Ovo je tradicionalna juha.

to be

Breakdown of Ovo je tradicionalna juha.

• ovo: this
• juha: soup
• tradicionalan: traditional

Questions & Answers about Ovo je tradicionalna juha.

Why is it ovo and not ova when juha is feminine?

In ovo je tradicionalna juha, ovo does not agree with juha.

• ovo literally means “this (thing here)” and is a neuter pronoun used to point at something whose gender you are not naming yet.
• Only when you actually name the thing (juha) do you show the feminine gender with the adjective tradicionalna and the noun juha.

Compare:

• Ovo je tradicionalna juha. – This is a traditional soup.
• Ova juha je tradicionalna. – This soup is traditional.

In the second sentence, you’re saying ovA juhA, so the demonstrative ova must agree with the feminine noun juha. In the original sentence, ovo just means “this thing” and stays neuter.

What does je do here, and can I leave it out?

je is the present tense of the verb biti (to be), 3rd person singular: on/ona/ono je = he/she/it is.

In this sentence:

• Ovo je tradicionalna juha.
  → ovo = this
  → je = is
  → tradicionalna juha = traditional soup

You generally cannot leave je out in standard Croatian:

• ✅ Ovo je tradicionalna juha.