Moj otac sada dolazi sa posla.

A natural word-by-word breakdown is:

• moj = my
• otac = father
• sada = now
• dolazi = is coming / comes
• sa posla = from work

So the whole sentence means My father is coming from work now or My father is coming home from work now, depending on context.

Because moj has to agree with otac.

In Serbian, possessive words like moj change form depending on the noun they describe:

• moj = masculine singular
• moja = feminine singular
• moje = neuter singular

Since otac is a masculine singular noun, the correct form is moj.

Compare:

• moj otac = my father
• moja majka = my mother
• moje dete = my child

Because otac is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

The sentence is about who is coming: my father. Subjects normally appear in the nominative in Serbian.

So:

• otac = nominative singular
• other cases would look different, for example:
  • oca = accusative/genitive
  • ocu = dative/locative

Here, nominative is required because the father is the one doing the action.

Dolazi is the 3rd person singular present tense of dolaziti, which means to come / to be coming / to arrive.

Because the subject is otac = he, we use dolazi:

• ja dolazim = I come / I am coming
• ti dolaziš = you come / you are coming
• on/ona dolazi = he/she comes / is coming

In this sentence, dolazi most naturally means is coming because of sada = now.

Because Serbian present tense often covers both:

• simple present: comes
• present continuous: is coming

English usually makes a strong distinction between comes and is coming, but Serbian often does not need a separate form.

So:

• Moj otac dolazi can mean My father comes or My father is coming, depending on context.
• sada makes it clear that this is happening right now, so is coming is the best English translation.

Sada means now, and it adds the idea that the action is happening at this moment.

The sentence:

• Moj otac sada dolazi sa posla

is perfectly natural, but Serbian word order is fairly flexible, so you may also hear:

• Sada moj otac dolazi sa posla
• Moj otac dolazi sada sa posla
• Moj otac dolazi sa posla sada

These versions can sound slightly different in emphasis, but they all basically mean the same thing. The version with sada in the middle is very normal and neutral.

Because Serbian normally says sa/s posla for from work.

This is an idiomatic and very common expression:

• doći sa posla = to come from work
• vratiti se sa posla = to return from work

Even though English uses from, Serbian does not always use iz in the same situations.

A useful rule of thumb:

• iz often means out of / from inside
• sa/s often means off/from a place, activity, or institution in many set expressions

So sa posla is the normal Serbian phrasing.

Because after sa/s in the meaning from, the noun here appears in the genitive case.

The base form is:

• posao = job / work

But after sa in this expression, it becomes:

• sa posla = from work

So:

• posao = nominative
• posla = genitive singular

This change is very important to notice. Serbian prepositions often require a specific case.

Both are related forms of the same preposition.

• s and sa both mean with / from depending on context
• sa is often used for easier pronunciation, especially before certain consonants or consonant clusters

So:

• sa posla = very normal
• s posla = also possible in some usage, but sa posla is the form learners will most often meet and should feel safest using here

In everyday Serbian, sa posla is the standard phrase you should remember.

No. Otac is the standard word for father, but Serbian also commonly uses:

• tata = dad
• sometimes ćale = dad in more colloquial speech

So you could also hear:

• Moj tata sada dolazi sa posla.

That means essentially the same thing, but tata sounds more personal and everyday, while otac can sound a bit more formal or neutral depending on context.

In theory, yes, because dolazi is just present tense and Serbian present can correspond to more than one English present form.

But with sada, the most natural interpretation is:

• My father is coming from work now
• or My father is coming home from work now

If you removed sada, the sentence could be more ambiguous and might describe a habit in the right context.

Dolazi comes from dolaziti, which is an imperfective verb.

In Serbian, aspect is very important:

• imperfective = ongoing, repeated, habitual, in progress
• perfective = completed, one whole action

Here, the imperfective dolaziti works well because the action is viewed as ongoing or currently happening: he is coming.

A related perfective verb is doći = to come / to arrive in a completed sense. Its present-tense forms usually refer to the future:

• Moj otac će doći = My father will come
• Moj otac dođe is not what you would normally use here for is coming now

So for this sentence, dolazi is exactly the right choice.

Yes, it can.

• Otac sada dolazi sa posla = Father/My father is coming from work now

In many contexts, Serbian can omit possessives when the relationship is obvious. But adding moj makes it explicit and can sound more natural if you are introducing the person or emphasizing that it is my father.

So both are possible, but:

• Moj otac... = clearer, more explicit
• Otac... = more context-dependent