Želim odjaviti staro boravište.

Because Croatian usually leaves out the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Želim = I want
• The ending -m tells you it is 1st person singular

So Ja želim odjaviti staro boravište is possible, but ja is normally omitted unless you want extra emphasis.

After verbs like želim (I want), Croatian normally uses the infinitive:

• želim odjaviti = I want to deregister

Croatian does not need a separate word like English to before the infinitive in this structure.

So:

• želim + infinitive = I want to + verb

Odjaviti is a perfective verb. That means it presents the action as a completed whole.

Here, that makes sense because deregistering an address is usually seen as a one-time completed action.

Related pair:

• odjaviti = perfective
• odjavljivati = imperfective

Very roughly:

• Želim odjaviti... = I want to get it deregistered / complete the deregistration
• Odjavljivao sam... = I was deregistering / used to deregister

With želim, the perfective verb is very natural because you want the action to be successfully completed.

Because boravište is a neuter singular noun, and the adjective has to agree with it.

Agreement in Croatian means the adjective matches the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

So:

• masculine singular: stari
• feminine singular: stara
• neuter singular: staro

Since boravište is neuter, you say staro boravište.

It is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case. But for many neuter singular nouns, the nominative and accusative forms are the same.

So:

• nominative: boravište
• accusative: boravište

That is why the form looks unchanged.

The adjective also has the same neuter singular form here:

• nominative: staro
• accusative: staro

So the object phrase looks the same as the dictionary form, even though its function in the sentence is different.

This is a very important administrative distinction in Croatian.

• boravište = temporary residence / temporary registered place of stay
• prebivalište = permanent residence / main legal residence

So Želim odjaviti staro boravište is about deregistering a temporary residence, not necessarily your permanent home address.

In official contexts, mixing up these two words can change the meaning quite a bit.

Sometimes, but not with exactly the same meaning.

• odjaviti boravište = deregister a residence
• odjaviti se = deregister oneself / sign off / check out, depending on context

In an administrative setting, odjaviti boravište is clearer and more precise if you are talking specifically about your registered address or place of stay.

So for this sentence, the version with the object boravište is the better choice.

No, Croatian word order is fairly flexible. The sentence as written is the most neutral and straightforward:

• Želim odjaviti staro boravište.

But you could move things around for emphasis:

• Staro boravište želim odjaviti.
  Emphasizes the old residence
• Želim staro boravište odjaviti.
  Also possible, though a bit less neutral in tone

So the original version is a good default.

Two different things are happening here:

1. Croatian has no articles
   There is no direct equivalent of English the or a.

2. Possessives are often omitted when obvious
   In this context, people normally understand that you mean your old residence.

So:

• Želim odjaviti staro boravište. = natural
• Želim odjaviti svoje staro boravište. = also correct, with my own made more explicit

Adding svoje can make it clearer, but it is not always necessary.

It is natural and correct, especially in straightforward administrative speech. But if you want to sound more polite, Croatian often uses the conditional:

• Želio bih odjaviti staro boravište. — if spoken by a man
• Željela bih odjaviti staro boravište. — if spoken by a woman

This is closer to:

• I would like to deregister my old temporary residence.

So:

• Želim... = direct but fine
• Želio/Željela bih... = more polite

A rough guide:

• Želim → ZHE-lim
  ž sounds like the s in measure
• odjaviti → od-ya-VEE-tee
  j sounds like English y
• staro → STAR-o
• boravište → bo-ra-VEE-shte
  š sounds like sh

A few useful sound notes:

• ž = like s in measure
• j = y
• š = sh

So the whole sentence is approximately:

ZHE-lim od-ya-VEE-tee STAR-o bo-ra-VEE-shte