Learn Hardcore Croatian: More nije daleko od našeg grada.

In this sentence, More nije daleko… is naturally understood as The sea is not far… because we usually talk about a specific sea relative to our town.

Why does More start with a capital M? Is more normally capitalized?

Here More is capitalized only because it’s the first word of the sentence.

Normally, the noun more (sea) is written with a lowercase m:

more – sea
Jadransko more – the Adriatic Sea (capital letter only in the proper name Jadransko)

So in the middle of a sentence you’d write:
Naše more nije hladno. – Our sea is not cold.

Is more a masculine, feminine, or neuter noun?

More is a neuter noun in Croatian.

You can see this in forms like:

toplo more – warm sea (adjective toplo is neuter)
veliko more – big sea (adjective veliko is neuter)

The basic pattern: neuter singular nouns often end in -o or -e, and more fits that pattern.

What exactly is nije? Why is it one word?

Nije is the 3rd person singular negative form of the verb biti (to be).

It comes historically from ne (not) + je (is), but in modern Croatian it’s written as one word:

je – is
nije – is not

Examples:

More je daleko. – The sea is far.
More nije daleko. – The sea is not far.

You cannot normally write ne je; you must use nije.

What part of speech is daleko, and what does it mean here?

In this sentence, daleko is an adverb meaning far or far away.

So:

More je daleko. – The sea is far (away).
More nije daleko. – The sea is not far (away).

As an adjective, the related form is dalek (far, distant), e.g. daleki grad – a far/distant city, but here we use the adverb.

Why do we say od našeg grada and not just naš grad?

The preposition od (from, of) in Croatian requires the genitive case.

So:

naš grad – our town (nominative)
od našeg grada – from our town (genitive)

You can’t say od naš grad; the possessive pronoun and the noun both change to genitive:

naš → našeg
grad → grada

Why is it našeg and not naš or našem?

Naš (our) must agree in case, gender, and number with the noun grad.

Here od puts grad into the genitive singular masculine:

masc. genitive sg: (od) našeg grada

Some forms for comparison (masculine grad):

Nominative: naš grad – our town
Genitive: od našeg grada – from our town / of our town
Dative/Locative: u našem gradu – in our town
Accusative: vidim naš grad – I see our town

So našem would be correct with a preposition that needs dative/locative (like u – in), but od needs genitive, so we use našeg.

What case is grada, and what’s the base form?

The base form (dictionary form) is grad – town, city.

In od našeg grada, grada is genitive singular:

Nominative: grad – town/city
Genitive: grada – of (the) town/city

We use this form because the preposition od takes the genitive.

Can grad mean both "town" and "city"?

Yes. Grad can mean either town or city, depending on size and context. There isn’t a strict separate word like town vs city in English.

So naš grad could be:

our town (small place)
our city (large place)

The correct English translation depends on what kind of place it actually is.

Could I also say Naš grad nije daleko od mora? Does it mean the same thing?

Yes, and it’s a very natural sentence.

More nije daleko od našeg grada. – The sea is not far from our town.
Naš grad nije daleko od mora. – Our town is not far from the sea.

They are essentially the same idea, just with a different focus:

First version focuses slightly more on the sea.
Second version focuses slightly more on our town.

Both are correct and common.

Is the word order More nije daleko od našeg grada fixed, or can it change?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, especially compared to English. You might hear, for example:

More nije od našeg grada daleko.
Nije more daleko od našeg grada.

The basic neutral word order is similar to the original sentence, but different orders can add emphasis (for example, stressing nije or daleko). For learners, the original order More nije daleko od našeg grada is perfectly good and natural.

Does nije daleko mean the same as blizu (near)?

They are similar, but not identical in nuance:

nije daleko – is not far (a bit more neutral; it’s not far, but not necessarily very close)
blizu – near, close (emphasizes closeness)

Compare:

More nije daleko od našeg grada. – The sea is not far from our town.
More je blizu našeg grada. – The sea is close to our town.

In many contexts they overlap, but blizu sounds more clearly “near.”

How do you pronounce More nije daleko od našeg grada?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like spelling):

More – MO-reh
nije – NEE-yeh
daleko – da-LEH-ko
od – od (like odd, but with a pure o)
našeg – NA-sheg (the š like sh in ship)
grada – GRA-da (rolling r)

Stress is usually on the first syllable of each word:
MO-re NI-je DA-le-ko OD NA-šeg GRA-da.

Is more usually singular, or do Croatians use a plural form?

Most of the time, more is used in the singular when talking about sea in general or “the sea” near a place.

There is a plural form mora (seas), but it’s used when you specifically mean multiple seas/oceans:

Svjetska mora su zagađena. – The world’s seas are polluted.

In sentences like More nije daleko od našeg grada, the singular is what you want.