Noć je hladna.

Because hladan has to agree with noć in gender and number.

• noć = a feminine singular noun
• adjective base form: hladan = cold
• feminine singular form: hladna
• neuter singular form: hladno
• masculine singular form: hladan

So:

• Noć je hladna. = The night is cold.

This is standard adjective agreement in Serbian.

Yes. Noć is feminine.

English speakers often expect feminine nouns in Serbian to end in -a, and many do, but not all. Some feminine nouns end in a consonant, and noć is one of them.

You can tell it is feminine because of forms like:

• ova noć = this night
• hladna noć = a cold night

Both ova and hladna are feminine forms, so they show you the gender clearly.

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

So:

• noć = night
• je = is
• hladna = cold

Literally:

• Night is cold.

In natural English, that becomes The night is cold or It is a cold night, depending on context.

It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence.

The structure is:

• Noć = subject
• je = linking verb
• hladna = predicate adjective

So noć stays in the nominative.

Because Serbian does not have articles like English a/an/the.

So Noć je hladna can mean:

• The night is cold
• A night is cold
• sometimes just Night is cold, depending on context

Usually, context tells you which meaning is intended.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

• Noć ≈ noch (but with a softer final sound)
• je ≈ ye
• hladna ≈ HLAHD-nah

A few important details:

• ć is a soft sound, somewhat like a very soft ch/t sound
• j in Serbian is like English y
• h is clearly pronounced

So je is ye, not English jee.

Yes, Serbian word order is more flexible than English.

The neutral, straightforward order is:

• Noć je hladna.

But you may also hear:

• Hladna je noć.

That can sound a bit more expressive or poetic, with extra focus on cold.

Still, for a beginner, Noć je hladna is the safest and most neutral version.

Because this sentence uses the adjective as a predicate adjective, not as part of a noun phrase.

Compare:

• hladna noć = a cold night
  
  • here the adjective describes the noun directly inside the noun phrase
• Noć je hladna. = The night is cold
  
  • here the adjective comes after je and works as the description in the sentence

So both are correct, but they are different structures.

In a normal standard sentence, no.

You should say:

• Noć je hladna.

Not:

• Noć hladna.

Serbian usually needs the verb to be in this kind of present-tense sentence. You may occasionally see it omitted in poetry, headlines, or very informal style, but learners should keep je.

The dictionary form is usually hladan.

That is the masculine singular nominative form, which is how adjectives are normally listed in dictionaries.

From hladan, you get:

• hladan = masculine singular
• hladna = feminine singular
• hladno = neuter singular

So if you look up hladna, you should expect to find it under hladan.