Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Croatian: Čudovište je opasno. - The monster is dangerous.

Hardcore Croatian
/Replacing an old washing machine
/Čudovište je opasno.

Čudovište je opasno.

Čudovište je opasno.

The monster is dangerous.

Breakdown of Čudovište je opasno.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Croatian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Croatian now

Questions & Answers about Čudovište je opasno.

Why is opasno ending in -o instead of opasan?

Because čudovište is a neuter singular noun, and the adjective has to agree with it.

The adjective opasan means dangerous, and its basic gender forms are:

opasan = masculine
opasna = feminine
opasno = neuter

So:

opasan pas = a dangerous dog
opasna zmija = a dangerous snake
opasno čudovište = a dangerous monster

In Čudovište je opasno, the adjective is used after je (is), but it still agrees with čudovište, so it stays neuter singular: opasno.

What gender is čudovište, and how can I tell?

Čudovište is neuter.

A useful clue is that many Croatian neuter nouns end in -o or -e, and čudovište ends in -e. So learners often recognize it as neuter from the ending.

That is why the sentence uses:

je = is
opasno = neuter form of dangerous

So the full structure is:

čudovište = the monster
je = is
opasno = dangerous

What does je mean here?

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti (to be).

So:

ja sam = I am
ti si = you are
on / ona / ono je = he / she / it is

In this sentence, čudovište is singular, so Croatian uses je:

Čudovište je opasno. = The monster is dangerous.

Why isn’t there a word for the in the sentence?

Because Croatian does not have articles like English a and the.

So čudovište can mean:

a monster
the monster

Which one is meant depends on the context.

That means Čudovište je opasno can be understood as:

The monster is dangerous
or A monster is dangerous

In many learning materials, the context or translation chooses one of those.

Is čudovište in the nominative case here?

Yes. Čudovište is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence.

This is a basic subject + verb + adjective sentence:

Čudovište = subject
je = verb
opasno = predicate adjective

After biti (to be), Croatian normally uses the adjective in the nominative as well, agreeing with the subject.

So both the noun and the adjective are in forms that match a neuter singular subject.

Can the word order change?

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral, most straightforward order is:

Čudovište je opasno.

But Croatian can sometimes rearrange words for emphasis or style. For example:

Opasno je čudovište.

That sounds more marked and less neutral, something like It is the monster that is dangerous or Dangerous is the monster, depending on context.

For learners, the safest default is:

subject + je + adjective

So Čudovište je opasno is the most natural basic version.

How do you pronounce čudovište and opasno?

A rough English-style pronunciation is:

čudovište ≈ CHOO-do-veesh-teh
je ≈ yeh
opasno ≈ oh-PAHS-noh

A few important sounds:

č sounds roughly like ch in chocolate, but a bit firmer
š sounds like sh in ship
j sounds like y in yes

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

CHOO-do-veesh-teh yeh oh-PAHS-noh

Could I leave out je like in some other Slavic languages?

Normally, no. In Croatian, the present tense of to be is usually expressed, so you say:

Čudovište je opasno.

not normally:

Čudovište opasno.

Leaving out je would sound incomplete in standard Croatian.

So unlike some languages where is can be omitted in the present tense, Croatian generally keeps it.

Is opasno an adverb here, like dangerously?

No. Here opasno is an adjective, not an adverb.

It may look confusing because in Croatian some adjective forms and adverbs can look similar. But in this sentence, opasno describes čudovište, so it is an adjective agreeing with a neuter singular noun.

Compare:

Čudovište je opasno. = The monster is dangerous.
(opasno = adjective)
Vozi opasno. = He/She drives dangerously.
(opasno = adverb)

So in your sentence, it means dangerous, not dangerously.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io