Hleb je dobar.

The bread is good.

Breakdown of Hleb je dobar.

• biti: to be
• hleb: bread
• dobar: good

Questions & Answers about Hleb je dobar.

Why is je used in Hleb je dobar?

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti (to be), so it means is.

So the structure is:

• hleb = bread
• je = is
• dobar = good

Serbian normally uses je in sentences like this, just as English uses is in Bread is good.

Why is it dobar and not dobro or dobra?

Because adjectives in Serbian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Here, hleb is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective also has to be masculine singular nominative:

• dobar = masculine singular
• dobra = feminine singular
• dobro = neuter singular

That is why Hleb je dobar is correct.

How do I know that hleb is masculine?

A very common clue in Serbian is the ending of the noun.

• Nouns ending in a consonant are often masculine
• Nouns ending in -a are often feminine
• Nouns ending in -o or -e are often neuter

Since hleb ends in a consonant, it is masculine.

This is a useful rule of thumb, though there are exceptions in Serbian.