Grad je velik.

• Grad = city
• je = is (3rd person singular of biti, to be)
• velik = big, large

So the sentence means The city is big.

Serbian does not have articles like a and the.

So grad can mean:

• a city
• the city

The exact meaning depends on context. In a simple example sentence like Grad je velik, English usually translates it as The city is big or sometimes A city is big, but the city sounds more natural in isolation.

Je is the present-tense form of biti (to be) for he/she/it is.

Since grad is a singular noun, Serbian uses je:

• Grad je velik. = The city is big.

Unlike in some languages, you normally cannot leave out je in this kind of standard Serbian sentence. The verb to be is usually required.

This is a very common question.

In Grad je velik, the adjective is used predicatively: it comes after je and describes the subject.

• Grad je velik. = The city is big.

In this position, Serbian normally uses the short/indefinite adjective form:

• masculine singular: velik

But when an adjective comes before a noun, you often see:

• veliki grad = a big city / the big city

So:

• velik = common in Grad je velik
• veliki = common in veliki grad

Both relate to big, but the form changes depending on how the adjective is used.

Yes. Grad is a masculine singular noun.

You can tell from the adjective form too:

• masculine singular: velik
• feminine singular: velika
• neuter singular: veliko

For example:

• Grad je velik. = The city is big.
• Kuća je velika. = The house is big.
• Selo je veliko. = The village is big.

So the adjective must agree with the noun in gender and number.

It is in the nominative singular.

That is because grad is the subject of the sentence:

• Grad je velik.

In dictionary form, nouns are usually given in the nominative singular, so grad is the basic form you learn first.

Yes, Serbian word order is more flexible than English, but the most neutral order here is:

• Grad je velik.

You may also hear:

• Velik je grad.
• Grad velik je — this is much less natural in normal speech

Different word orders can shift emphasis. For a learner, the safest basic pattern is:

subject + je + adjective

• Grad je velik.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker is:

• Grad ≈ grahd
• je ≈ yeh
• velik ≈ VEH-lik

So the whole sentence is roughly:

grahd yeh VEH-lik

A few notes:

• g is always a hard g, like in go
• j is pronounced like English y
• r in Serbian is usually trilled or tapped more than in English

They are related, but they are not the same structure.

• Grad je velik. = The city is big.
  This is a full sentence.

• Veliki grad = big city
  This is just a noun phrase, not a full sentence.

So:

• velik after je describes the city in a sentence
• veliki before grad modifies the noun directly

You add nije (is not):

• Grad nije velik. = The city is not big.

So:

• je = is
• nije = is not

This is the normal way to negate the sentence.

A common way is:

• Da li je grad velik? = Is the city big?

You may also hear:

• Je li grad velik?

Both are used, but Da li je... ? is often easier for learners to recognize and build correctly.

Yes. Grad can also mean hail (the weather phenomenon), depending on context.

So Serbian has:

• grad = city
• grad = hail

In Grad je velik, the meaning is clearly city, because hail is big would not make much sense in normal context.

This is just a vocabulary coincidence you will notice as you learn more Serbian.