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Ove sobe su iste.

Ove sobe su iste.
These rooms are the same.
From Lesson 8:Plural demonstratives (ovi, ove, ova)·Croatian

Questions & Answers about Ove sobe su iste.

Why do ove, sobe, and iste all end in -e?
They are all feminine plural words! The singular noun is soba (room). To make a regular feminine noun plural, the -a changes to -e, giving us sobe. The demonstrative word for 'these' (ove) and the adjective for 'same' (iste) must match the noun's gender and number, so they take the -e ending too.
How do we know to use ove for 'these' instead of ovi or ova?
In Croatian, demonstrative words like 'these' change depending on the gender of the noun they describe. Because sobe (rooms) is feminine plural, we use ove. If you were talking about masculine things, like automobili (cars), you would use ovi. For neuter things, like sela (villages), you would use ova.
Why is su the third word here? I thought small words like 'are' had to be exactly in the second spot.
It is true that su is an enclitic (a small, unstressed word) that wants to be in the second position of a sentence. However, 'second position' can mean the second word OR the second phrase. Here, Ove sobe (These rooms) groups tightly together as a single block of meaning. Because it acts as one unit, su can naturally go right after the whole phrase.
Does iste mean the rooms are completely identical, or just similar?
The adjective isti (which becomes iste here to match the feminine plural noun) strictly means 'the same' or 'identical'. If you wanted to say the rooms were just similar, you would use a different word entirely, like slične.

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