Rosa ostaje na travi sve dok se sunce ne pojavi.

Here it means dew.

Croatian rosa = dew. It is capitalized only because it is the first word in the sentence. If it appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be rosa, not Rosa.

So this is not about a person named Rosa.

Ostaje means stays, remains, or is left depending on context.

In this sentence, ostaje is best understood as stays/remains:

• Rosa ostaje na travi = The dew stays on the grass

It comes from the verb ostajati / ostati. Here the form ostaje is present tense, 3rd person singular.

Because na travi expresses location, not movement.

With na, Croatian often uses:

• locative for being on/in a place
• accusative for movement onto/to a place

So:

• na travi = on the grass (location)
• na travu = onto the grass (movement)

In this sentence, the dew is already there, so Croatian uses na travi.

Travi is locative singular of trava (grass).

The phrase na travi requires the locative because it describes where something is located.

So:

• dictionary form: trava
• locative singular: travi

Sve dok means until or as long as... until.

It is very close to just dok ne in this sentence. The word sve adds emphasis, so sve dok can feel a bit like:

• right up until
• all the way until

So:

• dok se sunce ne pojavi = until the sun appears
• sve dok se sunce ne pojavi = until the sun appears / right up until the sun appears

Yes. That would still be natural and correct.

• Rosa ostaje na travi dok se sunce ne pojavi.
• Rosa ostaje na travi sve dok se sunce ne pojavi.

Both mean essentially the same thing. Sve dok is just a bit stronger or more emphatic.

Because the verb is pojaviti se, which means to appear.

The se is part of the verb here. Without it, you would not have the normal meaning appear.

So:

• pojaviti se = to appear
• sunce se pojavi = the sun appears

In many Croatian verbs, se is an important fixed part of the verb, not something optional.

Because se is a clitic: a short, unstressed word that usually goes near the beginning of the clause.

After conjunctions like dok, Croatian often places clitics very early:

• dok se sunce ne pojavi

This is normal Croatian word order.

An English speaker may expect sunce se, because English puts subjects first very consistently, but Croatian is more flexible, and clitics follow special placement rules.

This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence.

After dok or sve dok meaning until, Croatian normally uses ne in the subordinate clause:

• dok se sunce ne pojavi = until the sun appears

Here, ne does not make the meaning negative in the English sense. It is just part of the standard Croatian pattern with until.

So you should understand:

• dok ... ne ... = until ...

not as:

• until ... does not ...

In other words, the whole clause still has a positive meaning: the sun eventually appears.

Because Croatian is using the perfective verb pojaviti se.

After until, Croatian often uses a perfective verb to show the event as a single completed point:

• dok se sunce ne pojavi = until the sun appears

Using pojavljuje se would suggest an ongoing or repeated process, which does not fit as well here. The sentence is about the moment when the sun shows up.

So:

• pojaviti se = perfective, one completed appearance
• pojavljivati se / pojavljivati se or related imperfective forms = repeated/ongoing appearing

Yes.

In Croatian, the present tense is often used in subordinate clauses for future events, especially after words like dok.

So although pojavi is morphologically present tense, in this sentence it refers to a future point relative to the main action:

• the dew remains on the grass
• until the sun appears

This is normal Croatian usage.

Most naturally, it sounds like a general truth or a habitual/natural process:

• dew stays on the grass until the sun appears

Croatian present tense is often used for this kind of general statement. Depending on context, it could also describe a current scene, but without extra context it sounds like a general fact about nature.

A fairly literal breakdown is:

• Rosa = dew
• ostaje = stays/remains
• na travi = on the grass
• sve dok = until
• se sunce ne pojavi = the sun appears

A very literal English-style unpacking would be something like:

• Dew remains on the grass until the sun appears

That is also the most natural translation overall.