The locative case in Croatian

Although the Croatian language has seven cases, in the locative (Lokativ), both the singular and plural endings are identical to those used in the dative case.

When is the locative used?

The locative is thought of as the “place-case” and mostly determines the place of an action (e.g. Ja sam u školi → I’m in school). In some cases, it can also be used to denotate the time (e.g. u tom trenutku → at that moment).

The rules on when to use the locative are very straightforward. It’s used only with the following prepositions:

1. u - in
   Spavam u krevetu. – I sleep in a bed
   Živiš u Zagrebu. – You live in Zagreb.
   Rade u pošti. – They work in a post-office.
2. na – on, at
   Jabuka je na ormaru. – An apple is on the cupboard.
   Mačka spava na krevetu. – A cat is sleeping on the bed.
   Sjedim na kauču. – I’m sitting on a sofa.
3. o – about
   Razgovaramo o ljetu. – We’re talking about summer.
   Ana razmišlja o novom poslu. – Ana is thinking about a new job.
   Sanjam o tebi. – I’m dreaming about you.
4. po – along, over, on (a surface)
   Hodamo po ogradi. –We’re walking on a fence.
   Trčimo po snijegu. –We’re running on snow.
   Djeca crtaju po zidu. – Children are drawing on the wall.
5. pri – by, near, next to
   Knjiga mi nije pri ruci. – The book is out of my hand reach.
   Ti nisi pri zdravoj pameti. – You’re not in your right mind.
   Marija živi pri kraju ulice. – Marija lives near the end of the street.

Regular noun endings in the locative case

We’ll write more about this difference in one of the following blog posts.