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

to be

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

• ne: not
• ali: but
• moj: my

Questions & Answers about Moj bicikl je ispred zgrade, ali danas ne mogu da ga vozim.

Why is it moj bicikl and not moja bicikla or moje bicikl?

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.

What is je doing in the sentence?

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