Start here: a beginner roadmap
If you’re a beginner, focus first on pronunciation, the alphabet (Latin), and essential phrases you’ll use every day. Keep it simple: greetings, numbers, directions, food, and polite expressions. This gives you quick wins and confidence while you build grammar bit by bit.
Plan for 15–30 minutes a day. Use one core app for structure, one video source for listening, and one printable or PDF reference for review. Consistency beats intensity—especially for beginners learning Croatian from English.
- Set a 30-day goal (e.g., hold a 1-minute intro about yourself in Croatian).
- Learn 10 essential phrases per week and review them daily.
- Practice pronunciation early: listen, repeat, and record yourself.
- Alternate days: app practice one day, video + PDF review the next.
- Track progress with a simple checklist so you can see wins.
Best free apps and sites for beginners
For structure, start with Duolingo. It’s not a complete course, but it’s a friendly way to learn basic vocabulary and phrases. Combine it with other free tools to cover grammar and real-life usage.
Memrise (user-made courses) and Clozemaster add spaced repetition and sentence-based practice. Digital Dialects and Learn101.org offer quick drills for the alphabet, numbers, and basic grammar—great for a beginner warm-up.
- Duolingo (Croatian): fun daily practice for beginners; great for momentum.
- Memrise (user courses): community decks for core words and phrases.
- Clozemaster: sentence cloze practice to build real-world usage.
- Digital Dialects (Croatian): simple games for basics like numbers and food.
- Learn101.org Croatian: straightforward grammar summaries and phrase lists.
Free video and podcasts to boost listening
Listening early helps your ear adapt to Croatian sounds and stress patterns. YouTube has excellent beginner-friendly content you can watch online for free.
Pair videos with short shadowing sessions: play a line, pause, repeat out loud, and compare your pronunciation. This is especially helpful for essential phrases you’ll use every day.
- Easy Croatian (Easy Languages): street interviews with subtitles; perfect for beginners to hear real speech.
- Croatian Made Easy (YouTube + podcast): clear explanations and slow dialogues ideal for A1–A2.
- Slow and simple video searches: try “Croatian A1 dialogue” or “Croatian for beginners” for targeted clips.
- Tip: turn on subtitles, slow playback to 0.75x, and repeat key lines.
Free PDFs and printable phrase lists
Having a printable or PDF reference is perfect for quick reviews. You can mark up pages, highlight patterns, and keep essential phrases handy offline.
Some classic resources cover older standards (Serbo-Croatian), but the beginner content—basic grammar and core vocabulary—still helps if your goal is Croatian. Use them for structure, then reinforce with modern Croatian audio and video.
- FSI Serbo-Croatian Basic Course (public domain, via Live Lingua): comprehensive PDFs + audio; use early units for fundamentals.
- Wikivoyage Croatian phrasebook: printable survival phrases for travel and daily needs.
- Omniglot Croatian phrases: greetings, numbers, time; easy to print.
- Learn101.org Croatian: printable grammar notes and word lists for quick review.
Essential tools and a simple routine
Round out your toolkit with dictionaries, pronunciation helpers, and spaced-repetition flashcards. These free tools make daily practice smoother and more effective.
Try this 20–30 minute routine: 10 minutes Duolingo or Memrise, 5 minutes phrase review from your PDF/printable, and 10 minutes video listening with shadowing. On weekends, add a short chat with a partner or record a 60-second monologue about your week.
- Dictionaries: Hrvatski jezični portal (HJP), Glosbe, and CroDict for meanings and examples.
- Pronunciation: Forvo (native audio) to hear and mimic words and names.
- Flashcards: Anki or AnkiWeb decks for spaced repetition of phrases.
- Typing: Google Input Tools or TypeIt for Croatian accents (č, ć, š, ž, đ).
- Language exchange: Tandem or HelloTalk (free tiers) to practice basics.
- Weekly plan: 5 short sessions + 1 longer review where you summarize new phrases aloud.
FAQ
- Is Duolingo enough to learn Croatian?
- It’s a good starting point for beginners, but not enough by itself. Use Duolingo for daily momentum and add listening (Easy Croatian), a PDF or printable for grammar/phrases, and pronunciation practice with Forvo.
- Where can I get free Croatian PDFs?
- Check FSI Serbo-Croatian (public domain) on Live Lingua for structured PDFs, plus printable phrase lists from Wikivoyage, Omniglot, and Learn101.org. Use them as references while reinforcing modern Croatian with online audio/video.
- How fast can I reach A1–A2 in Croatian?
- With 20–30 minutes a day, many learners reach solid A1 in 6–8 weeks and A2 basics in 3–4 months. Focus on essential phrases, consistent review, and regular listening practice.
- Are Serbian or Bosnian resources OK for beginners?
- Yes, for early stages. Basic vocabulary and grammar overlap, and older “Serbo-Croatian” materials can help. Just verify modern Croatian forms and pronunciation with Croatian-specific videos or dictionaries.
- How can I practice speaking for free?
- Shadow YouTube dialogues, record yourself daily, and use Tandem or HelloTalk to chat with patient partners. Prepare a few beginner scripts (introductions, ordering food) and recycle them often.