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.

My plan is to eventually list some 3000 most common verbs, given as roughly 1500 imperfective-perfective pairs (with some verbs unpaired). All verbs will be listed with cases, prepositions and other things that surround them.

This is quite a task, so I'll do it incrementally. First I'll give some 500 "most common" verbs.

Verb Pairs

Each entry is given as:

impf. verb ~ perf. verb

For every verb, only forms that cannot be guessed from standard rules are given (the 3rd person sg. present is given only when needed, in examples like pečem - peku):

1st pers. sg. pres. (3rd pers. sg. pres.), past m, past f, infinitive

If a perf. verb is marked with an (s) it means that it denotes start of action, like be ill ~ become ill. Some verbs don't have counterparts; some have more than one.

Use With Cases and Prepositions

Below each verb, its use is shown (what cases and prepositions can be used). For instance, if it's written:

N (A) (D)

It means that an "argument" (a noun or a noun phrase) in nominative should be used (but it can be left out if it's a pronoun!), as well as arguments in accusative and dative, but they are optional. Another example:

Ø

Nouns in nominative cannot be used, it's used impersonally (3rd pers. sg. n). Every verb uses either N or Ø. The summary of symbols:

Dnoun or noun phrase in dative
Llocative argument (noun or noun phrase), same as dative
Nnoun or noun phrase in nominative
Gnoun or noun phrase in genitive
Inoun or noun phrase in instrumental
N-plargument in nominative (noun or noun phrase), but must be plural
¹ ²marks two separate phrases having same form (e.g. accusative)
( )optional
INFinfinitive
ADJ-Nadjective in nominative
ADJ-Iadjective in instrumental
ADVadverb
GER-Agerund in accusative
Ønominative subject cannot be used, verb must be in 3rd pers. sg. n
sese must be used (not sebe!)
...subclause
(od G)phrase od + gen. can be added, having a special meaning
#static location (e.g. u sobi)
››motion reference (e.g. u sobu, iz sobe)

If there are two arguments having same form, they are either distinguished by prepositions before them, and otherwise their relative order in the sentence is important.

Most verbs allow addition of a static location reference (jedem "I'm eating" — jedem u sobi "I'm eating in (the) room"), but some verbs don't allow it, but only a motion reference: vraćam se u sobu "I'm returning to the room". Meaning of static and motion references doesn't depend on the verb, the verb only allows them or not. A static location reference can be almost always used. A time reference (e.g. jučer "yesterday") can be always added.

Below the list of uses, there's optional list, containing:

related noun(s)
*note on use of verb or particular use
see other verb(s)

Stress

Eventually, all entries will include stress marks. Each form will be given with its Standard accentuation (stress) and a simplified one (used in Zagreb speech, and by myself). I'm using modified marks, as follows:

  • a = a short vowel
  • ā = a long vowel
  • à = a short vowel with the rising stress
  • á = a long vowel with the rising stress
  • a = a vowel stressed in the Zagreb system

If no marks are given, the first vowel is accented (with the falling stress in the Standard system). All marks above letters refer to the Standard system, and ones below them, to the Zagreb system.

For instance, given pògledām, pògledao, in the Standard accentuation, one should pronounce all vowels short except ā in the first word, and both o's should have the rising stress. In the Zagreb system, all vowels are pronounced short, and both e's are stressed. Other forms (past part. f, infinitive) have the same stress as the last form listed (past part. m).

The stress entries are marked with a white square (□).

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