Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade, ali danas ne mogu da ga vozim.

Because moj has to agree with bicikl in gender, number, and case.

• bicikl is masculine singular
• here it is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence

So the correct possessive form is moj = my for a masculine singular noun.

Compare:

• moj bicikl = my bicycle
• moja zgrada = my building
• moje dete = my child

So moj bicikl is the expected masculine form.

Je is the 3rd person singular present form of biti = to be.

So:

• Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade = My bicycle is in front of the building

In Serbian, this little word is often unstressed and very common.

A few related forms of biti in the present tense are:

• sam = I am
• si = you are
• je = he/she/it is
• smo = we are
• ste = you are
• su = they are

Ispred requires the genitive case, so zgrada changes to zgrade.

• dictionary form: zgrada = building
• after ispred: zgrade

So:

• ispred zgrade = in front of the building

This is a very common pattern in Serbian. Many prepositions require a specific case, and ispred always goes with the genitive.

Other examples:

• ispred kuće = in front of the house
• ispred škole = in front of the school
• ispred mene = in front of me

Serbian does not have articles like a and the.

That means zgrada or zgrade can mean:

• a building
• the building

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the building:

• My bicycle is in front of the building

But Serbian simply says ispred zgrade and lets context do the work.

In Serbian, after modal verbs like mogu = can, it is very common to use:

• da + present tense

So:

• ne mogu da vozim = I cannot ride / I can’t ride

This is one of the most basic Serbian patterns.

You may also sometimes see an infinitive after mogu, especially in some styles or regional usage:

• ne mogu voziti

But in standard everyday Serbian, ne mogu da vozim is extremely natural and probably the form learners should get used to first.

Because after da, Serbian normally uses a present-tense verb form, not the infinitive.

So:

• da vozim = that I ride / to ride (in this construction)

Here vozim is the 1st person singular present form of voziti.

Compare:

• voziti = to ride / to drive
• vozim = I ride / I am riding / I drive

In ne mogu da vozim, the literal structure is something like:

• I cannot that I ride

But in real English, of course, we translate it as:

• I can’t ride it

Ga means it.

It refers back to bicikl.

Because bicikl is a masculine singular noun, the accusative pronoun used for him/it is ga.

So:

• da ga vozim = to ride it

Without ga, the sentence would mean more generally:

• I can’t ride today

With ga, it specifically means:

• I can’t ride it today
• meaning: I can’t ride my bicycle today

Because ga is a clitic pronoun, and Serbian clitics have special word-order rules.

In this clause:

• da ga vozim

the clitic ga comes very early in the clause, before the main verb vozim.

That is normal Serbian word order.

So the sentence is not:

• da vozim ga ✘

but:

• da ga vozim ✔

This is something English speakers often need time to get used to, because Serbian object pronouns often appear in positions that feel unusual compared to English.

Because short pronouns like ga follow Serbian clitic placement rules.

After a word like da, the clitic usually comes immediately after it:

• da ga vozim
• da je vidim
• da mu kažem

So ga cannot normally sit at the end in this kind of neutral sentence.

For a learner, the safest rule is:

• after da, short pronouns usually come right away

Voziti can mean several related things, depending on context:

• to drive
• to ride
• to operate / take by vehicle in some contexts

With bicikl, the natural meaning is:

• voziti bicikl = to ride a bicycle

So here:

• ne mogu da ga vozim = I can’t ride it

If the object were a car, English would usually prefer drive:

• vozim auto = I drive the car / I am driving a car

So the Serbian verb is broader than either single English verb.

In Serbian, negation is usually made by placing ne before the verb.

So:

• mogu = I can
• ne mogu = I cannot / I can’t

This is the regular pattern with many verbs:

• znam = I know

• ne znam = I don’t know

• imam = I have
• nemam = I don’t have

With mogu, the negative is written as ne mogu.

Yes, Serbian word order is fairly flexible, and danas can move.

The sentence given is:

• Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade, ali danas ne mogu da ga vozim.

This sounds natural and emphasizes today as the time contrast.

You could also say:

• Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade, ali ne mogu danas da ga vozim.
• Danas ne mogu da ga vozim.

The meaning stays similar, but the focus can shift slightly.

In the original sentence, danas comes early in the second clause, which is a very natural place for a time word.

Ali means but and introduces a contrast.

Here the contrast is:

• the bicycle is there, available in some sense
• but today I can’t ride it

So ali is exactly the right conjunction.

You will often see it in simple contrasts:

• Hoću, ali ne mogu. = I want to, but I can’t.
• Lepo je, ali skupo. = It’s nice, but expensive.

Yes. Serbian word order is more flexible than English word order.

These are both possible:

• Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade.
• Ispred zgrade je moj bicikl.

The difference is mostly about focus:

• Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade puts my bicycle first as the topic
• Ispred zgrade je moj bicikl puts more emphasis on where it is

Both are grammatically correct.

Voziti is imperfective.

That matters because after mogu / ne mogu, Serbian often uses an imperfective verb when speaking generally about being able or unable to do an action.

Here:

• ne mogu da ga vozim = I can’t ride it

This sounds natural because it refers to the activity in a general way.

Serbian verbs often come in aspect pairs, but for a learner at this stage, the key point is simply:

• voziti is the normal verb to use for riding/driving in this kind of sentence

A very literal breakdown would be:

• Moj = my
• bicikl = bicycle
• je = is
• ispred = in front of
• zgrade = building (genitive)
• ali = but
• danas = today
• ne mogu = I cannot
• da = that / to
• ga = it
• vozim = I ride / drive

So a very literal version might be:

• My bicycle is in front of building, but today I cannot to ride it

That is not good English, of course, but it helps show how Serbian is built.

The natural English translation is:

• My bicycle is in front of the building, but today I can’t ride it.