pozdrav
/pôzdraːʋ/Latin, masculine
The Croatian word for "greeting" is pozdrav.
pozdrav is a masculine noun meaning an acknowledgement of a person's presence or arrival. It is also commonly used as a standalone way to say "greetings" or "hello" when entering a room or ending a letter.
Meaning: acknowledgement of a persons presence or arrival (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The plural form of pozdrav is pozdravi (greetings), and the genitive singular form is pozdrava (of the greeting). The related verb meaning "to greet" is pozdraviti.
How do you pronounce it?
/pôzdraːʋ/
When do people say it?
When wishing someone well on a trip, you can say Sretan put! which means "Have a nice journey!"
Did you know?
- The word zdrav is a cognate with the English word 'health' via the Proto-Indo-European root for 'whole' or 'uninjured'.
- Depending on the region, a common informal greeting is Bok, which literally means 'side' or 'bow' but functions exactly like 'hi' or 'bye'.
- In formal correspondence, Croatians use the phrase Srdačan pozdrav, where srdačan refers to the 'heart', literally creating a 'heartfelt greeting'.
Examples in context
- Dobio je topli pozdrav od kolege.He received a warm greeting from a colleague.
- Njegov prvi pozdrav bio je vrlo ljubazan.His first greeting was very polite.
- Svi su uputili kratak pozdrav gostima.Everyone offered a short greeting to the guests.
Example conversation
Mia and Mateo meet for the first time at a party.
- MiaBok, Mateo! Drago mi je što te vidim.Hi, Mateo! I am glad to see you.
- MateoHvala, Mia. Tvoj pozdrav me razveselio.Thanks, Mia. Your greeting made me happy.
- MiaSamo sam htjela reći zdravo.I just wanted to say hello.
- MateoTo je jako lijepo od tebe.That is very nice of you.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “greeting” translations and entries pozdrav, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
