Moj novi auto je brz.

My new car is fast.

Breakdown of Moj novi auto je brz.

• biti: to be
• moj: my
• nov: new
• auto: car
• brz: fast

Questions & Answers about Moj novi auto je brz.

Why is it Moj novi auto je brz and not My new car is fast with the same word order as in English? Is Croatian word order the same as English here?

The basic word order in Croatian is also Subject–Verb–Complement, so Moj novi auto je brz lines up fairly well with English:

• Moj novi auto – subject (my new car)
• je – verb (is)
• brz – predicate adjective (fast)

However, Croatian word order is more flexible than English because case endings show who does what. You could sometimes hear:

• Novi moj auto je brz. (emphasis on nóvi – it’s my new car that’s fast)
• Moj auto je nov i brz. (two adjectives)

The neutral, most common way to say it is exactly as in your sentence: Moj novi auto je brz.

Why is it moj and not moja or moje?

Moj is the masculine singular form of my. In Croatian, possessive pronouns agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe.

• auto is grammatically masculine singular
• so moj must also be masculine singular nominative

Other forms:

• moja – feminine singular nominative (e.g. moja kuća – my house)
• moje – neuter singular nominative (e.g. moje dijete – my child)

Because auto is masculine, the only correct choice here is moj novi auto.

How can I know that auto is masculine? It ends in -o, which often looks neuter.

You’re right that many neuter nouns end in -o (dijete, selo, more, etc.), but auto is an exception: it is masculine. This is because:

1. auto is a shortened form of automobil, which is clearly masculine.
2. In actual usage, it behaves like a masculine noun:
   • jedan auto (masculine numeral form)
   • novi auto, stari auto (masculine adjective agreement)
   • plural auti (a typical masculine plural ending)

So you must treat auto as masculine in all agreement (pronouns, adjectives, numerals).

Why is the adjective novi used, and not novo or nova?

Again, agreement with gender, number, and case:

• auto – masculine singular nominative
• novi – masculine singular nominative form of nov (new)

Forms of nov in nominative singular are:

• novi auto – masculine (my new car)
• nova kuća – feminine (my new house)
• novo računalo – neuter (my new computer)

Since auto is masculine, you must use novi.

Why is it brz and not brzo or brzi?

Here brz is a predicate adjective: it describes the subject via the verb je.

• Subject: Moj novi auto – masculine singular nominative
• Predicate adjective: brz – masculine singular nominative form

So we use:

• brz for masculine singular (auto je brz)
• brza for feminine singular (kuća je brza – odd semantically, but grammatically correct)
• brzo is normally the adverb meaning quickly or the neuter adjective form (e.g. brzo dijete).

In Moj novi auto je brz, you need an adjective that agrees with auto, not an adverb, so brz is right.

What exactly is je here? Is it always required?

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb biti (to be). So literally:

• je = is

In standard affirmative sentences like this, je is normally present:

• Moj novi auto je brz. – My new car is fast.

You can drop je in some settings (especially in informal speech or in headlines):

• Moj novi auto brz. – sounds like a short, stylistic, often colloquial or headline-like sentence.

But for normal, neutral spoken or written Croatian, keep je: Moj novi auto je brz.

Why is auto in this form and not auta, autu, or autom? What case is it?

Here auto is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

Typical singular forms of auto:

• Nominative: auto – subject (here)
• Genitive: auta – of a car
• Dative/Locative: autu – to/at/in a car
• Accusative: auto – (same as nominative for inanimate masculine)
• Instrumental: autom – with/by car

In Moj novi auto je brz, we are simply saying what the car is like, so the car is the subject: nominative auto.

Can I say Moj auto je nov i brz instead? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, Moj auto je nov i brz is perfectly correct and very natural.

Meanings:

• Moj novi auto je brz. – emphasizes that it is the new car (as opposed to an old one) which is fast.
• Moj auto je nov i brz. – says two things about the car: it is new and fast.

Grammatically:

• nov and brz both agree with auto (masculine singular nominative).
• The structure je X i Y is a normal way to join two predicate adjectives.

Could I put the adjectives after the noun, like Moj auto novi je brz?

In everyday Croatian, descriptive adjectives almost always come before the noun:

• moj novi auto – normal
• auto moj novi – odd, marked, poetic or for strong emphasis

Putting the adjective after the noun is rare and usually:

• poetic, literary, or stylistic
• or used in special fixed phrases (e.g. kafa turska, more Jadransko in some styles)

So for standard modern usage, stick to moj novi auto, not auto novi in this sentence.

What is the difference between auto and automobil? Can I say Moj novi automobil je brz?

Both are correct:

• auto – shorter, very common in speech; informal but fully standard
• automobil – a bit more formal or technical, but also very common

Both are masculine: moj novi auto, moj novi automobil.

You can absolutely say:

• Moj novi automobil je brz. – same meaning, just slightly more formal or neutral than auto.

Why is je in the second position? Could I say Moj novi je auto brz?

In Croatian, je is a clitic form of the verb biti. Clitics usually like to appear very early in the sentence (often in the so‑called “second position”). That’s why you will often see patterns like:

• Auto je brz.
• Moj auto je brz.
• Moj novi auto je brz.

You can move things around for emphasis:

• Moj je novi auto brz. – emphasizes moj (it’s my new car that is fast).

This is grammatically correct and used in real language, but the neutral, most typical version is Moj novi auto je brz.

How do I pronounce the words moj, novi, auto, je, brz?

Approximate pronunciation for an English speaker:

• moj – like moy (rhyming with boy), with a short, clear o; j sounds like English y in yes.
• novi – NOH-vee; stress on the first syllable, both vowels clear.
• auto – OW-toh; au like in now, two syllables: au-to.
• je – yeh; j = y; very short.
• brz – roughly brz in one burst: b
  • rolled or tapped r
    • z; the vowel here is very short/central, almost like saying brz without a clear vowel.

Croatian is quite phonetic: once you know the sounds of the letters, the spelling matches the pronunciation closely.

Do I ever need to add a personal pronoun like on (he/it) in a sentence like this?

Not normally. Croatian usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending and context already tell you who or what is doing the action.

Here:

• Moj novi auto je brz. – clearly about my new car; no pronoun needed.
• Adding on – On, moj novi auto, je brz. – is possible but sounds like you are contrasting: That one, my new car, is fast.

Use a pronoun only if you really want to emphasize or contrast the subject. For simple descriptions, you just say Moj novi auto je brz.