Ljetni dan u našem gradu je sunčan i topao.

The summer day in our city is sunny and warm.

Breakdown of Ljetni dan u našem gradu je sunčan i topao.

• biti: to be
• topao: warm
• grad: city
• u: in
• i: and
• dan: day
• naš: our
• sunčan: sunny
• ljetni: summer

Questions & Answers about Ljetni dan u našem gradu je sunčan i topao.

Why is it ljetni dan and not ljeto dan or ljetan dan?

In Croatian, when you want to say “summer day”, you normally use an adjective derived from the noun:

• ljeto = summer (noun)
• ljetni = summer (adjective, masculine singular)
• dan = day (masculine noun)

So:

• ljetni dan = “summer day” (literally: summer-y day)

Ljetan technically exists as an adjective but is rare and feels literary or old-fashioned. The regular, natural choice is ljetni dan.

Why is dan masculine, and how does that affect the other words?

Dan is grammatically masculine singular. In Croatian, adjectives and some pronouns must agree with the noun in:

• Gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
• Number (singular / plural)
• Case (nominative, genitive, etc.)

In Ljetni dan u našem gradu je sunčan i topao:

• dan – masculine singular, nominative
• ljetni – masculine singular, nominative (agrees with dan)
• sunčan – masculine singular, nominative (describes dan)
• topao – masculine singular, nominative (also describes dan)

If the noun changed gender, all of these would change too.
Example with a feminine noun noć (night):

• Ljetna noć je topla. – A summer night is warm.

What case is u našem gradu, and why is it used?

U našem gradu is in the locative case:

• grad → gradu (locative singular)
• naš → našem (locative singular, masculine)

The preposition u (“in”) usually takes the locative when it means location (where something is).

• u gradu = in the town / city (location)
• u našeg grada – incorrect here
• u naš grad = into our town (movement into, accusative case)

So in the sentence we are talking about where the day is like that:
u našem gradu = in our town (not moving anywhere).

Why is it gradu and not grad?

Grad is the base (nominative) form:

• grad – town / city (nominative)
• gradu – in the town (locative)

Because of the preposition u with the meaning “in (somewhere)”, grad must change to the locative → gradu:

• O gradu pričamo. – We are talking about the city.
• U gradu živimo. – We live in the city.

The change -d → -du is just the regular locative ending for many masculine nouns.

Why does našem end in -em instead of just naš?

Naš is a possessive pronoun: our. It behaves like an adjective and must agree with grad in case, gender, and number.

In u našem gradu:

• grad → gradu (masculine, locative singular)
• naš → našem (masculine, locative singular)

So našem is the locative form of naš.
If we changed the noun, naš would change too:

• u našem gradu – in our town (masc.)
• u našoj kući – in our house (fem.)
• u našem selu – in our village (neuter)

Is je (is) necessary here, or can it be left out?

The full, neutral sentence is:

• Ljetni dan u našem gradu je sunčan i topao.

In everyday speech and especially in more expressive or literary style, je can sometimes be dropped in the present tense:

• Ljetni dan u našem gradu sunčan i topao.

This is understood, but it sounds a bit poetic or headline-like, not like standard neutral prose.
For learners, it is safer to always include je in such sentences.

Why are the adjectives sunčan and topao in the masculine form?

They both describe dan, which is masculine singular, so they must match:

• sunčan – sunny (masculine singular)
• topao – warm (masculine singular)

If the noun were feminine or neuter, these adjectives would change:

• feminine: sunčana, topla
  
  • Ljetna večer je sunčana i topla.
• neuter: sunčano, toplo
  
  • Ljetno jutro je sunčano i toplo.

What’s the difference between sunčan i topao and sunčano i toplo?

Grammatically:

• sunčan, topao – adjectives, masculine singular
  → agree with a masculine noun like dan
• sunčano, toplo – neuter singular, and very often used as adverbs / impersonal weather descriptions

So:

• Ljetni dan je sunčan i topao.
  We explicitly describe the day (masc. noun) as sunny and warm.

• Sunčano je i toplo.
  Literally: It is sunny and warm.
  This is a general weather statement, without naming dan.

Both can describe the same situation, but the grammar and style differ.

Can I change the word order, for example: U našem gradu je ljetni dan sunčan i topao?

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English. All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Ljetni dan u našem gradu je sunčan i topao.
2. U našem gradu je ljetni dan sunčan i topao.

The difference is mostly about focus:

• Starting with Ljetni dan emphasizes the day.
• Starting with U našem gradu emphasizes the place (in our town, as opposed to somewhere else).

For learners, version (1) is very clear and neutral.

Why doesn’t Croatian use articles like “a” or “the” in this sentence?

Croatian has no articles (no equivalents of English a/an or the). So:

• Ljetni dan can mean “a summer day” or “the summer day”, depending on context.
• The definiteness is understood from context, word order, and stress, not from a separate word.

English speakers often want to add some kind of article, but in Croatian you just say Ljetni dan and let the context do the work.

Why is the preposition u used here and not na?

Both u and na can mean something like in / at / on, but they’re used with different types of nouns and with different nuances.

With grad (city / town), the natural choice is u when talking about being in it:

• u gradu – in the city
• na gradu would mean literally on the city, which doesn’t make sense.

Examples of nouns that usually take na:

• na otoku – on the island
• na ulici – in the street / on the street
• na trgu – in the square

So here, u našem gradu is the standard way to say in our town/city.

How do you pronounce lj in ljetni and nj in similar words?

Croatian has special consonant sounds written with digraphs (two letters representing one sound):

• lj – a soft “ly” sound, similar to the lli in million (British-like pronunciation), or the lli in William.
  • ljetni sounds like LYET-nee.
• nj – a soft “ny” sound, like the ñ in Spanish niño, or the ni in onion.

These are single consonants in Croatian phonology, even though they use two letters.