Profesorica nam je pokazala kako isti pridjev izgleda u jednini i u množini.

Croatian does not have articles, so it does not use separate words like the or a/an.

That means a noun like pridjev can mean:

• an adjective
• the adjective

The exact meaning comes from context. If Croatian speakers want to be more specific, they can use other words such as:

• taj = that
• jedan = one / a certain

So in this sentence, English needs articles, but Croatian does not.

Profesorica is a feminine noun meaning female professor or, in many school contexts, female teacher.

Croatian nouns have grammatical gender, and words referring to people often show natural gender too:

• profesor = male professor/teacher
• profesorica = female professor/teacher

Since the subject is feminine, other parts of the sentence also reflect that, especially the past tense form pokazala.

Nam means to us.

It is the short, unstressed dative form of the pronoun:

• mi = we
• nama = to us / us, long form
• nam = to us / us, short clitic form

In this sentence, pokazati means to show, and Croatian often structures that as:

• show something to someone

So:

• Profesorica nam je pokazala... = The teacher showed us...

Why not nama?
Because nam is the normal short form used in ordinary sentences when there is no special emphasis. Nama would sound more emphatic or would be used in certain positions, especially after prepositions.

This is the normal Croatian past tense, often called the perfect.

It is formed with:

• a present-tense form of biti = to be
• plus the l-participle

Here:

• je = has/is auxiliary, third person singular
• pokazala = past participle form of pokazati

Together, je pokazala means:

• showed
• or literally something like has shown

In modern Croatian, this is the usual way to say a completed action in the past.

Because the past participle in Croatian agrees with the subject in gender and number.

The subject is profesorica, which is feminine singular, so the verb form must also be feminine singular:

• pokazala = feminine singular

Compare:

• Profesor je pokazao = the male teacher showed
• Profesorica je pokazala = the female teacher showed
• Profesori su pokazali = the teachers showed

So the ending -la tells you the subject is feminine singular.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

In this sentence, nam and je are both short unstressed words called clitics, and clitics usually go near the beginning of the sentence, often in the second position.

So:

• Profesorica nam je pokazala... is very natural

The order nam je is normal because Croatian has a preferred clitic order.

Other word orders are possible, but they usually change emphasis rather than basic meaning. For a learner, the important point is:

• short pronouns like nam
• and short auxiliary forms like je

often appear early in the sentence, not necessarily exactly where English would place them.

Here kako means how, and it introduces a subordinate clause.

So:

• pokazala kako... = showed how...

This is not a direct question. It is an embedded clause:

• how the same adjective looks in the singular and in the plural

Croatian uses kako in many places where English uses how:

• direct question: Kako si? = How are you?
• embedded clause: Pokazala je kako to izgleda. = She showed how that looks.

It is the direct object of pokazala, so functionally it is in the accusative.

However, pridjev is a masculine inanimate noun, and for many masculine inanimate nouns, the nominative and accusative singular look the same.

So:

• nominative: isti pridjev
• accusative: isti pridjev

The form does not change, but the role in the sentence tells you it is accusative here.

Also, isti must agree with pridjev in:

• gender
• number
• case

That is why both words appear in matching forms.

Isti means same.

So:

• isti pridjev = the same adjective

It is an adjective, so it changes to agree with the noun it describes.

For example, you might see different forms depending on the noun:

• isti pridjev = same adjective
• ista riječ = same word
• isto slovo = same letter

In this sentence, isti matches pridjev, which is masculine singular.

Because the clause after kako describes a general fact or the form being demonstrated, not a separate past event.

So Croatian naturally says:

• pokazala ... kako isti pridjev izgleda...
• literally: she showed ... how the same adjective looks...

This is very similar to English, where you can also say:

• She showed us how it looks in the singular and plural.

The present tense izgleda works well because the statement is generally true, not limited only to that moment in the past.

Also, izgledati literally means to look / appear.

Because the preposition u here means in, and with this meaning it takes the locative case.

The base nouns are:

• jednina = singular
• množina = plural

Their locative singular forms are:

• u jednini = in the singular
• u množini = in the plural

So the endings change:

• jednina → jednini
• množina → množini

This is a very common pattern in Croatian after u when it means in rather than motion into something.