Na kružnom toku kraj škole jutros je jedna žena stala da propusti pješaka s djetetom.

At the roundabout near the school this morning, a woman stopped to let a pedestrian with a child pass.

Breakdown of Na kružnom toku kraj škole jutros je jedna žena stala da propusti pješaka s djetetom.

• biti: to be
• škola: school
• s: with
• dijete: child

Questions & Answers about Na kružnom toku kraj škole jutros je jedna žena stala da propusti pješaka s djetetom.

Why is it na kružnom toku? What case is kružnom toku?

Because na is being used here to mean at/on the roundabout as a location, it takes the locative case.

• dictionary form: kružni tok
• locative singular: kružnom toku

So:

• na kružnom toku = at the roundabout

This is a very normal Croatian way to express location with na.

Why is it kraj škole and not kraj škola or kraj školi?

Because kraj as a preposition, meaning near / by / next to, takes the genitive case.

• dictionary form: škola
• genitive singular: škole

So:

• kraj škole = near the school

You can think of kraj here as behaving like a preposition that always wants genitive.

Why is je placed after jutros instead of directly after žena?

This is because je is a clitic in Croatian. Clitics usually go in the second position of the clause, but that means the second unit, not necessarily the second single word.