100 Essential Croatian Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Croatian	Type
hello	zdravo	interjection
goodbye	doviđenja	interjection
yes	da	interjection
no	ne	interjection
please	molim	interjection
thank you	hvala	interjection
sorry	oprosti	interjection
and	i	conjunction
but	ali	conjunction
or	ili	conjunction
because	jer	conjunction
here	ovdje	adverb
there	tamo	adverb
always	uvijek	adverb
never	nikad	adverb
together	zajedno	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Croatian	Type
man	muškarac	noun
woman	žena	noun
boy	dječak	noun
girl	djevojčica	noun
friend	prijatelj	noun
mother	majka	noun
father	otac	noun
brother	brat	noun
sister	sestra	noun
son	sin	noun
daughter	kći	noun
child	dijete	noun
husband	muž	noun
parent	roditelj	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Croatian	Type
to be	biti	verb
to have	imati	verb
to do	raditi	verb
to go	ići	verb
to come	dolaziti	verb
to eat	jesti	verb
to drink	piti	verb
to want	htjeti	verb
to need	trebati	verb
to know	znati	verb
to speak	govoriti	verb
to read	čitati	verb
to write	pisati	verb
to listen	slušati	verb
to buy	kupovati	verb
to pay	plaćati	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Croatian	Type
good	dobar	adjective
bad	zao	adjective
new	nov	adjective
old	star	adjective
young	mlad	adjective
tall	visok	adjective
short	nizak	adjective
nice	simpatičan	adjective
kind	ljubazan	adjective
shy	sramežljiv	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Croatian	Type
red	crven	adjective
blue	plav	adjective
green	zelen	adjective
yellow	žut	adjective
black	crn	adjective
white	bijel	adjective
orange	narančast	adjective
purple	ljubičast	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Croatian	Type
one	jedan	number
two	dva	number
three	tri	number
four	četiri	number
five	pet	number
six	šest	number
seven	sedam	number
eight	osam	number
nine	devet	number
ten	deset	number
zero	nula	number
twenty	dvadeset	number

Time

10 words

English	Croatian	Type
today	danas	adverb
tomorrow	sutra	adverb
yesterday	jučer	adverb
morning	jutro	noun
afternoon	poslijepodne	noun
evening	večer	noun
night	noć	noun
day	dan	noun
week	tjedan	noun
month	mjesec	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Croatian	Type
water	voda	noun
coffee	kava	noun
tea	čaj	noun
milk	mlijeko	noun
bread	kruh	noun
cheese	sir	noun
fruit	voće	noun
apple	jabuka	noun
egg	jaje	noun
rice	riža	noun

Home

4 words

English	Croatian	Type
house	kuća	noun
door	vrata	noun
window	prozor	noun
bed	krevet	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Croatian words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Croatian words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with Croatian

Croatian vocabulary by topicLonger word lists, one topic at a time

Croatian for beginners questions

What are the first Croatian words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Croatian that means words like zdravo (hello), hvala (thank you), voda (water) and jesti (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is Croatian written?

Croatian uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. 25 of the 100 words contain a letter or mark outside plain a–z, so learn those alongside the spelling.

Is 100 words enough to speak Croatian?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Croatian words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.