Ovaj stol nije crn; stol je bijel.

to be

Breakdown of Ovaj stol nije crn; stol je bijel.

• ne: not
• stol: table
• ovaj: this

Questions & Answers about Ovaj stol nije crn; stol je bijel.

Why is it nije and not ne je?

Croatian fuses the negative particle ne with certain auxiliary verbs. With the verb biti (to be), the negative forms are single words:

• Positive: sam, si, je, smo, ste, su
• Negative: nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu

So you must say nije, not ne je. Similar fusions happen elsewhere too (e.g., ne + ću = neću).

Why is it bijel and not bijeli after je?

After a linking verb like je (is), Croatian usually uses the short predicative form of the adjective: stol je bijel, stol je crn.
Before a noun (attributive use), the long form is typical: bijeli stol, crni stol.
You will sometimes hear long forms predicatively (stol je bijeli/crni), but in standard Croatian the short form is the default and most natural in this position.

Do adjectives agree with the noun here? These look “bare.”

They do agree; you’re seeing the masculine singular nominative forms because stol is masculine and it’s the subject.

• Masculine: stol je crn/bijel
• Feminine: stolica je crna/bijela
• Neuter: vino je crno/bijelo