Croatian: The language with 30 letters

Croatian is a South Slavic language with around 7 million native speakers in Croatia, neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a large diaspora. The first inscription in Croatian dates from the 11th century, and it was standardized to modern Croatian in the 19th century. It shares similarities with Serbian, and, although historically linked, both are now considered different languages.

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3 interesting facts about the Croatian language

01
Croatian contains letter constructions such as dž, lj, and nj that are pronounced and treated as single letters.
02
Unlike the English language, which only consists of 26 letters, the Croatian language has 30 letters.
03
Bartol Kašić wrote and published the first Croatian Grammar in 1604 which was written in Latin.

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Origin of the language

In the 7th century, the Croats migrated with other South Slavic tribes. Over time, they developed a separate and unique language similar to Proto-Slavic and Old Church Slavonic languages. The language was also influenced by neighboring countries and occupying powers such as the Ottomans, Venetians, Hapsburgs, and Hungarians.

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History of the language

Croatian lords used the Latin language and letters in early scripts, and Croats were first mentioned in the 9th century. After the Byzantine theologians, Saint Cyril and Methodius, spread Christianity, they also developed the first alphabet. Croatia adopted the Glagoljica alphabet and created a localized version.

The Baska tablet of the 11th century is the first noted Croatian inscription. In the 14th century, Croatians adopted Latin letters, and the first written Croatian document in Latin was a poem called “The Sibenik prayer.” In the 19th century, the Ilirski movement was a national campaign that chose the Štokavian dialect as the standard, keeping Kajkavian and Čakavian as local dialects. Many linguists created grammar books and dictionaries, leading to the modern standardized Croatian language.

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Learning the language

It is estimated that an English speaker can learn Croatian in 1100 hours.

How to say 10 popular words and phrases in the Croatian language

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fun facts

3 Fun facts about the Croatian language

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Three major dialects

Croatian has three major dialects—Kajkavian, Štokavian, and Čakavian—which also have their minor dialects.

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No silent letters

Croatian does not have any silent letters or letter combinations, making learning and reading it easier.

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Numerous tenses

The Croatian language mainly consists of four past tenses, one present tense, and two future tenses.

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Word Of Wisdom!

Of all things, I liked books best.

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Yet we are all just ordinary people, and the only thing that matters is whether someone is good or not.

Miro Gavran

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Word Of Wisdom!

Listen: I always return to myself.

Vesna Parun

Poet

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