Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ovo je kuća.

Croatian does not use articles. Whether something is “a” or “the” house is inferred from context or clarified by adding words like jedna (one/a) or possessives (e.g., moja kuća for “my house”).

What does ovo mean, and why is it in the neuter form even though kuća is feminine?

Ovo is a neuter demonstrative pronoun meaning this (as in “this thing”). In the construction Ovo je X, ovo never agrees with the gender or number of X. If you want to directly modify a feminine noun, you’d say ova kuća, where ova (feminine) agrees with kuća.

Why is kuća in the nominative case here?

After the verb je (to be), nouns functioning as predicate complements take the nominative case. So kuća remains nominative (“house”) rather than changing to, say, the accusative or instrumental.

How would you turn this into a question meaning “Is this a house?” in Croatian?

You can either invert the word order or use the question particle li:

Je li ovo kuća?
Ovo je kuća?
Both are acceptable; Je li… is a very common formal question structure.

How do you say “These are houses” (i.e., plural)?

You switch both je to su (plural of “to be”) and kuća to its plural form kuće:
Ovo su kuće.

How can I say “This is my house”?

Insert your possessive adjective before kuća, matching its case and gender:
Ovo je moja kuća.
Here moja is the feminine nominative form of moj.

Can I add jedna to emphasize “a house” as in “This is a house”?

Yes, you can say Ovo je jedna kuća to stress the indefiniteness (“one/a house”), but in natural speech it’s often just Ovo je kuća unless you specifically need the emphasis.

What’s the difference between kuća and dom in Croatian?

Kuća refers specifically to a house (the building). Dom means “home” or “homeland” and carries emotional or collective connotations, not just the physical structure.

If I wanted to describe the house as big, where would I put the adjective?

You could say Ovo je velika kuća (“This is a big house”), placing velika (feminine nominative of velik) directly before kuća and still using ovo je as your introductory phrase.