Otkud dolazi ovaj autobus?

Otkud means from where? or where from? It asks about origin or the place something is coming from.

• Otkud dolazi ovaj autobus? = Where does this bus come from?
• Gdje je ovaj autobus? = Where is this bus?

So otkud is about the starting point, while gdje is about location.

Yes, in most everyday situations, otkud and odakle both mean from where.

So these are both natural:

• Otkud dolazi ovaj autobus?
• Odakle dolazi ovaj autobus?

Some speakers may prefer one over the other depending on region or style, but both are standard and common.

Dolazi is the 3rd person singular present tense of dolaziti, meaning to come / to be coming / to arrive.

Because the subject is ovaj autobus = this bus, which is he/it singular, Croatian uses:

• ja dolazim = I come / I am coming
• ti dolaziš = you come
• on/ona/ono dolazi = he/she/it comes

So:

• ovaj autobus dolazi = this bus comes / is coming

In this sentence, the sense is comes from.

Ovaj means this and agrees with autobus in gender, number, and case.

Since autobus is:

• masculine
• singular
• here in the nominative case

the correct form is ovaj.

Compare:

• ovaj autobus = this bus
• ova kuća = this house
• ovo selo = this village

Because ovaj autobus is the subject of the sentence, and subjects are normally in the nominative case.

The sentence structure is basically:

• Otkud = from where
• dolazi = comes
• ovaj autobus = this bus

Since this bus is doing the action of coming, it stays in the nominative:

• ovaj autobus

Grammatically, Croatian allows fairly flexible word order, but Otkud dolazi ovaj autobus? is the most natural neutral way to ask the question.

A version like:

• Autobus dolazi otkud?

would sound unusual or marked in normal speech. It may sound like you are repeating or emphasizing something in a strange way.

For learners, the safest pattern is:

• Question word + verb + subject
• Otkud dolazi ovaj autobus?

It can mean either, depending on context.

In Croatian, the present tense often covers both:

• comes
• is coming

So dolazi can mean:

• comes
• is coming
• sometimes even arrives, depending on the situation

In this sentence, because of otkud, the meaning is best understood as:

• Where does this bus come from? or
• Where is this bus coming from?

Yes, autobus is masculine.

One clue is that many Croatian masculine nouns in the nominative singular end in a consonant:

• autobus
• grad
• vlak

That is why you get:

• ovaj autobus not
• ova autobus and not
• ovo autobus

A very natural English equivalent is:

• Where does this bus come from?

Depending on context, you could also say:

• Where is this bus coming from?

The Croatian sentence is not word-for-word identical to English, but the meaning is the same.

Yes, you can.

• Otkud dolazi autobus? = Where does the bus come from? or Where is the bus coming from?
• Otkud dolazi ovaj autobus? = Where does this bus come from?

Adding ovaj makes it more specific: you mean this particular bus.

It is pronounced roughly like OT-kood.

A few helpful notes:

• o is like a short clear o
• tk is pronounced fully; Croatian keeps consonant clusters clearly
• u sounds like oo in food
• d at the end is pronounced

So say it cleanly as:

• ot-kud

Yes, that is a good contextual interpretation.

The verb dolaziti often relates to coming or arriving, so in a transport context the sentence may be understood as:

• Where is this bus coming from?
• What place has this bus arrived from?

It is still fundamentally asking about the bus’s point of origin.

If you want to say Where do these buses come from?, you would say:

• Otkud dolaze ovi autobusi?

Changes:

• dolazi → dolaze because the subject is plural
• ovaj → ovi to match masculine plural
• autobus → autobusi for the plural noun

So:

• ovaj autobus = this bus
• ovi autobusi = these buses