Languages
Native
Croatian
96%
Secondary languages
English
49%
German
25%
Italian
15%
Language Samples
Bok, kako si?
Hi, how are you?
Dobro sam, hvala.
I am well, thanks.
Jedan, dva, tri, četiri, pet, šest, sedam, osam, devet, deset.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Linguistic History
Croatian is a South Slavic language written exclusively in the Latin alphabet, distinguishing it from the closely related Serbian. Croats first used Glagolitic script for their medieval religious texts — a tradition unique in Catholic Europe — before transitioning to the Latin alphabet. A standardised Croatian literary language emerged in the 16th century through the work of Dubrovnik Renaissance writers. During the Yugoslav period Croatian and Serbian were treated as a single language called Serbo-Croatian. Since Croatian independence in 1991, the Croatian language has been actively distinguished from Serbian through the promotion of older native vocabulary over shared South Slavic terms and loanwords.
Similar Languages
Serbian
90%
Bosnian
90%
Slovenian
65%
Macedonian
60%
Media
The walled Old Town of Dubrovnik on the Adriatic coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photo: Miroslav.vajdic · CC BY-SA 4.0
Did You Know
01
Croatian is the only Slavic language that preserves an active tradition of Glagolitic script use — the oldest Slavic alphabet, predating Cyrillic.
02
The necktie (kravata) takes its name from 'Croat' (Hrvat) — Croatian mercenaries wore distinctive scarves in 17th-century France, giving rise to the fashion accessory.
03
Croatian has three major dialect groups — Štokavian, Čakavian, and Kajkavian — named after the word each uses for 'what': što, ča, and kaj.