Learn Hardcore Croatian: Koliko god puta ponovim ovu riječ, uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije. - No matter how many times I repeat this word, it always sounds a bit different to me.

Koliko god puta pokušaš, nećeš uspjeti. – However many times you try, you won’t succeed.
Koliko god novca imam, nikad nije dosta. – However much money I have, it’s never enough.

Why is it koliko god puta and not just koliko puta?

You can say Koliko puta ponovim ovu riječ, uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije, but it changes the feel:

Koliko puta… – neutral question or indirect question: “How many times…”
- Koliko puta ponoviš tu riječ? – How many times do you repeat that word?
Koliko god puta… – concessive: “however many times / no matter how many times…”
- It implies “it doesn’t matter what the number is; the result is always the same.”

So god adds the “no matter…” idea.

What case is puta in, and why is it used here?

Puta here is in the genitive plural of put (time, occasion), used in counting expressions.

singular:
- nominative: put (one time)
counting / genitive plural:
- dva puta, tri puta, više puta, koliko puta

In koliko god puta, you literally have:

koliko (how many) + [genitive plural] puta (times)

This is the regular pattern after koliko when you’re asking or talking about number of occurrences.

Why is the verb ponovim (perfective) and not ponavljam (imperfective)?

Croatian distinguishes aspect:

ponoviti (perfective) – a single, complete repetition: to repeat once / to repeat as a whole event
ponavljati (imperfective) – repeated or ongoing action: to be repeating, to keep repeating

In structures like koliko god puta, you are talking about separate, countable events (“each time I repeat it”), so the perfective present is normal:

Koliko god puta ponovim… – however many times (each individual time) I repeat it…

Compare:

Ponavljam ovu riječ. – I am repeating / I keep repeating this word (ongoing activity).
Ponovim ovu riječ tri puta. – I (will) repeat this word three times (discrete events).

With koliko god puta, ponovim (perfective) is the natural choice.

Could you also say Koliko god puta da ponovim ovu riječ…? Is that correct?

Yes, Koliko god puta da ponovim ovu riječ, uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije is also correct and common.

Adding da after koliko god puta is stylistic; it doesn’t change the meaning.
Without da (your original sentence) is slightly more neutral and maybe a bit more common in everyday speech.

Both forms are fine.

Why is it ovu riječ and not ova riječ?

Because riječ is the direct object of ponovim (“I repeat this word”), so it must be in the accusative:

ova riječ – nominative (subject): Ova riječ je čudna. – This word is strange.
ovu riječ – accusative (object): Ponovim ovu riječ. – I repeat this word.

Ovu is the accusative feminine singular form of ova. Since riječ is feminine, you get ovu riječ.

What exactly does mi mean in uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije? Is it necessary?

Mi is an unstressed dative pronoun meaning “to me”.

uvijek mi zvuči ≈ “it always sounds (to me)…”

Verbs like zvučati (“to sound”) often take a dative person to show whose perception it is:

To mi zvuči čudno. – That sounds strange to me.
Kako ti to zvuči? – How does that sound to you?

Without mi, the sentence is still grammatically correct:

…uvijek zvuči malo drugačije. – “…it always sounds a bit different.”

But then it’s more general; with mi, you emphasize that this is your personal perception.

Why is the word order uvijek mi zvuči, and not uvijek zvuči mi or mi uvijek zvuči?

Because mi is a clitic (an unstressed short pronoun), and Croatian has fairly strict rules for clitic placement.

Clitics (like mi, ti, se, ga, je, sam, će) normally go:

in the second position in the clause, after the first stressed word or phrase.

In your clause:

First stressed element: uvijek
Then clitic: mi
Then main verb: zvuči

So:

✅ Uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije.
❌ Uvijek zvuči mi malo drugačije. (ungrammatical)
✅ Meni uvijek zvuči malo drugačije. (if you use full meni instead of clitic mi, then it’s not a clitic and may come first)

Why is it zvuči malo drugačije and not zvuči malo drugačiji?

Because drugačije here is an adverb, and zvučati in this sense is followed by an adverbial: “to sound differently / a bit different”.

drugačije – adverb: differently
drugačiji / drugačija / drugačije – adjective forms (masc/fem/neut): different (as a quality of a noun)

Examples:

To zvuči drugačije. – That sounds different / differently.
To je drugačija riječ. – That is a different word. (adjective, agrees with riječ, feminine)

In your sentence, we’re describing how it sounds, so we need the adverb: drugačije.

What is the nuance of malo in malo drugačije?

Malo here is an adverb meaning “a bit / slightly”.

malo drugačije – “a bit different / slightly different”

It softens the statement:

uvijek mi zvuči drugačije – it always sounds different (could sound stronger)
uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije – it always sounds a little different (more modest, nuanced)

You could also say:

pomalo drugačije – somewhat different / kind of different (a bit more “shaded”, maybe more subjective)

Why is the comma placed before uvijek mi zvuči?

Because Croatian uses a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause.

Koliko god puta ponovim ovu riječ, – subordinate concessive clause
uvijek mi zvuči malo drugačije. – main clause

Rule: you normally put a comma between them:

Kad dođeš, javi se. – When you come, call me.
Iako je kasno, još radim. – Although it’s late, I’m still working.

So the comma in your sentence is standard and required.

Is the verb zvuči here just simple present, or does it have some special meaning with uvijek?

It’s the normal present tense, but with uvijek it expresses a general, repeated truth:

uvijek mi zvuči – “it always sounds (to me)…”

This is very similar to English:

English present simple + always: “it always sounds…”
Croatian present + uvijek: uvijek zvuči…

No special tense, just the present used in a habitual / general sense.

Could this sentence be reordered, for example starting with Uvijek mi?

Yes, you can change the overall word order of the clauses, but the internal clitic rule stays.

Some natural variants:

Uvijek mi ta riječ zvuči malo drugačije, koliko god puta je ponovim.
– Here the main clause comes first, subordinate second.
Ova riječ mi uvijek zvuči malo drugačije, koliko god puta je ponovim.

Within each clause, clitics (mi, je) still appear in second position:

Uvijek mi ta riječ zvuči… (first stressed word = Uvijek, then mi)
Koliko god puta je ponovim… (first stressed unit = Koliko god puta, then je)

Your original order is the most straightforward, but reordering is possible as long as clitic placement rules are respected.