Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da cijeni uredski red i mir u odjelu.

Novi poslodavac is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative singular masculine.

• poslodavac = employer (masculine noun, nominative singular)
• novi = new (masculine adjective, nominative singular, long form)

Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in gender, number and case, so novi matches poslodavac:

• masc. sg. nom.: novi poslodavac
• fem. sg. nom.: nova poslodavka (female employer)
• neuter sg. nom.: novo radno mjesto (new workplace)

The preposition iz (from, out of) in this sense always takes the genitive case.

• Nominative: Zagreb
• Genitive: Zagreba

So iz Zagreba literally means from (the city of) Zagreb, and Zagreba is genitive singular.

You generally use iz + genitive for being from cities, countries, enclosed spaces, etc.:

• iz Hrvatske (from Croatia)
• iz ureda (from the office)

In Croatian, iz and od are both translated as from, but they are used differently:

• iz + genitive: from the inside of something, from a place, city, country, building, etc.
  
  • iz Zagreba, iz škole (from school), iz kuće (from the house)
• od + genitive: from a person, from a source, from the direction of, or indicating separation.
  
  • pismo od poslodavca (a letter from the employer)
  • daleko od Zagreba (far from Zagreb)

So for origin “from Zagreb” referring to the city as a place, iz Zagreba is the normal choice.

Kaže da… means “(he/she) says that…”.

• kaže = he/she says (3rd person singular present of kazati)
• da here is a subordinating conjunction meaning that, introducing a subordinate clause.

So:

• Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da…
  = The new employer from Zagreb says that…

This is very similar to English: “He says that he appreciates…” → “On kaže da cijeni…”.

Croatian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns (like on = he, ona = she) are often omitted when the subject is clear from context and from the verb ending.

• kaže already tells you it is he/she (3rd person singular).
• The logical subject is novi poslodavac iz Zagreba, so you don’t need on.

You could say On kaže da on cijeni…, but it sounds heavy and is only used for emphasis or contrast. The natural sentence simply leaves the pronoun out.

Cijeni is 3rd person singular present of cijeniti (to value, to appreciate, to respect).

Present tense of cijeniti:

• ja cijenim – I value/appreciate
• ti cijeniš – you value/appreciate
• on/ona/ono cijeni – he/she/it values/appreciates
• mi cijenimo
• vi cijenite
• oni/one/ona cijene

In this sentence, cijeni expresses a general, ongoing attitude (he generally values X), not a single one-time action.

Here:

• uredski = office, office-related (adjective from ured = office)
• red = order, tidiness, discipline, organization
• mir = peace, quiet

So uredski red i mir is like “office order and quiet”, i.e. a well-organized and calm/quiet office environment.

Red as a noun is order/sequence/line, not the color. The color “red” is crvena (boja), or the adjective crven.

Yes. In Croatian, one adjective before the first noun in a pair can modify both nouns, if they share the same gender, number and case:

• uredski red i mir ≈ office order and (office) peace/quiet
• dobra hrana i usluga – good food and (good) service
• visoka temperatura i vlaga – high temperature and (high) humidity

So you could say uredski red i uredski mir, but it sounds repetitive. The natural way is to use uredski once.

The preposition u can take either accusative or locative, depending on meaning:

• u + accusative = movement into (where to?):
  
  • Idem u odjel. – I’m going into the department.
• u + locative = location in (where?):
  
  • Radim u odjelu. – I work in the department.

In the sentence, the meaning is in the department (static location), so u odjelu uses locative singular of odjel:

• nominative: odjel
• locative: u odjelu

Odjel literally means department (within a company, institution, hospital, etc.).

• odjel – department (neutral, common term)
• odjeljenje – also “department”, but often used for school classes or hospital wards; somewhat more colloquial in some contexts
• odsjek – department in a university/faculty (e.g. department of history)

In a workplace context like uredski red i mir u odjelu, odjel = department (e.g. the accounting department, HR department).

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbial phrases and objects. All of these are grammatically correct, but have slightly different emphasis:

• Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da cijeni uredski red i mir u odjelu.
• Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da cijeni uredski red i mir u odjelu. (neutral default)
• Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da u odjelu cijeni uredski red i mir. (mild emphasis on in the department)
• Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da cijeni u odjelu uredski red i mir. (less natural, but possible with strong stress in speech)

The basic pattern [kaže] + [da] + [verb] + [objects/phrases] should be kept, but within the clause you can move phrases for emphasis.

Croatian doesn’t have articles (a / an / the). Definiteness and specificity are expressed by:

• context and word order
• sometimes by using demonstratives (taj, ovaj, onaj)
• sometimes by choice of adjective form

So:

• novi poslodavac can mean “a new employer” or “the new employer”, depending on context.
• u odjelu can be “in a department” or “in the department”.

English speakers must infer a/the from the situation; Croatian simply doesn’t mark it overtly.

They are all related to saying/speaking, but used differently:

• kaže (from kazati) – “says/tells (a specific piece of information)”; very common in reported speech:
  
  • Kaže da cijeni… – He says that he values…
• govori (from govoriti) – “speaks, is talking, is saying (in general, or for longer speech):
  - Govori o red u i miru u odjelu. – He is speaking about order and peace in the department.
• reče / rekao je (from reći) – “said” (past tense).
  
  • Rekao je da cijeni… – He said that he values…

In this present-tense sentence, kaže is the natural choice: Novi poslodavac iz Zagreba kaže da….

Yes. Adjectives change form with case, in agreement with the noun. For muški rod (masculine gender) singular:

• Nominative: novi poslodavac – the new employer (subject)
• Genitive: novog poslodavca – of the new employer
• Dative: novom poslodavcu – to/for the new employer
• Accusative (animate): novog poslodavca – I see the new employer
• Locative: o novom poslodavcu – about the new employer
• Instrumental: s novim poslodavcem – with the new employer

In the given sentence, it’s the subject, so nominative novi poslodavac is required.