Njezin novi parfem miriše na limun i cvijeće.

Njezin means her.

In Croatian, words like my, your, his, her usually behave like adjectives, so they must agree with the noun they describe. Here the noun is parfem (perfume), which is masculine singular nominative, so the possessive also appears in a matching form: njezin.

You can think of it as:

• njezin parfem = her perfume

Yes, njen is also used and means the same thing: her.

However, njezin is often preferred in careful or standard Croatian. Learners will see both, but njezin is a very good form to learn and use.

So both are possible:

• njezin novi parfem
• njen novi parfem

Because novi has to agree with parfem.

Parfem is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective nov (new) must also be masculine singular nominative:

• masculine: novi
• feminine: nova
• neuter: novo

That is why you get novi parfem.

Because that is simply its grammatical gender in Croatian.

Grammatical gender is a property of the noun, and adjectives must match it. Even though perfume is not biologically male, the Croatian noun parfem is treated as masculine.

That is why both words before it are in masculine forms:

• njezin
• novi

Miriše is the 3rd person singular present form of mirisati, meaning to smell.

With na, the phrase mirisati na + accusative means:

• to smell like
• to smell of

So:

• miriše na limun = it smells like lemon
• miriše na cvijeće = it smells like flowers

This is a very common pattern in Croatian.

Na often does mean on, but prepositions in Croatian can have several meanings depending on the verb and context.

After mirisati, na is idiomatic and means something like:

• like
• of

So in this sentence, na does not mean physical location. It is just the normal preposition used with mirisati when saying what something smells like.

Because here na takes the accusative, and these nouns happen to look the same in nominative and accusative.

• limun is a masculine inanimate noun, and masculine inanimate nouns usually have the same form in nominative and accusative.
• cvijeće is a neuter noun, and neuter nominative and accusative are also usually the same.

So:

• nominative: limun / accusative: limun
• nominative: cvijeće / accusative: cvijeće

That is why they look unchanged.

Grammatically, cvijeće is singular neuter, but in meaning it refers to flowers as a collective idea.

So it works a bit like a collective noun:

• form: singular
• meaning: flowers / floral things in general

That is why you say:

• cvijeće je lijepo = literally the flowers/floral display is beautiful

In this sentence, na cvijeće means like flowers or floral.

Because Croatian has no articles.

English needs words like:

• a
• an
• the

Croatian usually does not use separate words for that. Whether something is definite or indefinite is understood from context.

So Njezin novi parfem can naturally mean:

• her new perfume and English adds the article as needed.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• njezin ≈ NYEH-zin
  
  • nj sounds like the ny in canyon
• miriše ≈ MEE-ree-sheh
  
  • š sounds like sh
• cvijeće ≈ TSVYEH-cheh, but with a softer ch sound
  
  • c = ts
  • vij glides together
  • ć is softer than English ch

Also:

• ž (not in this sentence, but common) sounds like the s in measure

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English, but Njezin novi parfem is the most neutral and natural order here.

This order is normal because:

• possessive + adjective + noun

If you change the order, the sentence may still be correct, but it can sound more marked or place emphasis somewhere else.

So for learners, Njezin novi parfem miriše na limun i cvijeće is the best standard pattern to use.

Because the subject is Njezin novi parfem, which is one perfume.

So the verb must be 3rd person singular:

• parfem miriše = the perfume smells

If the subject were plural, the verb would change:

• parfemi mirišu = the perfumes smell

Yes. I means and.

So:

• na limun i cvijeće = like lemon and flowers

It joins the two smell notes together:

• lemon
• flowers

In Croatian, i is used very much like English and.