Vlasnica je pokazala kako se čisti kopito prije nego što konj opet ide na pašnjak.

Vlasnica means female owner, while vlasnik means male owner.

So the sentence tells us that the owner being referred to is a woman. Croatian usually marks gender in nouns like this, and the past participle also agrees with that gender:

• Vlasnica je pokazala = The female owner showed
• Vlasnik je pokazao = The male owner showed

That -la ending in pokazala matches the feminine subject vlasnica.

Yes. Je pokazala is the Croatian perfect tense, which is the most common way to talk about past actions.

It is formed with:

• the present of biti (je = is/has, as an auxiliary here)
• the past participle (pokazala)

So:

• pokazala je / je pokazala = she showed

In Croatian, the auxiliary and participle can often switch places depending on style and word order:

• Vlasnica je pokazala...
• Vlasnica pokazala je...

The first version is much more natural here.

Here kako means how.

So:

• pokazala kako se čisti kopito = she showed how to clean a hoof / how the hoof is cleaned

After verbs like pokazati (to show), objasniti (to explain), and vidjeti (to see), kako often introduces the way something is done.

In this sentence, se čisti gives an impersonal or general meaning:

• čisti se / se čisti = one cleans / it is cleaned / people clean

So kako se čisti kopito is not specifically how she cleans the hoof, but more generally how a hoof is cleaned or how to clean a hoof.

This se is very common in Croatian when the subject is general or unspecified.

Compare:

• Čisti kopito. = He/she is cleaning the hoof.
• Kopito se čisti. = The hoof is being cleaned / Hooves are cleaned.
• Kako se čisti kopito? = How do you clean a hoof? / How is a hoof cleaned?

Kopito is a neuter noun, and in the singular its nominative and accusative forms are the same.

So although it is the direct object of čistiti, its form does not visibly change:

• nominative: kopito = hoof
• accusative: kopito = hoof

That is completely normal.

Compare with a masculine noun where you can see a clearer difference sometimes:

• konj = horse
• vidim konja = I see the horse

But with kopito, nominative and accusative singular look identical.

Prije nego što means before or more literally before ...

It introduces a subordinate clause:

• prije nego što konj opet ide na pašnjak = before the horse goes back to the pasture

You can think of it as a fixed expression. Learners usually do best by memorizing it as a unit:

• prije nego što... = before...

Examples:

• Operi ruke prije nego što jedeš. = Wash your hands before you eat.
• Provjeri sedlo prije nego što kreneš. = Check the saddle before you leave.

In standard Croatian, prije nego što is the usual full form.

Sometimes in speech or less formal usage, people may shorten things, but for learners it is safest to use:

• prije nego što

So yes, što is a normal part of this conjunction in standard usage.

This is a very common Croatian pattern.

After conjunctions like prije nego što, Croatian often uses the present tense for an action that is still future relative to the main past action.

So:

• Vlasnica je pokazala... prije nego što konj opet ide na pašnjak.

means that the showing happened in the past, and the horse’s going to the pasture is the next event in that past situation.

In English we also often use present after words like before:

• She showed how to clean the hoof before the horse goes back to the pasture.

Even though the whole situation may be in the past, the subordinate clause can still use present in Croatian.

Croatian uses different prepositions depending on how something is conceptualized.

With pašnjak (pasture), the normal expression is:

• ići na pašnjak = to go to the pasture / out to pasture

This is just the usual idiomatic choice. With movement, na takes the accusative:

• na pašnjak

Compare:

• ići na posao = go to work
• ići na more = go to the seaside
• ići na pašnjak = go to pasture

So this is something to learn as a set phrase.

Because this sentence expresses movement toward the pasture, not location.

Croatian distinguishes:

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

So:

• ide na pašnjak = goes to the pasture
• je na pašnjaku = is at/on the pasture

That is why the form here is pašnjak (accusative singular), not pašnjaku (locative singular).

Opet means again.

So:

• konj opet ide na pašnjak = the horse goes to the pasture again / goes back to the pasture

In context, it suggests the horse had been away from the pasture for a while, probably because someone was handling or cleaning it, and now it is returning.

Sometimes yes, depending on context.

Literally, opet is again, but in natural English the best translation may be back:

• konj opet ide na pašnjak = the horse goes back to the pasture

This is a good example of how a literal translation and a natural translation are not always identical.

Čisti comes from the imperfective verb čistiti = to clean.

The imperfective aspect is used here because the sentence is talking about the process or method of cleaning, not one completed act.

• kako se čisti kopito = how a hoof is cleaned / how to clean a hoof

If you used a perfective verb, it would sound more like a single completed action, which is not the point here. The sentence is explaining the procedure.

Pokazala comes from the perfective verb pokazati = to show.

That makes sense because the owner performed a completed act of showing or demonstrating something.

So the contrast is very natural:

• pokazala = a completed demonstration
• čisti = the ongoing/general process of cleaning

Not completely. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, although some versions sound more natural than others.

The original sentence:

• Vlasnica je pokazala kako se čisti kopito prije nego što konj opet ide na pašnjak.

is natural and neutral.

You might also see:

• Vlasnica je pokazala kako se kopito čisti prije nego što konj opet ide na pašnjak.

That version is also fine. Croatian often allows both:

• kako se čisti kopito
• kako se kopito čisti

The meaning stays the same, but word order can shift emphasis or style slightly.

No, not naturally.

Here kako means how, not that.

So:

• pokazala kako se čisti kopito = showed how the hoof is cleaned / how to clean the hoof

If you wanted showed that, Croatian would normally use da:

• pokazala je da... = she showed that...

So kako and da do different jobs here.

Croatian usually does not use an infinitive in exactly the same places English does.

English says:

• She showed how to clean the hoof.

Croatian prefers a full clause:

• Pokazala je kako se čisti kopito.

This is one of the very common differences between English and Croatian sentence structure. English often uses to + verb, while Croatian often uses:

• kako + clause
• da + clause

So it is best not to translate English structure too literally.