Breakdown of Ulice su stare, a zgrade su nove.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
a
and / but
nov
new
ulica
street
star
old
zgrada
building
Questions & Answers about Ulice su stare, a zgrade su nove.
Why do ulice and zgrade end in -e?
Both ulica (street) and zgrada (building) are feminine nouns, which usually end in -a in the singular. To make a regular feminine noun plural when it is the subject of the sentence, you change that -a to -e. So, ulica becomes ulice and zgrada becomes zgrade.
Why do the adjectives stare and nove also end in -e?
In Croatian, adjectives must match the noun they describe in both gender and number. Because ulice and zgrade are feminine plural nouns, the adjectives describing them must take the feminine plural ending, which is also -e.
Why is the word for "and" here a instead of i?
While both i and a can translate to "and", a is used to show a contrast or a shift in focus, similar to "while" or "but" in English. Because the sentence contrasts old streets with new buildings, a is the correct word to link them.
Could I leave out the second su?
No, you need to keep it. The conjunction a joins two complete, separate clauses together. You need a verb for the first part (ulice su stare) and a verb for the second part (zgrade su nove).
Learn Ulice su stare, a zgrade su nove and more in Croatian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free