Questions & Answers about Njezino oko je smeđe.
Why is the word for "her" written as njezino here?
In Croatian, possessive words like "her" have to match the gender of the thing being owned, not the owner! Since the word for eye (oko) is a neuter noun, we must use the neuter form njezino instead of the masculine (njezin) or feminine (njezina).
How do I know what gender oko is?
If oko is neuter and ends in "-o", why does the neuter adjective smeđe (brown) end in "-e"?
That is a great catch! Usually, neuter adjectives do end in "-o". However, there is a spelling rule in Croatian: if the base of the adjective ends in a "soft" consonant sound—like đ, č, ć, š, or ž—the neuter ending changes from "-o" to "-e". Because the base word for brown is smeđ, the neuter form becomes smeđe.
Why is je (is) placed after Njezino oko? Can I start the sentence with it?