Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ovo je tradicionalna 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.
❌ Ovo tradicionalna juha. (wrong in standard language)

There are some colloquial or dialectal situations where je is dropped, but for correct standard Croatian you should always include it.

Why does tradicionalna end in -a?

The ending -a on tradicionalna shows that it agrees with juha in:

gender: feminine
number: singular
case: nominative (subject/complement)

The basic dictionary form of this adjective is:

tradicionalan – masculine form (used as the citation form)

The full paradigm in the nominative singular is:

masculine: tradicionalan (npr. tradicionalan recept)
feminine: tradicionalna (npr. tradicionalna juha)
neuter: tradicionalno (npr. tradicionalno jelo)

Since juha is a feminine singular noun in nominative, the adjective must be tradicionalna.

Why is it juha and not something like supa? I’ve seen both.

Both words exist:

juha – standard Croatian word for soup, broth
supa – more common in Serbian and some dialects; in standard Croatian juha is preferred

If you are learning standard Croatian, use juha.
Examples:

Povrtna juha – vegetable soup
Pileća juha – chicken soup

Is there any article in Croatian here, like “a” or “the”?

No. Croatian has no articles (no direct equivalent of English a/an/the).

Ovo je tradicionalna juha. can mean:
- This is a traditional soup.
- This is the traditional soup.

Which English article you choose depends on context, not on anything in the Croatian sentence. Croatian expresses definiteness mostly through word order and context, not with separate words like a or the.

Can I say Ova juha je tradicionalna instead? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can, and both sentences are correct, but they have a slightly different focus:

Ovo je tradicionalna juha.
- Literally: This is a traditional soup.
- Typical when introducing or identifying something:
  You point to a dish and say what it is.
Ova juha je tradicionalna.
- Literally: This soup is traditional.
- You have already identified it as soup, and now comment on its property (tradition).

Both are natural. If you want to mirror English “This is a traditional soup” exactly, Ovo je tradicionalna juha is the closer structure.

Can the word order change? For example, Tradicionalna je ovo juha?

In everyday, neutral Croatian, the normal order is:

Ovo je tradicionalna juha.

Other orders are possible but sound unusual, emphatic, or poetic:

Tradicionalna je ovo juha. – Could work in a very literary or expressive context, emphasizing tradicionalna. Not typical in casual speech.
Ovo je juha tradicionalna. – Sounds awkward or poetic; you almost never need this in normal conversation.

For now, as a learner, stick with:

Ovo je tradicionalna juha. (very natural and standard)

Could I say Ovo je tradicionalno juha?

No, that would be incorrect in standard Croatian.

tradicionalna is an adjective → agrees with juha (feminine noun).
tradicionalno is usually an adverb → modifies verbs, adjectives, or whole sentences.

You need an adjective to describe juha:

✅ Ovo je tradicionalna juha. – This is a traditional soup.
❌ Ovo je tradicionalno juha.

You would use tradicionalno like this:

Oni tradicionalno jedu juhu nedjeljom. – They traditionally eat soup on Sundays.

How do you pronounce juha?

Approximate pronunciation:

juha → /ˈju.xa/
- j – like English y in yes
- u – like oo in book (but a bit clearer, more like u in Spanish or Italian)
- h – a real h sound, lightly pronounced in the throat
- a – like a in father

Stress is on the first syllable: JU-ha.

Why is juha in this form and not declined into some other case?

Here, juha is in the nominative singular:

The sentence pattern is subject + verb “to be” + complement.
After je (is), we use the nominative to say what something is.

Structure:

Ovo – subject (this)
je – verb (is)
tradicionalna juha – predicate nominative (what “this” is)

So juha stays in nominative: juha, not juhu, juhe, etc.
Different cases would appear in different roles, e.g.:

Vidim juhu. – I see (the) soup. → juhu (accusative)
Bez juhe ne mogu. – I can’t do without soup. → juhe (genitive)

What is the base dictionary form of tradicionalna and juha?

In a Croatian dictionary you will find:

juha – noun, feminine, nominative singular (this is already the base form)
tradicionalan – adjective, masculine nominative singular (adjectives are usually listed in the masculine form)

From tradicionalan you then form:

tradicionalan – masc. (npr. tradicionalan običaj)
tradicionalna – fem. (npr. tradicionalna juha)
tradicionalno – neut. (npr. tradicionalno jelo)

How would this sentence change in the plural, e.g. “These are traditional soups”?

For plural, you need to change ovo, the verb, the adjective, and the noun:

Ovo su tradicionalne juhe. – These are traditional soups.

Breakdown:

Ovo – can still be used, but with plural you’ll often hear Ovo su… for “these are …”
su – 3rd person plural of biti (they are)
tradicionalne – feminine plural adjective (nominative)
juhe – feminine plural noun (nominative)

So the pattern is:

Singular: Ovo je tradicionalna juha.
Plural: Ovo su tradicionalne juhe.