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Quiz about Elementary and Slightly Silly Croatian
Quiz about Elementary and Slightly Silly Croatian

Elementary (and Slightly Silly) Croatian Quiz


A quiz on the bare basics of the language from a guy whose knowledge of Croatian is halting at best. This one should be fun even if you don't know the language!

A multiple-choice quiz by stuthehistoryguy. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
209,274
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
1365
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Though Croatian is increasingly considered an independent language, this was not always the case, and in times past, Croatian was considered a mere dialect of a more widely-spoken language. Dialects very closely related to Croatian and comprehensible to most Croats are still spoken in which of these countries? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Like most Slavic languages (including Russian and Bulgarian), Croatian is usually written in the Cyrillic alphabet.


Question 3 of 10
3. As is the case with many languages, the English word "Croatian" is not the word Croats use for their own language. What is the Croatian word for "Croatian"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. To indicate things like possession, location, and whether a noun is a subject, direct object, or indirect object, Croatian primarily uses prepositions and sentence structure like English does.


Question 5 of 10
5. "Kako ste vi?" is the Croatian version of what popular greeting? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. OK, this quiz has been serious for far too long - let's have some fun!
Imagine you are a young man who has developed a great affection for a young Croatian woman. Which of these phrases may be appropriate to express the depth of your feelings?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. As is the case with almost any tourist destination, it is possible that visitors to Croatia may find themselves victims of crime. Which of these questions might be helpful to ask if this happens to you? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. "Ne, Luk, ja sam tvoj otac." This is the Croatian version of a memorable line from what movie? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Let's try another movie quote. What well-known film starring Keanu Reeves contains the English version of this line: "Nema zlice". Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Finally, what common basketball taunt (often chanted by home fans when it is clear their team has won) translates into Croatian as "Tko je tvoj tata"? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Though Croatian is increasingly considered an independent language, this was not always the case, and in times past, Croatian was considered a mere dialect of a more widely-spoken language. Dialects very closely related to Croatian and comprehensible to most Croats are still spoken in which of these countries?

Answer: All of these

From 1919 to 1987, all of these regions including Croatia (along with Slovenia and Macedonia, whose languages are more distinct) were part of Yugoslavia (originally called the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes"), a federation of South Slavic peoples created after World War One. Though there was often peaceful coexistence between these peoples, especially under the strict (and often despotic) governance of Marshall Tito from 1945 to 1980, tension between the various ethnicities was evident at other times, culminating in civil wars in the 1940s and 1990s. Since what appears to be the "final" division of Yugoslavia in 1995, the dialects which used to constitute a relatively homogenous Serbo-Croatian language have become more distinct, often being taught these days as separate languages.
2. Like most Slavic languages (including Russian and Bulgarian), Croatian is usually written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Answer: False

Like the Czech and Polish Slavs, the Croats have historically been Roman Catholic. One sign of this affinity has been the almost exclusive use of the Latin alphabet, the same script used by most English speakers - albeit with some unique accent marks.
3. As is the case with many languages, the English word "Croatian" is not the word Croats use for their own language. What is the Croatian word for "Croatian"?

Answer: Hrvatski

"Magyar" is the language of Hungary, "Debeo" is the Croatian word for "fat", and "Crotsch" is a word I made up.
4. To indicate things like possession, location, and whether a noun is a subject, direct object, or indirect object, Croatian primarily uses prepositions and sentence structure like English does.

Answer: False

Unlike English, Croatian makes great use of case endings, i.e. the changing of a noun to indicate its role in a sentence. For this reason, linguists called Croatian an "inflected" language, as opposed to English, which is a "syntactic" language because it depends on prepositions and word order. For English speakers, forming cases is one of the hardest things to master when learning an inflected language. Croatian does have prepositions, but they can often be omitted, especially in informal language.
5. "Kako ste vi?" is the Croatian version of what popular greeting?

Answer: How are you?

The word "vi" is the formal pronoun for "you" in Croatian. Since this is the only pronoun that can be used with the verb "ste", it is sometimes left out, and you will often hear Croats greet each other with a simple "Kako ste?"
6. OK, this quiz has been serious for far too long - let's have some fun! Imagine you are a young man who has developed a great affection for a young Croatian woman. Which of these phrases may be appropriate to express the depth of your feelings?

Answer: Volim te

"Volim te" means "I love you", which is probably appropriate in this situation. "Tvoja mata je usijana" translates loosely as: "Your mom is red-hot." I doubt the young lady would want to hear that!
7. As is the case with almost any tourist destination, it is possible that visitors to Croatia may find themselves victims of crime. Which of these questions might be helpful to ask if this happens to you?

Answer: Gdje je policija?

This phrase, as you might expect, means: "Where are the police?" The others translate as follows: "Da li je tvoja kola crvena?" = "Is your wagon red?"; "Koliko spavac´ih soba imate?" = "How many bedrooms do you have?"; "Je li vam dao kavu?" = "Did he give you coffee?" I think you will agree that these questions are of little use to the typical crime victim.
8. "Ne, Luk, ja sam tvoj otac." This is the Croatian version of a memorable line from what movie?

Answer: The Empire Strikes Back

Translation: "No, Luke, I am your father." Note that I omitted the silent "e" from "Luke". There are no silent letters in Croatian, nor are there any ambiguities in pronunciation; what you see is what you get.
9. Let's try another movie quote. What well-known film starring Keanu Reeves contains the English version of this line: "Nema zlice".

Answer: The Matrix

This is the Croatian version of "There is no spoon", a popular line from this post-modern film.
10. Finally, what common basketball taunt (often chanted by home fans when it is clear their team has won) translates into Croatian as "Tko je tvoj tata"?

Answer: Who's your daddy?

It is interesting to note that Croatian does not use contractions like English. Verbs must be written out, though it is often fine to drop pronouns since they are implied by the verb form.

Thank you so much for playing! If you have any questions, comments, or corrections, please let me know!
Source: Author stuthehistoryguy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Beatka before going online.
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