U džepu sam našla malo sitniša, dovoljno za kavu.

Because u can take two different cases depending on meaning:

• u + accusative = movement into something
  
  • Stavila sam novac u džep. = I put the money into the pocket.
• u + locative = location in something
  
  • Novac je u džepu. = The money is in the pocket.

In U džepu sam našla..., the speaker is talking about the place where something was found, not movement, so Croatian uses the locative: džepu.

Both are possible, but Croatian clitics like sam usually go in the second position of the clause.

So in:

• U džepu sam našla malo sitniša...

the first unit is U džepu, and then the clitic sam comes right after it.

You could also say:

• Našla sam malo sitniša u džepu.

That is also correct, but the emphasis is slightly different.
With U džepu sam našla..., the sentence starts by highlighting where the speaker found it.

Because of našla.

In the Croatian past tense, the main verb agrees with the subject’s gender and number:

• našao sam = I found (male speaker)
• našla sam = I found (female speaker)
• našli smo = we found (mixed or masculine plural)
• našle smo = we found (all-female group)

So sam našla tells you the speaker is female.

Sitniš means small change, coins, or loose change.

It refers to small amounts of money in coins, like what you might find in your pocket.

So:

• malo sitniša = a little change / some loose change

This is a very natural everyday word in Croatian.

Because after quantity words like malo meaning a little / some, Croatian typically uses the genitive.

So:

• malo vode = a little water
• malo vremena = a little time
• malo novca = a little money
• malo sitniša = a little change

Here sitniša is the genitive form.

This is very common in Croatian, especially with amounts and indefinite quantities.

Not really in the usual sense. In this sentence, malo functions more like a quantity word meaning a little or some.

Compare:

• mali džep = a small pocket
  Here mali is a regular adjective.
• malo sitniša = a little change
  Here malo expresses quantity.

So even though it looks familiar, in this sentence it is not describing sitniš as small. It means a small amount of.

Za here means for, and after za, Croatian uses the accusative.

So:

• kava = nominative
• kavu = accusative

That is why we get:

• dovoljno za kavu = enough for a coffee

This is a very common pattern:

• dovoljno za kartu = enough for a ticket
• dovoljno za ručak = enough for lunch
• dovoljno za dva dana = enough for two days

Because Croatian often leaves out words that are easy to understand from context.

Here dovoljno za kavu is a shortened way of saying something like:

• bilo je dovoljno za kavu = it was enough for a coffee

The full idea is understood, so the shorter version sounds natural and idiomatic.

English does something similar too:

• I found some change in my pocket, enough for a coffee.

It can mean either in a general sense, but in this sentence it most naturally means:

• enough for a coffee
• in other words, enough money to buy one coffee

Croatian does not have articles like a and the, so kavu by itself does not tell you whether English should use coffee, a coffee, or the coffee. You decide that from context.

Because Croatian has no articles at all.

English says:

• in the pocket
• enough for a coffee

Croatian simply says:

• u džepu
• za kavu

Whether English needs a, the, or no article depends on context, but Croatian does not mark that grammatically.

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, although some patterns sound more natural than others.

For example, you could also say:

• Našla sam malo sitniša u džepu, dovoljno za kavu.
• Malo sitniša sam našla u džepu, dovoljno za kavu.

These all mean basically the same thing, but the emphasis changes:

• U džepu sam našla... emphasizes the location first.
• Našla sam... is a more neutral starting point.
• Malo sitniša sam našla... emphasizes what was found.

So word order in Croatian often helps show focus rather than changing the basic meaning.

Našla comes from naći, which is a perfective verb.

That matters because perfective verbs usually describe a completed action or a successful result:

• našla sam = I found

The imperfective partner is nalaziti:

• nalazila sam = I was finding / I used to find

In this sentence, the speaker means that she actually found the change, so the perfective verb našla is the natural choice.

Not in the same way.

• u džepu = in the pocket
• po džepu can suggest around the pocket, over the pocket, or searching through the pocket depending on context

For this sentence, where something is located inside the pocket, u džepu is the normal choice.

If you wanted to talk about searching, you might say:

• Tražila sam po džepovima. = I was looking through my pockets.

So u džepu is about location; po džepovima often suggests moving around while searching.

Grammatically, it is a genitive singular form, even though in meaning it refers to multiple coins or loose change.

This is because sitniš often behaves like a mass noun, similar to words like money or change in English. You are thinking of it as an amount, not as separate countable items.

So:

• sitniš = loose change
• malo sitniša = a little loose change

Even though it may consist of many coins, the grammar treats it as a mass.