Prvo ću proveriti da li imam pasoš i karticu.

Prvo means first or first of all. It is an adverb, and it tells you this is the first action in a sequence.

So the sentence suggests something like:

• first, I’ll check...
• before anything else, I’ll check...

It often appears at the beginning of a sentence, but Serbian word order is flexible, so you may also hear it elsewhere for emphasis.

Both are related to the future tense, but the word order matters.

In Serbian, ću is a short auxiliary form (an enclitic), and it usually goes in the second position in the clause.

So in:

Prvo ću proveriti...

• Prvo is in first position
• ću goes next
• proveriti stays separate

If the verb comes first, Serbian often writes the future as one word:

• Proveriću da li imam pasoš i karticu.

So these are both natural:

• Prvo ću proveriti...
• Proveriću...

But standard Serbian does not normally use proveriti ću.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Serbian.

• proveriti = perfective → to check once, to complete the check
• proveravati = imperfective → to be checking, to check repeatedly, habitually, or over a period of time

In this sentence, the speaker means one complete act of checking, so proveriti is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Prvo ću proveriti... = I’ll check (once, as a completed action)
• Stalno proveravam... = I keep checking / I check all the time

Da li introduces a yes/no question clause, and here it means whether or if.

So:

• proveriti da li... = to check whether...
• da li imam pasoš i karticu = whether I have my passport and card

A learner might try to understand da and li separately, but in this structure it is best to learn da li as a fixed unit.

Because the sentence means I will check whether I have them, not I will check whether I will have them later.

The checking happens in the future, but the possession is understood as relevant at that time, and Serbian naturally uses the present tense in this kind of subordinate clause:

• da li imam = whether I have

This is very normal in Serbian.

If you said da li ću imati, that would mean something more like:

• whether I will have
• whether I’ll possess them at some later point

That is a different meaning.

Both nouns are direct objects, so they are in the accusative case.

But different noun types behave differently:

• kartica → accusative singular: karticu
• pasoš → accusative singular: pasoš

Why no change with pasoš? Because pasoš is a masculine inanimate noun, and in Serbian, masculine inanimate nouns usually have the same form in nominative and accusative singular.

So:

• imam karticu
• imam pasoš

This is very common in Serbian grammar.

Because Serbian usually drops subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

Here, the forms already tell us it is I:

• ću = I will
• imam = I have

So ja is unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Prvo ću proveriti... = neutral
• Ja ću prvo proveriti... = I will check first (maybe not someone else)

This is one of the big differences from English, where the subject pronoun is usually required.

Yes. That is another correct way to form this kind of clause.

So you can say:

• Prvo ću proveriti da li imam pasoš i karticu.
• Prvo ću proveriti imam li pasoš i karticu.

Both mean the same thing.

A rough difference:

• da li imam = very common, neutral, straightforward
• imam li = a bit more compact, sometimes slightly more formal or literary in tone

Both are useful to recognize.

Yes, Serbian has fairly flexible word order, but there are still rules—especially for short forms like ću.

These are all possible, with small differences in emphasis:

• Prvo ću proveriti da li imam pasoš i karticu.
• Proveriću prvo da li imam pasoš i karticu.
• Najpre ću proveriti da li imam pasoš i karticu.

The main thing to remember is that ću usually wants to be near the beginning of the clause, in second position.

So while Serbian is flexible, it is not random.

Kartica means card, but by itself it is somewhat general.

Depending on context, it could mean things like:

• a bank card
• an ID card
• a health insurance card
• some other small card

The sentence itself does not specify which kind of card it is. Native speakers often rely on context for words like this.

Yes. I simply means and.

It joins the two objects:

• pasoš i karticu = passport and card

So the speaker is checking for both items.

This is simple, but worth noticing because i is one of the most common Serbian words, and you will see it constantly.