Dealing with foreign bureaucracies can make anyone nervous. Before an important trip, you might find yourself gathering paperwork and anxiously waiting for a decision:
| I must go to the consulate for the visa tomorrow. | Sutra moram otići u konzulat po vizu. |
Expressing Realistic Hopes
To voice a strong, immediate hope or wish (like "I just hope..." or "If only..."), start your sentence with the phrase samo da.
When you are hoping for a realistic, possible outcome, simply follow samo da with your verb in the standard indicative (such as the present tense).
| If only the official would sign the approval for me! | Samo da mi službenik potpiše odobrenje! |
| If only this procedure would finish soon! | Samo da ova procedura uskoro završi! |
You can also use this exact structure with the past tense to express a strong, anxious hope that you already did something correctly:
| I just hope I enclosed all valid documents! | Samo da sam priložio sve važeće dokumente! |
Hypothetical Wishes
Sometimes your wish is more about avoiding a dreaded situation ("If only we wouldn't..."). When expressing a strong desire regarding a hypothetical outcome, use samo da followed by the conditional.
To form the conditional, use the conditional helper verb (bih, bi, bismo, etc.) along with the main verb's l-participle.
| If only we wouldn't get a rejection letter! | Samo da ne bismo dobili odbijenicu! |
| If only I wouldn't have to go to the embassy! | Samo da ne bih morao ići u veleposlanstvo! |
Notice how the l-participles (dobili, morao) agree in gender and number with the subject, just exactly as they do when forming the past tense.
