Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka.

The morning is beautiful without clouds.

Breakdown of Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka.

• biti: to be
• lijep: beautiful
• bez: without
• oblak: cloud
• jutro: morning

Questions & Answers about Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka.

Why is there no word like the or a before jutro?

Croatian has no articles (no the, a, or an). The noun jutro on its own can mean:

• a morning
• the morning
• morning (in a general sense)

Which one is meant is understood from context, not from a separate word. So Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka can be understood as:

• The morning is beautiful without clouds, or
• Morning is beautiful without clouds.

Why is it lijepo and not lijep or lijepa?

In Croatian, adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• jutro is neuter singular (like ono = it).
• The base adjective is lijep (beautiful, nice).
• Its basic forms in nominative singular are:
  
  • lijep – masculine
  • lijepa – feminine
  • lijepo – neuter

Because jutro is neuter, the adjective must also be neuter: lijepo.

So:

• Jutro je lijepo. – correct
• Jutro je lijep. – wrong
• Jutro je lijepa. – wrong

What is the grammatical role of je here?

je is the 3rd person singular of the verb biti (to be).

• Jutro – subject (it)
• je – verb is
• lijepo – complement (describing jutro)

So the structure is like English “Morning is beautiful”:

• Jutro (Morning)
• je (is)
• lijepo (beautiful)

In everyday speech, je is usually present. In very literary or poetic style, it can sometimes be dropped, but in standard neutral sentences you should keep it: Jutro je lijepo.

Why is it oblaka and not oblaci or oblak?

The base noun is:

• oblak – a cloud (nominative singular)
• oblaci – clouds (nominative plural)

But the preposition bez (without) always takes the genitive case.

• Genitive singular of oblak: oblaka – of a cloud
• Genitive plural of oblak: also oblaka – of clouds

In the phrase bez oblaka, we normally understand it as without clouds / without any clouds, i.e. genitive plural.

So:

• bez
  • genitive → bez oblaka
• Literally: without (any) clouds

Is bez oblaka always used with bez, or can I use a different case?

With bez, you must use the genitive case. The pattern is fixed:

• bez
  • genitive
    
    • bez oblaka – without clouds
    • bez kiše – without rain
    • bez šećera – without sugar

You cannot say:

• ✗ bez oblaci
• ✗ bez oblak

Those are incorrect because they are not genitive forms.

Can I change the word order? For example: Lijepo je jutro bez oblaka?

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English. All of these are grammatical, but differ in emphasis:

• Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka.
  Neutral: stating that the morning (today / in general) is beautiful when there are no clouds.

• Lijepo je jutro bez oblaka.
  Slight emphasis on lijepo: What a beautiful morning it is without clouds. It sounds a bit more expressive.

• Jutro bez oblaka je lijepo.
  Emphasis on jutro bez oblaka as a unit: A morning without clouds is beautiful.

All still describe the same idea; the differences are mostly in focus and style, not in basic meaning.

Is lijepo here an adjective or an adverb?

Here lijepo is an adjective in neuter singular, agreeing with jutro.

• Jutro je lijepo. – lijepo describes jutro (What is the morning like? → beautiful)

However, lijepo can also be an adverb meaning nicely / well:

• On lijepo pjeva. – He sings nicely.

How to tell?
You look at what it describes:

• If it describes a noun and agrees in gender/number/case → adjective.
• If it describes a verb (how someone does something) and doesn’t agree with a noun → adverb.

In Jutro je lijepo, it clearly describes the noun jutro, so it is adjectival.

What is the difference between jutro and ujutro?

• jutro – a noun: morning

  • Jutro je lijepo. – The morning is beautiful.

• ujutro – an adverbial expression: in the morning / in the mornings

  • Ujutro pijem kavu. – I drink coffee in the morning.

You cannot just swap them:

• ✗ Ujutro je lijepo bez oblaka. – literally “In the morning it is nice without clouds” (this is grammatical but now ujutro modifies je lijepo, not a noun; the meaning changes to a general statement about time of day).
• Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka. – focuses on the morning itself being beautiful.

So in your sentence, you need jutro, not ujutro, because you are talking about the morning as a thing.

Could I say Jutro je prelijepo bez oblaka or Jutro je jako lijepo bez oblaka?

Yes, both are natural and common ways to intensify lijepo:

• Jutro je prelijepo bez oblaka.
  – The morning is very / extremely beautiful without clouds.
  (prelijepo = very beautiful)

• Jutro je jako lijepo bez oblaka.
  – The morning is very beautiful without clouds.
  (jako = very)

The grammar structure stays the same; you just modify the adjective lijepo with an adverb (pre- as a prefix, or jako as a separate word).

Is this sentence talking about today’s morning or mornings in general?

By itself, Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka can mean either, depending on context, because there is no article to mark it.

• Specific (today’s) morning
  If the context is today:

  • You wake up, look outside, and say: Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka.
    → You mean: This morning is beautiful without clouds.

• General statement
  If you are speaking in general about weather or climate:

  • Jutro je lijepo bez oblaka.
    → You mean: Morning (as a time of day) is beautiful when there are no clouds.

Croatian relies on context and situation, not on articles, to clarify this.