Bila bih ponosna na sebe kad bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

I would be proud of myself if I had a good grade on the exam. (female speaker)

Breakdown of Bila bih ponosna na sebe kad bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

• biti: to be
• dobar: good
• imati: to have
• kad: when
• na: on
• ispit: exam
• ocjena: grade
• ponosan: proud
• sebe: myself

Questions & Answers about Bila bih ponosna na sebe kad bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

Why is it bila bih and not just bih bila or bi bila?

Croatian conditional is formed with:

• a past participle (bila, imala, napisala, …)
• • a special auxiliary clitic (bih, bi, bismo, biste, bi)

For 1st person singular, the form is bih, so you need bila bih (“I would be”).

• Bila bih ponosna… = I would be proud… (feminine speaker)
• Bio bih ponosan… = I would be proud… (masculine speaker)

About word order:

• Standard and most natural: Bila bih ponosna na sebe…
• Also possible (but more marked): Ja bih bila ponosna na sebe…
• Starting the sentence with bih (Bih bila ponosna…) is generally avoided in modern standard Croatian; clitics like bih don’t normally stand in first position.

You cannot say bi bila for “I would be”, because bi is not the 1st‑person form; bi is used for 2nd/3rd person (e.g. ti bi bio, ona bi bila).

Why is it bila and ponosna (feminine) and not bio and ponosan?

Both bila and ponosna agree in gender and number with the subject ja (“I”).

In Croatian, when the subject is “I”:

• A male speaker uses masculine forms:
  
  • Bio bih ponosan na sebe… (I would be proud of myself.)
• A female speaker uses feminine forms:
  
  • Bila bih ponosna na sebe…

So the given sentence assumes the speaker is female. If a man were speaking, he would naturally say Bio bih ponosan na sebe kad bih imao dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

Why is it ponosna na sebe and not just ponosna sebe or ponosna na meni?

The adjective ponosan / ponosna (“proud”) in Croatian normally takes the preposition na with accusative:

• ponosan na nekoga / nešto = proud of someone / something

So you say:

• ponosna na sebe = proud of myself
• ponosan na njega = proud of him
• ponosna na svoj rad = proud of her work

You do not say:

• ✗ ponosna sebe (missing the preposition)
• ✗ ponosna na meni (wrong case; meni is dative/locative)

The correct pattern is:
ponosan/na + na + accusative → ponosna na sebe.

Why is sebe used, and not se? What’s the difference between se and sebe here?

Both se and sebe are reflexive pronouns, but they have different forms for different grammatical roles.

Think of:

• se as the weak/clitic form (used mostly as a direct/indirect object in very fixed positions)
• sebe as the strong, stressed form (full form in most cases, after prepositions, etc.)

After a preposition like na, Croatian normally uses the full form sebe:

• ponosna sam na sebe = I am proud of myself
• govorim o sebi = I talk about myself
• gledam u sebe = I look into myself

Using se after a preposition (✗ na se) is archaic or dialectal; in standard modern Croatian you use sebe there. So ponosna na sebe is the standard choice.

Why is kad used here? I thought kad means “when”, but the sentence is conditional (“if I had…”).

Kad most literally means when, but in Croatian it can also introduce conditional or hypothetical clauses, especially with the conditional form bih:

• Bila bih ponosna na sebe kad bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.
  → I would be proud of myself if/when I had a good grade on the exam.

Here, because we use bih imala, it’s clearly a hypothetical situation; English translates it best with if.

You could also use ako (“if”):

• Bila bih ponosna na sebe ako bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

Nuance:

• kad in this pattern can feel a bit more like a general condition (“whenever / in the case that”), often used in such hypothetical sentences.
• ako is a very direct “if”.

Both are acceptable; context/style will determine preference. With bih imala, they both point to an unreal or less probable condition.

Why is it kad bih imala, not kad imam? What’s the difference?

This is about real vs hypothetical (unreal) conditionals.

1. kad imam dobru ocjenu…

   • Verb is in present indicative (imam).
   • Describes a real, general, or likely situation.
   • Roughly: “When(ever) I have a good grade on the exam, I’m proud of myself.”

2. kad bih imala dobru ocjenu…

   • Verb is in conditional (bih imala).
   • Describes an unreal, imagined, or unlikely situation.
   • Roughly: “If I (hypothetically) had a good grade…, I would be proud of myself.”

In your sentence, the speaker imagines something that is not actually the case (she does not have that good grade now), so the conditional kad bih imala is the natural choice.

Why is bih used in both parts: Bila bih … kad bih imala …? Could one of them be “normal” present tense?

Croatian often uses the conditional in both clauses when expressing an unreal or hypothetical situation:

• Bila bih ponosna na sebe kad bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.
  → I would be proud of myself if I had a good grade on the exam.

Patterns:

• Main clause (result): bila bih ponosna (I would be proud)
• Conditional clause (condition): kad bih imala (if I had)

You can find sentences where only one clause is conditional, e.g.:

• Bila bih ponosna na sebe ako imam dobru ocjenu.
  → This sounds more like “I would be proud if I (in fact) have a good grade” (less clearly unreal).

But when you clearly want unreal / imaginary meaning (English “would … if I had …”), using bih in both parts is the safest, most transparent pattern.

Why is the word order kad bih imala, and not kad imala bih?

The auxiliary bih is a clitic. Croatian clitics follow a fairly strict rule: they usually appear in the second position in the clause.

In kad bih imala:

• kad = first word in the clause
• bih = second position (obeys the clitic rule)
• imala follows

If you said kad imala bih, bih would be in third position, which feels incorrect/unnatural to native speakers.

Correct options:

• kad bih imala dobru ocjenu…
• kad bih ja imala dobru ocjenu… (still second after kad)

Incorrect or very unnatural in standard Croatian:

• ✗ kad imala bih dobru ocjenu…

Why is it dobru ocjenu, not just dobra ocjena?

This is a case change. Ocjena (“grade, mark”) is a feminine noun:

• Nominative (dictionary form, subject): dobra ocjena
  
  • Dobra ocjena je važna. = A good grade is important.
• Accusative (direct object): dobru ocjenu
  
  • Imam dobru ocjenu. = I have a good grade.

In kad bih imala dobru ocjenu, ocjenu is the object of imala (“had”), so it must be in accusative:

• imati + što? (what?) → dobru ocjenu (accusative)

Why is it na ispitu and not na ispit or u ispitu?

The preposition na can take accusative or locative, depending on meaning:

• na + accusative → motion onto / to something
  
  • Idem na ispit. = I am going to the exam.
• na + locative → location on / at something (no movement)
  
  • Na ispitu sam pao. = I failed on the exam.
  • Bila bih ponosna na sebe kad bih imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.
    → literally “a good grade on the exam”

Here we talk about the location/situation of having the grade (where? → on/at the exam), so we use na + locative: na ispitu.

U ispitu would mean “in the exam” and is not how you normally talk about exam results in Croatian.

Could I say dobru ocjenu s ispita or na testu instead of na ispitu?

Yes, there are natural alternatives, with slightly different nuances:

• dobru ocjenu na ispitu
  
  • very standard: “a good grade on the exam”
• dobru ocjenu s ispita
  
  • literally “a good grade from the exam”; often used when talking about the grade you received as a result of that exam.
• dobru ocjenu na testu
  
  • “a good grade on the test” (test is usually smaller/shorter than an exam).

All are possible and idiomatic; the key is that in your original sentence na ispitu is perfectly natural and very common.

Could I use da instead of kad? For example: Bila bih ponosna na sebe da imam dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

A da‑clause can also express a condition in Croatian, but different verb forms give different nuances:

1. Bila bih ponosna na sebe da imam dobru ocjenu na ispitu.

   • Grammatically possible, but sounds a bit off: imam (present) suggests a more real/actual state, whereas bila bih is clearly hypothetical. It feels stylistically uneven.

2. More natural unreal conditional with da would be something like:

   • Bila bih ponosna na sebe da sam imala dobru ocjenu na ispitu.
     = I would be proud of myself if I had had a good grade on the exam (in the past).

For the meaning “I would be proud of myself if I had a good grade (now / in general),” the kad bih imala pattern you have is the most straightforward and natural.

So for your exact sentence and meaning, kad bih imala (or ako bih imala) is better than da imam.

Can the word order in the first part change, like Na sebe bih bila ponosna… or Ja bih bila ponosna na sebe…?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and you can move elements around for emphasis:

• Bila bih ponosna na sebe…
  
  • neutral, most standard.
• Ja bih bila ponosna na sebe…
  
  • adds emphasis on ja (“I (myself) would be proud…”).
• Na sebe bih bila ponosna kad bih imala…
  
  • fronting na sebe highlights on myself (“It’s myself that I would be proud of…”).

The crucial thing is that the clitic bih still appears early, typically in second position in each clause. All of the above are acceptable and just differ in emphasis.