Learn Hardcore Croatian: To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj. - That trip will be an important experience for the whole family.

ovo putovanje – this trip (close to the speaker, “this one here”)
to putovanje – that trip (often “the one we’re talking about” or somewhat neutral)
ono putovanje – that trip over there / that (more distant) trip

In everyday speech, to is very commonly used for something already known from context or previously mentioned. So To putovanje is like saying That trip (we’ve been talking about).

You could say Ovo putovanje će biti važno iskustvo…, and it would be correct, just slightly more like This trip will be… instead of That trip will be…. The grammar is the same; only the nuance of “this/that” changes.

What gender is putovanje, and how can I tell?

Putovanje is neuter singular.

Signs that help you:

Many nouns ending in -anje (and -enje) are neuter verbal nouns, e.g.
- putovanje – traveling / (a) trip
- pisanje – writing
- učenje – learning

In the dictionary, you’ll usually see putovanje, -a, n. (the n. for neuter).

In this sentence, putovanje is in the nominative singular as the subject:
To putovanje = That trip (subject).

Why are there two words će biti for “will be”? Why not just one word?

Croatian forms the future tense (Future I) with:

short form of htjeti (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će) + infinitive

So:

će – future auxiliary (3rd person singular; like English will)
biti – infinitive “to be”

Together, će biti = will be.

This is completely regular:

On će raditi. – He will work.
Putovanje će trajati. – The trip will last.
To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo. – That trip will be an important experience.

Why can’t I say biti će instead of će biti?

Word order rules for the future auxiliary are quite strict.

The short forms ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će are clitics. One of the key rules in Croatian is:

Clitics cannot normally stand in the first position, and they tend to come very early (roughly in “second position”) in the clause.

So:

✅ To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo.
❌ To putovanje biti će važno iskustvo. (ungrammatical / very non‑standard)

When the main verb itself is biti, you may also see the form:

✅ To putovanje bit će važno iskustvo.

Here bit is a shortened form of biti, and bit će behaves as a single cluster after the first stressed element. But biti će is not used.

Why is it važno iskustvo and not važan iskustvo or važna iskustvo?

The adjective must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it describes.

iskustvo (experience) is neuter singular nominative.
So the adjective važan (important) must also be neuter singular nominative:
- masculine: važan čovjek
- feminine: važna knjiga
- neuter: važno iskustvo

Therefore:

✅ važno iskustvo (neuter)
❌ važan iskustvo (masculine form)
❌ važna iskustvo (feminine form)

Is iskustvo in the nominative or accusative here, and how can I tell?

Here iskustvo is in the nominative singular.

With the verb biti (to be), the noun that says what something is (the “complement”) is normally in the nominative, just like the subject:

On je učitelj. – He is a teacher.
Ona je liječnica. – She is a doctor.
To je problem. – That is a problem.

In the sentence:

To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo…

the structure is:

subject: To putovanje (nominative)
verb: će biti
subject complement: važno iskustvo (nominative)

So both putovanje and iskustvo are nominative neuter singular.

Why is it za cijelu obitelj and what case is that?

The phrase za cijelu obitelj uses the accusative case, because:

The preposition za (for) requires the accusative.

Breakdown:

za – preposition “for” (+ accusative)
cijelu – accusative feminine singular of cijela (whole, entire)
obitelj – accusative feminine singular of obitelj (family)

So za cijelu obitelj = “for the whole family” in the accusative.
You can see the accusative clearly on the adjective: cijela → cijelu.

Why is cijelu feminine when obitelj doesn’t end in -a?

In Croatian, not all feminine nouns end in -a. Some end in a consonant (often -t, -ć, -d, -j, -lj, etc.).

Obitelj (family) is grammatically feminine, even though it looks a bit like a masculine word to an English speaker.

You can see its gender from:

Dictionary notation: obitelj, -i, f. (the f. means feminine)
How adjectives agree with it:
- moja obitelj – my family (feminine form moja)
- cijela obitelj – the whole family (feminine cijela)

In the accusative:

cijela obitelj (nom.) → cijelu obitelj (acc.)

So cijelu is feminine accusative singular to match feminine obitelj.

Can I leave out iskustvo and just say To putovanje će biti važno za cijelu obitelj?

Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct and natural:

To putovanje će biti važno za cijelu obitelj.
That trip will be important for the whole family.

The difference:

To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.
– Emphasizes that the trip will be an important experience.
To putovanje će biti važno za cijelu obitelj.
– States more generally that the trip will be important for the family (without calling it specifically an “experience”).

Grammatically both are fine; it’s just a slight nuance in meaning and style.

Where else can I put će in this sentence? Are there alternative word orders?

Because će is a clitic, it tends to appear very early in the sentence, usually in “second position” after the first word or phrase. Common correct variants are:

To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.
To će putovanje biti važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.
To putovanje bit će važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.

All three are grammatical, but:

(1) is probably the most neutral and common.
(2) slightly highlights To (“That trip, it will be…”).
(3) uses the split form bit će, which is also very common, especially in speech.

You cannot freely move će anywhere; for example:

❌ To putovanje biti će važno… – incorrect.
❌ To putovanje važno će biti… – very strange / wrong in standard Croatian.

Can I use je instead of će biti to talk about the future?

Sometimes, yes. Croatian can use the present tense to talk about future events, especially when the future is scheduled, planned, or very certain, just like English (“We leave tomorrow”).

Differences:

To putovanje je važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.
– Present tense: states a general fact or a timeless truth about the trip.
To putovanje će biti važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.
– Explicit future: “will be an important experience” (focus on the future moment when it happens).

If you add a clear future time expression, present can refer to the future:

To putovanje iduće godine bit će / je važno iskustvo za cijelu obitelj.
– Both can sound okay, but bit će (or će biti) is more straightforwardly future.

For a learner, when you mean clear future, it’s safest to use će + infinitive:
To putovanje će biti…

How do you pronounce cijelu and obitelj, especially c, ij, and lj?

Approximate English‑based guidance:

cijelu

c – like ts in cats
ije / je / ij combinations can be tricky; in cije‑ it sounds roughly like tsye
cijelu ≈ “TSYEH-loo”

Syllables: cije-lu → [TSYEH]-[loo]

obitelj

o – like o in not (a bit more closed)
bi – like bee
te – like teh
lj – like the lli in million (a palatal l), close to English ly

So obitelj ≈ “oh-BEE-tehly” (with the last ly as one consonant sound, not two separate letters).

Key points:

c is always ts, never like English k or s.
j is always like English y in yes.
lj is a single sound, a “soft l” similar to Italian gli or Spanish ll in some accents.