U centru je veliki saobraćaj svako jutro.

to be

Breakdown of U centru je veliki saobraćaj svako jutro.

• u: in
• svaki: every
• jutro: morning

Questions & Answers about U centru je veliki saobraćaj svako jutro.

Why is it u centru and not u centar?

Because u can take two different cases:

• accusative for movement to/into somewhere: u centar = to the center
• locative for being in a place: u centru = in the center

In this sentence, there is no movement. It describes where the traffic is, so Serbian uses the locative: u centru.

What case is centru?

Centru is the locative singular of centar.

The noun changes like this:

• nominative: centar
• locative: centru

After u when it means in, the locative is used, so u centru means in the center / downtown.

Why is it je veliki saobraćaj?

This is a normal Serbian way to say that something is present somewhere.

Literally, the structure is close to:

• U centru je veliki saobraćaj.
• In the center is heavy traffic.

English usually prefers There is heavy traffic downtown, but Serbian can simply use je with the noun phrase.

So agrees with , which is singular.