Kad putujemo, uvijek nosimo putovnicu sa sobom.

Both kad and kada mean when.

• kad is the shorter, very common everyday form
• kada is slightly fuller and can sound a bit more formal or emphatic in some contexts

In this sentence, Kad putujemo... is completely natural and common in spoken and written Croatian.

Putujemo means we travel or we are traveling, depending on context.

It comes from the verb putovati = to travel.

Here it is:

• 1st person plural: we
• present tense

So:

• putujem = I travel
• putuješ = you travel
• putuje = he/she travels
• putujemo = we travel

In this sentence, it has a general meaning: when we travel.

Uvijek means always.

The sentence begins with a time clause:

• Kad putujemo = When we travel

Then the main clause follows:

• uvijek nosimo putovnicu sa sobom = we always carry a passport with us

Croatian often places adverbs like uvijek near the beginning of the main clause, so this word order is very natural.

You could think of the structure as:

• When we travel, / we always carry a passport with us.

Because Kad putujemo is a subordinate clause: when we travel.

In Croatian, when a dependent clause comes before the main clause, it is normally separated by a comma.

So:

• Kad putujemo, uvijek nosimo putovnicu sa sobom.

This works much like English:

• When we travel, we always carry a passport with us.

Nosimo comes from nositi, which means to carry, to wear, or to have on/with oneself, depending on context.

So nosimo putovnicu sa sobom means:

• we carry a passport with us
• literally, we carry the passport on/with ourselves

If you used imamo, that would mean we have, which is not quite the same idea. The sentence is specifically about carrying the passport while traveling.

Because it is in the accusative case.

The verb nositi takes a direct object, and the direct object goes in the accusative:

• putovnica = passport, nominative
• putovnicu = passport, accusative

So:

• Nosimo putovnicu = We carry a passport

This is a regular pattern for many feminine nouns ending in -a:

• nominative: žena
• accusative: ženu

Likewise:

• nominative: putovnica
• accusative: putovnicu

Putovnicu here is singular accusative, so it means a passport or the passport, depending on context.

Croatian does not have articles like a and the, so the noun form itself does not tell you which one is meant. The context does.

In this sentence, English will usually translate it as:

• we always carry a passport with us

But Croatian simply says putovnicu without any article.

Sa sobom means with oneself / with us / on us, depending on the subject.

The key word is sobom, which comes from the reflexive pronoun sebe.

In this sentence:

• sa sobom = with ourselves
• but in natural English, that becomes with us

So:

• nosimo putovnicu sa sobom = we carry a passport with us

This expression is very common in Croatian.

Because sobom normally goes with the preposition s/sa, meaning with.

So the full expression is:

• s/sa sobom = with oneself / with oneself present / on one’s person

Croatian uses s or sa depending on pronunciation and flow.

Here sa sobom is the natural form. You will often learn it as a fixed expression.

Both s and sa mean with, but sa is often used for easier pronunciation before certain consonants or consonant clusters.

Because sobom begins with s, Croatian uses:

• sa sobom

rather than:

• s sobom

The version with sa is easier to pronounce and is the standard choice here.

Yes, that shorter sentence is grammatical:

• Kad putujemo, uvijek nosimo putovnicu.

It means When we travel, we always carry a passport.

But sa sobom adds the idea with us / on our person, which makes the meaning more explicit. It emphasizes that the passport is physically carried along, not just owned or generally brought.

So:

• nosimo putovnicu = we carry a passport
• nosimo putovnicu sa sobom = we carry a passport with us

Yes. In a sentence like this, kad can express a general repeated situation, not just one specific moment.

Because of uvijek = always, the meaning is clearly habitual:

• Whenever we travel, we always carry a passport with us.

So even though Croatian says kad, the English meaning may be when or whenever, depending on context.

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but some orders sound more natural than others.

The original sentence:

• Kad putujemo, uvijek nosimo putovnicu sa sobom.

is very natural.

You could also hear variations such as:

• Kad putujemo, nosimo uvijek putovnicu sa sobom.
• Uvijek nosimo putovnicu sa sobom kad putujemo.

These are possible, but the original version is the most neutral and natural for everyday use.

So the word order is not completely fixed, but it is chosen for natural rhythm and emphasis.