Jesi li nahranila psa, ili još čeka pokraj zdjele?

This is a standard way to form a yes/no question in Croatian.

Here the structure is:

jesi + li + nahranila

• jesi = you are / have (the 2nd person singular form of biti, used as an auxiliary here)
• li = a question particle
• nahranila = the past participle

So Jesi li nahranila psa? means Have you fed the dog? / Did you feed the dog?

A matching statement would be:

Nahranila si psa. = You fed the dog.

In questions, li typically comes right after the first stressed word.

It is the Croatian perfect tense.

The perfect is formed with:

• the present tense of biti as an auxiliary
• plus the l-participle of the main verb

So here:

• jesi = auxiliary
• nahranila = participle

This tense can often match either:

• Have you fed the dog?
• or Did you feed the dog?

In this sentence, English often prefers Have you fed the dog...? because the second part refers to the dog's current situation: or is he still waiting by the bowl?

Because the form agrees with the gender of the person being addressed.

• nahranila = you fed, said to a female
• nahranio = you fed, said to a male

So:

• Jesi li nahranila psa...? = speaking to a woman or girl
• Jesi li nahranio psa...? = speaking to a man or boy

Croatian past participles show gender, unlike English.

If you were speaking politely or to more than one person, you would usually say:

Jeste li nahranili psa...?

This is a question of aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

• nahraniti = to feed in the sense of feed successfully / give food so that the feeding is completed
  → perfective
• hraniti = to feed in the sense of feeding as an activity, repeatedly, or in progress
  → imperfective

In this sentence, the speaker is asking whether the action has been completed. That is why nahranila is used.

So the idea is not just Were you feeding the dog? but rather Did you feed the dog / Is the dog fed now?

Because psa is the accusative singular form of pas.

• pas = nominative singular, the basic dictionary form
• psa = accusative singular

Since the dog is the direct object of the verb nahraniti, Croatian uses the accusative.

Also, pas is a masculine animate noun, and masculine animate nouns usually have:

• nominative singular: pas
• accusative singular: psa

That is why you say:

• Vidim psa. = I see the dog.
• Nahranila sam psa. = I fed the dog.

Because Croatian often omits subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form or the context.

In this sentence:

• jesi li nahranila clearly shows the subject is you
• čeka refers naturally to the dog

So Croatian does not need to say:

• ti for you
• on for he

You can include pronouns for emphasis, but normally you do not.

For example:

• Jesi li ti nahranila psa? = Was it you who fed the dog? / Did you feed the dog?
  (extra emphasis on you)
• ...ili on još čeka... = ...or is he still waiting...
  (extra emphasis on he)

Without that emphasis, the shorter version sounds more natural.

Because Croatian has no articles.

There is no direct equivalent of English a/an or the.

So:

• psa can mean a dog or the dog
• zdjele can mean a bowl or the bowl

The exact meaning comes from the context.

In this sentence, the context clearly suggests a specific dog and probably its specific bowl, so English translates them as the dog and the bowl.

Because it describes the dog's current state right now.

The sentence contrasts two possibilities:

• Have you fed the dog
• or is he still waiting by the bowl?

So the first clause asks about a completed past action with present relevance, and the second clause describes what is happening now.

That is why Croatian uses:

• nahranila = perfect tense
• čeka = present tense

This combination is very natural.

Here još means still.

So:

• još čeka = is still waiting

The idea is that the dog may not have been fed yet, and as a result, he continues to wait.

Be careful, because još can also mean more / another / additional in other contexts. But here it clearly means still.

Pokraj means beside, next to, or by.

It is a preposition, and it requires the genitive case.

The noun is:

• zdjela = bowl

Its genitive singular form is:

• zdjele

So:

• pokraj zdjele = by the bowl / next to the bowl

This is a very common pattern in Croatian: a preposition determines the case of the noun that follows it.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order, although not completely free.

The given sentence has a natural, neutral order:

Jesi li nahranila psa, ili još čeka pokraj zdjele?

But some rearrangements are possible, usually with a change in emphasis:

• Jesi li psa nahranila...?
  This puts more focus on the dog
• Ili još čeka pokraj zdjele?
  Same basic meaning, but depending on context it may sound more dramatic or contrastive

Even though word order can move around, clitics like li still follow special placement rules, so not every rearrangement works equally well.

For a learner, the original version is a very good neutral model to follow.