Vlasnica kaže da tele još pije mlijeko, a krave rano izlaze na pašnjak.

Vlasnica means female owner. Croatian often marks the sex of the person with different noun forms:

• vlasnik = male owner
• vlasnica = female owner

So the sentence tells you that the owner is a woman.

Kaže da... is a very common Croatian pattern meaning says that...

• kaže = says
• da = that

So:

• Vlasnica kaže da tele još pije mlijeko
  = The owner says that the calf still drinks milk

In everyday Croatian, da is the normal way to introduce this kind of clause.

Tele means calf and it is a neuter singular noun.

That is why it behaves differently from masculine or feminine nouns. In this sentence, tele is the subject of the second clause after da, so it is in the nominative singular.

A useful thing to notice:

• many neuter nouns in Croatian end in -e or -o
• tele is one of them

Because mlijeko is the direct object of pije (drinks), so it is in the accusative.

But with many neuter singular nouns, the nominative and accusative look the same:

• nominative: mlijeko
• accusative: mlijeko

So the form does not change here, even though the case is accusative.

Još here means still.

• tele još pije mlijeko = the calf still drinks milk

Its position is normal and natural in Croatian. Adverbs like još often come before the verb, though word order can be flexible for emphasis.

Both a and i can connect parts of a sentence, but they are not exactly the same.

• i = plain and
• a = and / while / whereas / but depending on context

Here a sounds natural because it introduces another piece of information, slightly contrasting or shifting the topic:

• The owner says the calf still drinks milk, and/as for the cows, they go out early to pasture.

So a is not a strong but, but it often feels like a mild contrast or topic shift.

Krave is the nominative plural of krava (cow).

• singular: krava = cow
• plural: krave = cows

It is nominative plural because krave is the subject of izlaze (go out).

Because its subject is krave (cows), which is plural.

• krava izlazi = the cow goes out
• krave izlaze = the cows go out

Croatian verbs agree with the subject in person and number.

Rano means early. It is an adverb, so it describes when the cows go out.

• krave rano izlaze = the cows go out early

It does not change form here.

Because na can take different cases depending on whether there is movement or location.

• na + accusative = movement onto/to
• na + locative = location on/at

Here the cows are going out to pasture, so there is movement:

• izlaze na pašnjak = they go out to the pasture / onto the pasture

Compare:

• Krave su na pašnjaku. = The cows are in/on the pasture.
  (location, so locative)

Croatian has no articles like the or a/an.

So vlasnica can mean:

• the owner
• an owner

The exact meaning depends on context. In a normal translation, the owner is often the most natural choice here, but Croatian itself does not mark that with an article.

The same applies to:

• tele = the calf / a calf
• krave = the cows / cows

Not completely. Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order, because case endings show grammatical roles.

The sentence as given is neutral and natural:

• Vlasnica kaže da tele još pije mlijeko, a krave rano izlaze na pašnjak.

But some parts could be moved for emphasis. For example:

• Vlasnica kaže da još tele pije mlijeko... would sound less natural
• Krave rano izlaze na pašnjak is the most neutral order for that part

So Croatian word order is flexible, but not random. Some orders sound much more natural than others.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

VLA-sni-tsa KA-zhe da TE-le yosh PI-ye MLYE-ko, a KRA-ve RA-no i-ZLA-ze na PASH-nyak.

A few helpful sound notes:

• ž sounds like the s in measure
• c sounds like ts
• j sounds like English y
• lj is a soft ly sound
• š sounds like sh
• nj sounds like ny in canyon

So:

• kaže ≈ KA-zhe
• još ≈ yosh
• mlijeko ≈ MLYE-ko
• pašnjak ≈ PASH-nyak