Learn Hardcore Croatian: To je moj prvi ispit.

In To je moj prvi ispit, to is like this/that/it, so you use the 3rd person singular form je. You cannot drop je in standard Croatian here; To moj prvi ispit would be wrong in normal speech.

Why is it moj and not moja or moje?

Moj is a possessive adjective meaning my. In Croatian, possessive adjectives agree in:

gender
number
case

with the noun they describe.

The noun ispit (exam) is:

masculine
singular
nominative

So you must use the masculine singular nominative form moj.

Compare:

moj ispit – my exam (masculine)
moja knjiga – my book (feminine)
moje pivo – my beer (neuter)

In the sentence To je moj prvi ispit, all three words moj prvi ispit are masculine singular nominative to match ispit.

What exactly does prvi mean, and how is it different from jedan?

Prvi is an ordinal number: first.
Jedan is a cardinal number: one.

moj prvi ispit – my first exam (there may be a second, third, etc.)
jedan ispit – one exam (just quantity: not zero, not two)

Using jedan here would not mean first; it would simply mean one. The natural way to say my first exam is moj prvi ispit, never moj jedan ispit.

What gender and case is ispit in this sentence?

Ispit is:

masculine gender
singular number
nominative case

The structure is:

To (subject, nominative)
je (linking verb “to be”)
moj prvi ispit (predicative noun phrase, also in nominative)

In Croatian, after the verb biti (to be), the noun that describes the subject is typically also in the nominative, not accusative. So you say To je ispit, not To je ispita.

Why doesn’t to agree in gender with ispit (neuter vs. masculine)?

This is a special feature of Croatian (and many Slavic languages).

To is always neuter singular in this use.
It acts as a kind of neutral demonstrative / placeholder subject (like English this/that/it).
The noun in the predicate (ispit) keeps its own gender (masculine), and words that modify that noun (moj, prvi) agree with ispit, not with to.

So:

To je moj prvi ispit.
- to = neuter
- ispit = masculine
- moj, prvi = masculine to match ispit

This mismatch is normal and correct in Croatian.

Can I say Ovo je moj prvi ispit or Ono je moj prvi ispit instead of To je moj prvi ispit?

Yes, you can, but there is a nuance:

Ovo je moj prvi ispit.
Literally: This (here, near me) is my first exam.
Used when the exam paper or situation is right here or you are very directly referring to it.
Ono je moj prvi ispit.
Literally: That (over there, farther away) is my first exam.
Used if you are pointing to something at a distance (e.g., a building where you’ll take the exam).
To je moj prvi ispit.
More neutral and the most common everyday way to say This/That is my first exam, including abstract or not-physically-present situations.

In many contexts, all three are possible, but to je is the safest, most generally usable choice.

Where is the article “a/the”? Why isn’t there anything like that in the Croatian sentence?

Croatian does not have articles like English a/an or the.

Definiteness and specificity are shown by:

context
word order
demonstratives (taj, ovaj, onaj)
possessives (moj, tvoj, njegov…)
ordinal numbers (prvi, drugi, …)

Because you have moj (my) and prvi (first), the phrase moj prvi ispit is automatically very specific, so the correct English translation is my first exam, not a my first exam or some first exam. The Croatian sentence doesn’t need any extra word for “the” or “a”.

Can I change the word order, for example to Moj prvi ispit je to?

Word order in Croatian is more flexible than in English, but not all orders are equally natural.

To je moj prvi ispit.
– This is the neutral, most natural word order here.

You can say:

Moj prvi ispit je to.

But this has a special emphasis, roughly:

That is (indeed) my first exam, with a focus on to (that), often in contrast to something else.

Example context:

Someone points at an exam sheet and says:
Je li to tvoj drugi ispit? – Is that your second exam?
You answer, correcting them:
Ne, moj prvi ispit je to. – No, that is my first exam.

Also note that je is a clitic; it tends to stay in the second position of the clause, so:

To je moj prvi ispit. (correct)
To moj prvi ispit je. (not natural)

What is the difference between ispit and test?

Both are used for things like exams/tests, but there’s a typical nuance:

ispit
- more formal or major exam
- university exams, final exams, driving test, language exam, etc.
- e.g. položiti ispit – to pass an exam
test
- loanword from English
- often shorter, more informal tests (school quizzes, short written tests)
- e.g. pisati test iz matematike – to sit a math test

In practice they overlap, and people sometimes say test where they could also say ispit, but ispit is the default word for a serious exam, especially in official contexts.

How would I say “This is my first exam ever” and “This is not my first exam”?

This is my first exam ever.
Two natural options:
- To je moj prvi ispit ikad.
- To mi je prvi ispit u životu. (literally: This is my first exam in (my) life.)
Adding ikad (ever) or u životu emphasizes that you have never had any exam before.
This is not my first exam.
- To nije moj prvi ispit.
Here nije is just ne + je fused into one word, the negative form of je:
- je – is
- nije – is not

How do you pronounce to, je, and ispit?

Approximate pronunciation (Standard Croatian):

to – [to]
- like toh in English (short, pure “o” as in “more”, but shorter)
je – [je]
- like yeh, similar to ye in yes
ispit – [ˈispit]
- stress on the first syllable: ÍS-pit
- i is like ee in see, but short: IS-pit not eye-spit
- p and t are clear, unaspirated consonants

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like: TO yeh MOY PR-vee ÍS-pit, with fairly even, short vowels.

Is moj prvi ispit understood as definite, like my first exam, even though there is no word for “the”?

Yes.

In Croatian, when you use:

a possessive (moj, tvoj, njegov, …) and
an ordinal number (prvi, drugi, treći, …)

the noun phrase is naturally specific and definite. There is only one “my first exam” in your life or in the given context.

So:

To je moj prvi ispit.
is understood exactly as definite as English
This is my first exam.

How would the sentence change for “his first exam”, “her first exam”, “our first exam”, etc.?

You just change the possessive adjective and keep everything else the same. Since ispit is masculine singular nominative, all these possessives use their masculine singular nominative form:

To je moj prvi ispit. – This is my first exam.
To je tvoj prvi ispit. – This is your first exam (singular, informal).
To je njegov prvi ispit. – This is his first exam.
To je njezin prvi ispit. / To je njen prvi ispit. – This is her first exam.
To je naš prvi ispit. – This is our first exam.
To je vaš prvi ispit. – This is your first exam (plural or polite).
To je njihov prvi ispit. – This is their first exam.

How would I say “That was my first exam” and “That will be my first exam”?

That was my first exam.
- To je bio moj prvi ispit.
Explanation:
- je – present of biti (used as auxiliary in the past tense)
- bio – masculine past participle of biti
- ispit is masculine, so you use bio (masc.) and not bila (fem.) or bilo (neut.).
For a feminine noun, you would say for example:
- To je bila moja prva vožnja. – That was my first drive/ride.
That will be my first exam.
- To će biti moj prvi ispit.
Explanation:
- će – future auxiliary
- biti – infinitive of biti (to be)
Literally: That will be my first exam.