Djelo je novo.

to be

Breakdown of Djelo je novo.

• nov: new
• djelo: a deed; a created work

Questions & Answers about Djelo je novo.

Why is it novo and not nov?

Because djelo is a neuter singular noun, and the adjective has to agree with it in gender and number.

• masculine: nov
• feminine: nova
• neuter: novo

So:

• Novi film je dobar.
• Nova knjiga je dobra.
• Novo djelo je dobro.

In Djelo je novo, the adjective is in the neuter singular form to match djelo.

What gender is djelo?

Djelo is neuter.

A very common clue in Croatian is that many nouns ending in -o or -e are neuter, and djelo follows that pattern.

Because it is neuter, other words that describe it usually also appear in neuter forms:

• to djelo = that work/deed
• novo djelo = a new work/deed
• djelo je novo = the work/deed is new

What is je here?