Ona si ne može priuštiti skupi restoran, pa si kuha ručak kod kuće.

Si is a reflexive pronoun in the dative case, meaning “to herself” / “for herself.”

• priuštiti si = to afford (something) for oneself
  → ne može si priuštiti skupi restoran = she can’t afford an expensive restaurant (for herself)
• kuhati si ručak = to cook lunch for oneself
  → pa si kuha ručak = so she cooks herself lunch

It doesn’t translate as a separate word in English, but it shows that the action is done for the subject’s benefit.

Each si belongs to a different verb:

• ne može si priuštiti
• pa si kuha

Both verbs normally require this reflexive dative when you mean “for oneself”:

• priuštiti si nešto – to afford something (for oneself)
• (s)kuhati si nešto – to cook something (for oneself)

You could grammatically drop one or both si, but the meaning changes slightly:

• Ona ne može priuštiti skupi restoran…
  → grammatically OK, but sounds less idiomatic; we almost always say priuštiti si.
• …pa kuha ručak kod kuće.
  → simply she cooks lunch at home (not explicitly “for herself”).

With si, it’s clear she’s doing these things for herself.

Both come from the same reflexive pronoun, but they show different cases:

• se – reflexive accusative or genitive
  
  • vidi se = he sees himself
  • sjeća se = she remembers
• si – reflexive dative (“to/for oneself”)
  
  • piše si bilješke = she writes notes for herself
  • kupio si je auto = he bought himself a car
  • ne može si priuštiti restoran = she can’t afford a restaurant (for herself)

In this sentence, you must use si, not se, because the verbs mean something for herself (dative).

Croatian has strict rules for the position of short pronouns (clitics) like si and the negative ne:

• Short pronouns usually go very early in the clause, often in so‑called second position (right after the first stressed word, here Ona).
• Ne normally goes directly before the verb.

So in:

• Ona si ne može priuštiti…

we get:

1. Ona – first stressed word
2. si – short pronoun in second position
3. ne može – negated verb

Other orders are possible in some contexts, but Ona si ne može priuštiti sounds very natural and follows common clitic placement rules.

Moći means “can / to be able to”, and it is usually followed by an infinitive:

• može priuštiti = (she) can afford
• ne može priuštiti = (she) cannot afford

So the structure is:

• (ne) može + infinitive
  → (ne) može priuštiti

If you used only priušti (the present form without moći), it would sound more like a simple statement of fact, not about ability:

• Ona si priušti skupi restoran.
  → She affords herself an expensive restaurant.
  (grammatical, but unusual; we almost always express this with moći).

For “cannot afford”, ne može priuštiti is the normal, idiomatic way.

The verb priuštiti (si) nešto takes its object in the accusative case:

• priuštiti si što? → skupi restoran (accusative singular)

For a masculine inanimate noun like restoran, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative:

• nominative: skupi restoran
• accusative: (vidim) skupi restoran

So skupi restoran here is actually accusative, even though it looks like nominative.

Skupog restorana would be genitive and would not match this verb pattern.

Both are forms of the adjective meaning “expensive”.

Croatian adjectives have short and long/definite forms in the masculine singular:

• short: skup restoran
• long/definite: skupi restoran

In everyday speech:

• Skupi restoran is very common and fully standard.
• Skup restoran is also correct, but the longer form with -i is often preferred in attributive position (before the noun).

The meaning difference is minimal here; both can mean “an expensive restaurant.” In many contexts, they’re practically interchangeable.

Pa is a common conjunction that can mean roughly:

• “so”, “and so”, “and then”

In this sentence:

• …ne može priuštiti skupi restoran, pa si kuha ručak kod kuće.
  → …she can’t afford an expensive restaurant, so she cooks herself lunch at home.

Compared with other options:

• zato (pa) / zato: more explicitly “therefore”, a bit stronger, more formal/logical.
• jer: “because” – introduces a reason, not a consequence.

Here we want a consequence, so pa is natural and conversational.

Kuhati and skuhati form an aspect pair:

• kuhati – imperfective (focus on the ongoing/habitual action)
  → to be cooking, to cook (regularly, as a habit)
• skuhati – perfective (focus on the completed result)
  → to cook up, to finish cooking something

In the sentence:

• pa si kuha ručak kod kuće

the idea is that this is what she does (habitually) when she can’t afford a restaurant. So we use the imperfective:

• she (typically) cooks herself lunch at home.

If we said:

• pa si skuha ručak kod kuće

it would sound more like a single, completed event: so she (then) cooks herself lunch at home (gets it done).

• kuha ručak = she is cooking lunch (no information about for whom)
• kuha si ručak = she cooks herself lunch / she cooks lunch for herself

The si adds the nuance that she is the beneficiary of the action. This is very common with verbs of:

• eating, drinking: kuhati si, peći si, skuhati si, kupiti si za jesti
• buying: kupiti si auto, kupiti si jaknu
• doing something for one’s own benefit: napisati si, srediti si, priuštiti si

So kuha si ručak makes it explicit that she’s doing it for herself.

Kod kuće literally means “by/at the house”, but idiomatically it means “at home”:

• kuhati kod kuće = to cook at home

U kući means “in the house (building)” and is more physical/spatial.

Compare:

• Danas radim kod kuće.
  → I’m working at home (not in the office).
• On je u kući.
  → He is in the house (inside the building).

In your sentence, “at home” in the sense of not in a restaurant is exactly kod kuće.

Kuće is genitive singular.

The preposition kod (“at, by, near”) always takes the genitive:

• kod kuće – at home
• kod prijatelja – at a friend’s (place)
• kod liječnika – at the doctor’s

So the form kuće is genitive because of kod.

You can certainly drop the subject pronoun, but you cannot start with si.

Correct options:

• Ne može si priuštiti skupi restoran, pa si kuha ručak kod kuće.
  → She can’t afford an expensive restaurant, so she cooks herself lunch at home.

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: the subject is usually understood from the verb ending (može, kuha → 3rd person singular), so ona is not required.

However, short pronouns like si cannot normally stand at the very beginning of a clause. They must follow some stressed element (often the verb or another word), so Si ne može… is not natural.

• ne može si priuštiti
• pa si kuha

Both are in the present tense, which in Croatian can express:

1. Current reality: what is true now.
2. Habitual/general truth: what usually happens in such situations.

In this sentence, the present suggests a general situation or habit:

• She (generally) can’t afford an expensive restaurant, so she (typically) cooks herself lunch at home.

English uses the present simple the same way here, so the tenses match quite well.