Javni bilježnik utvrđuje istovjetnost.

It means notary public.

A more literal breakdown is:

• javni = public
• bilježnik = literally something like recorder / registrar / note-taker

But in real legal English, the natural translation is notary public, not a word-for-word translation.

One small note: legal roles are not always perfectly identical from country to country, so javni bilježnik is best understood as the Croatian legal profession usually translated as notary public.

Because Croatian does not use articles.

So:

• Javni bilježnik can mean a notary public or the notary public
• the exact meaning depends on context

In an isolated sentence like this, English might translate it as:

• A notary public verifies identity
• The notary public verifies identity

Both are possible, depending on the situation.

Because javni is an adjective agreeing with bilježnik.

Bilježnik is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective must also be:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

That gives javni.

This is normal Croatian adjective agreement:

• javni bilježnik = masculine singular nominative
• if the noun changed case or gender, the adjective would change too

Utvrđuje is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the imperfective verb utvrđivati.

So it means something like:

• establishes
• determines
• ascertains
• verifies

depending on context.

Here it agrees with the singular subject javni bilježnik, so:

• javni bilježnik utvrđuje = the/a notary public establishes/verifies

In Croatian, the present tense is often used for:

• general facts
• professional duties
• legal procedures
• instructions or regulations

So this sentence does not necessarily mean that the notary is verifying identity right now at this moment.

It often means something more general, like:

• A notary public verifies identity
• The notary public is responsible for establishing identity
• A notary public establishes identity as part of the procedure

This is very common in formal and legal language.

Here istovjetnost is in the accusative singular because it is the direct object of the verb:

• utvrđuje koga/što? = istovjetnost

However, nouns ending in -ost are usually feminine, and in the singular their nominative and accusative forms are often the same.

So:

• nominative: istovjetnost
• accusative: istovjetnost

That is why it looks unchanged.

In this sentence, istovjetnost means identity in a legal/official sense: confirming who a person is.

But learners often notice that Croatian also has identitet. The difference is roughly this:

• identitet = identity in a general sense, often the more everyday or internationally recognizable word
• istovjetnost = sameness/identity, and in legal-administrative language it is often used for verification of a person's identity

So in this kind of formal sentence, istovjetnost sounds especially legal and official.

Because legal language often uses words in a specialized way.

Outside legal contexts, istovjetnost can indeed suggest sameness or being identical. But in administrative and legal phrases, it commonly refers to identity verification.

So in this sentence, the natural English translation is not something odd like The notary establishes sameness, but rather:

• The notary public verifies identity
• The notary public establishes identity

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

The neutral, straightforward order here is:

• Javni bilježnik utvrđuje istovjetnost.

But Croatian could also rearrange the sentence for emphasis, for example:

• Istovjetnost utvrđuje javni bilježnik.
  = emphasis on identity
• Utvrđuje istovjetnost javni bilježnik.
  = possible, but more marked and less neutral

English usually needs a more fixed order, but Croatian can move elements around more freely because case and verb forms help show the grammatical relationships.

A rough guide:

• j is pronounced like English y
• ž sounds like the s in measure or vision
• lj is a single sound, somewhat like the lli in million for many learners
• đ sounds like a soft dj sound

Very rough English-friendly approximations:

• javni ≈ YAHV-nee
• bilježnik ≈ bee-LYEZH-neek
• utvrđuje ≈ oot-VR-djoo-yeh
• istovjetnost ≈ ees-toh-VYET-nost

These are only approximations, but they can help you get started.

All three can work, depending on context.

• establishes identity = quite formal, close to legal language
• determines identity = possible, but a bit less natural in many contexts
• verifies identity = often the most natural English translation in administrative contexts

So if you want the most natural legal-administrative English, verifies identity is often the best choice.

If you want to stay closer to the Croatian wording, establishes identity is also very good.

Yes, very formal.

It sounds like the kind of sentence you would see in:

• a law
• a regulation
• an official form
• legal instructions
• administrative procedures

It does not sound like everyday conversation. In normal speech, people would often use simpler wording, depending on what exactly they mean.

They are:

• Javni bilježnik = the subject
• utvrđuje = the verb
• istovjetnost = the direct object

So the structure is basically:

• Subject + Verb + Object

That makes this a very straightforward sentence grammatically, even though the vocabulary is formal.