a relationship such as cause, time, condition, or purpose. They are similar to English conjunctions like "because", "although", and "if".

• da (that)
• ako (if)
• jer (because)
• iako (although)
• kada (when)

Example sentences:

- Znam da dolazi. (I know that he is coming.)

- Ne idem ako pada kiša. (I won't go if it rains.)

Tips for Using Croatian Conjunctions

• Coordinating conjunctions do not change the word order of the clauses they connect.
• Subordinating conjunctions often cause the verb in the dependent clause to move to the end of the clause.
• Practice by combining simple sentences using conjunctions to form more complex sentences.