Moram nahraniti mačku prije nego što odem u ured.

In standard Croatian, modal verbs such as morati are normally followed by an infinitive:

• moram nahraniti = I have to feed

So moram nahraniti is the most natural standard Croatian structure here.

A structure with da + present tense is much more typical of some other South Slavic varieties, especially Serbian. In Croatian, learners should usually expect:

• moram ići = I have to go
• želim jesti = I want to eat
• mogu doći = I can come

Also, Croatian often omits the subject pronoun, so ja is unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

Moram is the 1st person singular present form of morati, meaning must / have to.

So:

• moram = I must / I have to
• moraš = you must
• mora = he/she/it must

In this sentence, moram expresses obligation or necessity.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

• hraniti = imperfective, meaning to feed in a general, ongoing, repeated, or process-focused sense
• nahraniti = perfective, meaning to feed completely / to get fed / to finish feeding

In this sentence, the speaker means a single completed action that must happen before leaving. Because of that, nahraniti is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Moram hraniti mačku svaki dan.
  = I have to feed the cat every day.
  (habit, repeated action)

• Moram nahraniti mačku prije posla.
  = I have to feed the cat before work.
  (one complete action)

Because mačku is in the accusative case, which is used for the direct object of the verb.

The dictionary form is:

• mačka = cat

But after a verb like nahraniti when the cat is the thing being fed, you need the accusative:

• nahraniti mačku

For this feminine noun pattern:

• nominative: mačka
• accusative: mačku

So the sentence uses the correct object form.

Croatian has no articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• mačka can mean a cat or the cat
• ured can mean an office or the office

The exact meaning depends on context. In your sentence, English naturally uses the cat and the office, but Croatian does not need separate words for that.

Prije nego što means before in the sense of before one action happens.

It introduces a clause:

• prije nego što odem u ured = before I go to the office

It is longer because Croatian often uses a multi-word conjunction where English uses just one word.

You can think of it as a set phrase:

• prije = before
• nego što = than / that (part of the fixed conjunction here)

As a learner, it is best to memorize prije nego što as a unit meaning before when followed by a verb clause.

Yes, very often it can.

Both of these are common:

• prije nego što odem u ured
• prije nego odem u ured

Both mean the same thing here. The version with što can sound a bit fuller or more formal, but both are normal. As a learner, you should understand both when you hear or read them.

This is another aspect question.

• ići → idem = imperfective, to go
• otići → odem = perfective, to leave / to go off

In this sentence, the speaker means before I leave/go off to the office, so Croatian prefers the perfective verb otići, here in the form odem.

Also, after prije nego što, Croatian often uses a present-tense form of a perfective verb to refer to a future action in subordinate clauses:

• prije nego što odem = before I go / before I leave

That may feel unusual to English speakers, but it is normal Croatian grammar.

Because in Croatian, the present tense of a perfective verb often refers to a future completed action, especially in subordinate clauses.

So although odem is morphologically present, in this sentence it means something like:

• before I go
• before I leave

This is very common after words such as:

• kad = when
• čim = as soon as
• nakon što = after
• prije nego što = before

Example:

• Nazvat ću te kad dođem.
  = I’ll call you when I arrive.

So odem is not a mistake or a special tense; it is normal usage.

Because Croatian distinguishes between movement toward a place and being in a place.

• u + accusative = into / to
• u + locative = in

So:

• u ured = to the office, into the office
  (movement, destination)
• u uredu = in the office
  (location)

In your sentence, the speaker is going to the office, so u ured is correct.

Yes, but it changes the nuance.

• u ured = to the office
  (focus on the physical place: the office)
• na posao = to work
  (focus on going to work as an activity/job)

So:

• Moram nahraniti mačku prije nego što odem u ured.
  = I have to feed the cat before I go to the office.

• Moram nahraniti mačku prije nego što odem na posao.
  = I have to feed the cat before I go to work.

Both are natural, but they are not exactly identical.

Because Croatian verbs already show the subject clearly.

• moram already means I must
• odem already means I go / I leave

So Croatian often drops subject pronouns unless they are needed for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Compare:

• Moram nahraniti mačku.
  = I have to feed the cat.

• Ja moram nahraniti mačku, ne ti.
  = I have to feed the cat, not you.

So in your sentence, leaving out ja is completely normal.

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but not completely free. The neutral order here is:

• Moram nahraniti mačku prije nego što odem u ured.

You may see variations for emphasis, such as:

• Prije nego što odem u ured, moram nahraniti mačku.

This puts more emphasis on the before going to the office part.

However, not every rearrangement sounds equally natural. As a learner, it is best to use the original version until you get more comfortable with Croatian emphasis and rhythm.

The sentence has two parts:

1. Moram nahraniti mačku
   = the main clause

2. prije nego što odem u ured
   = the subordinate time clause

The subordinate clause is introduced by prije nego što and tells you when the action in the main clause must happen.

So the structure is:

• main action: I have to feed the cat
• time relation: before I go to the office

With the direct object meaning feed the cat, yes, the thing being fed is normally in the accusative:

• nahraniti mačku
• hraniti psa
• nahraniti dijete

Other cases can appear in different constructions, but for the ordinary direct object after hraniti / nahraniti, the accusative is what you expect.

So for this sentence, mačku is exactly what you should use.