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Questions & Answers about Kazališta su zatvorena.
Wait, doesn't the -a ending on kazališta mean the noun is feminine?
Normally, yes! But the singular word kazalište (theatre) is a neuter noun. In Croatian, regular neuter nouns form their plural by changing their final -e or -o to an -a. So here, kazališta is the neuter plural, meaning "theatres".
Why does the word for closed (zatvorena) also end in -a?
Adjectives have to match the noun they describe in gender and number. Because kazališta is a neuter plural noun, the adjective takes the neuter plural ending, which is also -a. The base masculine singular form is zatvoren.
Where is the word for "the" in this sentence?
Croatian doesn't have articles like "the" or "a/an". You just use the noun itself! Kazališta su zatvorena can translate to "Theatres are closed" or "The theatres are closed" depending on the context.
Why do we use su here?
The word su is the "they" form of the verb to be (biti). Because the theatres are a plural subject, we use su (are) to link the subject to the adjective zatvorena.