Moj brat je pažljiv vozač.

My brother is a careful driver.

Breakdown of Moj brat je pažljiv vozač.

• biti: to be
• moj: my
• brat: brother
• vozač: driver
• pažljiv: careful

Questions & Answers about Moj brat je pažljiv vozač.

What does Moj mean exactly, and why is it in this form (not moja or moje)?

Moj means my. It’s a possessive adjective that must agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case.

• brat (brother) is:
  • masculine
  • singular
  • nominative (subject form)

So the matching form of moj is:

• moj brat – my brother
  Compare with:
• moja sestra – my sister (feminine singular)
• moje dijete – my child (neuter singular)
• moji prijatelji – my (male/mixed) friends (masculine plural)
• moje prijateljice – my (female) friends (feminine plural)

In other cases, moj changes, for example:

• Vidim mog brata. – I see my brother. (genitive/accusative)

What case is brat in, and why?

Brat is in the nominative singular.

In the sentence Moj brat je pažljiv vozač, brat is the subject (“My brother”), so it must be in the basic subject form, the nominative.

• Subject: Moj brat – My brother
• Verb: je – is
• Predicate (what he is): pažljiv vozač – a careful driver

So brat is nominative because it is the person doing/being something in the sentence.

What is je, and why does it come in that position?

Je is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb biti (to be). It corresponds to “is” in English.

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

In Croatian, short forms of biti like je, sam, si, smo, ste, su are clitics that usually go in the second position in the clause (the “second-position” or Wackernagel rule).

In Moj brat je pažljiv vozač:

• First position: Moj brat
• Second position: je
• Rest: pažljiv vozač

You can also say:

• Moj je brat pažljiv vozač.

Here, Moj is first and je still stays in second position. This word order puts a bit more emphasis on brat (“It’s my brother who is a careful driver.”), but both versions are grammatically correct.

Why isn’t there a word for “a” or “the” in pažljiv vozač?

Croatian has no articles. There is no direct equivalent of English “a / an / the”.

So:

• pažljiv vozač can mean:
  • a careful driver
  • the careful driver
  • (he is) careful as a driver – depending on context.

Definiteness and specificity are usually understood from context, word order, or sometimes from using demonstratives like:

• taj vozač – that driver
• onaj vozač – that driver (over there)
• ovaj vozač – this driver

Why are both brat and vozač in what looks like the same form? Shouldn’t one of them be in another case?

Both brat and vozač are in nominative singular masculine:

• brat – brother (nominative singular)
• vozač – driver (nominative singular)

In Croatian, after biti (to be), when you say someone is something (a profession, role, description), the noun on both sides of je is typically in the nominative:

• Moj brat je vozač. – My brother is a driver.
• On je učitelj. – He is a teacher.
• Ona je doktorica. – She is a doctor.

You can also sometimes use the instrumental for professions/roles (Moj brat je vozačem), which adds a nuance of “his role/occupation is that of a driver,” but in everyday speech, the nominative as in the original sentence is very common and completely correct.

Why does the adjective pažljiv come before vozač, and how does it agree?

In Croatian, adjectives that directly modify a noun usually come before the noun, just like “careful driver” in English:

• pažljiv vozač – careful driver
• velika kuća – big house
• dobar čovjek – good man

Pažljiv must agree with vozač in:

• gender: masculine
• number: singular
• case: nominative

So you get:

• pažljiv vozač – a careful driver (masc. sg. nom.)
• pažljiva vozačica – a careful female driver (fem. sg. nom.)
• pažljivi vozači – careful drivers (masc. pl. nom.)

If any of those change case, the adjective changes too:

• Vidim pažljivog vozača. – I see a careful driver. (accusative)
• Pričam s pažljivim vozačem. – I talk with a careful driver. (instrumental)

Could I say just Moj brat je pažljiv without vozač? Does it mean the same?

Yes, you can say:

• Moj brat je pažljiv. – My brother is careful.

But the meaning is a bit broader:

• Moj brat je pažljiv.
  – He is a careful person in general (he pays attention, is considerate, thorough, etc.).

• Moj brat je pažljiv vozač.
  – He is specifically careful as a driver. He drives attentively and safely.

So the original sentence limits the adjective pažljiv to his behaviour when driving.

Could I express possession differently, like Brat mi je pažljiv vozač?

Yes. Brat mi je pažljiv vozač is also correct and quite common in speech.

• mi here is a clitic pronoun (dative of ja – “to me”), often used to indicate something like “my (to me)” in a more colloquial way.
• Literally: “The brother to me is a careful driver.”

So you have two natural options:

• Moj brat je pažljiv vozač. – My brother is a careful driver.
• Brat mi je pažljiv vozač. – My brother is a careful driver. (a bit more colloquial/informal, or emphasizing that it’s my brother)

Both are understood the same way in everyday conversation.

What’s the difference between pažljiv and another word like oprezan?

Both pažljiv and oprezan can be translated as “careful”, but there is a nuance:

• pažljiv – attentive, considerate, paying attention, often with a sense of being thorough or mindful of others.

  • pažljiv vozač – he watches the road, other drivers, pedestrians, follows rules carefully.
  • pažljiv čovjek – considerate person (towards other people).

• oprezan – cautious, wary, avoiding danger, careful in the sense of not taking risks.

  • oprezan vozač – a cautious driver, doesn’t speed, avoids risky manoeuvres.
  • oprezan s novcem – careful with money (doesn’t waste it).

In many contexts you can use either, but:

• pažljiv vozač emphasizes attention and consideration.
• oprezan vozač emphasizes caution and risk avoidance.

How would the sentence change if I said “My sister is a careful driver” instead?

You need to change the possessive, the noun, the adjective, and usually also the noun for “driver” to a feminine form:

• Moja sestra je pažljiva vozačica.
  
  • Moja – my (feminine, because sestra is feminine)
  • sestra – sister
  • je – is
  • pažljiva – careful (feminine singular nominative, agreeing with vozačica)
  • vozačica – (female) driver

So the pattern stays the same, but all the relevant words shift to feminine forms.