Kad putujemo, uvijek šaljemo roditeljima barem jednu fotografiju.

Yes. Kad and kada both mean when.

• Kad is the shorter, very common everyday form.
• Kada is a bit fuller and can sound slightly more formal or careful.

In this sentence, Kad putujemo... means When we travel... or Whenever we travel...

So both of these are fine:

• Kad putujemo, ...
• Kada putujemo, ...

Croatian often uses the present tense for habitual or repeated actions, just like English does in sentences such as When we travel, we always send...

So here:

• putujemo = we travel / we are traveling
• šaljemo = we send / we are sending

Because the sentence describes something that happens regularly, the present tense is natural.

This sentence does not mean only one specific trip. It means something like:

• Whenever we travel, we always send...

Putujemo is the 1st person plural present form of putovati = to travel.

So:

• ja putujem = I travel
• ti putuješ = you travel
• on/ona putuje = he/she travels
• mi putujemo = we travel
• vi putujete = you (plural/formal) travel
• oni/one putuju = they travel

The ending -mo is a very common sign of we in Croatian verbs.

Šaljemo is the 1st person plural present form of slati / slati / šaljem-type conjugation meaning to send.

In practice, you should learn:

• ja šaljem = I send
• mi šaljemo = we send

So in the sentence, uvijek šaljemo means we always send.

A useful thing to notice: the verb changes stem in the present:

• dictionary form: slati = to send
• present: šaljem, šalješ, šalje...

That kind of stem change is normal in Croatian and is something you often just learn with the verb.

Because roditeljima is in the dative plural, and here it means to the parents.

Compare:

• roditelji = parents, as the subject
• roditeljima = to/for the parents

In this sentence, the parents are the indirect object: they are the people who receive the photo.

So Croatian marks that with the dative:

• šaljemo roditeljima fotografiju
• literally: we send to-the-parents a photograph

This is very common with verbs like dati (give), slati (send), pokazati (show), reći (say/tell).

Yes, absolutely.

• roditeljima = to the parents
• našim roditeljima = to our parents

Croatian often leaves out possessives when they are already obvious from context. Since we are the subject, roditeljima will often naturally be understood as our parents.

So both are possible:

• Kad putujemo, uvijek šaljemo roditeljima barem jednu fotografiju.
• Kad putujemo, uvijek šaljemo našim roditeljima barem jednu fotografiju.

The version without našim sounds very natural.

Because jednu fotografiju is the direct object, and fotografija is a feminine noun. In this sentence, it is in the accusative singular.

Here is what happens:

• jedna fotografija = one photograph (nominative)
• jednu fotografiju = one photograph (accusative)

Both words change because:

1. jedna behaves like an adjective/numeral and agrees with the noun
2. fotografija itself changes case

So:

• nominative: jedna fotografija
• accusative: jednu fotografiju

This is very normal with feminine nouns ending in -a.

Because fotografija is a feminine noun.

The word for one changes for gender:

• jedan for masculine
• jedna for feminine
• jedno for neuter

And in the accusative singular feminine, jedna becomes jednu.

So:

• jedna fotografija = one photograph
• jednu fotografiju = one photograph as the object

If the noun were masculine, you would get something different, for example:

• jedan film = one film
• gledamo jedan film = we are watching one film

Barem means at least.

In this sentence:

• barem jednu fotografiju = at least one photograph

It usually goes right before the word or phrase it modifies. Here it modifies jednu fotografiju, so its position is very natural.

You could also hear bar in everyday speech:

• bar jednu fotografiju

That means the same thing and is very common.

Yes, a small one.

• barem = at least, often with a slightly more conversational feel
• najmanje = at least / no fewer than / minimum, often a bit more literal or numerical

In this sentence, both can work:

• barem jednu fotografiju
• najmanje jednu fotografiju

But barem sounds especially natural in everyday speech.

Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order, because case endings show who is doing what.

The given order is very natural:

• Kad putujemo, uvijek šaljemo roditeljima barem jednu fotografiju.

It flows like:

1. time/background: Kad putujemo
2. frequency: uvijek
3. verb: šaljemo
4. recipient: roditeljima
5. thing sent: barem jednu fotografiju

You can move things for emphasis, for example:

• Kad putujemo, roditeljima uvijek šaljemo barem jednu fotografiju.
• Kad putujemo, barem jednu fotografiju uvijek šaljemo roditeljima.

These are possible, but the original version is the most neutral and natural for many situations.

Yes, often you can.

• fotografija = photograph, photo
• slika = picture, image, sometimes also photo in everyday use

So a very natural alternative is:

• Kad putujemo, uvijek šaljemo roditeljima barem jednu sliku.

That sounds a bit more everyday and less precise.
Fotografiju specifically means a photograph, so it is slightly more exact.

Because Croatian uses cases to mark each noun’s role.

In this sentence:

• roditeljima is dative plural = the recipient, to the parents
• fotografiju is accusative singular = the direct object, the photograph

So even if the order changes, the endings still help you understand the roles.

That is one of the big differences from English: English depends much more on word order, while Croatian depends much more on endings.

In this sentence, it is closer to whenever we travel.

Because the sentence includes uvijek = always, the meaning is clearly habitual:

• every time we travel
• whenever we travel

So although the literal translation may be When we travel..., the real sense is:

• Whenever we travel, we always send our parents at least one photo.

That is a very common use of kad + present tense in Croatian.