Rekao je da je krzno oko šape mokro zato što se mačka stalno grebala.

They are doing two different jobs.

• Rekao je = he said. Here je is the auxiliary used to form the past tense.
• da je krzno ... mokro = that the fur ... is/was wet. Here je is the present tense of biti (to be), linking krzno and mokro.

So the two je forms are not redundant; they belong to two different parts of the sentence.

Rekao is the masculine singular past participle of reći, which means to say.

In Croatian, the common past tense is built with:

• a past participle
• plus a form of biti (to be)

So:

• rekao je = he said
• rekla je = she said
• rekli su = they said (masculine/mixed group)

The form rekao tells you the subject is masculine singular, even though on (he) is not stated.

Because Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

So:

• Rekao je is perfectly natural = He said
• On je rekao is also possible, but it adds emphasis, contrast, or clarity

A native English speaker often expects an explicit subject, but Croatian is much more comfortable dropping pronouns.

Here da introduces a subordinate clause and usually corresponds to English that.

So:

• Rekao je da... = He said that...

After verbs of saying, thinking, knowing, believing, and similar verbs, Croatian very often uses da to introduce what was said or thought.

Because mokro agrees with krzno.

• krzno = fur
• krzno is a neuter singular noun
• the adjective therefore appears in the neuter singular form: mokro

Compare:

• mokar pas = a wet dog (masculine)
• mokra mačka = a wet cat (feminine)
• mokro krzno = wet fur (neuter)

Even in a predicate, Croatian still shows agreement:

• krzno je mokro

Because the preposition oko here means around, and in this meaning it takes the genitive case.

The noun is:

• šapa = paw (nominative singular)

After oko, it becomes:

• šape = genitive singular

So:

• oko šape = around the paw

A useful thing to remember is that oko can also be a noun meaning eye, but here it is clearly the preposition around.

Because Croatian does not backshift tenses as strictly as English does.

In English, after he said, you often expect was:

• He said that the fur was wet

In Croatian, it is very normal to keep the present in the subordinate clause if the statement is presented as valid at that time or still relevant:

• Rekao je da je krzno mokro

If you wanted to make it clearly more past-oriented, you could say:

• Rekao je da je krzno bilo mokro

So the given sentence is natural; Croatian is simply less rigid than English about this kind of tense shift.

Zato što means because.

So:

• ... mokro zato što se mačka stalno grebala = ... wet because the cat was constantly scratching itself

Yes, jer would also be possible in many contexts:

• ... mokro jer se mačka stalno grebala

Very roughly:

• jer = shorter, very common
• zato što = a bit fuller or more explicit

Both are normal Croatian.

Se marks the verb as reflexive here.

• grebati = to scratch
• grebati se = to scratch oneself

So:

• mačka se grebala = the cat scratched itself / was scratching itself

Without se, the verb would normally suggest scratching something else.

This is due to Croatian clitic placement.

Words like se, je, su, and some pronouns are clitics, and clitics usually appear very early in the clause, often in the so-called second position.

In this sentence, after the conjunction phrase zato što, the clitic se comes before the full noun subject:

• zato što se mačka stalno grebala

This word order is normal Croatian syntax. English speakers often want to place words in a more English-like order, but clitics in Croatian follow their own placement rules.

Because the past participle agrees with mačka, which is a feminine singular noun.

So:

• mačka ... grebala se = feminine singular
• pas ... grebao se = masculine singular
• mače ... grebalo se = neuter singular

Even if the actual cat is male, the noun mačka is grammatically feminine, so the verb form follows grammar, not biological sex.

Because grebala se is imperfective and fits repeated or ongoing action.

The adverb stalno means constantly / continually, so imperfective is exactly what you want:

• stalno se grebala = she kept scratching herself

A perfective form such as ogrebala se would suggest a more single, completed act:

• she scratched herself once / ended up scratching herself

So grebala se is the natural choice here.

Because Croatian has no articles.

It does not have direct equivalents of English a/an and the. Definiteness is usually understood from:

• context
• word order
• demonstratives such as ovaj, taj, onaj
• possession or other modifiers

So krzno oko šape can naturally mean the fur around the paw if the context already makes it clear which fur and which paw are meant.