What does “di” mean in Croatian?

Textbooks teach gdje for “where”, but in casual Croatian you’ll often hear di: di si? (“where are you?”), di ćemo? (“where are we going?”). It’s the same word with the hard cluster of consonants dropped, and it’s common in Dalmatia and in relaxed speech across much of the country. Write gdje, and expect to hear di.

A mum filming her toddler Kobi runs through his tricks, «Daj pet!» (“high five!”), then asks him again and again «Di je glava?» (“where’s your head?”) and «Pokaži glavu» (“show me your head”). The same clip is full of standard Croatian too: što sve zna (“everything he can do”), where Serbian says šta, and ijekavian vrijeme and mjeseca.