Breakdown of Ovi dućani su prazni.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
dućan
store
prazan
empty
Questions & Answers about Ovi dućani su prazni.
Why do ovi, dućani, and prazni all end in -i?
In Croatian, words describing a noun must match its gender and number. Dućan (shop) is a masculine noun. To make it plural, it takes an -i ending to become dućani. Both the word for 'this' (ovaj) and the adjective 'empty' (prazan) must change to their masculine plural forms, ovi and prazni, to match perfectly.
The dictionary says 'empty' is prazan. Why did the 'a' disappear in prazni?
This happens because of a very common rule called the 'fleeting a'. In many masculine words ending in -an, the a drops out when you add a grammatical ending. So, prazan plus the plural -i ending becomes prazni, not 'prazani'.
Is ovi the only word for 'these'?
No, it depends on the gender! Ovi is specifically for masculine plural nouns. If the noun were feminine plural (like žene, women), 'these' would be ove. If it were neuter plural (like sela, villages), it would be ova. Since dućani is masculine, we must use ovi.
What role does su play in this sentence?
Su means 'are' (the plural 'they' form of the verb biti, to be). It connects the subject (ovi dućani) with the adjective describing it (prazni). In Croatian, short verb forms like su almost always want to be the second piece of information in the sentence.
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