Baka mi uvijek da poljubac za laku noć kad ostanem kod nje.

Mi means to me.

So:

• Baka = Grandma
• mi = to me
• da = gives

Croatian often uses a short dative pronoun like mi where English just says me after the verb:

• Baka mi da poljubac = Grandma gives me a kiss

Grammatically, mi is a dative clitic (a short unstressed pronoun).

Da is the 3rd person singular present of dati (to give, perfective).

Daje is the 3rd person singular present of davati (to be giving / to give habitually, imperfective).

In this sentence, da presents the action as a complete single act each time: each time you stay there, Grandma gives you one goodnight kiss.

So the nuance is roughly:

• Baka mi uvijek da poljubac... = Grandma always gives me a kiss...
  → each occasion is seen as a complete event
• Baka mi uvijek daje poljubac... = Grandma is always giving me a kiss... / Grandma always gives me a kiss...
  → more explicitly habitual/process-oriented

Both can be natural, but da makes the repeated event feel more like a completed whole each time.

Ostanem is from ostati (to stay / remain, perfective).

Ostajem is from ostajati (to be staying / to stay habitually, imperfective).

After kad (when), Croatian often uses the perfective present to talk about a repeated event that is completed on each occasion:

• kad ostanem kod nje = when(ever) I stay at her place

This sounds natural because it means something like on those occasions when I end up staying there / when I stay over there.

If you said kad ostajem kod nje, it would sound more like when I am staying at her place or while I’m staying there, which is not the usual meaning intended here.

Poljubac is the direct object, so it is in the accusative singular.

The useful thing to know is that for many masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: poljubac = a kiss
• accusative: poljubac = a kiss

That is why you do not see a form change here.

Za laku noć means for good night or more naturally goodnight in this phrase.

So:

• poljubac za laku noć = a goodnight kiss

Also, Laku noć! is the normal Croatian way to say Good night!

Literally, laku noć is an old fixed expression, and learners should mostly treat it as a set phrase meaning good night.

Because the preposition za here takes the accusative.

• base form: laka noć
• accusative: laku noć

The adjective lak changes to agree with noć, which is feminine singular:

• nominative: laka noć
• accusative: laku noć

So after za, you get:

• za laku noć

Because kod takes the genitive, and after prepositions Croatian uses the full stressed pronoun form, not the short clitic form.

So:

• nje = genitive form of ona after a preposition
• joj = dative form, so it does not fit after kod

That gives:

• kod nje = at her place / by her / with her

Also:

• u njoj means in her, which is a completely different meaning

So if you want to say at her place, kod nje is the correct expression.

Usually, yes.

With people, kod + genitive often means:

• at someone’s place
• to someone’s place
• by someone

So:

• ostanem kod nje = I stay at her place / I stay with her

It does not have to refer only to the physical building in a narrow sense; it is the normal way to talk about being/staying at someone’s home.

Yes.

• kad = shorter, very common in speech
• kada = slightly fuller, often a bit more formal or written

Both mean when.

In this sentence, kad can be understood as when or whenever, because the whole sentence describes something that happens regularly.

Because mi is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go very early in the sentence, typically in second position.

So the structure is:

• Baka = first element
• mi = clitic in second position
• uvijek = always
• da = gives

That is why Baka mi uvijek da... sounds natural.

Croatian word order is flexible, but clitics are not totally free. A learner should get used to short pronouns like mi, ti, mu, joj, se appearing near the beginning of the clause.

Yes, but the sentence becomes less explicit.

• Baka uvijek da poljubac za laku noć kad ostanem kod nje.

This can still be understood from context, but mi clearly tells you who receives the kiss.

In normal speech, if the speaker is the one receiving it, keeping mi is the most natural choice.

Croatian often leaves out possessives like my when the relationship is obvious from context.

So:

• Baka can simply mean Grandma / my grandma
• moja baka = my grandma, with more emphasis or contrast

For example:

• Baka mi uvijek da poljubac... = Grandma always gives me a kiss...
• Moja baka mi uvijek da poljubac... = My grandma always gives me a kiss...
  → this may sound a bit more emphatic, like you are distinguishing your grandma from someone else’s

It is about a repeated habit.

The clue is uvijek (always), which makes the whole sentence general:

• Baka mi uvijek da poljubac... = Grandma always gives me a kiss...

Also, kad ostanem kod nje here means whenever I stay at her place, not just one specific future time.

This is a useful pattern in Croatian: the present tense, including perfective present in some contexts, can describe things that happen regularly on repeated occasions.