Uvijek nosim sprej protiv komaraca, pogotovo kad je kamp blizu šume.

Because Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and putting uvijek first gives it a natural emphasis.

• Uvijek nosim sprej... = I always carry spray...
• You could also say Nosim uvijek sprej..., but that sounds less natural in everyday speech.

Starting with uvijek is very common when you want to frame the whole sentence with always.

Nosim is the 1st person singular present of nositi, which often means:

• to carry
• to wear
• sometimes to bring around with you

In this sentence, nosim sprej means I carry spray / I have spray with me, not I am wearing spray.

So:

• Nosim jaknu. = I’m wearing a jacket.
• Nosim vodu sa sobom. = I’m carrying water with me.

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Protiv means against, so sprej protiv komaraca literally means spray against mosquitoes.

That is a very natural Croatian way to say mosquito spray or mosquito repellent.

You may also hear:

• sredstvo protiv komaraca = anti-mosquito product / mosquito repellent
• sprej za komarce is understandable, but protiv komaraca is more standard when you mean protection from them.

Because the preposition protiv requires the genitive case.

The base noun is:

• komarac = mosquito

Its plural nominative is:

• komarci = mosquitoes

But after protiv, you need the genitive plural:

• protiv komaraca = against mosquitoes

So this is a case-governed form, not the dictionary form.

Sprej is a borrowed word, from English spray, adapted to Croatian spelling.

It is treated as a masculine noun in Croatian.

For example:

• taj sprej = that spray
• ovaj sprej = this spray

Even though it is a loanword, it behaves like a normal Croatian noun in many contexts.

Pogotovo means especially.

In this sentence:

• pogotovo kad je kamp blizu šume = especially when the camp/campsite is near the forest

Similar words include:

• posebno = especially / particularly
• naročito = especially / particularly

All three can work in many situations, though pogotovo is very common in everyday speech.

The comma marks a pause and separates the main statement from the added emphasis.

Structure:

• Uvijek nosim sprej protiv komaraca = main idea
• pogotovo kad je kamp blizu šume = added comment: especially when the camp is near the forest

This kind of comma is very natural in Croatian, especially when adding an afterthought or emphasis.

Both kad and kada mean when.

• kad is shorter and very common in everyday speech
• kada is slightly fuller and can sound a bit more formal or careful

So:

• pogotovo kad je kamp blizu šume
• pogotovo kada je kamp blizu šume

Both are correct.

This is because je is a clitic in Croatian. Clitics are short unstressed words that tend to come very early in the clause.

After kad, Croatian normally places the clitic right away:

• kad je kamp blizu šume

This is much more natural than:

• kad kamp je blizu šume — this sounds wrong or very unnatural

So this is not random word order; it follows the normal placement rules for Croatian clitics.

Here kamp usually means campsite or camping site, not necessarily camp in the abstract English sense.

So:

• kad je kamp blizu šume = when the campsite is near the forest

Depending on context, English might translate it as camp, campground, or campsite.

Because blizu normally takes the genitive case.

The noun is:

• šuma = forest

After blizu, it becomes:

• blizu šume = near the forest

Other examples:

• blizu kuće = near the house
• blizu grada = near the city

So šume is the genitive singular form of šuma.

Croatian has no articles like a or the, so šume by itself does not explicitly mark definiteness.

So blizu šume can mean:

• near the forest
• near a forest

English chooses a or the from context. In this sentence, the forest often sounds more natural in English, but Croatian itself does not force that choice.

No, not in standard Croatian.

After blizu, you use the genitive, so it should be:

• blizu šume

not

• blizu šumi

The form šumi is dative/locative singular, and it does not fit after blizu here.

A rough guide is OO-vyek.

A few helpful points:

• u sounds like oo in food
• vi here combines with je so the middle sounds something like vye
• the stress can vary by dialect, but for a learner, OO-vyek is a good approximation

It is best not to pronounce it like English you-vee-ek. Keep the sounds short and connected.

Yes, grammatically you can, but it becomes less specific.

• Nosim sprej. = I carry spray.
• Nosim sprej protiv komaraca. = I carry mosquito spray / mosquito repellent.

Without protiv komaraca, the listener may wonder what kind of spray you mean.

Yes. Croatian uses the present tense for habitual actions, just like English often does.

• Uvijek nosim... = I always carry...

This does not mean only right now. It can also describe a repeated habit or general behavior.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Uvijek nosim sprej protiv komaraca kad je kamp blizu šume.
  = I always carry mosquito spray when the campsite is near the forest.

This sounds more like a direct time/condition statement.

• Uvijek nosim sprej protiv komaraca, pogotovo kad je kamp blizu šume.
  = I always carry mosquito spray, especially when the campsite is near the forest.

This version says you always do it, but even more so in that particular situation.

So pogotovo adds nuance, not just extra words.