Razrednica kaže da sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu.

Razrednica is a female homeroom teacher / class teacher. It comes from razred (class, grade) plus a suffix that makes it the person responsible for that class.

If the teacher were male, you would usually say razrednik.

So this is more specific than just teacher (učiteljica / nastavnica / profesorica depending on context).

Kaže is the 3rd person singular present of kazati / reći, meaning says.

In this sentence, kaže is very natural for reporting what someone said or is saying:

• Razrednica kaže da... = The homeroom teacher says that...

You could sometimes hear govori, but that usually focuses more on the act of speaking in general, not specifically on the content being reported. For reported statements, kaže is the normal choice.

Da here means that and introduces a subordinate clause:

• Razrednica kaže = The homeroom teacher says
• da sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu = that tomorrow we have to bring an excuse note

This is very common in Croatian:

• Mislim da... = I think that...
• Znam da... = I know that...
• Kaže da... = He/She says that...

Unlike English, Croatian often keeps da where English may sometimes omit that.

Moramo means we must / we have to. It is the 1st person plural of morati.

Croatian often expresses obligation with:

• morati
  • infinitive

So:

• moramo donijeti = we have to bring

The we is already included in moramo, so Croatian does not need a separate subject pronoun like mi unless you want emphasis.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

• donijeti = perfective = to bring something as a single completed act
• donositi = imperfective = to be bringing / to bring habitually / repeatedly

In this sentence, the teacher means one specific completed action in the future:

• Tomorrow we must bring an excuse note.

So donijeti is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu. = one completed act tomorrow
• Uvijek moramo donositi bilježnice. = repeated/habitual action

In Croatian, many time expressions do not need a preposition.

So you simply say:

• sutra = tomorrow
• danas = today
• jučer = yesterday

That is why:

• sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu not
• something with a preposition like English sometimes uses in other contexts

Because it is in the accusative singular.

The verb donijeti (to bring) takes a direct object, and ispričnica is that object. For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative singular ends in -u:

• nominative: ispričnica
• accusative: ispričnicu

The same pattern happens with many feminine nouns:

• knjiga → knjigu
• torba → torbu
• bilježnica → bilježnicu

Ispričnica is an excuse note, usually a written note explaining or excusing a student’s absence from school.

Depending on context, it may be:

• a note from parents
• a doctor’s note
• an official school excuse

So it is not just any apology. It is specifically a school-related written excuse.

Because Croatian verbs usually already show the subject.

• moramo = we must
• donijeti stays in the infinitive after moramo

Since moramo already tells you the subject is we, Croatian normally leaves out mi.

You could say:

• Razrednica kaže da mi sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu.

But that would add emphasis, something like:

• The teacher says that we, specifically, have to bring the excuse note tomorrow.

Without emphasis, the shorter version is more natural.

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English, although some orders sound more natural than others depending on emphasis.

The neutral order here is:

• Razrednica kaže da sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu.

But you may also hear:

• Razrednica kaže da moramo sutra donijeti ispričnicu.
• Sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu, kaže razrednica.

The meaning stays basically the same, but the focus shifts slightly:

• sutra earlier in the sentence gives stronger time emphasis
• putting kaže razrednica at the end can sound more like reported speech

Yes. Kaže is present tense, but it refers to what the teacher is saying now. The future idea is inside the subordinate clause because of sutra and the obligation about tomorrow.

So the structure is:

• She says now
• that tomorrow we have to bring it

This is completely normal in both Croatian and English.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

RAZ-red-nee-tsa KA-zhe da SOO-tra MO-ra-mo do-NYE-ti is-priCH-nee-tsu

A few useful sound notes:

• ž in kaže sounds like the s in measure
• č in ispričnicu sounds like ch in church
• c in razrednica sounds like ts
• je / ije in donijeti can be tricky; learners often approximate it as doh-NYE-ti

Sometimes yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• moramo donijeti = we must / we have to bring
• trebamo donijeti = we should / we need to bring

Moramo sounds stronger and more obligatory. In a school instruction like this, moramo is very natural if the note is required.

So:

• Razrednica kaže da sutra moramo donijeti ispričnicu. = stronger obligation
• Razrednica kaže da sutra trebamo donijeti ispričnicu. = a bit softer, though still common in speech