Learn Hardcore Croatian: Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice, kosa joj brzo leti oko očiju. - When the wind touches her face, her hair quickly flies around her eyes.

Marks possession:
- kad joj vjetar dodirne lice
  literally: when the wind touches the face to her → when the wind touches *her face*
- kosa joj brzo leti
  literally: the hair *to her flies quickly → *her hair flies quickly
This use of the dative is called dative of possession. Croatian very often marks possession like this instead of using a possessive adjective.
Sounds more natural than possessive adjectives here:
- Fully “possessive” version:
  Kad vjetar dodirne njezino lice, njezina kosa brzo leti oko njezinih očiju.
- This is correct, but heavier and more formal.
  The original with joj is lighter and more natural in everyday speech.

So joj = her in the sense “to her / belonging to her” and replaces possessive adjectives in many contexts.

Why does joj appear twice? Could we say it only once and have it cover the whole sentence?

You need joj in each clause, because clitic pronouns in Croatian belong to a specific clause, not to the whole sentence.

The sentence has two clauses:

Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice,
kosa joj brzo leti oko očiju.

Each clause needs its own possessive/affected person marking:

In clause 1, joj belongs to dodirne (whose face is touched? hers).
In clause 2, joj belongs to kosa (whose hair is flying? hers).

You cannot say:

✗ Kad vjetar dodirne lice, kosa joj brzo leti oko očiju.

That would mean “When the wind touches the face (someone’s), her hair flies…”, which is unclear or sounds wrong. Croatian repeats short pronouns like this naturally whenever a new clause is introduced.

Why does joj come before vjetar in Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice? In English we’d say “the wind touches her face”, not “her the wind touches face”.

This is because joj is a clitic, and clitics in Croatian have a special position: they normally go in second place in the clause.

In the clause Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice:

The first stressed element is Kad.
So the clitic joj must come right after that first element.
The rest of the clause (subject vjetar, verb dodirne, object lice) follows.

Without kad, the neutral order would be:

Vjetar joj dodirne lice.
(The wind touches her face.)

Here, vjetar is first, so joj comes second.
Clitic positions are driven more by this “second slot” rule than by the underlying subject–verb–object order.

What aspect and tense is dodirne, and why not dodiruje?

Dodirne is:

Present tense
Perfective aspect
3rd person singular of dodirnuti (to touch (once, as a complete event))

Dodiruje would be:

Present tense
Imperfective aspect
3rd person singular of dodirivati (to be touching / to touch repeatedly, as an ongoing process)

Why dodirne here?

With kad (“when”), Croatian very often uses perfective verbs to focus on the moment something happens:
- Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice…
  = Whenever / when the wind (comes and) touches her face… (focusing on the instant of contact)
The present of perfective verbs in kad-clauses is often used for repeated or future actions:
- Kad dođeš, nazovi me. – When you come, call me.

If you said:

Kad joj vjetar dodiruje lice, kosa joj brzo leti…

it would sound more like you’re describing the ongoing action of the wind constantly touching her face. The version with dodirne sounds more natural for this type of general, repeated situation.

Does kad here mean “when” or “whenever”? Is there a nuance?

In Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice…, kad can mean both:

“when” (a specific time):
When the wind touches her face (on some occasion)…
“whenever / every time (that)” (habitual):
Whenever the wind touches her face, her hair flies around her eyes.

In practice, with a present tense verb and a general statement like this, native speakers will usually understand it as habitual (“whenever”).

If you want to make the habitual meaning extra clear, you can say:

Kad god joj vjetar dodirne lice, kosa joj brzo leti oko očiju.
(Whenever the wind touches her face…)

But simple kad is enough in most contexts; the habitual reading comes from the present tense and the general nature of the statement.

What cases are used in joj, lice, kosa, očiju, and why?

Here are the key words with their cases and roles:

joj – dative singular (feminine, 3rd person pronoun: ona)
- Function: dative of possession / affected person
  - Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice – when the wind touches *her face*
  - kosa joj brzo leti – her hair flies quickly
lice – accusative singular (neuter)
- Function: direct object of dodirne (what is touched? the face)
- Neuter nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative singular, so lice looks like the dictionary form but is accusative here.
kosa – nominative singular (feminine)
- Function: subject of leti (what flies? the hair)
očiju – genitive plural
- Function: complement of the preposition oko (around).
  The preposition oko requires the genitive:
  oko očiju = around (the) eyes.

So the sentence uses nominative (subject), accusative (object), dative (possessor/affected person), and genitive (after a preposition).

Why is it oko očiju and not oko očima or just oko očí?

Two separate things are happening here:

Oko is a preposition meaning “around”
As a preposition, oko always takes the genitive case:
- oko kuće – around the house
- oko grada – around the city
- oko očiju – around the eyes
Oči / oko (eye) has an irregular plural:
- singular: oko – eye
- plural nominative/accusative: oči – eyes
- plural genitive: očiju

Since oko the preposition needs genitive plural, you get očiju, not oči or očima (dative/locative plural).

So oko očiju literally means “around (the) eyes”, with očiju in genitive plural.

Why is kosa singular, when in English we might think of “hairs” in the plural?

In Croatian, kosa (singular) is normally used as a mass noun for all the hair on someone’s head:

kosa joj brzo leti – her hair quickly flies (all her hair)
Imam dugu kosu. – I have long hair.

The plural kose is possible but less common and tends to be used when you talk about separate hairs or types, often in more specific contexts:

Na jastuku su mu ostale sijede kose. – Gray hairs remained on his pillow.

So:

Default, normal: kosa (singular) for “hair” on the head as a whole.
Plural kose is more marked and not needed in your sentence.
Kosa joj brzo leti is exactly the natural way to say her hair flies quickly.

Could we rewrite the sentence with possessive adjectives, like njezino lice, njezina kosa, njezine oči? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can rewrite it with possessive adjectives:

Kad vjetar dodirne njezino lice, njezina kosa brzo leti oko njezinih očiju.

This is grammatically correct and fully understandable. The differences are in style and feel:

With joj (dative):
- More natural, common in everyday speech.
- Slightly emphasizes that the person is affected by what happens to her face/hair.
- Lighter and less repetitive.
With njezino / njezina / njezinih:
- More explicit about possession, maybe a bit heavier stylistically.
- Feels more formal, written, or emphatic, especially if you repeat it several times.

Native speakers overwhelmingly prefer something like the original:

Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice, kosa joj brzo leti oko očiju.

Possessive adjectives are often only added if you really need to contrast or emphasize whose face/hair/eyes you’re talking about.

Why are both verbs, dodirne and leti, in the present tense if the sentence can describe a general habit?

Croatian, like English, uses the present tense both for:

Right now actions:
- Sad joj vjetar dodirne lice i kosa joj leti oko očiju.
  – Right now the wind touches her face and her hair flies…
General / habitual actions:
- Kad joj vjetar dodirne lice, kosa joj brzo leti oko očiju.
  – Whenever the wind touches her face, her hair quickly flies…

The habitual meaning comes from:

The structure with kad (when/whenever),
The lack of a specific time reference, and
The general nature of the description (it sounds like something that happens any time there is wind).

So even though both verbs are formally present tense, the context makes the whole sentence read as a general rule or habit, not necessarily one single moment.