Djeca su dobila po dva bombona poslije ručka.

Djeca means children. It is the plural of dijete (child), but it is an irregular plural, so it does not look much like the singular.

In this sentence, djeca is in the nominative plural because it is the subject:

• Djeca su dobila... = The children received...

Because Croatian normally forms this past tense with two parts:

• su = the auxiliary verb biti in 3rd person plural
• dobila = the l-participle of dobiti (to get/receive)

So:

• djeca su dobila = the children got / received

This is the standard Croatian past tense pattern:

• ja sam dobio/dobila
• ti si dobio/dobila
• oni su dobili
• djeca su dobila

Because djeca takes neuter plural agreement.

Even though children are people, the Croatian noun djeca behaves grammatically in a special way, and the participle agrees with it as neuter plural:

• djeca su dobila

Compare:

• dječaci su dobili = the boys got
• djevojčice su dobile = the girls got
• djeca su dobila = the children got

So the ending -la here is not feminine singular; it is the normal form used with djeca.

Here po has a distributive meaning: each, apiece, or per.

So:

• po dva bombona = two candies each

This tells you the number is given for each child, not for the whole group.

Compare:

• Djeca su dobila dva bombona. = The children got two candies.
  This could suggest two in total for the group, depending on context.
• Djeca su dobila po dva bombona. = The children got two candies each.

After the numbers 2, 3, and 4, Croatian uses a special counted form of the noun.

With many masculine nouns, that form looks the same as the genitive singular:

• jedan bombon
• dva bombona
• tri bombona
• četiri bombona

So bomboni is the regular nominative plural, but after dva you do not use that form.

A good practical rule is:

• after 2, 3, 4 → use the special counted form
• after 5+ → use genitive plural

In bombon, both forms happen to look the same:

• dva bombona
• pet bombona

Because bombon is a masculine noun.

Croatian numerals agree with the gender of the noun in certain forms:

• dva for masculine and neuter nouns
• dvije for feminine nouns

So:

• dva bombona = two candies
• dvije knjige = two books

Dvoje is a collective numeral, used in different situations, for example with groups such as:

• dvoje djece = two children

But for ordinary countable objects like candies, dva bombona is the normal choice.

Because poslije requires the genitive case.

The dictionary form is:

• ručak = lunch

After poslije (after), it becomes:

• poslije ručka = after lunch

So:

• poslije
  • genitive

You will see the same thing with:

• nakon ručka = after lunch

Not completely. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and this sentence uses a very natural, neutral order.

You could also say:

• Djeca su poslije ručka dobila po dva bombona.
• Poslije ručka su djeca dobila po dva bombona.

The meaning stays basically the same, though the emphasis may shift a little.

One important point: su is a clitic, so it usually stays near the beginning of the sentence, often after the first stressed word or phrase.

That is why Djeca su dobila... sounds natural.

The basic form is dobiti.

This verb is perfective, which means it presents the action as a completed event:

• djeca su dobila = the children received / got

That fits this sentence well, because it describes one completed thing that happened after lunch.

The imperfective partner is dobivati:

• Djeca su često dobivala po dva bombona poslije ručka.
• The children used to get two candies each after lunch.

So in your sentence, dobila suggests a finished, one-time receiving event.

It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence.

You can identify it as the doer/receiver in the sentence structure:

• Djeca = who received the candies?
• Djeca su dobila...

So even though djeca is an irregular form, its job here is straightforward: it is the nominative subject.