Learn Hardcore Croatian: Njegov automobil je brz.

In Njegov automobil je brz, the important idea is whose car it is, not who is doing something. So Croatian uses the possessive adjective njegov to show ownership, just like English uses his in His car is fast.

So the basic pattern is:
njegov + noun = his + noun (his car, his house, his book, etc.).

Where is the word for the or a in this sentence?

Croatian does not have articles like English the (definite) or a/an (indefinite).

Njegov automobil je brz can mean:
- His car is fast, or
- His car is quick, or
- The car of his is fast (in context).

Whether you understand it as the or a depends entirely on context, not on any specific word in Croatian.

What form is automobil here, and why doesn’t it change?

Automobil is in the nominative singular form, masculine gender.

It is the subject of the sentence (the thing that is fast).
In Croatian, the subject typically stands in the nominative case.
For many masculine nouns, the nominative singular is the dictionary form (the base form you look up), so you don’t see a special ending here.

So:

automobil (nominative singular) = car, automobile
Used as the subject: Automobil je brz (The car is fast).

Why is it brz and not brza, brzo, or brzi?

Brz is an adjective meaning fast, and it must agree with the noun automobil in:

Gender: masculine
Number: singular
Case: nominative (because it’s describing the subject)

Automobil is masculine singular, so the matching form is brz.

Compare:

Automobil je brz. – The car is fast. (masculine)
Kuća je brza. – The house is fast. (grammatically correct but semantically weird; kuća is feminine → brza)
Dijete je brzo. – The child is fast. (dijete is neuter → brzo)

So:

masculine: brz
feminine: brza
neuter: brzo

You see the same pattern when the adjective comes directly before the noun:

brz automobil – a fast car (m.)
brza kuća – a fast house (f.)
brzo dijete – a fast child (n.)

What’s the difference between brz and brzo?

brz is an adjective: it describes a noun (a fast car, a fast runner).
- Njegov automobil je brz. – His car is fast.
brzo is usually an adverb: it describes a verb (how someone does something – quickly).
- On brzo vozi. – He drives quickly.

Very roughly:

brz = fast (what something is)
brzo = fast / quickly (how something is done)

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Automobil je brz or Njegov je automobil brz?

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English, though there are some patterns and nuances.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Njegov automobil je brz.
Neutral, common: His car is fast.
Automobil je brz.
No possessor mentioned: The car is fast.
Njegov je automobil brz.
Sounds a bit more emphatic on njegov (his). For example, if you are contrasting:
- Njegov je automobil brz, ali moj je spor.
  His car is fast, but mine is slow.
Brz je njegov automobil.
Emphasis on brz (fast), often used in speech to stress the quality:
- Brz je njegov automobil, nema što.
  His car really is fast, no doubt.

Meaning stays basically the same, but word order can change what you emphasize in the sentence.

What exactly is je, and can I leave it out?

Je is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb biti (to be):

ja sam – I am
ti si – you are (singular)
on/ona/ono je – he/she/it is
mi smo – we are
vi ste – you are (plural/formal)
oni/one/ona su – they are

In Njegov automobil je brz:

je = is

In full, normal sentences, you must include je:

Njegov automobil je brz. ✅
Njegov automobil brz. ❌ (sounds broken/very telegraphic)

You may see je dropped in headlines, notes, or very informal speech, but for correct standard Croatian, always use it:

Automobil je brz. – The car is fast.

What is the difference between automobil and auto?

Both mean car, but they differ in style:

automobil
- more formal, full word
- used in careful writing, official language, textbooks
- a bit more “neutral” or “bookish”
auto
- very common in everyday speech
- shorter, more casual
- you will hear this all the time

So you could also say:

Njegov auto je brz. – His car is fast. (more colloquial)
Njegov automobil je brz. – His car is fast. (slightly more formal/neutral)

Both are perfectly understandable.

How would I say Her car is fast or Our car is fast?

You change the possessive adjective, but the rest stays the same:

Njegov automobil je brz. – His car is fast.
Njezin automobil je brz. (or Njezin auto je brz.) – Her car is fast.
Naš automobil je brz. – Our car is fast.
Vaš automobil je brz. – Your car is fast. (plural/formal “your”)
Njihov automobil je brz. – Their car is fast.

Pattern:

[possessive adjective] + automobil/auto + je + brz

Common possessive adjectives:

moj – my
tvoj – your (singular, informal)
njegov – his
njezin (or njen in colloquial speech) – her
naš – our
vaš – your (plural/formal)
njihov – their

How do you pronounce nj in njegov?

The Croatian nj is a single sound, a palatal nasal, similar to:

ny in canyon
ñ in Spanish señor

So njegov is roughly:

nje – like nye in “NYE-gohv”
gov – like gov in “government”, but shorter

Approximate pronunciation: NYE-gov (with a short o).

Important: nj is one sound, not n + j separately.

Why is Njegov capitalized here?

It’s capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

In Croatian, like in English:

The first word of a sentence is capitalized.
Proper names (people, cities, countries, etc.) are capitalized.

If njegov appears in the middle of a sentence, it is written with a lowercase n:

Vidim njegov automobil. – I see his car.
Rekao je da je njegov automobil brz. – He said that his car is fast.

How do I say His car is not fast using this sentence?

You make it negative by changing je (is) to nije (is not):

Njegov automobil je brz. – His car is fast.
Njegov automobil nije brz. – His car is not fast.

More examples with nije:

Automobil nije brz. – The car is not fast.
Njezin auto nije brz. – Her car is not fast.