Bosiljak svaki dan pomalo naraste.

Bosiljak means basil.

In this sentence, it is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing doing the action of growing.

So:

• bosiljak = basil
• grammatical role = subject
• case = nominative
• number = singular

Depending on context, it can mean either:

• a basil plant
• basil in a general sense

Croatian does not have articles like a, an, or the.

So bosiljak can mean:

• basil
• the basil
• a basil plant

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is very normal in Croatian. Learners often want to insert an article mentally, but Croatian simply does not use one.

Svaki dan means every day.

Croatian often expresses time without a preposition in phrases like this. English says every day, and Croatian does the same.

Grammatically, svaki dan is an accusative time expression:

• svaki = every
• dan = day

For masculine inanimate nouns like dan, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular, so the phrase looks simple on the surface.

Other similar examples:

• svaki tjedan = every week
• svaku godinu / more naturally svake godine = every year

Pomalo is an adverb. Here it means something like:

• a little
• little by little
• gradually

In this sentence, it suggests that the growth happens in small increments.

So pomalo naraste gives the idea of:

• it grows a bit
• it gets slightly bigger
• it grows little by little

Both can relate to small amount, but they are not exactly the same.

• malo = a little, a small amount
• pomalo = little by little, somewhat, gradually, sometimes a bit

In this sentence, pomalo sounds more natural if you want to emphasize gradual change over time.

Compare:

• Bosiljak svaki dan malo naraste.
  The basil grows a little every day.

• Bosiljak svaki dan pomalo naraste.
  The basil grows a little / little by little every day.

The second version has a slightly stronger sense of incremental, gradual growth.

Naraste is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb narasti.

Basic idea of narasti:

• to grow
• to increase in size
• to grow bigger

In this sentence, naraste means that the basil ends up a bit bigger each day.

So it is not just the general idea of growing; it suggests a small achieved increase.

This is a very common question because it involves aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

• rasti = imperfective
• narasti = perfective

rasti / raste

This focuses on the process of growing.

• Bosiljak raste. = The basil is growing / grows.

narasti / naraste

This focuses on reaching a new, larger state — even if only a little.

• Bosiljak pomalo naraste. = The basil grows a bit / ends up a bit bigger.

In your sentence, naraste suggests that each day there is a small completed increase.

So the difference is roughly:

• raste = the growth is happening
• naraste = it grows a bit more, reaching a slightly bigger size

That is a very good observation.

It is true that the present tense of a perfective verb often has a future meaning in Croatian.

For example:

• Sutra naraste? would not sound right in that way, but in many perfective verbs the present can point to a future completed action.

However, with expressions like svaki dan, Croatian can use a perfective present to describe repeated small completed events.

So here:

• svaki dan = every day
• naraste = grows a bit, reaches a slightly larger state

That gives a habitual repeated-completion meaning: every day, the basil ends up a little bigger.

So this sentence is not talking about one future event. It is talking about a repeated pattern.

Yes, absolutely.

• Bosiljak svaki dan pomalo raste.
• Bosiljak svaki dan pomalo naraste.

Both are possible, but the nuance is a bit different.

raste

More neutral, more about the ongoing process.

naraste

More about the small increase that is achieved each day.

If you just want to say The basil grows a little every day, raste may feel a bit more straightforward to a learner.

If you want the sense each day it gets a little bigger, naraste works well.

Naraste is:

• 3rd person
• singular
• present tense

It matches bosiljak, which is singular.

A mini-paradigm:

• ja narastem = I grow / I grow bigger
• ti narasteš = you grow
• on/ona/ono naraste = he/she/it grows

Here the subject is bosiljak, so Croatian uses the same form as it grows:

• bosiljak naraste

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

Your sentence:

• Bosiljak svaki dan pomalo naraste.

is perfectly understandable and natural.

Other possible orders include:

• Bosiljak pomalo naraste svaki dan.
• Svaki dan bosiljak pomalo naraste.
• Pomalo bosiljak svaki dan naraste. (more marked, depending on emphasis)

The meaning stays similar, but the focus changes.

For example:

• Svaki dan bosiljak pomalo naraste.
  Emphasizes every day.

• Bosiljak svaki dan pomalo naraste.
  Starts with the topic the basil.

English word order is much more fixed, so this flexibility often stands out to learners.

Yes. Pomalo is an adverb, and it modifies naraste.

It tells us how the basil grows:

• not suddenly
• not dramatically
• but a little, gradually

So the structure is roughly:

• Bosiljak = subject
• svaki dan = time expression
• pomalo = adverb
• naraste = verb

A Croatian speaker would understand it roughly as:

• The basil grows a little every day
• Every day the basil gets a bit bigger
• The basil gradually grows day by day

The sentence gives a feeling of small, repeated daily growth, not one big dramatic change.