# Croatian (BCS): verbs



## dre-day

Hello,

I have starting learning Croatian, but I have some difficulties with the verb types. There are 4 verb types right?

Verbs ending in –ati: spavati, plesati, igrati, plakati, morati, pisati, ...
Verbs ending in –eti: vidjeti, smjeti, ...
Verbs ending in –iti: piti, činiti, raditi, sjediti, braniti, miriti, ...
Verbs ending in –ći: ići, peći,.reći,sjeći, ...

Are they each conjugated differently, and in all the different tenses?


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## slavic_one

We usually just put them in two groups, ending with -ti and -ći.

For conjugation, in most cases, you only remove -ti and put -m, -š, -0, -mo, -te, -ju; and remove -ći and place -ćem, -ćeš, -će, -ćemo, -ćete, -ku.
Of course there are many many exceptions from that rule.
Plesati - plešem, plešeš...; plakati - plačem, plačeš...; pisati - pišem, pišeš...; vidjeti - vidim, vidiš...; smjeti - smijem, smiješ...; piti - pijem, piješ...; ići - idem, ideš...; reći has a conjugation of govoriti - govorim, govoriš...; and so on and so on...


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## Athaulf

dre-day said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have starting learning Croatian, but I have some difficulties with the verb types. There are 4 verb types right?
> 
> Verbs ending in –ati: spavati, plesati, igrati, plakati, morati, pisati, ...
> Verbs ending in –eti: vidjeti, smjeti, ...
> Verbs ending in –iti: piti, činiti, raditi, sjediti, braniti, miriti, ...
> Verbs ending in –ći: ići, peći,.reći,sjeći, ...
> 
> Are they each conjugated differently, and in all the different tenses?



You'll find lots of useful information in this online grammar book.


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## Duya

Athaulf said:


> You'll find lots of useful information in this online grammar book.



Trying sum up for those who are less enthusiastic for reading the book : a much better classification is the one based on endings in *present *tense than on infinitive. That gives endings on -em, -im, and -am. Only the latest have -- as far as I can tell -- completely regular infinitive (čekati - čekam). 

The correspondence between present and infinitive endings is often confusing -- even for native speakers without linguistic education, myself included -- and stems from history. That's especially the case for infinitives ending on -ći, which in Old Slavonic had something like vowel+ьть, producing 

peći - pečem (пекьть ?)
dоći - dоđem (додьть ?)
ići - idem (идьть ?)
moći - mogu/mognem (могьть ?)

Also, the ones ending with yat+ть can produce inconsistent results:

vidjeti - vidim (видѣть ?)
smjeti - smijem (смѣть ?)

Even when the infinitive ends with -ati, that doesn't mean the present obeys:

znati - znam, but:
stajati - stajem (frequentative)
stajati - stojim (imperfective)
jahati - jašem

Corrections welcome; this is definitively not my field of expertise, so take the above only as a sketch. Some textbooks recommend memorizing both present and infinitive form for basic verbs for language learners; that's the advice I'd second.


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## Daniel.N

Duya said:


> Trying sum up for those who are less enthusiastic for reading the book : a much better classification is the one based on endings in *present *tense than on infinitive. That gives endings on -em, -im, and -am. Only the latest have -- as far as I can tell -- completely regular infinitive (čekati - čekam).
> 
> Corrections welcome; this is definitively not my field of expertise, so take the above only as a sketch. Some textbooks recommend memorizing both present and infinitive form for basic verbs for language learners; that's the advice I'd second.



This is my point of view.

The rule is that if the present form ends on -am then everything is very simple, except for sam ("I am").

present zn-am, im-am
past zn-ao, zn-ala, im-ao, im-ala
infinitive zn-ati, im-ati
passive zn-an, (ima-n)
verbal noun zn-anje, im-anje

Also, lot of verbs (but not all) on -im have simple forms. The solution is backwards: if a verb has its infinitive on -iti, then the forms are guaranteed to be simple:

present uč-im, misl-im
past uč-io, uč-ila, misl-io, misl-ila
infinitive uč-iti, misl-iti
passive uč-en, mišlj-en (!)
verbal noun uč-enje, mišlj-enje

One has to take care of passive adjective of such verbs, not really simple.

Other verbs that are almost all simple is when infinitive ends on -nuti:

present gur-nem
past gur-nuo, gur-nula
infinitive gur-nuti
passive gur-nut
verbal noun gur-nuće

but some verbs that have present on -nem can have strange past and infinitive: sretnem - sresti.

It's best to remember present (or infinitive) for simple types or verbs, and both forms for more difficult ones, and for some like:

present sjednem
past sjeo, sjela
infinitive sjesti

or much more regular

present vidim
past vidio, vidjela
infinitive vidjeti

all forms have to be remembered. It all boils down to some 12 types of verbs, depending on who counts.


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## phosphore

dre-day said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have starting learning Croatian, but I have some difficulties with the verb types. There are 4 verb types right?
> 
> Verbs ending in –ati: spavati (V-a), plesati (II), igrati (V-a), plakati (II), morati (V-a), pisati (II), ...
> Verbs ending in –eti: vidjeti (VI), smjeti (V-b), ...
> Verbs ending in –iti: piti (IV-a), činiti (VI), raditi (VI), sjediti (VI), braniti (VI), miriti (VI), ...
> Verbs ending in –ći: ići (I), peći (I),.reći (I),sjeći (I), ...
> 
> Are they each conjugated differently, and in all the different tenses?


 
According to eminent linguist Mihailo Stevanović, author of a famous grammar of Serbo-Croatian, there are 7 verb types.

1: present tense stem ending in -ē, infinitive stem ending in a consonant (ie. tresti)
2: present tense stem ending in -ē, infintive stem ending in -a (ie. orati, pisati)
3: present tense stem ending in -ne, infintive stem ending in -nu (ie. brinuti)
4: a) present tense stem ending in -je, infinitive stem with no ending (ie. čuti), b) present tense stem ending in -je, infintive stem ending in -a (ie. kovati),
5: a) present tense stem ending in -ā, infinitive stem ending in -a (ie. pevati), b) present tense stem ending in -ē, infinitive stem ending in -e (ie. umeti)
6: present tense stem ending in -ī, infinitive stem ending in -i or -e (ie. nositi, videti)
7: present tense stem ending in -ī, infinitive stem ending in -a (ie. držati)

For verbs whose infinitive form ends in _-(vowel)-ti_ you need to know also the 3rd person singular present form (present tense stem = 3rd person singular present form, infintive stem = infinitive form without the infintive ending _-ti_). For verbs ending in _-sti_ and _-ći_ you need to know the 1st person singular aorist form too (infinitive stem = 1st person singular aorist form without the ending _-oh_).

______________________________________________________________

You should know a little about historical consonant and vowel alternations (and maybe about the metatonical shift too) in order to understand some forms that seem to be irregular. Otherwise you would probably never manage to learn all those forms by heart.

For example: zvati - zovem, brati - berem; sesti - sednem - seo, krasti - kradem - krao; vući - vučem, maći - maknem; pisati - pišem, kazati - kažem; etc.


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## WannaBeMe

dre-day said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have starting learning Croatian, but I have some difficulties with the verb types. There are 4 verb types right?
> 
> Verbs ending in –ati: spavati, plesati, igrati, plakati, morati, pisati, ...
> Verbs ending in –eti: vidjeti, smjeti, ...
> Verbs ending in –iti: piti, činiti, raditi, sjediti, braniti, miriti, ...
> Verbs ending in –ći: ići, peći,.reći,sjeći, ...
> 
> Are they each conjugated differently, and in all the different tenses?




Present of a verb is formed by adding the extensions to the present stem. 
For some verbs present stem is hidden because of voice changes in the past (and you should learn it because those are some of the most frequent verbs, i name you a couple):
   1) bosti (bod-), vesti (ved-), krasti (krad-), ići (id-)...
   2) plesti (plet-), mesti (met-)...
   3) reći (rek-), peći (pek-), teći (tek-) seći (sek-)
   4) moći (mog-)

1) The verbs of e-type - stem + interfix e (exept in front of a vowal extension -u)+ extensions (-m, -š, --, -mo, -te, -u) 
bosti (which came from bod-ti) has present like

bod - e -m
bod - e -š
bod - e -..
bod - e -mo
bod - e -te
bod - .. -u (here is interfix -e lost because of its positon infront of -u which is already a vowel so there was no need to put -e there)

By the verbs of the hidden stem or better to say consonant stem (which I showed you previous) happens "jotation" which means that the last consonant of the stem is changed through the interfix -e (!!! but this dont happen where there is no interfix, thus in the 3. person plural which has no interfix bacause of the vowel extension.)

peći ( comes from pek-ti)

pek - e -m >>> peč - e -m
pek - e -š  >>> peč - e -š
pek - e -..  >>> peč - e -..
pek - e -mo >>>peč - e -mo
pek - e -te >>> peč - e -te
pek - .. -u  >>> pek - .. -u ( k stays because jotation happens only in front of -e) 

The muster is such: 
k>č (peći, pek-  pečem, pečeš, peče, pečemo, pečete, peku
g>ž (moći, mog- mogu, možeš, možeš, možemo, možete, mogu)

verbs with the stam on -d and -t dont make jotation

2) The verbs of i-type - stem + interfix i (exept infront of a vowel extension, in this case - e) + extensions (-m, -š, --, -mo, -te, -e)
Infinitives interfixes are -i, -je, and -ja.

2.1)Infinitive on -i

hval - i -ti (infinitive)

hval - i -m
hval - i -š
hval - i -..
hval - i -mo
hval - i -te
hval -.. -e

2.2) infinitive on -ja

Those are most of tome imperfective verbs and this -ja can be also jotated with the infinitive stem so it looks like -a sometimes.
mučati - to shut but the stem is muk (there is also a noun  muk-silence)

This type of verbs does have jotation 
muč-i -m
muč-i -š
muč-i -..
muč-i -mo
muč-i -te
muč-..-e (in this case jotation is present in 3.pl too although there is no interfix here, the reason is that jotation is present always in before i or e , and e was in this case the extension.)

One another example
trčati - to run 
stem is trk- (there is also a noun trk-run)
present- trčim, trčiš, trči, trčimo, trčite, trče

And if the stem does not end on the -k or -g -or h wich change to č, ž, š
then the conugation is normal without jotation (the right way to call it is actualy palatalization but its ok this way too)

stoj-ja-ti>>>stojati

stoj- i -m
stoj- i -š
stoj -i -..
stoj -i -mo
stoj -i -te
stoj -..-e

2.3
Verbs with the infinitve interfix- (i)je (its old jat-sound which can be -e , ije, or -i (ekavian, ijekavian, ikavian)

sjed-je-ti (or sjed-i-ti)
sed-e-ti
sid-i-ti

sjed - i -m
sjed - i -š
sjed - i -..
sjed - i -mo
sjed - i -te
sjed -.. -e

3. The verbs which stem ends on wovel -a.
    They already ends on a vowel so there is no need to add any interfix,bute only the extensions (-m,-š,--,-mo,-te,-ju)

čita-ti 

čita-m
čita-š
čita-..
čita-mo
čita-te
čita-ju

4. The verbs with the interfix- nu

kis - nu -ti

kis -ne -m
kis -ne -š
kis -ne -..
kis -ne -mo
kis -ne -te
kis -n   -u

5. The irregular verbs with the historig background

biti

(je)sam
(je)si
je(st)
(je)smo
(je)ste
(je)su

budem
budeš
bude
budemo
budete
budu

hteti

(ho)ću
(ho)ćeš
(ho)će
(ho)ćemo
(ho)ćete
(ho)će

I hope its not too complicated, I tried to make it simple.


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## SweetCherry

slavic_one said:


> We usually just put them in two groups, ending with -ti and -ći.
> 
> For conjugation, in most cases, you only remove -ti and put -m, -š, -0, -mo, -te, -ju; *and remove -ći and place -ćem, -ćeš, -će, -ćemo, -ćete, -ku.[/*quote]
> 
> This is not correct, at least not that I know of.
> Ići becomes Idem, Ideš
> Peći - Pečem, Pečeš...


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## WannaBeMe

SweetCherry said:


> slavic_one said:
> 
> 
> 
> We usually just put them in two groups, ending with -ti and -ći.
> 
> For conjugation, in most cases, you only remove -ti and put -m, -š, -0, -mo, -te, -ju; *and remove -ći and place -ćem, -ćeš, -će, -ćemo, -ćete, -ku.[/*quote]
> 
> This is not correct, at least not that I know of.
> Ići becomes Idem, Ideš
> Peći - Pečem, Pečeš...
> 
> 
> 
> I agree with you.
Click to expand...


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## phosphore

WannaBeMe said:


> I hope its not too complicated, I tried to make it simple.


 
I think it is way simpler to know:

a. besides infinitive, the 1.p.sg. aorist (=> infinitive stem) and 3.p.sg. present (=present tense stem) forms, for verbs whose infinitive form ends in _-ći_ or _-sti,_

b. besides infinitive (=> infinitive stem), the 3.p.sg. (=present tense stem) form, for verbs whose infinitive form ends in _-(vowel)-ti._

Then you can easily form present, perfect and future tense.

*Present tense formation:* present tense stem* + personal endings

1.p.sg. -m
2.p.sg. -š
3.p.sg. -ø

1.p.pl. -mo
2.p.pl. -te

3.p.pl.
a. _-u_ substituting _-e_ from the present tense stem for the *1st to 4th* verb type, 
b. _-ju_ for the *5th* verb type, 
c. _-e_ substituting _-i_ from the present tense stem for the *6th and 7th* verb type

(*) The vebs from the 1st verb type whose infinitive stem ends in a non-palatal consonant, and whose present tense stem ends in _-(palatalised consonant)-e-_ (ie. peći: pek-, peč-e-), this palatalised consonant from the present stem is substituted for his non-palatal variant in the 3.p.pl. present (ie. peći: oni pek-u). The verbs from the 2nd verb type whose infinitive stem ends in _-(non-palatal consonant)-a-_ have the present tense stem ending in _-(iotated consonant)-e-_ (ie. pisati: pis-a-, piš-e-) and retain this iotated consonant even in the 3.p.pl. present (ie. pisati: oni piš-u).

*Perfect tense participle formation:* infinitive stem** + endings

m.sg.
a. _-a-o_ for the *1st* verb type,
b. _-o_ for the *2nd to 7th* verb type

f.sg. -la
n-sg -lo

m.pl. -li
f.pl. -le
n.pl. -la

(**) The verbs from the 1st verb type whose infinitive stem ends in _-d_ or _-t_ (ie. krasti, plesti: krad-, plet-) lose this _-d_ or _-t_ in the perfect tense participle (ie. krasti, plesti: kra-o, kra-la, ..., ple-o, ple-la, ...).


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