Baka mi ujutro maže kruh maslacem.

Mi here means to me / for me.

It is the dative form of ja (I). In this sentence, it shows the person who benefits from the action:

• Baka maže kruh maslacem. = Grandma spreads bread with butter.
• Baka mi maže kruh maslacem. = Grandma spreads bread with butter for me.

In natural English, you might translate it as Grandma butters bread for me in the morning.

Also, mi is a clitic, so it usually appears near the beginning of the sentence, often in the second position.

Yes, very often baka by itself can mean grandma / my grandma, especially in everyday speech when the context is clear.

Croatian often leaves out possessive words like my when talking about close family members if it is obvious:

• Baka kuha. = Grandma is cooking.
• Mama radi. = Mom is working.

If you want to be more explicit, you can say:

• Moja baka mi ujutro maže kruh maslacem.

But in ordinary speech, baka alone is very natural.

It can describe a habitual action, especially because of ujutro (in the morning).

So the most natural reading is:

• Grandma butters bread for me in the morning
• or Every morning, Grandma butters bread for me

Croatian present tense often covers both:

• something happening right now
• something happening regularly / habitually

Here, ujutro strongly suggests a routine.

Maže comes from the imperfective verb mazati, while namaže comes from the perfective verb namazati.

In this sentence, maže is used because it fits a repeated / habitual action:

• Baka mi ujutro maže kruh maslacem.
  = Grandma butters bread for me in the morning.
  (something she does regularly)

If you used namaže, it would sound more like a completed single action, for example in a specific situation:

• Baka mi namaže kruh.
  = Grandma will butter / butters the bread for me.
  (one completed act, depending on context)

A learner-friendly way to think of it:

• mazati = to be spreading / to spread habitually
• namazati = to spread completely / finish spreading

Kruh is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of maže.

The thing being buttered is the bread, so kruh is the object.

For this noun, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular:

• kruh = bread (nominative)
• maže kruh = butters bread (accusative)

This is normal in Croatian: many masculine inanimate nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative singular.

Maslacem is the instrumental singular of maslac (butter).

It is used because Croatian often expresses with what something is done by using the instrumental case, often without a preposition in sentences like this.

So:

• mazati kruh maslacem = to spread/butter bread with butter

Compare:

• maslac = butter
• maslacem = with butter

This is a very common pattern with mazati:

• mazati nešto nečim = to spread something with something

So:

• nešto = kruh
• nečim = maslacem

Usually, with mazati, the most natural pattern is:

• mazati nešto nečim

So the standard sentence is:

• Baka mi ujutro maže kruh maslacem.

Using s maslacem here is not the usual choice if you mean she spreads the bread with butter.

However, Croatian can express a similar idea in other ways, for example:

• Baka mi maže maslac na kruh.
  = Grandma spreads butter on the bread for me.

That structure is different:

• maslac is now the direct object
• na kruh tells you where it goes

So both are possible, but they are built differently.

Ujutro means in the morning.

It is normally written as one word and functions like an adverb.

So:

• ujutro = in the morning

This is just the standard form learners should use.

Examples:

• Ujutro pijem kavu. = I drink coffee in the morning.
• Baka mi ujutro maže kruh maslacem.

A native English speaker may expect something like u jutru, but in this everyday meaning, ujutro is the normal form.

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but not completely free.

The key thing here is mi, which is a clitic. Clitics usually come near the beginning of the sentence, often in the second position.

That is why mi appears where it does:

• Baka mi ujutro maže kruh maslacem.

Other parts can move for emphasis or style, for example:

• Ujutro mi baka maže kruh maslacem.
• Kruh mi baka ujutro maže maslacem.

These all keep roughly the same core meaning, but the emphasis changes.

For learners, the original sentence is a very natural and safe word order.

No, Croatian does not have articles like a/an or the.

So:

• baka can mean grandma / the grandma
• kruh can mean bread / the bread

Which one sounds best in English depends on context.

That is why a Croatian sentence often looks shorter than the English equivalent.

The cases and verb form tell you that:

• Baka is the subject in the nominative: she is doing the action.
• mi is dative: I am the person affected / receiving the benefit.
• kruh is the direct object: it is what gets buttered.
• maslacem is instrumental: it tells you what is used to do it.

So the structure is roughly:

• Baka = doer
• mi = to me / for me
• maže = spreads / butters
• kruh = bread
• maslacem = with butter

A few natural translations are possible:

• Grandma butters bread for me in the morning.
• In the morning, Grandma butters bread for me.
• Every morning Grandma butters bread for me.

If the context already makes it clear whose grandma it is, English may also simply say:

• Grandma butters bread for me in the morning.

That is probably the most natural everyday translation.