Learn Croatian: Ima jedna stvar u torbi. - There is one thing in the bag.

You are exactly right! Ima is the "he/she/it" form of the verb for "to have". However, in Croatian, it is also very commonly used to mean "there is" or "there are". When used this way, it is frozen in this form and doesn't change.

Why is the word for "one" written as jedna?

In Croatian, the number one changes to match the gender of the noun it is counting. Because stvar (thing) is a feminine noun, we must use the feminine form jedna instead of the masculine jedan or the neuter jedno.

Wait, stvar ends in a consonant. Doesn't that usually make it a masculine noun?

Yes, most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine. However, stvar is an important exception! It belongs to a special group of feminine nouns that end in a consonant. You will just need to memorize its gender, which is why it pairs with the feminine jedna.

Why is it u torbi and not u torba?

The dictionary word for bag is torba. When you use the preposition u (in) to talk about a fixed location, the noun has to change into the locative case (the grammar case used for locations). For feminine nouns ending in -a, the -a changes to an -i, giving us torbi.