Croatianlanguage

Croatian is a South Slavic language in the Western subgroup, closely related to Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin. It is a pluricentric language with a standardized form used in Croatia and by Croatian communities in neighboring countries. While mutually intelligible with its close relatives, it has distinct vocabulary, orthography, and standard norms that define the Croatian variety.

Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and is used in government, education, media, and public life. It is one of the official languages of the European Union since Croatia joined in 2013. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatian is one of the three official languages in entities with Croatian majorities and is used in schooling and public life there as well.

Croatian uses the Latin script, written in Gaj’s Latin alphabet with diacritics such as č, ć, đ, š, and ž. The Glagolitic script has historical significance in medieval Croatia. Modern standard Croatian is codified by linguistic institutes in Croatia and is taught in schools; orthographic rules are widely taught and published in reference works and media.

The language comprises three main dialect groups: Shtokavian, Kajkavian, and Čakavian. The standard language is based on the Shtokavian dialect with the Ijekavian reflex, while Kajkavian and Čakavian remain regional varieties. The standard is used in formal contexts, literature, and media, with regional varieties continuing in everyday speech.

Croatian features a rich inflectional system with seven cases and verbal aspect. It bears historical influences from Latin, Italian, German, and Turkish, together with modern borrowings from other languages. The 19th-century Illyrian movement and subsequent standardization established the modern Croatian orthography and grammar. Approximately several million people speak Croatian, including communities in Croatia and abroad.