Breakdown of U ovoj zemlji nema gladi.
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
u
in, into
nema
there is no
zemlja
country
Questions & Answers about U ovoj zemlji nema gladi.
Why is the word for hunger gladi here instead of just glad?
The word for hunger is glad, which is a feminine noun that ends in a consonant (part of the feminine i-declension). The verb nema (there is no) always requires the noun that follows it to be in the Genitive case. For feminine i-declension nouns, the Genitive singular ending is -i, resulting in gladi.
Since glad ends in a consonant, how do I know it's a feminine noun and not masculine?
Unfortunately, there is no strict visual rule, so you just have to memorize them! While most Croatian nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, a specific group belongs to the feminine i-declension. Common examples you will see include glad (hunger), noć (night), ljubav (love), and stvar (thing).
Why do we use nema for "there is no"? Shouldn't it be a negative form of the verb "to be"?
In English we say "there is not", but Croatian uses the verb nemati (to not have) in its 3rd person singular form (nema) to express that something doesn't exist or isn't present. It acts as an impersonal verb meaning "it has no [something]". Just remember that this existential nema always forces the following noun into the Genitive case.
Why is it u ovoj zemlji and not u ovu zemlju?