Word
Naš susjed je gospodin Horvat.
Meaning
Our neighbour is Mr Horvat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Naš susjed je gospodin Horvat.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
susjed
neighbor
gospodin
gentleman
naš
our
Questions & Answers about Naš susjed je gospodin Horvat.
Why is the word for "our" spelled as Naš here instead of Naša or Naše?
Possessive words in Croatian like naš (our) change to match the gender of the noun they describe. Because susjed (neighbour) is a masculine noun, we use the masculine form naš. If the neighbour were female (susjeda), we would say naša susjeda.
Why does the verb je (is) come after two words? Doesn't it have to be the second word in the sentence?
You are right that short verb forms like je usually take the second position in a sentence. However, this rule applies to the second grammar block or phrase, not strictly the second single word. Naš susjed (Our neighbour) acts together as a single noun phrase, so je naturally comes right after it.
How would this sentence change if the neighbour was a woman named Horvat?
It would become: Naša susjeda je gospođa Horvat. The word for "our" changes to the feminine naša, the noun for "neighbour" changes to the feminine susjeda, and "Mr" changes to "Mrs" (gospođa).
Is there a short abbreviation for gospodin (Mr) like we have in English?
Yes! Just like "Mr." in English, gospodin is frequently abbreviated in writing, for example on letters or mailboxes. In Croatian, it is simply shortened to g. (always with a dot).