Moja soba je mala, ali lepa.

to be

Breakdown of Moja soba je mala, ali lepa.

• ali: but
• mali: small
• lep: beautiful

Questions & Answers about Moja soba je mala, ali lepa.

Why is it moja and not moj?

Because soba is a feminine singular noun, and the possessive adjective moj must agree with it.

Agreement in Serbian means the possessive changes form to match the noun's:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• soba = feminine
• singular
• nominative case

So moj becomes moja.

Compare:

• moj stan = my apartment/flat (stan is masculine)
• moja soba = my room (soba is feminine)
• moje selo = my village (selo is neuter)

How do I know that soba is feminine?

A very common clue is the ending -a. Many Serbian nouns ending in -a are feminine.

So:

• soba = room, feminine
• kuća = house, feminine
• škola = school, feminine

This is not a perfect rule for every noun in the language, but it works very often and is a good beginner guideline.

You can also see that the other words agree with it:

• moja
• mala
• lepa

All of those are feminine singular forms, which confirms that soba is feminine.