Croatia’s culture is all about socializing. Croatians find a way to connect with each other every day, whether it be over a long coffee, during a brief chat on the plac or in passing while running errands.

Any conversation with a Croatian always starts with asking how each other is doing, just like a conversation with anybody in the world. Asking how someone is doing is the best way to connect with the Croatians in your community. It’s also an easy way become more comfortable with speaking in Croatian.

Even if your language skills are not ready for a full conversation and you don’t know a person well or at all, you should still start with the basic step of asking them how they are doing. Baby steps.

In this post, we cover all the ways you can ask how someone is doing, both formal and informal. We’ve also included variations for dialect in Dubrovnik, Istria, Split and Zagreb.

All of Croatia

Croatian: Ima li što novo(ga)?
English: Is there anything new?

Croatian: Je li sve dobro? Je sve dobro?
English: Is everything fine?

Croatian: Je li sve u redu? Je sve u redu? Sve u redu?
English: Is everything okay?

Croatian: Jesi li dobro? Jesi dobro? Si dobro? (informal)
English: Are you okay?

Croatian: Jeste li dobro? Jeste dobro? Vi dobro? Jeste li Vi dobro? (formal)
English: Are you okay?

Croatian: Kako ide? Kak ide?
English: How’s it going?

Croatian: Kako je? Kak je?
English: How is it?

Croatian: Kako si? Kak si? Kako si ti? (informal)
English: How are you?

Croatian: Kako ste? Kako ste Vi? (formal)
English: How are you?

Croatian: Kako život? Kak život?
English: How is life?

Croatian: Što ima?
English: What’s up?

Croatian: Što ima novo(ga)?
English: What’s new?

Croatian: Što ima novog(a) kod tebe?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Što ima s tobom?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Sve dobro?
English: All good?

Istria

Croatian: Ča ima?
English: What’s up?

Croatian: Ča ima novoga/novega?
English: What’s new?

Croatian: Ča ima novog(a) kod tebe?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Ča ima s tobom?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Ima li ča novega?
English: Is there anything new?

Split / Dubrovnik

Croatian: Ima li šta novo(ga)?
English: Is there anything new?

Croatian: Šta ima?
English: What’s up?

Croatian: Šta ima novo?
English: What’s new?

Croatian: Šta ima novo s tobon?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Šta ima novo(ga)?
English: What’s new?

Croatian: Šta ima novog(a) kod tebe?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Šta ima s tobom?
English: What’s new with you?

Croatian: Šta ima s tobon?
English: What’s new with you?

Zagreb

Croatian: Ima li kaj novo(ga)?
English: Is there anything new?

Croatian: Kaj ima?
English: What’s up?

Croatian: Kaj ima novo(ga)?
English: What’s new?

Croatian: Kaj ima s tobom?
English: What’s new with you?

If you’re interested in more Croatian language learning, check out our other posts here.

How do you ask how someone is doing? Let us know in the comments.