Утром я зашла в отдел кадров, чтобы отнести заявление на отпуск и новую справку.

Зашла is the feminine singular past tense of зайти.

That tells you two things:

1. The speaker is female.
2. The verb is specifically зайти, not just идти or приходить.

Here, зайти means something like to stop by / to go in / to drop in. It often suggests a brief visit to a place on the way somewhere or for a specific purpose.

So я зашла в отдел кадров is not just I went to HR, but more like:

• I stopped by the HR department
• I went into HR

If the speaker were male, it would be я зашёл.

Утром means in the morning.

Russian often uses the instrumental case without a preposition for time expressions like this:

• утром = in the morning
• днём = in the daytime / during the day
• вечером = in the evening
• ночью = at night

So Утром я зашла... means In the morning, I stopped by...

This is a very common pattern, and you should learn these expressions as set adverbial forms.

Because в can take either:

• accusative for movement into a place
• prepositional for being in a place

Here the sentence describes movement:

• я зашла в отдел кадров = I went into / stopped by the HR department

So отдел is in the accusative singular, and for this noun that looks the same as the nominative: отдел.

Compare:

• Я зашла в отдел кадров. = I went into HR.
• Я была в отделе кадров. = I was in HR.

Отдел кадров is a fixed expression meaning HR department, personnel department, or literally department of personnel.

• отдел = department
• кадров = genitive plural of кадры

In this expression, кадры means personnel / staff, not frames or shots like in film.

So literally it is something like department of personnel, but in natural English it is simply HR or the personnel department.

Чтобы introduces a purpose clause, meaning so that, in order to, or simply to.

In this sentence:

• Я зашла в отдел кадров, чтобы отнести...
• I stopped by the HR department in order to deliver...

When the subject of both actions is the same, Russian very often uses чтобы + infinitive:

• Я пришла, чтобы поговорить. = I came to talk.
• Он сел, чтобы отдохнуть. = He sat down to rest.

So here the speaker stopped by HR for the purpose of delivering the documents.

Отнести is the perfective verb. It means to take/deliver and complete that action.

That works well here because the speaker is talking about a single concrete errand: taking specific documents to HR.

Compare:

• нести = to be carrying, to carry in progress
• относить = to take regularly / repeatedly, or imperfective counterpart in some contexts
• отнести = to take/deliver once, with completion

So чтобы отнести заявление... means to hand in / deliver the application...

The perfective fits because the action is seen as a completed goal.

Заявление на отпуск means a leave request or an application for leave/vacation.

Literally:

• заявление = application, statement, request
• на отпуск = for leave / for vacation

The preposition на is often used with nouns like заявление to show what the request is for:

• заявление на отпуск = leave application
• заявление на визу = visa application

So this is a standard bureaucratic phrase. You should learn it as a chunk.

Because справка is the direct object of отнести, so it must be in the accusative case.

• nominative: новая справка
• accusative: новую справку

Both the adjective and noun change:

• новая → новую
• справка → справку

This is standard for feminine singular nouns in the accusative.

So:

• отнести новую справку = to deliver a new certificate/document

Справка is one of those Russian words that often causes confusion because it can mean different kinds of official documents depending on context.

Here it usually means some kind of official note, certificate, or document confirming something. For example:

• a medical certificate
• a document from another office
• proof of some status or fact

So новую справку is best understood as a new official document/certificate.

The exact English translation depends on context, but certificate, document, or official note are often good choices.

Because both nouns are direct objects of the same infinitive отнести:

• отнести заявление на отпуск
• и новую справку

So the sentence means:

• to deliver the leave application and the new certificate

Russian, like English, does not need to repeat the verb when one action applies to both objects.

Compare:

• Я купил хлеб и молоко.
• I bought bread and milk.

The structure is exactly the same.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it usually changes emphasis rather than core meaning.

The given order is very natural:

• Утром я зашла в отдел кадров, чтобы отнести заявление на отпуск и новую справку.

But you could also say, for example:

• Я утром зашла в отдел кадров, чтобы отнести заявление на отпуск и новую справку.
• В отдел кадров я зашла утром, чтобы отнести заявление на отпуск и новую справку.

These versions all mean roughly the same thing, but the focus shifts:

• Утром first emphasizes the time
• в отдел кадров earlier emphasizes the place

Russian often uses word order for information structure: what is known, what is new, and what is being highlighted.

Not always, but it is natural here.

Russian often drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb:

• Зашла в отдел кадров... can already imply I if the context makes it obvious.

But including я is very common, especially when:

• introducing a new sentence
• making the subject explicit
• improving clarity
• adding slight emphasis

So Утром я зашла... sounds completely normal. Omitting я would also be possible in the right context.

Both can sometimes be translated as to come/go to, but they are not identical.

• прийти в отдел кадров = to come to the HR department
• зайти в отдел кадров = to go into / stop by the HR department

Зайти often suggests a shorter, more purposeful visit, almost like drop by or stop in.

So in this sentence, зашла fits especially well because the speaker went there briefly for a practical task: to hand in documents.