2 Summary of Difficult Verbs, Part 2

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1 Summary of Difficult Verbs, Part 1

I have listed here all "difficult" verbs in common use. The difficult ones are all not belonging to the simple classes: ne/nu, a and i. Meaning for some verbs is given.

All forms are listed in this order: 1^st pers. sg. present, past masc., past fem., infinitive. Since not all forms need to be listed (normally, one can deduce infinitive from the past) I have listed only what is necessary.

i/a-verbs

All verbs in this class are imperfective. Some of them are nowadays not used without prefixes. Almost all verbs permit adding prefixes, so the full list is a lot longer.

Verbs marked with an asterisk (*) are sometimes used as simple i-verbs as well, so one can hear both kričao and kričio. The latter forms are not standard in most accounts.

bježim, bježao,... "run away"
blejim, blejao,... "make sheep sounds"
bojim, bojao,... se "be afraid"
bojim, bojao,... * "paint"
brojim, brojao,... * "count"
cičim, cičao,... "make high-pitch sounds"
cvrčim, cvrčao,... "make cricket sounds"
cučim, cučao,... *
držim, držao,... "hold"
drečim, drečao,...
ječim, ječao,...
klečim, klečao,...
krčim, krčao,... *
kričim, kričao,...
ležim, ležao,...
pištim, pištao,...
pljuštim, pljuštao,...
režim, režao,...
ričem, rikao,...
-spim, -spao,...
strujim, strujao,... "stream"
trčim, trčao,... "run"
vrištim, vrištao,...
zujim, zujao,... "make bee/fly sounds"
zviždim, zviždao,... "whistle"

Passive adjectives are always formed as of a-verbs, that is brojan, zviždan, etc. The verbal nouns are derived from the pass adj. according to the regular rules (brojanje, zviždanje, etc.)

ne/0-class

Sometimes it's hard to tell if a verb belongs to e/0 or this class. There are not many verbs that are currently used. Some of them (marked with an asterisk *) can be used as normal ne/nu-verbs, so both niknuo and nikäo are part of the standard. Also, most verbs allow prefixes. All of them are perfective, and verbs derived from them by means of prefixes are perfective as well.

-bjegnem, -bjegäo, -bjegla, -bjeći
-čnem, -čeo, -čela, -četi
dignem, digäo, digla, dići * "raise"
legnem, legäo, legla, leći
-mognem, -mogäo, -mogla, -moći
niknem, nikao, nikla, nići *
padnem, pao, pala, pasti
-pnem, -peo, -pela, -peti
puknem, pukäo, pukla, pući * "burst"
sjednem, sjeo, sjela, sjesti
-segnem, -segäo, -segla, -seći *
sretnem, sreo, srela, sresti "meet"
stanem, stao, stala, stati
stignem, stigäo, stigla, stići "make on time"
taknem, takäo, takla, taći * "touch"
-teknem, -tekäo, -tekla, -teći

Passive adjectives are always formed from the present class, that is puknut, dignut, taknut, etc. The verbal nouns are derived from the pass adj. according to the regular rules (puknuće, etc.)

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Introduction

In this blog I will post entries about Croatian verbs, focusing on imperfect-perfect pairs, case use etc. This is a reference supplement to my Basic Croatian.