Stari madrac je tvrd, pa me ujutro bole leđa.

The old mattress is hard, so my back hurts in the morning.

Breakdown of Stari madrac je tvrd, pa me ujutro bole leđa.

• biti: to be
• star: old
• ujutro: in the morning
• me: me (accusative short form)

Questions & Answers about Stari madrac je tvrd, pa me ujutro bole leđa.

Why is there no word for the or a in Stari madrac?

Croatian has no articles, so there is no separate word for the, a, or an.

So:

• stari madrac can mean the old mattress or an old mattress
• the exact interpretation comes from context

That is completely normal in Croatian.

Why is it stari madrac, but later je tvrd and not je tvrdi?

This is about adjective form and position.

• stari is an adjective placed before the noun madrac
• tvrd is an adjective used after the verb je, as part of the predicate

In Croatian, adjectives before a noun often appear in the longer form like stari, while adjectives after biti (to be) are very often in the short form, like tvrd.

So:

• stari madrac = old mattress
• madrac je tvrd = the mattress is hard

You could also say madrac je star for the mattress is old.

What case is madrac in?