Questions & Answers about Moja sestra je sretna.
Why does the sentence use moja instead of moj?
In Croatian, possessive words like my have to match the gender of the noun they describe. Because sestra (sister) is a feminine noun, you use the feminine form moja instead of the masculine form moj.
Why is the word for happy sretna instead of sretan?
Adjectives must also match the gender of the noun. The dictionary form, which is masculine, is sretan. When changing it for a feminine noun like sestra, we drop the a from the middle of the word before adding the feminine -a ending at the end, making it sretna. Dropping this vowel is very common in Croatian.
Why is the verb je placed right after moja sestra?
The word je (is) is an unstressed word known as an enclitic. In Croatian, enclitics almost always need to go in the second position of a sentence. In this case, the two words moja sestra act together as the first block of information, so je safely takes the second spot.
Would the verb je change if I was talking about my brother instead?
No, the verb je means is and is used for any third-person singular subject, whether masculine, feminine, or neuter. You would change the other words to match the masculine gender, making it moj brat je sretan (my brother is happy), but the verb remains the same.
Learn Moja sestra je sretna and more in Croatian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free