Bez nje je stol prazan.

Without her the table is empty.

Breakdown of Bez nje je stol prazan.

• biti: to be
• bez: without
• stol: table
• prazan: empty
• nje: her

Questions & Answers about Bez nje je stol prazan.

What does bez mean, and which case does it require?

Bez means without.
In Croatian, bez always takes the genitive case.

So:

• bez nje = without her (genitive of ona – she)
• bez njega = without him / without it (masc.)
• bez mene = without me

You will never say *bez ona or *bez ona je stol prazan; the pronoun must be in the genitive: bez nje.

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Why is it nje and not ona or nju?

Ona is the basic (nominative) form of she:

• ona = nominative (subject form, she)
• nju = accusative (object form, her)
• nje = genitive (of her, without her, from her etc.)

Because the preposition bez requires the genitive case, we must use nje, not ona or nju.

Rough pattern for ona:

• Nominative: ona – Ona je ovdje. (She is here.)
• Accusative: nju – Vidim nju. (I see her.)
• Genitive: nje – Bojim se nje. (I am afraid of her.) / Bez nje… (Without her…)

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What is je here, and why is it in the middle of the sentence?

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

• je = is

So the basic structure is:

• stol je prazan = the table is empty

Croatian is quite flexible with word order, and je (as a short verb form) often appears in the second position of the clause.

In Bez nje je stol prazan:

• Bez nje = Without her (first element)
• je = is (moves to second position)
• stol prazan = the table empty

You could also say:

• Stol je prazan bez nje. (neutral, very common)
• Bez nje, stol je prazan. (also fine, similar to English intonation)

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Why is it stol and not stola or something else?

Stol (table) is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case:

• stol = table (nominative singular, masculine)

Only bez nje is affected by the preposition and put into the genitive. The rest of the sentence is a normal X is Y structure:

• stol je prazan = (the) table is empty

If the table were in another role (for example, object of a preposition), its form could change, but here it’s just the subject, so nominative stol is correct.

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Why is it prazan and not prazno or prazna?

Prazan is an adjective meaning empty. In Croatian, adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Stol is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective must also be:

• masculine, singular, nominative → prazan

Other forms (for comparison):

• prazna čaša (feminine singular nominative) – an empty glass
• prazno selo (neuter singular nominative) – an empty village
• prazni stolovi (masculine plural nominative) – empty tables

In this sentence, stol (m.sg.) → prazan (m.sg.).

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Is word order fixed, or can I say this sentence in other ways?

Word order is fairly flexible, and each variant can slightly change emphasis.

Possible versions:

1. Bez nje je stol prazan.

   • Emphasis on without her – It’s without her that the table is empty.

2. Stol je prazan bez nje.

   • Neutral, similar to The table is empty without her.

3. Bez nje, stol je prazan.

   • Very close to English: Without her, the table is empty.

All are grammatically correct. The main difference is what you put in focus (what you mention first or stress when speaking).

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Can Croatian drop the word je, like saying Bez nje stol prazan?

In standard Croatian, in this kind of sentence, you normally keep je:

• Bez nje je stol prazan.

In poetry, song lyrics, or very colloquial speech, people might sometimes omit je in short, elliptical sentences, but that’s not standard usage:

• Bez nje stol prazan. (would sound poetic or stylized)

As a learner, it’s better to keep je in sentences like this.

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Why is there no word for the before stol?

Croatian does not have articles (the, a, an) as separate words. The noun stol can mean:

• table
• a table
• the table

Which one is correct depends on context, not on a specific word. In this particular sentence, Bez nje je stol prazan, English would normally use the:

• Without her, the table is empty.

But Croatian just says stol; there is no separate article to translate.

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What is the literal, word‑for‑word breakdown of the sentence?

• bez = without
• nje = her (genitive of ona)
• je = is (3rd person singular of biti)
• stol = table
• prazan = empty (masculine singular)

Literal order:

• Bez nje je stol prazan.
  Without her is table empty.

Natural English:

• Without her, the table is empty.

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How would I say without me / without you / without him / without us in the same structure?

Use bez + genitive of the pronoun:

• Bez mene je stol prazan. – Without me, the table is empty.
• Bez tebe je stol prazan. – Without you, the table is empty.
• Bez njega je stol prazan. – Without him, the table is empty.
• Bez nje je stol prazan. – Without her, the table is empty.
• Bez nas je stol prazan. – Without us, the table is empty.
• Bez vas je stol prazan. – Without you (plural / formal), the table is empty.

Pattern: bez + [genitive pronoun] + je + stol prazan.

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How do I pronounce nje and je? They look similar.

• je

  • Sounds like ye in yes.
  • One syllable: ye

• nje

  • Has a palatal nj sound (like Spanish ñ in niño, or ny in canyon).
  • Roughly nye in English new (but shorter and smoother).
  • One syllable: nye

So:

• Bez nje ≈ bez nye
• je ≈ ye

They rhyme, but nje starts with that ny sound.

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Is prazan here only physically empty, or can it be emotional/figurative, like in English?

Prazan can be both literal and figurative, just like empty in English.

• Literal:
  
  • Stol je prazan. – The table is (physically) empty.
• Figurative / emotional:
  
  • Bez nje je stol prazan. – Without her, the table is empty.
    
    • Suggests that her presence is what gives the scene life, warmth, meaning, etc.

So yes, in this sentence it can easily be understood in an emotional/poetic sense, not just as a table with nothing on it.