Breakdown of Ovo je boca vina.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
vino
wine
boca
bottle
Questions & Answers about Ovo je boca vina.
Why is the word for wine vina here instead of vino?
Vino is a neuter noun. Because it describes what the bottle holds, it needs to be in the genitive case (often called the "of" case). As you are learning in this lesson, neuter and masculine nouns take an -a ending in the genitive singular, so vino becomes vina.
Where is the word for "of" in this sentence?
There isn't one! In Croatian, you don't need a separate word for "of" when talking about containers, amounts, or possession. The genitive case itself expresses this relationship. Changing the noun to vina automatically means "of wine".
The word boca (bottle) is feminine. Shouldn't we say Ova instead of Ovo?
That's a very common mix-up! When you are pointing something out using the introductory phrase "This is...", you always use the fixed neuter form Ovo je..., regardless of the noun's gender. You would only use the feminine ova if "this" were directly attached to the noun as an adjective, like in the phrase ova boca (this bottle).
Why isn't there a word for "a" before boca?
Croatian doesn't use articles like "a", "an", or "the". The single word boca can mean "bottle", "a bottle", or "the bottle". The correct English translation just depends on what makes the most sense in context.