bosanski / hercegovački

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Level 3

Bosnia and Herzegovina is Bosna i Hercegovina, or BiH for short. A person from Bosnia is a Bosanac or Bosanka, and one from Herzegovina is a Hercegovac or Hercegovka.

How It Works

The full name has two nouns joined by i. Each noun changes in its own way.

CaseForm
nominativeBosna i Hercegovina
genitiveBosne i Hercegovine
locativeu Bosni i Hercegovini
accusativeu Bosnu i Hercegovinu

The short form is BiH, written with a capital B, a small i and a capital H. It does not change. You say the letters: be-i-ha.

A person from Bosnia is Bosanac (man) or Bosanka (woman). A person from Herzegovina is Hercegovac or Hercegovka. The adjectives are bosanski and hercegovački. Mostar is the largest city in Herzegovina.

Examples (5)

  1. Glavni grad Bosne i Hercegovine je Sarajevo.

    The capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Sarajevo.

    Both parts of the name take the genitive.

  2. Mostar je najveći grad u Hercegovini.

    Mostar is the largest city in Herzegovina.

    Hercegovina becomes Hercegovini after u.

  3. Marko je Hercegovac, a Lejla je Bosanka.

    Marko is from Herzegovina, and Lejla is from Bosnia.

    The nouns for people start with capital letters.

  4. BiH ima mnogo rijeka.

    Bosnia and Herzegovina has many rivers.

    BiH is a short form and does not change.

  5. Hercegovačke smokve su slatke.

    Herzegovina figs are sweet.

    Hercegovački is the adjective for the region.

Common Mistakes

  • Only the first part of the name changes.

    Ja sam iz Bosna i Hercegovina.
    Ja sam iz Bosne i Hercegovine.

    Iz asks for the genitive, so both words change.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

bosanski / hercegovačkiLevel 3Bosnia and Herzegovina

Learn This First

Two regional words for the language.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

HercegovinaHercegovacBosanka