Learn Hardcore Croatian: Tava je stara, ali još dobra. - The frying pan is old, but still good.

tava is a feminine, singular noun in the nominative case.
The adjectives describing it therefore must be in feminine singular nominative form:
- star → stara (feminine singular nominative)
- dobar → dobra (feminine singular nominative)

If the noun were masculine, you would see:

Lonac je star, ali još dobar. – The pot is old but still good.
(lonac is masculine, so star, dobar are masculine forms.)

What exactly does još mean here? Is it like still in English?

Yes. In this sentence, još means still in the sense of “despite being old, it continues to be good.”

Common meanings of još:

still (continuing state):
- Tava je stara, ali je još dobra. – The pan is old, but it’s still good.
more / another / in addition:
- Želiš li još kave? – Do you want more coffee?

Context normally makes it clear which meaning is intended. Here, because we’re contrasting old with good, još clearly means still.

Can I say the sentence without još, like Tava je stara, ali dobra?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

Tava je stara, ali dobra.
– The pan is old, but (it’s) good.
This simply contrasts old with good.
Tava je stara, ali još dobra.
– The pan is old, but (it’s) still good.
This suggests you expect it might stop being good soon, or that it’s nearing the end of its usefulness but hasn’t reached that point yet.

So još adds a “for now / still, despite age” nuance.

Why do we need je? Could you say Tava stara, ali još dobra like in some headlines?

In normal, standard Croatian sentences, you must include the verb biti (to be) in the present tense:

Tava je stara. – The pan is old. (standard)
Tava stara. – sounds like a headline, note, or very telegraphic style, not normal full speech.

So:

Tava je stara, ali još dobra. – correct, neutral sentence.
Tava stara, ali još dobra. – can appear in headlines, notes, labels, or poetic/elliptical style, but not in regular conversation.

Why is je in the second position: Tava je stara, not Tava stara je?

Je is a clitic (an unstressed short word) and Croatian has a strong tendency to place clitics in second position in the clause.

So the most natural order is:

Tava je stara. – The pan is old.

Tava stara je is wrong in standard Croatian.

If you add more words, the clitic still tries to stay in second position in its clause:

Tava je već jako stara. – The pan is already very old.
Ova tava je stara. – This pan is old.

Could I say Tava je stara, ali je još dobra or Tava je stara, ali još je dobra?

Yes, both are possible, but they sound a bit different:

Tava je stara, ali je još dobra.
– Completely correct, a bit more explicit because the verb je is repeated.
Tava je stara, ali još je dobra.
– Also correct; here je still appears in the second position of the new clause (“ali još je…”).
Tava je stara, ali još dobra.
– Most natural and shortest; the second je is simply omitted because it’s understood.

All three are grammatically fine; (3) is the most typical everyday version.

Why do we use a comma before ali? Is it like English but?

Yes, ali functions very similarly to English but.

It introduces a contrast between two clauses.
In standard writing, you normally put a comma before ali:
- Tava je stara, ali još dobra.
  – The pan is old, but (it’s) still good.

This is directly parallel to English punctuation:
“The pan is old, but (it is) still good.”

What’s the difference between Tava je stara and Stara je tava?

Both are grammatically correct, but the emphasis changes.

Tava je stara.
Neutral statement: The pan is old.
Focus is balanced; you’re just describing the pan.
Stara je tava.
This puts more emphasis on “stara” (old). It can sound like:
- It’s the pan that’s old (not something else), or
- Old is what the pan is – stronger focus on the quality “old”.

In isolation in everyday speech, Tava je stara is more usual and neutral.

Why is there no word for the in Tava je stara?

Croatian has no articles (a, an, the) at all. Definiteness comes from context, word order, and sometimes demonstratives.

Tava je stara. can mean:
- The pan is old.
- A pan is old.
  Depending on what has been mentioned or is visible.

If you really need to specify “this pan” or “that pan,” you’d use a demonstrative:

Ova tava je stara. – This pan is old.
Ta tava je stara. – That pan is old.

What case is tava in, and what are some other forms?

Here, tava is nominative singular, used for the subject of the sentence.

Basic forms (singular):

Nominative: tava – the pan (subject)
Genitive: tave – of the pan
Dative: tavi – to/for the pan
Accusative: tavu – the pan (object)
Locative: tavi – in/on the pan (with a preposition)
Instrumental: tavom – with the pan

Plural nominative is tave:

Tave su stare, ali još dobre. – The pans are old but still good.

How do you pronounce tava, stara, još, and dobra?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like spelling):

tava → TAH-vah
stara → STAH-rah
još → yosh (like “yosh,” š = “sh”)
dobra → DOH-brah

Notes:

Croatian r is rolled or tapped (like Spanish r in pero).
Stressed vowels are clear and short; each written vowel is pronounced.
š is always like sh in ship.

What’s the difference between ali, nego, and no? Why ali here?

All three can translate as but, but they’re used differently:

ali – general “but”, simple contrast.
- Tava je stara, ali još dobra. – The pan is old, but still good.
nego – “but rather”, often after a negation, correcting or replacing something.
- Nije nova, nego stara. – It’s not new, but (rather) old.
no – more formal/literary, also “but / however”, often in written style.
- Tava je stara, no još dobra. – similar meaning to ali, but feels a bit more formal or stylistic.

In our sentence, we’re just making a simple contrast (“old” vs “still good”), so ali is the natural choice.