Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi.

Before the exam I revise the difficult chapters and every day I revise new words.

Breakdown of Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi.

• nov: new
• i: and
• prije: before
• težak: difficult
• ispit: exam
• ponoviti: to revise
• poglavlje: chapter
• svakodnevno: every day
• riječ: word

Questions & Answers about Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi.

Why is it ispita and not ispit or ispitu after prije?

The preposition prije (before) always takes the genitive case.

• ispit = nominative singular (dictionary form)
• ispita = genitive singular
• ispitu = locative (and sometimes dative) singular

Because of prije, we must use genitive: prije ispita = before the exam.

What form is teška poglavlja, and why does it look like that?

Poglavlje (chapter) is a neuter noun. In the plural:

• nominative plural: poglavlja
• accusative plural: poglavlja (same form as nominative for neuter nouns)

In the sentence, teška poglavlja is the direct object of ponovim, so it’s in the accusative plural.

The adjective teška agrees with poglavlja in:

• gender: neuter
• number: plural
• case: accusative

For neuter plural, the adjective ending is -a, so we get teška poglavlja = difficult chapters as the thing you revise.

What exactly does ponovim mean, and what is its infinitive?

Ponovim is:

• 1st person singular
• present tense
• perfective aspect
• of the verb ponoviti (to repeat, to go over again, to revise).

So ponovim literally means “I (will) repeat / I (will) revise (once, completely)”, depending on context. Because it’s perfective, it emphasizes completing the action, not the ongoing process.

Could I use ponavljam instead of ponovim? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say ponavljam, but it changes the nuance.

• ponoviti – ponovim: perfective → one finished act, “go over it once (properly / fully)”
• ponavljati – ponavljam: imperfective → ongoing or repeated process, “keep revising / be in the process of revising”

So:

• Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja
  → Before an exam, I (sit down and) revise the difficult chapters (as a completed action, one revision session).

• Prije ispita ponavljam teška poglavlja
  → Before an exam, I’m (generally) revising / I usually keep revising the difficult chapters (more about the process).

Both are possible; the original sentence highlights the idea of completing that revision.

How can the present tense ponovim talk about something that happens before a future exam?

Croatian uses the present tense much more freely than English:

1. For habitual actions:

   • Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja
     = Before an exam I revise the difficult chapters (that is my habit / routine).

2. For future perfective actions:
   A perfective verb in the present often refers to a future event, especially in a pattern like “when/before I do X…”

   • Kad dođem, nazvat ću te. = When I come, I’ll call you.

Here, the sentence is best understood as a general routine: every time there is an exam in the future, this is what I do. English often uses a present simple there too (“Before an exam I revise…”), so the parallel is actually fairly close.

What is svakodnevno, and how is it different from svaki dan?

Svakodnevno is an adverb meaning “daily, every day, on a daily basis”.

• svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi
  = I (re)go over new words daily.

Svaki dan is a phrase (adjective + noun) also meaning “every day”:

• Svaki dan ponovim nove riječi.

Difference:

• svakodnevno: adverb, sounds a bit more compact/formal, “on a daily basis”.
• svaki dan: a bit more colloquial and literal, “every day”.

Both are correct; they’re normally interchangeable in this context.

Why is riječi in that form? What is the singular and plural of riječ?

Riječ (word) is feminine and a bit irregular. Relevant forms:

• nominative singular: riječ
• accusative singular: riječ
• nominative plural: riječi
• accusative plural: riječi

In ponovim nove riječi, riječi is the direct object, so it’s accusative plural. For this noun, nominative plural and accusative plural look the same: riječi.

The adjective nove agrees with it in feminine, plural, accusative: nove riječi (new words).

Is it necessary to repeat ponovim? Could I say: Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno nove riječi?

You normally should repeat the verb here. Without the second ponovim, the sentence becomes ungrammatical or at least very awkward.

• Original:
  Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi.
  → Two clearly parallel actions:
  
  1. Before the exam I revise difficult chapters.
  2. Every day I revise new words.

If you remove the second ponovim, Croatian speakers will expect something like:

• Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno učim nove riječi.
  (Two different verbs, both expressed.)

You can avoid repeating the verb if you change the structure, e.g.:

• Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja, a nove riječi ponavljam svakodnevno.
  (Here the second clause has its own verb.)

Could the word order be different, e.g. Prije ispita teška poglavlja ponovim or Ponovim teška poglavlja prije ispita?

Yes. Croatian word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:

• Prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja. (neutral, clear)
• Ponovim teška poglavlja prije ispita. (also neutral; time comes at the end)
• Prije ispita teška poglavlja ponovim. (emphasizes that it’s those difficult chapters that you revise then)

Word order mainly affects focus and emphasis, not basic grammar. The original order is the most straightforward and natural in many contexts.

Why is there no ja (“I”) in the sentence?

In Croatian, subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona, mi, vi, oni…) are usually omitted because the verb ending already shows the person:

• ponovim → 1st person singular → I repeat / I revise

You only add ja if you want to emphasize the subject:

• Ja prije ispita ponovim teška poglavlja…
  → I (as opposed to someone else) revise the difficult chapters before an exam.

So the version without ja is the normal, neutral way to say it.

Do I need a comma before i in …teška poglavlja i svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi?

No comma is needed here.

You have one subject (understood ja) and two verbs (ponovim … i … ponovim …) forming a compound predicate. In Croatian, you don’t put a comma before i when simply joining two verbs or objects in one clause:

• Kupim kruh i odem kući.
• Ponovim teška poglavlja i svakodnevno ponovim nove riječi.

A comma would only appear if you were separating two independent clauses with their own subjects, or for a specific stylistic reason.