Pas spava iza kuće.

The dog sleeps behind the house.

Breakdown of Pas spava iza kuće.

• pas: dog
• kuća: house
• spavati: to sleep
• iza: behind

Questions & Answers about Pas spava iza kuće.

Why is there no word for the or a before pas?

Croatian has no articles like the or a/an. The bare noun pas can mean:

• the dog (a specific dog everyone knows about), or
• a dog (any dog, not specific),

depending only on context. So:

• Pas spava iza kuće. → can be understood as either The dog sleeps… or A dog sleeps…

Is pas capitalized because it’s a noun, like in German?

No. In Croatian, common nouns are not normally capitalized.
Pas is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence.

If it were in the middle of a sentence, it would be written as pas.

Why is it spava and not spavati?

Spavati is the infinitive (the dictionary form, “to sleep”).
In the sentence you need a verb form that matches the subject pas (3rd person singular, he/it).

Present tense of spavati (to sleep):

• (ja) spavam – I sleep
• (ti) spavaš – you sleep (singular, informal)
• (on/ona/ono) spava – he/she/it sleeps
• (mi) spavamo – we sleep
• (vi) spavate – you sleep (plural/formal)
• (oni/one/ona) spavaju – they sleep

Since pas = he/it, you use spava.

Does spava mean “sleeps” or “is sleeping”? How do you show the difference?

Croatian has only one present tense form here, so spava can mean both:

• Pas spava iza kuće.
  → The dog sleeps behind the house. (habitual)
  → The dog is sleeping behind the house. (right now)

The exact meaning (habit vs right now) is understood from context or extra words like sada (now), obično (usually), etc.:

• Pas sada spava iza kuće. – The dog is sleeping behind the house now.
• Pas obično spava iza kuće. – The dog usually sleeps behind the house.

Why don’t we use je (“is”) in the sentence, like Pas je spava iza kuće?

In Croatian, you do not use je (the verb “to be”) together with a main verb in the present tense like English is sleeping.

You simply conjugate the main verb:

• English: The dog is sleeping.
• Croatian: Pas spava. (not Pas je spava.)

You use je to form some past tenses or with adjectives/nouns:

• Pas je bio iza kuće. – The dog was behind the house.
• Pas je umoran. – The dog is tired.

What does iza do, and why does it affect the form of kuća?

Iza is a preposition meaning behind. In Croatian, many prepositions require a specific case of the noun.

Iza is followed by the genitive case. So:

• basic form (nominative): kuća – house
• genitive singular: kuće – (of) the house

Because of iza, you must say:

• iza kuće – behind the house

Not:

• iza kuća
• iza kuću (those are incorrect here)

Is kuće singular or plural?

Kuće can be:

• genitive singular of kuća – (of) the house (what we have in the sentence), or
• nominative plural of kuća – houses, or
• accusative plural of kuća – (the) houses (as a direct object).

In iza kuće, it’s genitive singular, because iza always takes the genitive.
The meaning here is behind the house (one house).

What genders are pas and kuća, and does that matter?

• Pas – masculine noun (singular: pas, plural: psi)
• Kuća – feminine noun (singular: kuća, plural: kuće)

Gender matters for agreement with adjectives, pronouns, and past tense of some verbs, e.g.:

• Velik pas spava iza kuće. – A big (masc.) dog sleeps behind the house.
• Velika kuća je nova. – The big (fem.) house is new.
• Pas je spavao. – The dog (masc.) slept.
• Kuća je bila stara. – The house (fem.) was old.

Can I change the word order, like Iza kuće pas spava or Pas iza kuće spava?

Yes, Croatian word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatical:

• Pas spava iza kuće. – neutral, most common: The dog sleeps behind the house.
• Iza kuće pas spava. – slightly emphasizes behind the house (that location is what we’re talking about).
• Pas iza kuće spava. – emphasizes behind the house as a contrast (e.g. not in front, not inside).

The basic meaning (who is sleeping where) stays the same; what changes is the focus/emphasis.

How do I make this sentence negative?

To make a verb negative in Croatian, you put ne directly before the verb:

• Pas ne spava iza kuće. – The dog is not sleeping / does not sleep behind the house.

Ne always goes right before the conjugated verb:

• Pas ne spava iza kuće. – not Pas spava ne iza kuće.

How do I say it in the past and future: “The dog slept / was sleeping / will sleep behind the house”?

The most common choices:

• Past (simple / was sleeping):
  Pas je spavao iza kuće. – The dog slept / was sleeping behind the house.
  (for a female dog: Pas je spavala iza kuće., but usually you’d say kuja for a female dog)

• Future:
  Pas će spavati iza kuće. – The dog will sleep behind the house.

Croatian past forms usually use an auxiliary (je, sam, si, etc.) + a past participle (spavao, spavala, spavali…).

How would I say “Dogs sleep behind the house” and “Dogs sleep behind the houses”?

Dogs sleep behind the house (one house):

• Psi spavaju iza kuće.
  
  • psi – dogs (nominative plural of pas)
  • spavaju – they sleep (3rd person plural)
  • iza kuće – behind the house (genitive singular after iza)

Dogs sleep behind the houses (several houses):

• Psi spavaju iza kuća.
  
  • kuća → genitive plural: kuća (same spelling as nominative singular; context and preposition tell you it’s genitive plural)

How do I pronounce kuće, especially the letter ć?

Kuće is pronounced approximately KOO-cheh:

• k – like k in cat
• u – like oo in food
• ć – a soft ch sound, a bit “sharper” and shorter than English church
• e – like e in bet

So kuće ≈ KOO-cheh.

The mark on ć is important:

• ć and č are two different sounds and can distinguish words in Croatian, so learners should pay attention to them.