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Questions & Answers about Mačka nije vani.
Why is "is not" translated as one word, nije, instead of two words like "ne je"?
In Croatian, the negative forms of the verb "to be" (biti) are merged into a single word in the present tense. For the third person singular (he/she/it is not), you always use nije rather than putting ne in front of the positive form je.
How do we know it means "The cat" and not "A cat" when there is no word for "the" here?
Croatian does not use articles like "the", "a", or "an". The word mačka translates to both "a cat" and "the cat". You just rely on the context to know which one makes sense!
Does the word vani change its ending because mačka is a feminine noun?
No, vani is an adverb meaning "outside", which means it describes where things are. Adverbs never change their endings, so it stays exactly the same no matter who or what is outside.
If I wanted to say "The cats are not outside", how would the negative verb change?
You would need the plural "they are not" form of the verb. That form is nisu, so the plural sentence would be Mačke nisu vani.