Kad je pospana, moja kći ne želi govoriti ni jesti.

Kad means when here. It introduces a time clause: Kad je pospana... = When she is sleepy...

Yes, kad and kada are usually interchangeable in this kind of sentence.

• kad is a bit shorter and very common in everyday speech
• kada can sound slightly more formal or emphatic

So this sentence could also be:

Kada je pospana, moja kći ne želi govoriti ni jesti.

Both are correct.

Because the adjective has to agree with the person it describes.

Here, pospana describes moja kći (my daughter), which is:

• feminine
• singular

So the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine: pospan
• feminine: pospana
• neuter: pospano

Since kći is feminine, pospana is the correct form.

Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns, and sometimes even the noun itself in a subordinate clause, if the meaning is clear from context.

In Kad je pospana, the subject is understood to be the same person as in the main clause: moja kći.

So literally, the structure is something like:

• When [she] is sleepy, my daughter...

Croatian does this very naturally. You do not need to repeat ona or moja kći if the reference is clear.

You could say:

Kad je moja kći pospana, ne želi govoriti ni jesti.

But the original version sounds perfectly natural and is less repetitive.

Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause: Kad je pospana.

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and it is very common to put the time clause first and then the main clause:

• Kad je pospana, moja kći ne želi...

This is similar to English:

• When she is sleepy, my daughter doesn't want...

You could also reorder the sentence:

Moja kći ne želi govoriti ni jesti kad je pospana.

That is also correct, but it shifts the rhythm and focus a little. The original version puts the condition/time frame first.

Because Kad je pospana is a subordinate clause placed before the main clause.

In Croatian, when a dependent clause comes first, it is normally separated by a comma:

• Kad je pospana, moja kći...
• Ako dođe, javit ću ti.
• Kad imam vremena, čitam.

So the comma here is standard punctuation.

Because moja kći is the subject of the main clause, so it is in the nominative case.

The subject here is moja kći:

• moja = feminine singular nominative of moj
• kći = nominative singular

The verb ne želi agrees with that subject.

If daughter were an object, you would need another case, for example:

• Vidim svoju kćer. = I see my daughter.

But in this sentence, my daughter is the one doing the not-wanting, so nominative is correct.

Yes, kći is an irregular-looking and very common noun meaning daughter.

Its nominative singular is kći.
This form can be tricky because it is short and doesn’t behave like many simpler nouns.

A few useful forms are:

• nominative: kći
• genitive: kćeri
• dative: kćeri
• accusative: kćer
• locative: kćeri
• instrumental: kćeri / kćerju (depending on style/usage)

In your sentence, you only need the nominative: moja kći.

Learners often notice that the spelling is unusual. That is normal — this is one of those high-frequency nouns you mostly just learn as a set.

Because after željeti (to want), Croatian normally uses the infinitive of the second verb.

So:

• želi govoriti = wants to speak
• želi jesti = wants to eat

The pattern is:

željeti + infinitive

That is why you get:

• ne želi govoriti
• ne želi jesti

Using a finite verb like govori would be ungrammatical here.

They are in the infinitive because they depend on želi (wants).

This is the same basic idea as English:

• She wants to speak
• She wants to eat

In Croatian, many verbs of इच्छा/wanting, ability, intention, etc. are followed by an infinitive:

• mogu doći = I can come
• želim spavati = I want to sleep
• voli čitati = She likes to read

So in your sentence:

• govoriti = to speak
• jesti = to eat

They are not tied to person or number here because the conjugated verb is želi.

Because after a negative verb, Croatian often uses ni to add another negated item.

So:

• ne želi govoriti ni jesti

means:

• doesn’t want to speak or eat
• literally something like doesn’t want to speak nor eat

This is very natural Croatian.

Compare:

• Želi govoriti i jesti. = She wants to speak and eat.
• Ne želi govoriti ni jesti. = She doesn’t want to speak or eat.

So ni fits the negative environment created by ne želi.

Yes, often it can.

You could say:

• ne želi govoriti ni jesti
• ne želi govoriti niti jesti

Both are correct.
In many contexts, niti sounds a bit more formal or emphatic, while ni is very common and simple.

In everyday speech, the version with ni is extremely natural.

It can naturally express a general tendency or repeated situation.

The present tense in Croatian often does this:

• Kad je pospana, moja kći ne želi govoriti ni jesti.

This means something like:

• Whenever she is sleepy, my daughter doesn’t want to talk or eat.

So even though the verbs are in the present tense, the sentence often describes a usual pattern, not just a single moment.

Of course, depending on context, it could also refer to the current situation, but without more context, it sounds like a general observation.

Yes. Govoriti means to speak / to talk, and here it is a neutral, natural choice.

Depending on what exactly you mean, Croatian could use other verbs:

• govoriti = to speak, to talk
• pričati = to talk, to chat, to tell
• razgovarati = to converse, to have a conversation

So:

• ne želi govoriti = doesn’t want to speak
• ne želi pričati = doesn’t want to talk/chat

The original sentence is completely normal. A learner just should know that Croatian has several common verbs in this semantic area, and they are not always identical in tone or usage.

Not exactly.

• pospana = sleepy, drowsy
• umorna = tired

A person can be:

• umorna without being sleepy
• pospana specifically when they feel like sleeping

So Kad je pospana... means the problem is sleepiness, not just general tiredness.

That distinction is useful, because English learners often mentally group both under tired. Croatian usually keeps them more separate.