Liječnica je nabavila novi lijek.

Liječnica is the feminine form meaning female doctor / woman doctor.
Liječnik is the masculine form.

In this sentence, the verb form also shows the subject is feminine, so liječnica fits naturally.

• liječnik = male doctor / doctor (masculine)
• liječnica = female doctor

Grammatically, liječnica is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.

Je is the 3rd person singular present form of biti (to be), and here it is used as an auxiliary verb to make the past tense.

Croatian often forms the past like this:

• auxiliary biti
• • a past participle

So:

• je nabavila = has obtained / obtained

This is the normal Croatian past-tense structure.

Nabavila is the past participle form of nabaviti and it agrees with the subject in gender and number.

Because the subject is liječnica (feminine singular), the verb form is also feminine singular:

• masculine singular: nabavio
• feminine singular: nabavila
• neuter singular: nabavilo
• plural: nabavili / nabavile

So liječnica je nabavila means the subject is one female person.

Nabaviti means something like to obtain, to acquire, to procure, or to get hold of.

In this sentence, it suggests that the doctor managed to get or secured the medicine, not necessarily that she personally bought it in a shop.

It is often used when someone gets something needed, especially through effort, organization, or supply.

Novi lijek is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case.

However, lijek is a masculine inanimate noun, and for masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: novi lijek
• accusative: novi lijek

That is why it looks unchanged.

If the noun were masculine animate, the accusative would usually look different.

The adjective has to agree with the noun it describes in gender, number, and case.

Here, lijek is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative (but same form as nominative because it is inanimate)

So the adjective is:

• novi lijek

The adjective matches the noun exactly in the required grammatical features.

Usually lijek means medicine, medication, or remedy.

Although English sometimes uses drug, that can sound less natural or more ambiguous in many contexts. For learners, medicine or medication is usually the safest interpretation.

So novi lijek most often means:

• a new medicine
• a new medication

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

This version is a very natural, neutral order:

• Liječnica = subject
• je nabavila = past tense verb
• novi lijek = object

One important detail: je is a clitic, so it normally appears in second position in the sentence or clause.

You can change the word order for emphasis, for example:

• Novi lijek je nabavila liječnica.
  Emphasis on the new medicine

• Nabavila je novi lijek.
  The subject can be omitted if already understood

But the given sentence is the most straightforward neutral version.

Yes. Croatian often leaves out the subject when it is clear from context.

So you could say:

• Nabavila je novi lijek.

This still works because the verb form already tells you it is 3rd person singular, and the feminine participle nabavila suggests the subject is feminine.

Croatian does this much more freely than English.

Yes. Nabaviti is perfective.

That means it presents the action as completed: the medicine was successfully obtained.

Its imperfective partner is usually:

• nabavljati = to be obtaining, to obtain repeatedly, to procure regularly

So:

• nabavila = she obtained it, completed action
• nabavljala = she was obtaining it / used to obtain it

In this sentence, the perfective verb fits because the result matters: the doctor got the medicine.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• liječnica ≈ LYEHCH-nee-tsa
• lijek ≈ LYEHK

A few helpful points:

• lj is a soft sound, somewhat like the lli in million
• č sounds like ch in church
• c sounds like ts
• ije / je can be tricky for learners, but listening to native audio helps a lot

The spelling is very regular in Croatian, so once you learn the sound values, pronunciation becomes much easier.