Learn Croatian: Ovdje ima vode. - There is water here.

In Croatian, the verb imati (to have) is commonly used to express existence, meaning 'there is' or 'there are'. Literally, the sentence is saying 'Here has water.'

Why is the word for water vode instead of the dictionary form voda?

When you use ima to mean 'there is', the noun that follows must be in the genitive case. This expresses an unspecified quantity, similar to saying 'some water' in English. The genitive form of the feminine noun voda is vode.

How would I say 'There is no water here'?

You would replace ima with its negative form, nema, to make Ovdje nema vode. The word vode stays exactly the same because both ima and nema require the noun to be in the genitive case.

If I wanted to say there are multiple things here, does ima change to a plural verb form?

No, when used to mean 'there is' or 'there are', the verb stays frozen as ima. For example, to say 'There are apples here', you would still say Ovdje ima..., and simply put the word for apples into the genitive plural.