Learn Hardcore Croatian: Moja baka hoda sa mnom i drži me za ruku kad idemo preko ulice. - My grandmother walks with me and holds my hand when we go across the street.

baka (“grandmother”) is a feminine noun.
The masculine form is moj (for masculine nouns: moj brat – my brother).
The feminine form is moja (for feminine nouns: moja sestra – my sister, moja baka – my grandma).

So it must be moja baka, not moj baka.

Why hoda sa mnom and not ide sa mnom? What’s the difference between hodati and ići?

Both verbs are often translated as “go” in English, but they’re not the same:

hodati = to walk (on foot), often with a sense of walking around, strolling, or the manner of movement.
- Moja baka hoda sa mnom. – My grandma walks with me (on foot, emphasizes the act of walking).
ići = to go (by any means – walking, bus, car, etc.), focuses on going somewhere, not on how.
- Moja baka ide sa mnom. – My grandma is going with me (we are going somewhere together).

In your sentence, hoda sa mnom emphasizes the physical walking together, which fits well with holding hands.

Why do we say sa mnom and not s mnom or sa mene?

The preposition s/sa has the meaning “with” here and requires the instrumental case:

s/sa + instrumental → “with someone/something”
- s kim? s čime? – with whom? with what?
- sa mnom – with me

Forms with “mnom” are instrumental of ja:

nominative: ja – I
accusative/genitive: mene – me
instrumental: mnom – (with/by) me

So, sa mnom is correct for “with me”.

Why sa and not just s?

Both s and sa exist, but sa is used:
- before words starting with s, z, š, ž, or sometimes m to avoid difficult clusters and make pronunciation easier.
- sa mnom sounds clearer than s mnom, so sa mnom is the normal choice.

Sa mene does exist in other contexts with a different meaning (“off me”, “from me”), e.g. Skini to sa mene. – Take that off me.
In your sentence we mean with me, so it must be sa mnom.

What’s the difference between me, mene, and mnom in this sentence?

All three forms come from the pronoun ja (“I”), but they are different cases/types:

me – unstressed accusative form (clitic)
- used as a direct object: drži me – holds me
mene – stressed accusative/genitive form
- used when you want to stress or after prepositions needing gen./acc.:
  - Mene drži za ruku, a ne njega. – She holds me by the hand, not him.
mnom – instrumental form
- used after s/sa when it means “with”: sa mnom – with me

In your sentence:

drži me za ruku → me is the (unstressed) direct object in accusative.
sa mnom → mnom is instrumental after sa.

Why is it drži me za ruku and not drži moju ruku?

Both are grammatically possible, but they don’t feel exactly the same.

držati nekoga za ruku literally = “to hold someone by the hand”
- Moja baka drži me za ruku. – My grandma holds me by the hand.
- This is the standard idiomatic way to say “she is holding my hand (while we go/walk)”.
držati (nečiju) ruku = “to hold someone’s hand (as an object)”
- Moja baka drži moju ruku. – My grandma is holding my hand.
- Correct, but it sounds a bit more “static” and less like guiding you across the street.

So drži me za ruku is the most natural expression for the idea in your sentence: she is physically holding on to you by your hand.

Why is it ruku and not ruka? What case is this?

Ruka (“hand/arm”) is a feminine noun. Its singular forms include:

Nominative: ruka – the form used for the subject (the hand).
Accusative: ruku – the form used for the direct object (the hand as something acted on).

In drži me za ruku, ruku is in the accusative singular, because it is the object of the preposition phrase za ruku (“by the hand”).

Very simplified paradigm (singular):

Nominative: ruka
Genitive: ruke
Dative: ruci
Accusative: ruku
Locative: ruci
Instrumental: rukom

Why is the word order drži me za ruku? Could I say drži za ruku me or me drži za ruku?

Croatian word order is flexible, but clitic pronouns like me have special rules: they generally want to stand in the second position in a clause.

In your clause:

“(ona) drži me za ruku” →
- drži is the first stressed word in the clause.
- me comes right after it → correct: drži me za ruku.

Other variants:

Me drži za ruku. – possible, but unusual; puts strong emphasis on me, often in contrast: Me she holds by the hand, not him.
Drži za ruku me. – sounds unnatural; the clitic me doesn’t like to be at the end.

So, for a neutral sentence, drži me za ruku is the normal and best word order.

Can I change the word order at the beginning, for example: Sa mnom hoda moja baka?

Yes, Croatian allows a lot of word order variation. All of these are possible:

Moja baka hoda sa mnom. – neutral: My grandma walks with me.
Sa mnom hoda moja baka. – emphasizes sa mnom (with me specifically).
Sa mnom moja baka hoda. – also possible; a bit more emphatic/poetic.

What you must keep is the correct forms (baka, sa mnom, etc.) and the clitics in proper position when they appear. But for full words like moja baka, hoda, sa mnom, you can change the order to change emphasis.

Why is it kad and not kada? Are they different?

Kad and kada mean the same thing: “when”.

kad – shorter, more colloquial and very common in everyday speech.
kada – full form, sounds slightly more formal or emphatic, often in writing or careful speech.

In your sentence, both are correct:

... kad idemo preko ulice.
... kada idemo preko ulice.

The meaning doesn’t change; only the style/register changes slightly.

Why is there no mi in kad idemo preko ulice? Shouldn’t it be kad mi idemo?

In Croatian, subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, mi, etc.) are usually dropped when the verb ending already shows the person and number clearly.

idemo already tells you it is we go (1st person plural).
Earlier in the sentence we know who “we” is: moja baka i ja.

So kad idemo preko ulice naturally means “when we cross the street”.

You would only add mi if you want to emphasize or contrast:

Kad mi idemo preko ulice, ona me drži za ruku. – When we cross the street (as opposed to someone else), she holds my hand.

Why preko ulice and not preko ulicu or preko ulici? Which case does preko take?

The preposition preko (“across, over”) normally takes the genitive case.

ulica (street) – nominative singular
ulice – genitive singular

So:

preko ulice – across the street (correct: genitive)
preko ulicu – wrong case (accusative)
preko ulici – wrong case (dative/locative)

Therefore kad idemo preko ulice = when we go across the street.

Could I say something like preko ceste or kroz ulicu instead of preko ulice? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can use other nouns and prepositions, with small differences in nuance:

preko ulice – across the street (neutral, very common).
preko ceste – across the (road/carriageway).
- ulica often feels more “urban/residential”; cesta more like a road/highway, but there is overlap.
kroz ulicu – through the street (moving along the length of the street, inside it, not just crossing from one side to the other).

For the specific idea “crossing from one side to the other”, preko ulice or preko ceste are most natural; preko ulice is perfectly fine here.

How would I say this sentence in the past tense, to mean “used to / did in the past”?

For a past, habitual action, you use the past tense (perfect) with imperfective verbs:

Present (your sentence):

Moja baka hoda sa mnom i drži me za ruku kad idemo preko ulice.

Natural past version:

Moja je baka hodala sa mnom i držala me za ruku kad smo išli preko ulice.

Breakdown:

hodala – past of hodati (she walked).
držala – past of držati (she held).
išli smo / smo išli – past of ići (we went). Standard order in this clause: kad smo išli preko ulice.
je and smo are auxiliary forms of biti (“to be”) used to form the past tense.

This sentence means:
“My grandma walked with me and held my hand when we crossed the street (in the past).”