Taj kuhar kaže da je dobra juha važnija od skupog deserta.

Taj means that (sometimes close to this, depending on context), not the.

Croatian does not have articles like English a/an and the. So:

• kuhar can mean a chef or the chef, depending on context
• taj kuhar specifically means that chef

So taj adds pointing or identification, not just definiteness.

Kuhar is in the nominative singular.

It is the subject of the main clause:

• Taj kuhar kaže = That chef says

Subjects are normally in the nominative case.

Kaže is the 3rd person singular present tense, meaning says.

It matches taj kuhar because that subject is he/she/it in grammatical terms:

• ja kažem = I say
• ti kažeš = you say
• on/ona kaže = he/she says

So taj kuhar kaže = that chef says.

After verbs like kaže (says), Croatian usually uses da to introduce the reported statement.

So:

• kaže da... = says that...

This works much like English that in He says that...

In English, that is often omitted, but in Croatian da is normally kept.

Because je is a clitic: a short, unstressed word that usually goes near the beginning of its clause.

In standard Croatian, clitics typically appear in second position. So after da, the natural order is:

• da je dobra juha važnija...

Putting je later, as in da dobra juha je..., sounds unnatural in standard usage.

Because adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Juha is feminine singular nominative, so the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative:

• dobra juha = good soup

Compare:

• dobar desert = good dessert
• dobra juha = good soup

Juha is also in the nominative singular.

It is the subject of the subordinate clause:

• dobra juha je važnija... = good soup is more important...

Since it is the thing being described as more important, it stays in the nominative.

Važnija is the comparative form of važan / važna = important.

The comparative means more important.

Its ending changes to agree with juha, which is feminine singular:

• masculine: važniji
• feminine: važnija
• neuter: važnije

So:

• juha je važnija = the soup is more important

Croatian commonly expresses comparison with od + genitive, which corresponds to English than.

So:

• važnija od... = more important than...

Because desert comes after od, it must be in the genitive singular:

• nominative: skupi desert
• genitive: skupog deserta

The adjective also has to agree, so both words change:

• od skupog deserta = than an/the expensive dessert

Because od requires the genitive case here.

The noun desert is masculine singular, and its genitive singular form is deserta:

• desert = nominative
• deserta = genitive

Since the sentence uses a comparison with od, the genitive is required:

• važnija od deserta
• važnija od skupog deserta

Croatian has no articles.

That means Croatian does not have direct equivalents of English a/an and the. Context tells you whether something is general or specific.

So:

• juha can mean soup, a soup, or the soup
• desert can mean dessert, a dessert, or the dessert

If the speaker wants to be more specific, Croatian may use words like taj (that) or other demonstratives.

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but the neutral version here is very natural.

This sentence:

• Taj kuhar kaže da je dobra juha važnija od skupog deserta.

is a normal, straightforward way to say it.

You can change the order for emphasis, for example:

• Dobra juha je važnija od skupog deserta, kaže taj kuhar.

That still means roughly the same thing, but the emphasis shifts. The main restriction is that clitics like je still have to follow normal clitic-placement rules.

Yes. Juha is the standard Croatian word for soup.

Learners may sometimes hear supa in other varieties or regional usage, but in standard Croatian juha is the normal choice.