Learn Croatian: Ova dijeta ima premalo kalorija. - This diet has too few calories.

Whenever you use an adverb of quantity like premalo (too little/too few) or previše (too much/too many), the noun that comes after it must be in the genitive case. Because calories are countable, we use the genitive plural here.

Wait, doesn't kalorija look exactly like the singular nominative form?

Yes, it does! For most feminine nouns ending in -a, the genitive plural also ends in -a. In spoken Croatian, that final -a is pronounced slightly longer in the plural form. In writing, you just have to rely on context clues like premalo to know it is plural.

Does the word premalo change depending on the noun's gender?

No, premalo is an adverb, so its form is completely frozen. It will always be premalo, whether you are talking about feminine calories, masculine dollars, or neuter cars. It just forces whatever noun comes next into the genitive case.

Why do we use ova instead of ovo for "this"?

The word for "this" acts like an adjective, so it has to match the gender of the noun it describes. Because dijeta is a feminine noun, we use the feminine form ova. If the noun were masculine, you would use ovaj, and for neuter, you would use ovo.