Learn Hardcore Croatian: Njena baka kaže da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala usamljeno, jer je uvijek imala društvo u dvorištu. - Her grandmother says that in her childhood she never felt lonely, because she always had company in the yard.

You cannot use an infinitive here (kaže se ne osjećati usamljeno would be wrong). In Croatian, reported statements after verbs like reći, kazati, misliti, znati etc. are usually introduced by da plus a finite verb form.

Why do we need se in da se … nije osjećala? What does it add?

Se is the reflexive pronoun and is part of the verb osjećati se.

osjećati = to feel (something)
- osjećam bol = I feel pain
- osjećam hladnoću = I feel cold (literally)
osjećati se = to feel (a certain way, a state)
- osjećam se sretno = I feel happy
- osjećala se usamljeno = she felt lonely

So in this sentence:

nije se osjećala / se … nije osjećala usamljeno
= she didn’t feel lonely (as a state)

Without se, it would sound like she is “feeling” loneliness as an object (more like osjećati tugu, bol, strah), which isn’t how this emotion is normally expressed. For emotional or physical states, you almost always say osjećati se + adjective/adverb.

Why is se placed so early, in da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala, and not right next to osjećala?

This is due to the Croatian clitic (enclitic) position rule. Words like se, je, sam, si, mu, ga are clitics and very often must stand in the second position in the clause, not next to “their” verb.

The subordinate clause here is:

da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala usamljeno

If we strip it to the core clause:

da se nije osjećala

The first stressed word is da, so the clitic se goes right after it:

da se nije osjećala ✅

Then we just insert u djetinjstvu, nikad etc. after:

da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala usamljeno

Other correct options (with the same rule) would be, for example:

Nikad se u djetinjstvu nije osjećala usamljeno.
(Here the clause starts with Nikad, so se comes after Nikad.)

But da nikad se nije osjećala ❌ is wrong, because then se is not in the second position of that clause.

Could we say da nikad se nije osjećala usamljeno instead? It sounds closer to English word order.

No, that word order is not acceptable in standard Croatian.

The structure of the da‑clause is:

da + (clitics) + the rest of the sentence

So you can say:

da se nikad nije osjećala usamljeno ✅
da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala usamljeno ✅

But:

da nikad se nije osjećala usamljeno ❌

breaks the clitic rule. Nikad is a normal stressed word, se is a clitic and must come right after the first stressed element of its clause (here that is da), not after nikad.

Why is it osjećala and not osjetila? What is the difference between osjećati (se) and osjetiti (se)?

This is about aspect (imperfective vs perfective).

osjećati (se) – imperfective
Focus on a state or process that lasts or repeats over time.
- osjećati se loše = to feel bad (as an ongoing state)
osjetiti (se) – perfective
Focus on a single moment when the feeling appears or is noticed.
- odjednom se osjetila usamljeno = she suddenly felt lonely (at one moment)

In nikad se u djetinjstvu nije osjećala usamljeno, the idea is that throughout her childhood, as a general state, she never felt lonely. That fits the imperfective osjećati se.

If you said:

nikad se u djetinjstvu nije osjetila usamljeno

it would shift the nuance to “not even once did she get a sudden feeling of loneliness.” It’s possible, but it sounds more like discrete episodes, not a continuous overall state.

Why is it usamljeno and not usamljena or usamljenom?

All of these forms are possible, but they’re slightly different grammatically:

usamljeno – adverb (from adjective usamljen)
- osjećati se usamljeno = to feel lonely (in a lonely way / in a lonely manner)
  This is very common in everyday speech and sounds natural and neutral.
usamljena / usamljenom – adjective agreeing in gender, case, number
With osjećati se, the more “correct” grammatical pattern is:
- osjećam se usamljenom (feminine, instrumental)
- osjećam se usamljenim (masculine/instrumental)

So stylistically:

nije se osjećala usamljeno – completely standard, very common, a bit more colloquial-feeling.
nije se osjećala usamljenom – also correct, a bit more “formal/grammatical”.

In your sentence, usamljeno is the adverb and sounds perfectly natural.

What is the difference between nikad and nikada?

They mean the same thing: never.

nikad – shorter, more colloquial, very frequent in speech.
nikada – a bit more formal or emphatic, but still normal in speech and writing.

You can replace nikad with nikada in this sentence without changing the meaning:

…da se u djetinjstvu nikada nije osjećala usamljeno…

Could we say nije nikad osjećala instead of nikad nije osjećala? Does the word order matter?

Both orders are grammatically possible, but there are differences in clitics and emphasis.

With the full reflexive phrase, the most natural versions are:

nikad se nije osjećala usamljeno – very natural and common
nikada se nije osjećala usamljeno – a bit more formal/emphatic

You can also say:

nije se nikad osjećala usamljeno

In many contexts, nikad nije vs nije nikad is just a matter of subtle emphasis:

nikad nije osjećala… – neutral, “she never felt…”
nije nikad osjećala… – can slightly highlight the negation “(she) did not, at any time, feel…”

In practice, with nikad, the most common everyday pattern is nikad se nije + past participle or nikad nije + past participle. The version in your sentence fits these normal patterns.

Why is it u djetinjstvu? What case is that, and why?

Djetinjstvo is the noun “childhood”. In u djetinjstvu, the noun is in the locative case, singular:

nominative: djetinjstvo
locative: (u) djetinjstvu

The preposition u (“in”) often requires the locative when we talk about location in space or time:

u školi = in (the) school
u gradu = in (the) city
u djetinjstvu = in (her) childhood

So u djetinjstvu literally means “in childhood”, i.e. during the time of her childhood.

What exactly does društvo mean here? Is it “society” or “company”?

In this sentence, društvo means “company / people to be with / playmates”, not “society” in the abstract, sociological sense.

imati društvo = to have company, to have people around (friends, kids to play with, etc.)

Some examples:

Dođi, imam dobro društvo večeras.
= Come, I have good company tonight.
Djeca uvijek imaju društvo u parku.
= Children always have someone to play with in the park.

Grammatically:

društvo is neuter, here in the accusative singular (object of imati).
Croatian has no articles, so imala društvo can be “had company” / “had some company” / “had friends to play with”, depending on context.

Why is it u dvorištu and not na dvorištu? Is there a difference?

Both u dvorištu and na dvorištu are used in everyday Croatian, and both can mean “in the yard / in the courtyard”. The difference is subtle and often regional or stylistic:

u dvorištu – literally “in the yard/courtyard”, somewhat more “inside that space”.
na dvorištu – literally “on the yard”, but idiomatically also “in the yard”, a bit more common in some regions and in casual speech.

In your sentence:

uvijek je imala društvo u dvorištu

is completely natural. You could also hear:

uvijek je imala društvo na dvorištu

with virtually the same meaning. Context and regional usage often decide which preposition sounds more natural, but both are acceptable.

Why Njena baka and not svoja baka? And what about njezina baka?

There are two different issues here:

Njena vs. njezina

Both mean “her” (possessive adjective):

njena baka
njezina baka

These are just two forms of the same word. Njezina is often considered slightly more “standard”, but njena is very common and fully acceptable in modern Croatian.

Njena vs. svoja

njena = her (belonging to some female person already mentioned or understood)
svoja = her own (reflexive possessive, referring back to the subject of the clause)

In Njena baka kaže…, the subject is baka (“grandmother”). If you said:

Svoja baka kaže…

that would mean “her own grandmother says…”, where svoja refers back to the subject baka – so it would actually mean “The grandmother’s own grandmother says…”, which is not what you want.

Typically:

Njena baka kaže da…
= Her grandmother says that… (the grandmother of some woman/girl that has been mentioned)
Ona kaže da voli svoju baku.
= She says that she loves her (own) grandmother.

So njena baka is correct and natural here; svoja baka would be wrong or at least very confusing in this position.

Why is kaže (present tense) used, when the feelings are in the past (nije osjećala, je imala)?

Croatian allows the same sequence as English:

Njena baka kaže da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala usamljeno…
= Her grandmother says that she never felt lonely in her childhood…

Here, kaže (present) is used for reporting speech now – we are describing what the grandmother is currently saying (or habitually says). Inside that, the grandmother is talking about her past childhood, so the verbs in the da‑clause are past:

nije (se) osjećala – she did not feel (imperfective past)
je imala – she had

If you were narrating a past event (e.g. a story) you might instead say:

Njena baka je rekla da se u djetinjstvu nikad nije osjećala usamljeno…
= Her grandmother said that she never felt lonely…

So the present kaže vs past je rekla is about when the saying happens, not about the time of childhood.

What does jer do in this sentence, and how is it different from zato što? Why is there a comma before it?

Jer introduces a reason clause and corresponds to “because” in English:

…nikad nije osjećala usamljeno, jer je uvijek imala društvo u dvorištu.
= …she never felt lonely, because she always had company in the yard.

About jer vs zato što:

jer – simple “because”, very common, neutral.
zato što – also “because”, but often feels slightly more explicit; literally “for that reason, that…”.

In many cases they are interchangeable:

…nikad nije osjećala usamljeno, jer je uvijek imala društvo…
…nikad nije osjećala usamljeno, zato što je uvijek imala društvo…

Both are fine here.

As for the comma: in standard Croatian, a comma is normally placed before conjunctions like jer, zato što, iako, dok when they introduce a full clause. So:

…nije osjećala usamljeno, jer je uvijek imala društvo… ✅