Nadam se da će sastanak proći glatko.

Nadam se means I hope.

It comes from the verb nadati se, which is the normal Croatian verb for to hope. The se is part of the verb itself, not a separate word you can usually leave out. So learners should think of the whole expression nadati se as one unit.

• nadam se = I hope
• nadaš se = you hope
• nada se = he/she/it hopes

So in this sentence, Nadam se is simply I hope.

Because Croatian often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb ending.

In nadam se, the ending -am shows that the subject is I. So ja is unnecessary unless you want extra emphasis.

• Nadam se... = I hope...
• Ja se nadam... = I hope..., but with more emphasis on I

This is very common in Croatian.

Here da means that and introduces the content of what is being hoped.

So:

• Nadam se = I hope
• da će sastanak proći glatko = that the meeting will go smoothly

Croatian very often uses da + finite verb after verbs like hope, think, know, say, etc.

So nadam se da... is the normal pattern for I hope that...

Će is the 3rd person singular future auxiliary, meaning will.

It matches the subject sastanak because sastanak is singular:

• će = will
• sastanak = the meeting
• proći = go / pass

So će sastanak proći means the meeting will go / will pass.

A few examples:

• On će doći. = He will come.
• Sastanak će početi. = The meeting will begin.

Because će is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go near the beginning of their clause.

After da, it is very normal for će to come immediately after it:

• Nadam se da će sastanak proći glatko. ✔
• Nadam se da sastanak će proći glatko. ✘ not standard

In a main clause, you can say:

• Sastanak će proći glatko.

But after da, Croatian strongly prefers da će...

Yes, proći literally means to pass, but in Croatian it is also commonly used for events such as meetings, exams, trips, celebrations, and so on, in the sense of to go or to turn out.

So:

• Sastanak je prošao dobro. = The meeting went well.
• Nadam se da će sastanak proći glatko. = I hope the meeting will go smoothly.

This is a very natural Croatian way to talk about how an event unfolds.

This is about aspect.

• proći is perfective
• prolaziti is imperfective

Here the speaker is talking about one complete future event: the meeting as a whole. Croatian usually uses the perfective verb proći for that.

So proći fits the idea:

• the meeting will happen
• it will reach its end
• hopefully it will do so smoothly

Prolaziti would suggest an ongoing or repeated process and would not sound natural here.

Sastanak is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the clause.

The clause is:

• će sastanak proći glatko

Here, sastanak is the thing that will go/pass smoothly, so it is the subject.

Its dictionary form is already sastanak, so nothing changes here.

No. Glatko here is an adverb, not an adjective.

It describes how the meeting will go:

• proći glatko = to go smoothly

It does not describe the noun sastanak directly, so it does not have to agree with it in gender, number, or case.

Compare:

• gladak stol = a smooth table → adjective
• prošlo je glatko = it went smoothly → adverb

So in this sentence, glatko modifies the verb proći.

Yes. Nadam se da će sastanak dobro proći is also natural.

The difference is mainly nuance:

• dobro = well
• glatko = smoothly, with the idea of without problems, interruptions, or complications

So glatko is a bit more specific. It suggests the speaker wants the meeting to run efficiently and without trouble.

A rough English approximation is:

• će ≈ chyeh, but with a softer ch sound than in English
• proći ≈ PRO-chee, again with a softer ch

The letter ć is not exactly the same as English ch. It is softer and more palatal.

So:

• će = future auxiliary will
• proći = to go/pass

If you cannot produce the exact Croatian ć yet, a soft English ch is a reasonable beginner approximation.

Yes, but some word orders are more natural than others.

Very natural:

• Nadam se da će sastanak proći glatko.
• Sastanak će proći glatko. = The meeting will go smoothly.

Possible with a different focus:

• Nadam se da će sastanak glatko proći.

But after da, you normally keep će right after it, so:

• da će sastanak... ✔
• da sastanak će... ✘

So Croatian word order is flexible, but clitics like će still follow special placement rules.