Privatne

Privatne is a grammatical form found in several South Slavic languages, serving as the feminine plural form of the adjective privatni (private) or privatno (private, neuter) depending on the language. It does not function as a standalone noun but as a descriptor that agrees with feminine plural nouns.

In practice, privatne is used to describe things, institutions, or concepts that are private rather than public or state-owned. For example, privatne firme means private companies, privatne škole means private schools, and privatne informacije means private information. The term is common in Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Slovenian when distinguishing private ownership or private affairs from public or state-related ones.

Etymology traces privatni back to the Latin privatus, with later diffusion through Germanic and Romance languages into the South Slavic lexicon. While the exact form privatne varies slightly between languages, the core meaning remains the same: relating to private ownership, private life, or non-public matters.

Overall, privatne functions as a grammatical form used to convey privateness in feminine plural nouns, rather than naming a separate concept. In English contexts, it is typically rendered as private or private-sector in translation.