Djevojčica želi novi romobil za rođendan.

Djevojčica usually means little girl or young girl. It points more clearly to a child than djevojka, which usually means girl/young woman and can also mean girlfriend depending on context.

So in this sentence, djevojčica suggests that the person is a child.

It is in the nominative singular.

That is the form used for the subject of the sentence, and here djevojčica is the one doing the wanting.

Želi is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb željeti (to want).

So:

• ja želim = I want
• ti želiš = you want
• on/ona želi = he/she wants

Because the subject is djevojčica (she), the verb form is želi.

Croatian normally has no articles. There is no direct equivalent of English a and the used in everyday grammar.

So djevojčica can mean a girl or the girl, depending on context, and novi romobil can mean a new scooter or the new scooter.

The context tells you which interpretation is meant.

Because novi has to agree with romobil in gender, number, and case.

• romobil is masculine
• it is singular
• here it is in the accusative, because it is the direct object of želi

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular, so romobil stays romobil. The adjective matches that pattern here as novi.

Also, learners often notice that dictionaries list nov. In modern Croatian, novi is the normal form before a noun in sentences like this: novi romobil.

It actually is in the accusative singular, but masculine inanimate nouns often have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular.

So:

• nominative: romobil
• accusative: romobil

That is why it looks unchanged.

Compare a feminine noun, where the change is easier to see:

• knjiga = book
• želi novu knjigu = she wants a new book

Here both the noun and adjective clearly change.

The preposition za here takes the accusative.

So rođendan is in the accusative singular. But again, because rođendan is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative singular looks the same as its nominative singular:

• nominative: rođendan
• accusative: rođendan

In this sentence, za rođendan means something like for her birthday or as a birthday present.

Croatian often leaves out possessive words when they are obvious from context.

Since the subject is djevojčica, za rođendan is naturally understood as for her birthday.

You could say za njezin rođendan, but that would usually sound more explicit or emphatic, as if you especially want to stress her birthday and not someone else’s.

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible. The basic order here is neutral and natural:

• Djevojčica želi novi romobil za rođendan.

But other orders are possible if you want to change the emphasis:

• Za rođendan djevojčica želi novi romobil.
  Emphasis on for her birthday

• Novi romobil djevojčica želi za rođendan.
  Emphasis on a new scooter

Even when the order changes, the case endings help show what each word is doing.

A rough guide:

• djevojčica ≈ dye-VOY-chee-tsa
• želi ≈ ZHEH-lee
• rođendan ≈ ro-jen-dan, with a softer sound than English j

A few useful letter/sound notes:

• j sounds like English y
• ž sounds like the s in measure
• č sounds like ch in church
• đ is a soft sound somewhat between English j and dy

The spelling is quite regular in Croatian, so once you learn the letter sounds, pronunciation becomes much easier.

In a sentence like this, it usually implies for a birthday / as a birthday present, not just the time when something happens.

So Djevojčica želi novi romobil za rođendan most naturally means that she wants a new scooter for her birthday, probably as a gift.

That is why the phrase feels very natural here.