Kategorija je teška.

to be

Breakdown of Kategorija je teška.

• težak: difficult
• kategorija: a category

Questions & Answers about Kategorija je teška.

What does je mean here?

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

So:

• kategorija = category
• je = is
• teška = difficult / hard

So the structure is simply:

Kategorija je teška. = The category is difficult.

In Croatian, je is a very common short form and is usually unstressed.

Why is kategorija feminine?

In Croatian, nouns have grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Kategorija is feminine, and one strong clue is that it ends in -a, which is very common for feminine nouns.

Because the noun is feminine, any adjective describing it must also be feminine:

• masculine: težak
• feminine: teška
• neuter: teško

So kategorija requires teška, not težak.

Why is it teška and not težak?