bez + Genitive

Without Something

Level 2

Bez introduces something absent, missing or not accompanying the situation. Its noun or pronoun complement is genitive.

How It Works

Pijem čaj bez šećera. excludes sugar from the tea. Došla je bez prijatelja. says the friend did not accompany her. Both expressions use a genitive complement.

With a personal pronoun, use its full genitive form: bez mene, not a short object clitic. A modifier also needs genitive agreement: bez tvoje pomoći.

For indefinite absence, standard Croatian uses forms such as bez ičega rather than piling ni- negation into this phrase. Bez itself supplies the absence meaning. A sentence can still have an independently negative main verb when the intended claim requires one.

Examples (3)

  1. Pijem čaj bez šećera.

    I drink tea without sugar.

    Šećera is genitive.

  2. Ne idi bez mene.

    Do not go without me.

    Mene is the full pronoun form after bez.

  3. Uspjela je bez tvoje pomoći.

    She succeeded without your help.

    The possessive and noun both take genitive forms.

How It Connects

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

bez + GenitiveLevel 2Without Something

Learn This First

The governing word selects a genitive noun phrase, so identify the genitive form before expanding this construction.

Words in This Pattern