Htjela sam pitati može li se rata za kredit uplatiti online, ali sam zaboravila.

Htjela sam shows that the speaker is female.

In Croatian, the past active participle agrees with the speaker’s gender:

• htjela sam = I wanted (female speaker)
• htio sam = I wanted (male speaker)

The same thing happens later in the sentence with zaboravila:

• zaboravila sam = I forgot (female speaker)
• zaboravio sam = I forgot (male speaker)

So this sentence is being said by a woman.

Croatian often expresses wanted to do something with:

• htjeti = to want
• • infinitive

So:

• htjela sam pitati = I wanted to ask

Literally, it is something like wanted am to ask, but in natural English it becomes I wanted to ask.

This is a very common pattern:

• Htio sam doći. = I wanted to come.
• Htjela sam nazvati. = I wanted to call.

Because sam is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go in the second position in a clause.

So you get:

• Htjela sam pitati
• ali sam zaboravila

not usually:

• Sam htjela pitati
• ali zaboravila sam (possible in some contexts for emphasis, but not the neutral order here)

This second-position rule is very important in Croatian. Short unstressed words like sam, si, je, smo, ste, su, se, li tend to cluster near the beginning of the clause.

Može li ... ? is a common way to form a yes/no question in Croatian.

Here:

• može = can / is possible
• li = question particle

So:

• može li se rata za kredit uplatiti online
  = can the loan installment be paid online?

A learner should notice that li usually comes right after the first stressed word, very often after the verb:

• Je li došao? = Has he arrived?
• Može li pomoći? = Can he help?
• Znaš li? = Do you know?

Here se helps create an impersonal/passive-like meaning.

Compare:

• Može li Ana uplatiti ratu online?
  = Can Ana pay the installment online?

• Može li se rata uplatiti online?
  = Can the installment be paid online? / Is it possible to pay the installment online?

So se removes the specific person doing the action and makes the sentence more general.

This is very common in Croatian, especially in formal or practical contexts:

• Ovde se ne puši. = Smoking is not allowed here. / One does not smoke here.
• Može se platiti karticom. = It can be paid by card.

Rata means an installment or payment installment.

In this sentence, rata za kredit means the installment for the loan or the loan payment.

A few useful notes:

• rata = installment
• kredit = loan / credit

In everyday Croatian, you may hear both:

• rata za kredit
• rata kredita

Both refer to a loan installment.
Rata za kredit is very understandable and conversational.
Rata kredita can sound a bit more compact or official.

Be careful not to confuse rata here with other words that may look similar.

Because the preposition za often takes the accusative when it means for.

So:

• za kredit = for the loan
• za stan = for the apartment
• za auto = for the car

Since kredit is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative singular looks the same as the nominative:

• nominative: kredit
• accusative: kredit

That is why the form does not visibly change.

Uplatiti specifically means to make a payment into an account / to pay in / to remit.

That makes it a very natural choice for things like bills, installments, fees, and bank payments.

Compare roughly:

• platiti = to pay
• uplatiti = to pay in / make a payment / transfer payment
• plaćati = to be paying / to pay regularly or repeatedly

So for a bank or loan installment, uplatiti is especially suitable.

Also, uplatiti is perfective, which fits the idea of a single completed payment:

• uplatiti ratu = to pay one installment

If you wanted to speak about repeated or habitual payment, you might see an imperfective verb instead.

Because online is widely used in Croatian as a borrowed adverb, especially in banking, technology, shopping, and everyday speech.

So:

• platiti online
• naručiti online
• raditi online

are all very normal.

Depending on style, you might also see more Croatian alternatives in some contexts, but online is extremely common and natural.

Because Croatian often omits something that is already understood from context.

The full idea is:

• Htjela sam pitati ... , ali sam zaboravila (pitati).

The second pitati is not necessary because the listener can easily understand it.

English does this too:

• I wanted to ask, but I forgot.

We understand that the person forgot to ask, even though it is not repeated.

Yes, but the word order would change the feel slightly.

The neutral order here is:

• ali sam zaboravila

because sam is in second position after ali.

You could also say:

• ali zaboravila sam

but that would sound more marked, as if you were emphasizing zaboravila.

So for a normal, neutral sentence, ali sam zaboravila is the most natural choice.

Yes, it sounds fairly natural for practical, service-related, or administrative language.

Croatian often uses this kind of structure when asking about procedures:

• Može li se platiti karticom?
• Može li se prijava poslati e-mailom?
• Može li se termin promijeniti?

It is not overly stiff, but it is more neutral and service-oriented than a very personal phrasing.

A more personal version might be:

• Mogu li ratu za kredit uplatiti online?
  = Can I pay the loan installment online?

The sentence you were given is more like asking generally whether such a payment can be made online.

A useful breakdown is:

• Htjela sam = I wanted (female speaker; past tense)
• pitati = to ask
• može li = can / is it possible
• se = impersonal/passive-like marker
• rata za kredit = the loan installment
• uplatiti = to pay in / make a payment
• online = online
• ali = but
• sam zaboravila = I forgot (female speaker; past tense)

So the sentence is built from:

1. a main clause: Htjela sam pitati ...
2. an embedded yes/no question: može li se rata za kredit uplatiti online
3. another main clause: ali sam zaboravila

That is a very common Croatian sentence pattern.