Breakdown of Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
Questions & Answers about Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
- Subject (who/what the sentence is about): priroda (nature)
- Adverbial phrase (where?): oko sela (around the village)
- Verb (linking verb “to be”): je (is)
- Predicate adjectives (describing the subject): tiha (quiet) and lijepa (beautiful)
So the structure is essentially:
[Subject] [location] [verb “to be”] [adjectives]
Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
Nature around the village is quiet and beautiful.
Selo is the basic (nominative) form of the noun (village).
In this sentence, you see sela because of case:
- oko (around) is a preposition that always takes the genitive case.
- The genitive singular of selo is sela.
So:
- Nominative: selo – the village
- Genitive: sela – of the village
oko sela literally means “around (of) the village”, which is how Croatian expresses “around the village”.
Yes, oko is one of those words that has two common meanings:
oko (noun) – eye
- jedno oko – one eye
- plava oka – blue eyes
oko (preposition + genitive) – around
- oko sela – around the village
- oko kuće – around the house
In Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa, oko is the preposition meaning around, not the body part.
Croatian does not use articles (a, an, the) the way English does.
- priroda can mean “nature”, “the nature”, or even “a nature”, depending on context.
- The “definiteness” (whether it feels like the or a) is understood from context, word order, and shared knowledge, not from a special word.
Here, Priroda oko sela is naturally understood as “The nature around the village” because both the speaker and listener are presumably thinking of a specific village and its surroundings.
In Croatian, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in:
- gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
- number (singular / plural)
- case
Here:
- priroda is feminine singular, nominative.
- So the adjectives must also be feminine singular, nominative:
- tih → tiha (feminine sg. nom.)
- lijep → lijepa (feminine sg. nom.)
If the noun were masculine or neuter, the forms would change:
- muški rod (masculine):
- Krajolik je tih i lijep. – The landscape is quiet and beautiful.
- srednji rod (neuter):
- Mjesto je tiho i lijepo. – The place is quiet and beautiful.
Yes. Both orders are grammatically correct:
- tiha i lijepa
- lijepa i tiha
The difference is only in rhythm and slight emphasis. In many contexts they’re interchangeable, just like “quiet and beautiful” vs. “beautiful and quiet” in English.
Croatian does not have a very strict fixed order of adjectives the way English often does.
No comma is needed because the adjectives are joined by i (and).
- Without i, you would normally use a comma:
- Priroda … je tiha, lijepa, čista…
- With i, no comma:
- Priroda … je tiha i lijepa.
So the sentence is correctly punctuated as is.
You can say “Oko sela je tiho i lijepo.”, but it means something slightly different:
Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
Focus is on nature as a thing:
The nature around the village is quiet and beautiful.Oko sela je tiho i lijepo.
Focus is on the situation / atmosphere around the village:
Around the village it is quiet and beautiful.
Using tiho and lijepo (neuter/adverb-like) makes them describe the general state or environment, instead of grammatically matching a specific noun like priroda.
So with priroda as the subject, the correct agreeing forms are tiha i lijepa.
In normal, neutral sentences like this, you should keep the verb:
- ✅ Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
Leaving je out is possible mainly in:
- Headlines / slogans / labels:
- Voda kristalno čista – “Water (is) crystal clear”
- Some fixed expressions and very informal speech
But for a standard, complete sentence, especially as a learner, it’s better to include je.
Yes, selo most commonly means “village”, as opposed to a town (grad) or city (grad).
Nuances:
- selo – a rural settlement, often small, with fields, farms, countryside feel.
- grad – a town/city, more urban, more infrastructure.
- mjesto – literally place, but often used for “settlement” in general (village, small town, etc.).
selo can sometimes carry a “countryside / rustic” connotation, similar to how “the country” vs. “the city” works in English.
tiha – adjective, feminine singular: quiet, silent
- tiha priroda – quiet nature
tiho –
- neuter adjective form, but very often used as an adverb: quiet(ly)
- Ovdje je tiho. – It is quiet here.
- Govori tiho. – Speak quietly.
mirna – adjective, feminine singular of miran: calm, peaceful
- mirna rijeka – a calm river
- mirna atmosfera – a calm/peaceful atmosphere
In your sentence, tiha emphasizes low noise / silence, while mirna would emphasize calmness / lack of disturbance.
You could say:
- Priroda oko sela je tiha i mirna. – The nature around the village is quiet and calm.
Yes, this is grammatically correct:
- Oko sela je tiha i lijepa priroda.
Around the village there is quiet and beautiful nature.
Differences in nuance:
Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
You start with priroda as a known thing and then describe it.Oko sela je tiha i lijepa priroda.
You start with the location (around the village) and then introduce what is there – priroda.
Both are fine; the original version is slightly more neutral.
This is a standard-language difference:
- In standard Croatian, the correct form is lijep / lijepa / lijepo.
- In standard Serbian, the form is lep / lepa / lepo.
So:
- Croatian: Priroda oko sela je tiha i lijepa.
- Serbian: Priroda oko sela je tiha i lepa.
Both are understood across the region, but if you’re specifically learning Croatian, use lijepa in this sentence.
Approximate English-like pronunciation (stressing the first syllable in each word):
priroda → PREE-ro-da
- rolling r slightly; all vowels clearly pronounced.
sela → SEH-la
- e like in set; a like in father.
tiha → TEE-ha
- h is a real consonant (slightly like German “Bach”), not silent.
lijepa → LYEH-pa
- lj is a single sound, similar to the lli in million in cautious speech.
- je is roughly ye as in yes.
All vowels are short and clear; letters are read more or less as written.