Danas je ovaj desert jeftiniji od kolača.

Today this dessert is cheaper than the cake.

Breakdown of Danas je ovaj desert jeftiniji od kolača.

• biti: to be
• danas: today
• od: than
• desert: dessert
• ovaj: this
• kolač: cake
• jeftiniji: cheaper

Questions & Answers about Danas je ovaj desert jeftiniji od kolača.

Why is there a je in the sentence, and why is it placed right after Danas?

Je is the present-tense form of biti (to be) for he/it (is). In Croatian it’s a clitic (a “weak” word) and normally goes in the second position of the clause (after the first chunk).
Here the first chunk is Danas (Today), so je comes right after it: Danas je ….
You can often move the first chunk, and je will still try to stay in second position: Ovaj desert je danas jeftiniji…

Can I omit je (like in some Slavic languages)?

Usually, in standard Croatian, you do not omit je in the present tense when you have a predicate adjective like jeftiniji.
In very informal or headline-style language you might see omission, but for learners it’s safest to keep je: Danas je ovaj desert jeftiniji…

What does ovaj do here? Is it like the or this?

Ovaj means this (a demonstrative). Croatian has no articles like a/the, so if you want to sound specific you can use demonstratives:

• ovaj desert = this dessert (the one here / the one we’re talking about)
  Without it, Danas je desert jeftiniji… would sound more like (the) dessert is cheaper today… in a general sense, depending on context.

Why is it ovaj desert (and not some other form of ovaj)?

Because desert is masculine singular and is the subject of the sentence, so it’s in the nominative case.
Ovaj agrees with it in gender/number/case:

• masculine nominative singular: ovaj
  (Compare: feminine ova torta, neuter ovo jelo.)

How is jeftiniji formed, and why does it end in -i?

Jeftiniji is the comparative of jeftin (cheap): cheaper.
Many Croatian comparatives are formed with -iji / -ji (among other patterns).
It ends in -i here because it agrees with the masculine singular subject desert (nominative masculine singular).

What’s the role of od in the comparison?

Od means than in comparisons like this one:

• jeftiniji od … = cheaper than …
  Croatian commonly uses od + genitive for “than.”

Why is kolača in that form? What case is it?

After od in comparisons, the noun normally goes in the genitive case.
So kolač (nominative) becomes kolača (genitive). That’s why you don’t see kolač here.

Does kolača mean “of the cake” (singular) or “of cakes” (plural)?

It can be either, depending on context, because kolača can be:

• genitive singular of kolač (a cake), and also
• genitive plural of kolač (cakes) for many speakers/contexts (Croatian genitive plural forms can overlap like this)

If you want to make it unambiguously this/that cake, you can add a demonstrative:

• … od ovog kolača = … than this cake

Can I use nego instead of od?

Sometimes. Both can translate to than, but they’re not interchangeable in all situations.

• od + genitive is very common with adjective/adverb comparisons: jeftiniji od kolača
• nego is especially common when comparing clauses, or when the comparison involves a different structure (often after negation or with verbs).
  In this exact sentence, od is the most straightforward choice.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say it differently?

Word order is flexible, but clitics like je have placement rules. These are all possible with slightly different emphasis:

• Danas je ovaj desert jeftiniji od kolača. (neutral)
• Ovaj desert je danas jeftiniji od kolača. (emphasizes this dessert)
• Danas je jeftiniji ovaj desert od kolača. (more marked; emphasizes cheaper)

How should I pronounce jeftiniji?

Roughly: YEF-ti-nee-yee (4 syllables).
The sequence -iji is common in comparatives and is pronounced with a y-like sound at the start (j = English y in yes).