Dvorana je mirna navečer.

The hall is quiet in the evening.

Breakdown of Dvorana je mirna navečer.

• biti: to be
• navečer: in the evening
• miran: quiet
• dvorana: sports hall

Questions & Answers about Dvorana je mirna navečer.

What does dvorana mean exactly? Is it “hall”, “room”, or something else?

Dvorana usually means a large hall or big indoor space, not just any room.

Common uses:

• a sports hall / gym: sportska dvorana
• a concert hall: koncertna dvorana
• a big lecture hall: predavaonica or dvorana

It’s:

• a noun
• feminine
• singular in this sentence

For a normal room, Croatians normally use soba, not dvorana. For a big industrial hall, you might also see hala.

Why is it mirna and not mirno or miran?

In Croatian, adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number and case, even when they come after biti (to be).

• dvorana = feminine, singular, nominative
• So the adjective must also be feminine, singular, nominative: mirna

Basic pattern (nominative, singular):

• masculine: miran (or mirni) – miran grad (a quiet city)
• feminine: mirna – mirna dvorana (a quiet hall)
• neuter: mirno – mirno selo (a quiet village)

After je, it stays in the same form:

• Dvorana je mirna. – The hall is quiet.
• Grad je miran. – The city is quiet.
• Selo je mirno. – The village is quiet.

So mirno would be correct only with a neuter noun, and miran with a masculine noun.

What is je doing in the sentence, and where does it usually go?

Je is:

• the 3rd person singular present of biti = to be
• it means is here.

So:

• Dvorana je mirna. = The hall is quiet.

Je is also a clitic, which in Croatian usually goes in second position in the sentence (or in a clause). In this sentence:

• Dvorana (1st element)
• je (2nd position clitic)
• mirna navečer (rest of the predicate)

If you start the sentence with another word, je tends to move to the second spot of that clause:

• Navečer je dvorana mirna.
  (Navečer = first element, je = second position)

Can I change the word order, like Dvorana je navečer mirna or Navečer je dvorana mirna?

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Dvorana je mirna navečer.
   Neutral: The hall is quiet in the evening.

2. Dvorana je navečer mirna.
   Very similar; a slight emphasis on in the evening as the time when it is quiet.

3. Navečer je dvorana mirna.
   Emphasis on in the evening; you’re foregrounding the time:
   As for the evenings – the hall is quiet then.

The main rule that must still be respected: the clitic je should stay in or near the second position of the clause. So something like Dvorana mirna je navečer is not standard.

Why is there no word for “the” before dvorana?

Croatian has no articles (no words for a/an or the).

Definiteness and specificity are understood from:

• context
• word order
• sometimes additional words (like taj = that, ovaj = this)

So Dvorana je mirna navečer can mean:

• The hall is quiet in the evening. (a specific hall everyone knows about)
• A hall is quiet in the evening. (less common reading, but possible in some contexts)
• Halls are quiet in the evening (as a general observation). (generic use of singular)

English must choose a/the, but Croatian simply doesn’t mark this.

What does navečer mean exactly? Is it the same as uvečer or večeras?

Navečer means in the evening, usually in a general or habitual sense:

• Dvorana je mirna navečer.
  The hall is (generally) quiet in the evenings.

Related words:

• uvečer – almost the same as navečer, also in the evening. In many regions they’re interchangeable.
• večeras – this evening / tonight (a specific evening, usually the upcoming or current one):
  • Dvorana je večeras mirna. – The hall is quiet tonight.
• večer – a noun meaning evening:
  • ove večeri – this evening (literally: of this evening)

So:

• navečer / uvečer – generally, in the evenings (habit or repeated situation)
• večeras – specifically tonight / this evening

Is navečer one word or two, and what part of speech is it?

Navečer is written as one word.

Functionally, it behaves as an adverb of time, meaning in the evening:

• Dolazim navečer. – I come in the evening.
• Učimo navečer. – We study in the evening.

Historically it comes from a preposition and a noun, but for you as a learner, just treat navečer as a single adverb, not as na + večer that you can freely split.

What case is dvorana in, and why?

Dvorana is in the nominative singular feminine.

Reasons:

• It is the subject of the sentence.
• In Croatian, the subject is normally in the nominative case.
• The base form of a noun (the one you’d find in a dictionary) is nominative singular.

So:

• Dvorana – nominative singular (subject)
• je mirna – predicate (verb + adjective describing the subject)
• navečer – adverb

How would the sentence change in the plural: “The halls are quiet in the evening”?

You need to change:

• the noun (dvorana → dvorane)
• the verb (je → su)
• the adjective (mirna → mirne) to agree with plural feminine.

Result:

• Dvorane su mirne navečer.
  = The halls are quiet in the evening.

Breakdown:

• dvorane – nominative plural feminine
• su – 3rd person plural of biti (to be)
• mirne – nominative plural feminine form of miran/mirna/mirno

Is there a difference between mirna and tiha for “quiet”?

Yes, there is a nuance:

• mirna (from mir = peace)

  • calm, peaceful, not busy, no disturbance
  • emphasizes lack of activity or disturbance, not necessarily total silence
  • Dvorana je mirna navečer. – The hall is calm, there’s not much going on.

• tiha (from tiho = quietly)

  • quiet, not loud, low volume, silent
  • emphasizes low sound level
  • Dvorana je tiha navečer. – The hall is (sonically) quiet, there’s little noise.

Often both can be used, but:

• mirna focuses more on atmosphere and activity
• tiha focuses more on sound

Can I leave out je, like Dvorana mirna navečer?

In normal, standard sentences, you cannot leave out je here. You need the verb biti (to be) in the present tense:

• Dvorana je mirna navečer. – correct
• Dvorana mirna navečer. – sounds like a headline, note, or very telegraphic style

You might see biti omitted:

• in headlines: Dvorana mirna navečer (newspaper title style)
• in some set phrases or dialects

But for normal spoken and written standard Croatian, keep je.

How do you pronounce Dvorana je mirna navečer?

Approximate pronunciation:

• Dvorana – [dvo-RA-na]

  • dv together, like d
    • v.
  • Stress on -ra-: dvo-RA-na.

• je – [ye]

  • like English yeah but short.

• mirna – [MEER-na]

  • rolled or tapped r, stress on mir: MIR-na.

• navečer – [NA-ve-cher]

  • če is like che in chess.
  • stress usually on na-: NA-ve-cher.

Altogether (with rough English-like syllables):

• dvo-RA-na ye MEER-na NA-ve-cher