Kod kuće sam stavila losos u frižider, a cvijeće u vazu.

to be

Breakdown of Kod kuće sam stavila losos u frižider, a cvijeće u vazu.

• u: in
• a: and
• kod: at

Questions & Answers about Kod kuće sam stavila losos u frižider, a cvijeće u vazu.

Why does the sentence start with Kod kuće? What exactly does it mean?

Kod kuće means at home.

• kod often means at/near/by someone's place
• kuće is the genitive form of kuća (house/home)

As a fixed expression, kod kuće simply means at home.
It is very common in Croatian and does not literally need to be translated word-for-word.

Examples:

• Ostajem kod kuće. = I'm staying at home.
• Radim kod kuće. = I work from home / at home.

Why is it sam stavila and not just stavila sam?

Both sam stavila and stavila sam are possible in Croatian, but word order follows some special rules.

In this sentence, sam is a clitic, a short unstressed form of to be used to make the past tense. Clitics usually go in the second position of the clause.

So in:

• Kod kuće sam stavila losos u frižider...

the phrase Kod kuće comes first, and then the clitic sam comes in second position.

You could also hear:

• Stavila sam losos u frižider...

That is also correct.

What does mean, and why does it end in ?