Breakdown of Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremamo za ispit.
Questions & Answers about Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremamo za ispit.
Bilo bi dobro literally means “It would be good”.
Grammatically:
- bilo – past participle of biti (to be), neuter singular
- bi – conditional auxiliary (used with all persons to form the conditional)
- dobro – predicate adjective/adverb (good)
This is the conditional of the verb biti used in an impersonal, evaluative way. There is no real “it” in Croatian; English adds a dummy subject “it”, but Croatian just uses the neuter form bilo.
Croatian often uses neuter singular for impersonal statements of evaluation, where English uses “it” as a dummy subject.
Examples:
- Bilo je vruće. – It was hot.
- Bilo bi super. – It would be great.
- Bilo bi dobro. – It would be good.
There is no specific noun being talked about, so nothing to agree with in gender. Neuter singular functions a bit like English “it” in such sentences.
Because of the clitic (enclitic) word order rule in Croatian.
The word bi is a clitic and must normally appear in the second position in the clause (after the first stressed word or phrase). In:
- Bilo bi dobro
- Bilo = first word (stressed)
- bi = second position (clitic)
- dobro = rest of the clause
Bi bilo dobro puts bi in the first position, which is ungrammatical in standard Croatian.
You can say:
- Dobro bi bilo. – still means It would be good, with a slightly different emphasis (you’re starting from “good”), but bi is still in second position: Dobro (1) bi (2) bilo (3).
English often uses a past tense form (“if we prepared”) to express a hypothetical or unreal situation. Croatian uses da + present tense for that kind of meaning.
So:
- Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremamo za ispit.
literally: It would be good that we prepare ourselves together for the exam.
But the function of da + present here is close to English “if we prepared / if we studied” or “for us to prepare”. It expresses:
- a suggestion,
- a wish,
- or an unreal / non-factual possibility.
You would not normally say:
- ✗ Bilo bi dobro da bismo se zajedno spremali za ispit. (too heavy, not natural)
- ✗ Bilo bi dobro ako se zajedno spremamo za ispit. (changes the meaning to something like It will be good if, in fact, we do prepare… – more real condition, less suggestion).
Yes, you need da here.
The verb spremamo (se) is in a subordinate clause that functions like “that…” in English:
- Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremamo za ispit.
It would be good *that we prepare for the exam together.*
Without da, se zajedno spremamo cannot correctly attach to bilo bi dobro:
- ✗ Bilo bi dobro se zajedno spremamo za ispit. – ungrammatical.
In this kind of construction (evaluative statement + a content clause), Croatian almost always uses da + present:
- Dobro je da učiš. – It’s good that you study.
- Važno je da dođeš na vrijeme. – It’s important that you come on time.
Se is the reflexive pronoun. With spremati se, it forms a reflexive verb meaning “to get ready / to prepare oneself”.
- spremati ispit – to prepare an exam (e.g. as a teacher, to make the exam) or to prepare something
- spremati se za ispit – to get oneself ready for an exam, i.e. to study for the exam / prepare for it
In your sentence:
- spremamo se za ispit ≈ we are preparing ourselves for the exam / we are studying for the exam.
Without se, the focus is more on preparing something, not on preparing ourselves.
Yes, some variation is possible, but not all orders are equally natural.
Most natural:
- da se zajedno spremamo za ispit (very normal)
- da se spremamo zajedno za ispit (still fine; “zajedno” comes later)
- da se za ispit zajedno spremamo (possible, but a bit more marked / stylized)
Less natural or ungrammatical:
- ✗ da zajedno se spremamo za ispit – clitic se does not sound right after zajedno here; clitics usually come very early in the clause.
- ✗ da spremamo se zajedno za ispit – native speakers will normally put se immediately after the conjunction or first stressed element (da se spremamo…).
In practice, da se zajedno spremamo za ispit is the best default choice.
The difference is mainly aspect:
spremamo se – imperfective aspect (ongoing / repeated action):
- da se spremamo za ispit implies the process of preparing / studying.
spremimo se – perfective aspect (completed, one-time action):
- da se spremimo za ispit would feel more like that we (eventually) get ready for the exam (as a single achievement).
In this context, suggesting that you study together over a period of time, imperfective (spremamo se) is more natural.
Compare:
- Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremamo za ispit.
– It would be good if we studied / were preparing together (ongoing process). - Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremimo za ispit.
– It would be good if we (at some point) managed to get ready together (more result-focused, less about the process).
Za is a preposition that in this meaning (“for”) requires the accusative case.
- za + accusative
Ispit is a masculine noun.
- Nominative singular: ispit
- Accusative singular (for animate vs inanimate): here it stays ispit (inanimate masculine)
So:
- za ispit – for the exam (accusative singular)
You might also see:
- spremati se za ispit – to prepare / study for an exam
- učiti za ispit – to study for an exam
Note that:
- na ispit (onto/to the exam) is used more with motion: ići na ispit – to go to the exam.
- za ispit is used with preparing/studying: učiti za ispit – to study for the exam.
Yes. Bilo bi dobro da se zajedno spremamo za ispit is polite and slightly formal/neutral. Some variants:
More direct suggestion:
- Hajdemo se zajedno spremati za ispit. – Let’s study for the exam together.
- Spremajmo se zajedno za ispit. – Let’s prepare together for the exam. (imperative, a bit bookish/formal)
Softer / more tentative:
- Možda bismo se mogli zajedno spremati za ispit. – Maybe we could study for the exam together.
- Što kažeš da se zajedno spremamo za ispit? – What do you say to us studying together for the exam?
All of these keep the same basic idea but change the tone from evaluative (“it would be good if…”) to more of a suggestion or invitation.