Learn Hardcore Croatian: Naša zgrada ima novi lift i stare stepenice. - Our building has a new elevator and old stairs.

zgrada is in nominative singular: it’s the subject (the thing that “has”).
- Naša zgrada = Our building (subject)
lift is in accusative singular, but it looks the same as nominative for masculine inanimate nouns:
- novi lift is the direct object (the thing being had).
stepenice is in accusative plural, but again, it looks the same as nominative plural for feminine inanimate nouns:
- stare stepenice is also a direct object.

Pattern:

Subject → nominative: Naša zgrada
Objects of “ima” (has) → accusative: novi lift, stare stepenice

Why is it novi lift but stare stepenice? Why are the adjective endings different?

Because lift and stepenice have different gender and number:

lift: masculine, singular, accusative (inanimate)
→ adjective form: novi
- novi lift = new elevator
stepenice: feminine, plural, accusative (inanimate)
→ adjective form: stare
- stare stepenice = old stairs

So the adjectives agree with their nouns:

novi (m.sg.acc) + lift (m.sg.acc)
stare (f.pl.acc) + stepenice (f.pl.acc)

The difference isn’t about meaning (new vs old), it’s about agreement with gender/number.

Why do we use ima here? Is it the same as “there is / there are”?

ima is the 3rd person singular of imati = to have.

Here it’s used literally:

Naša zgrada ima novi lift i stare stepenice.
= Our building *has a new elevator and old stairs.*

So the structure is:

[Subject] ima [Object].
The building has something.

Croatian can also use ima in an impersonal way, more like “there is/are”:

Ima ljudi u parku. = There are people in the park.

But in this sentence, because we explicitly say Naša zgrada as the subject, it’s best understood as “has”, not “there is/are”.

Is ima related to imam, imaš, imamo etc.? How does it conjugate?

Yes, ima is part of the present tense conjugation of imati (to have):

(ja) imam – I have
(ti) imaš – you have (sg, informal)
(on/ona/ono) ima – he/she/it has
(mi) imamo – we have
(vi) imate – you have (pl or formal)
(oni/one/ona) imaju – they have

Here, Naša zgrada ima uses the 3rd person singular form, because zgrada (building) is “it” grammatically.

Why is stepenice plural? Can you say it in the singular?

Stepenice is usually used as a plural-only noun (pluralia tantum), like stairs in English.

stepenice = stairs, steps
We normally don’t say “one stair” in everyday English, and similarly we don’t usually say jedna stepenica in everyday Croatian (though it exists as a word).

You might see the singular stepenica used when you mean one individual step:

Popni se na prvu stepenicu. – Step onto the first step.

But for the general thing “stairs”:

stare stepenice – old stairs
is the natural plural form.

Could the word order be different, like Naša zgrada ima stare stepenice i novi lift?

Yes. Croatian word order is relatively flexible.

All of these are grammatically correct and mean the same basic thing:

Naša zgrada ima novi lift i stare stepenice.
Naša zgrada ima stare stepenice i novi lift.

The difference is just in what you mention first and possibly what you emphasize slightly:

Putting novi lift first can subtly highlight “We have a new elevator (and also old stairs).”
Putting stare stepenice first can highlight the old stairs.

The core grammar (cases, agreement) doesn’t change with this word order swap.

Why do adjectives go before nouns here? Can they come after, like in some other languages?

The normal and most common order in Croatian is:

adjective + noun
- naša zgrada – our building
- novi lift – new elevator
- stare stepenice – old stairs

Adjectives can come after the noun, but that is:

less common,
more typical in fixed expressions, poetic style, or with certain set phrases.

For everyday speech and standard prose, you almost always put the adjective before the noun, as in this sentence.

What’s the difference between lift and dizalo? Which should I use?

Both can mean elevator / lift, but usage varies by region and style:

lift – international word (from German/English), very common in everyday speech, especially in cities.
dizalo – more “native” Croatian-sounding word; often preferred in more formal/standard language or some regions.

In normal conversation, lift is perfectly natural:

Naša zgrada ima novi lift.

You could also say:

Naša zgrada ima novo dizalo.

Just remember to change the adjective to match:

novi lift (lift is masculine)
novo dizalo (dizalo is neuter)

Why don’t we say “a new elevator” in Croatian? Where is the equivalent of “a”?

Croatian does not use articles (no “a/an/the”).

The sentence:

Naša zgrada ima novi lift.

can mean:

Our building has *a new elevator.*
Our building has *the new elevator.* (if context makes it specific)

The idea of “a / the / some” is usually understood from context, or expressed by other means (like taj = that, jedan = one, neki = some), but there is no direct article word like in English.

So novi lift on its own already covers “a new elevator” in this context.

What genders are the nouns here, and how do I know?

In this sentence:

zgrada – feminine
- clue: many nouns ending in -a are feminine
- matches with naša (feminine form of “our”)
lift – masculine
- no special ending (consonant ending), many such nouns are masculine
- matches with novi (masculine form of “new”)
stepenice – feminine plural
- plural form, dictionary form is stepenica (feminine, ends in -a)
- matches with stare (feminine plural form of “old”)

Learning noun gender mostly comes from:

Noticing patterns in endings, and
Memorizing the gender with each new noun (especially those that don’t follow the usual patterns).