Unuka je jutros baki donijela malu ružu.

Unuka is in the nominative singular, which is the case normally used for the subject of the sentence.

Here, unuka means granddaughter, and she is the one performing the action of bringing the rose.

A native English speaker may want to compare:

• unuka = the granddaughter did it
• baki = to the grandmother
• malu ružu = the rose that was brought

So Croatian shows who is doing what mainly through case endings, not just word order.

Because baki is the dative singular form of baka.

The dative case is commonly used for the indirect object, especially with the meaning to someone or for someone.

So:

• baka = grandmother, dictionary form, nominative
• baki = to the grandmother

In this sentence, the rose was brought to the grandmother, so the dative is required.

Because malu ružu is in the accusative singular, which is the case used for the direct object here.

The thing being brought is the rose, so both the adjective and the noun change form:

• mala ruža = a small rose, nominative
• malu ružu = a small rose, accusative

Since ruža is a feminine noun, the adjective must agree with it in:

• gender
• number
• case

That is why both words change:

• mala → malu
• ruža → ružu

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti (to be), and here it is used as an auxiliary verb to form the perfect tense.

So:

• je donijela = has brought / brought

Croatian often forms the past with:

• a form of biti
• plus the past participle

In this sentence:

• je = auxiliary
• donijela = past participle, feminine singular

Together they make the past tense.

Donijela is the past participle of donijeti (to bring), and its ending shows agreement with the subject.

Because the subject is unuka, which is:

• feminine
• singular

the participle is also feminine singular:

• masculine: donio
• feminine: donijela
• neuter: donijelo

So Croatian past participles agree with the subject in gender and number.

This is a very common feature of Croatian: short unstressed words like je are clitics, and clitics usually appear in the second position of the clause.

So in:

• Unuka je jutros baki donijela malu ružu.

je comes after the first stressed element, Unuka.

This does not mean the tense is different. It is just normal Croatian clitic placement.

You may also see similar second-position clitics with:

• sam
• si
• smo
• su
• ga
• joj
• se

Yes. Croatian word order is much more flexible than English word order because case endings show grammatical roles.

For example, the following can still mean basically the same thing:

• Unuka je jutros baki donijela malu ružu.
• Jutros je unuka baki donijela malu ružu.
• Baki je unuka jutros donijela malu ružu.
• Malu ružu je unuka jutros donijela baki.

However, changing the order often changes:

• focus
• emphasis
• what sounds most natural in context

The original sentence is a very natural neutral order.

Jutros is an adverb meaning this morning or in the morning today.

It does not need a preposition. Croatian often uses time adverbs directly:

• jutros = this morning
• danas = today
• jučer = yesterday
• sutra = tomorrow

So jutros simply tells you when the action happened.

You know this from the cases:

• unuka = nominative → the subject, the one doing the action
• baki = dative → the recipient, the one receiving something
• malu ružu = accusative → the direct object, the thing being brought

English relies heavily on word order:

• The granddaughter brought the grandmother a small rose.

Croatian relies more on endings:

• -i in baki shows to the grandmother
• -u in ružu and malu shows the direct object

Because donijela comes from donijeti, which is a perfective verb meaning to bring in the sense of a completed action.

This sentence describes a finished event: the granddaughter brought the rose.

By contrast:

• nositi is usually imperfective and often means to carry / to be carrying / to wear
• donositi is the imperfective partner of donijeti

So:

• donijela = she brought it, completed
• donosila = she was bringing / used to bring / kept bringing, depending on context

Yes. Unuka means granddaughter, so it is a feminine noun referring to a female person.

The masculine equivalent is:

• unuk = grandson

That is why the past participle is feminine:

• unuka je donijela not
• unuka je donio

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• do-ni-je-la

A few useful points:

• j in Croatian is like English y in yes
• so nije sounds like nee-ye
• donijela is roughly do-NYE-la or do-nee-YE-la, depending on how carefully you break it up

Also:

• ružu has ž, which sounds like the s in measure

So ružu is roughly:

• ROO-zhu

These are only approximations, but they can help at the beginning.

Yes, depending on context, the Croatian dative can correspond to English to or for.

In this sentence, the most natural idea is:

• she brought a small rose to her grandmother

But in some contexts, dative can also suggest a beneficiary:

• she brought a small rose for her grandmother

English often has to choose one preposition, while Croatian simply uses the dative case and lets context clarify the exact nuance.