Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.

My family lives in the neighboring street.

Breakdown of Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.

• u: in
• moj: my
• obitelj: family
• ulica: street
• živjeti: to live
• susjedni: neighboring

Questions & Answers about Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.

Why does the verb živi (lives) agree with obitelj in the singular, even though “family” refers to several people?

In Croatian, obitelj (family) is grammatically singular, so the verb that goes with it is also singular:

• Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.
  → My family lives in the neighboring street.

This is just like English “My family lives” (not live, in standard American English).
If you specifically talk about the members as a group of people, you use a plural noun:

• Članovi moje obitelji žive u susjednoj ulici.
  → The members of my family live in the neighboring street.

So:

• obitelj → singular noun → živi
• članovi (members) → plural noun → žive

Why is it moja obitelj and not moj obitelj?

Because obitelj is grammatically feminine, and the possessive pronoun “my” must agree in gender (and case and number) with the noun it modifies.

Nominative singular forms of “my”:

• masculine: moj (moj pas – my dog)
• feminine: moja (moja obitelj – my family)
• neuter: moje (moje dijete – my child)

So you say:

• ✅ Moja obitelj živi…
• ❌ Moj obitelj živi… (ungrammatical)

What case is susjednoj ulici, and why is it used after u?

Susjednoj ulici is in the locative case, feminine singular.

The preposition u (“in”) can take either:

• Locative – when describing location (where something is):
  
  • u susjednoj ulici – in the neighboring street
  • u Zagrebu – in Zagreb
• Accusative – when describing movement into something (where you’re going):
  
  • u susjednu ulicu – into the neighboring street
  • u Zagreb – to Zagreb

In this sentence you are talking about where they live (a static location), so you use:

• u
  • locative → u susjednoj ulici

Why is it susjednoj and not susjedna ulica?

The basic phrase is:

• susjedna ulica – neighboring street (nominative, “dictionary form”)

But after u meaning “in,” we need the locative case. The adjective susjedna and the noun ulica both change to locative feminine singular and must agree:

• nominative: susjedna ulica
• locative: u susjednoj ulici

So both parts change:

• susjedna → susjednoj
• ulica → ulici

Could I also say na susjednoj ulici instead of u susjednoj ulici?

In everyday Croatian, people would normally say:

• Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.

The preposition na is usually used with:

• surfaces / open areas: na stolu (on the table), na trgu (in the square)
• many public places/events: na poslu (at work), na koncertu (at the concert), na selu (in the countryside)

For streets, u + locative (u ulici) is the natural choice.
Na ulici tends to mean “on the street” (outside, out in the street) rather than “in that street (as an address).”

So:

• Žive u susjednoj ulici. – They live in the neighboring street (their home is there).
• Djeca se igraju na ulici. – The children are playing in the street / out on the street.

Can I change the word order, for example U susjednoj ulici živi moja obitelj?

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English. All these are grammatical:

• Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.
• U susjednoj ulici živi moja obitelj.
• U susjednoj ulici moja obitelj živi.

However:

• The neutral, most typical order here is the original one:
  Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.
• Moving u susjednoj ulici to the start ( U susjednoj ulici živi moja obitelj ) puts more emphasis on the place:
  It’s in the neighboring street that my family lives.

So yes, you can change the order, but it slightly changes the focus of the sentence.

Is there a plural form of obitelj, and how would the sentence change?

Yes, obitelj has a plural: obitelji (families).

• singular: Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.
  → My family lives in the neighboring street.
• plural: Moje obitelji žive u susjednoj ulici.
  → My families live in the neighboring street.

Here you can see:

• moje obitelji – plural feminine
• žive – 3rd person plural of živjeti

The plural is not used often in this sense, but it appears, for example, when talking about two branches of a family, foster families, etc.

What is the difference between obitelj and porodica / familija?

In standard Croatian, the normal word for family is:

• obitelj

You might also encounter:

• porodica – common in Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin; in Croatia it’s generally perceived as “Serbian” or regional.
• familija – exists in Croatian but is colloquial; can sound less formal or even slightly negative (“that bunch / clan”).

For standard Croatian, especially in writing or in class, you should prefer:

• ✅ obitelj

How do I pronounce the special letters in Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici?

Key sounds:

• j – like English y in yes:
  
  • moja → MO-ya
• lj (in obitelj) – like a soft ly, similar to Italian gli or Spanish ll in some dialects:
  
  • obitelj → roughly O-bi-te-ly (one consonant, not l
    • j separately)
• ž – like s in measure or zh in Zhivago:
  
  • živi → ZHEE-vee
  • susjednoj → SOO-syed-noy (the s here is normal s; the j is y)
• c in ulici (ulici/ulici) – like ts in cats:
  
  • ulici → OO-li-tsi

Croatian spelling is very phonetic: once you know the sound of each letter (and digraphs like lj, nj, dž), pronunciation is usually predictable.

Why is there no word for “the” in this sentence?

Croatian has no articles like English “a/an” or “the”.
The sentence:

• Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.

can mean:

• My family lives *in the neighboring street.
  (or, in some contexts: *in a neighboring street – but usually it’s clear from context.)

Definiteness (whether something is specific like “the” or non‑specific like “a”) is shown mainly by:

• context
• word choice and word order
• sometimes possessives or demonstratives (e.g. ta ulica – that street)

Could I use a different verb instead of živi, like stanuje?

Yes, you can, with a small difference in nuance:

• Moja obitelj živi u susjednoj ulici.
  → Neutral, very common. My family lives / resides in the neighboring street.
• Moja obitelj stanuje u susjednoj ulici.
  → Focuses more on the place where they are housed / have a flat or house.
  Slightly more specific to residential address, but also common.

In most everyday situations, živi is the default and safest choice.