Policajac je pitao putnicu je li joj potrebna pomoć, jer je izgledala umorno i zbunjeno.

Because putnicu is the accusative singular of putnica.

• putnica = a female passenger
• putnicu = the female passenger, as a direct object

The verb pitati usually takes a direct object in the accusative:

• Policajac je pitao putnicu = The policeman asked the passenger

So the subject is policajac, and the person being asked is putnicu.

Je pitao is the normal way to form the past tense in Croatian.

Croatian past tense is usually made with:

• the auxiliary biti in the present tense
• plus the past participle

So here:

• je = auxiliary, third person singular
• pitao = past participle of pitati

Together:

• je pitao = asked

Because policajac is masculine singular, the participle is pitao. If the subject were feminine, it would be pitala.

Je li introduces a yes/no question, and in this sentence it appears inside an embedded question.

So:

• Je li joj potrebna pomoć? = Does she need help? / Is help necessary for her?
• Policajac je pitao putnicu je li joj potrebna pomoć = The policeman asked the passenger whether she needed help

A very literal way to understand je li is is it the case that...?

In standard Croatian, je li is a very normal and common way to form this kind of question.

Joj is the dative singular form of ona.

Here it means:

• to her / for her

In the phrase:

• joj potrebna pomoć

the idea is literally something like:

• help is necessary to her
• in natural English: she needs help

So joj is in the dative because Croatian often expresses need with biti potreban/potrebna/potrebno komu.

Because pomoć is the subject of that clause, not a direct object.

In:

• je li joj potrebna pomoć

the structure is basically:

• pomoć = subject
• je potrebna = is necessary
• joj = to her

Since pomoć is feminine singular, the adjective agrees with it:

• potrebna pomoć = necessary help

So both words are in the nominative singular feminine:

• potrebna
• pomoć

If pomoć were a direct object, then you might expect the accusative, but that is not what is happening here.

This clause is built around the adjective potrebna and the noun pomoć.

A useful literal breakdown is:

• je li = is it / whether
• joj = to her
• potrebna = necessary
• pomoć = help

So word-for-word it is close to:

• whether help is necessary to her

Natural English says:

• whether she needed help
• whether she needed any help

This is a very common Croatian pattern:

• Potrebna mi je pomoć = I need help
• literally: Help is necessary to me

Because the subject of that clause is the female passenger.

In:

• jer je izgledala umorno i zbunjeno

the understood subject is putnica, even though it is not repeated. Since putnica is feminine singular, the past participle must also be feminine singular:

• izgledala = looked

Compare:

• On je izgledao umorno = He looked tired
• Ona je izgledala umorno = She looked tired

This is a very common point of confusion for English speakers.

After verbs like izgledati, Croatian often uses the neuter singular form of an adjective in a kind of predicative/adverb-like function:

• izgledati umorno
• zvučati čudno
• osjećati se loše

So:

• izgledala umorno i zbunjeno = looked tired and confused

Even though the subject is feminine, Croatian often uses these forms to describe the manner or overall impression of someone’s appearance or state.

English uses adjectives here, but Croatian often uses this neuter form in similar situations.

Because Croatian often omits subject pronouns when the meaning is already clear from the verb form and context.

Here, after putnicu, it is already obvious who is being talked about:

• the passenger

So Croatian does not need to say ona:

• jer je izgledala umorno i zbunjeno

The verb form and context are enough. This is very normal in Croatian.

These are part of a very important Croatian feature: clitics.

Clitics are short unstressed words that tend to appear in a fixed position, usually near the beginning of a clause.

In this sentence:

• Policajac je pitao...
• je li joj potrebna pomoć
• jer je izgledala...

Here is what they are doing:

• je = auxiliary or form of biti
• li = question particle
• joj = unstressed pronoun, dative to her

Croatian word order is more flexible than English, but clitics have special placement rules. That is why the order may feel unusual to an English speaker.

For example:

• je li joj potrebna pomoć not usually
• li je joj potrebna pomoć

So even when Croatian word order changes, these short forms often stay in their preferred clitic positions.

Jer means because.

So:

• jer je izgledala umorno i zbunjeno = because she looked tired and confused

Yes, Croatian can also use other expressions for because, such as zato što, but jer is very common and natural here.

Very roughly:

• jer = because
• zato što = because / for the reason that

In this sentence, jer is simple and idiomatic.

Yes.

Even though putnicu is accusative in the first part of the sentence, it is still the same person being referred to later. Croatian changes the form of nouns according to their role in each clause.

So:

• putnicu = the passenger, as the object of pitao
• later, that same person is understood as the subject of izgledala

English does not show this as clearly in word form, but Croatian does.

So the logic is:

• The policeman asked the passenger
• because she looked tired and confused

Yes. That is very normal.

Croatian often keeps the same grammatical form in an embedded question, while English may shift tense more in reported speech.

So:

• pitao je je li joj potrebna pomoć

can naturally correspond to English:

• he asked whether she needed help

Even though je ... potrebna is formally present-tense in Croatian, English often uses needed because the main verb asked is in the past. This is a translation difference, not a mistake in Croatian.