Pas je dobar.

The dog is good.

Breakdown of Pas je dobar.

• biti: to be
• pas: dog
• dobar: good

Questions & Answers about Pas je dobar.

What is the role of je in the sentence Pas je dobar?

je is the third person singular present tense of the verb biti (to be). In Pas je dobar, it functions as the copula “is,” linking the subject pas (dog) with the predicate adjective dobar (good).

Why does dobar end in -ar and not -ra or -ro?

Adjectives in Croatian agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

• pas is masculine, singular, nominative
• Therefore, the adjective takes its masculine, singular, nominative form: dobar.
  If the noun were feminine (e.g., žena), you’d say dobra, and if neuter (e.g., mjesto), dobro.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before pas?

Croatian does not use definite or indefinite articles. Context and word order convey whether you’re talking about a specific dog (“the dog”) or any dog (“a dog”).

How would you turn Pas je dobar into a negative sentence?

You insert ni into the verb je, forming nije (is not).
Pas nije dobar.
This means “The dog is not good.”

Can you change the word order for emphasis?

Yes. Croatian has relatively flexible word order. For example:
– Dobar je pas. (Literally “Good is the dog.”)
This puts more emphasis on dobar (“It’s the dog that’s good”) but the basic meaning stays “The dog is good.”

How would you say “Dogs are good” in Croatian?

You need the plural forms of both noun and adjective, plus the plural of biti:
– Psi su dobri.
Here, psi is the masculine animate plural of pas, su is “are,” and dobri is the masculine plural nominative form of dobar.

What’s the pronunciation of Pas je dobar?

In IPA you can render it as:
/paːs jeː dǒbar/
– Pas [paːs], long “a”
– je [jeː], long “e”
– dobar [dǒ-bar], with the stress on the first syllable of dobar.