Cjelina 6: Pokloni i suveniri
⚙️ 6 | 1 | Lekcija 1: Planovi i želje – Gramatika
The verbs “željeti” and “htjeti”
The difference between these two verbs is very subtle. Usually both verbs are translated in English as “to want something.” However, to explain the difference better, we can say that:
Željeti
- is used when we want to express a desire to achieve something, to reach a goal. For example: Želim studirati arheologiju. Želim automobil. It indicates a desire to make it happen.
Htjeti
- is used when we want to express our wanting for something (eager to have something). For example: Hoću sladoled. Hoću slušati glazbu. It indicates a desire for something.
☰ The verb “htjeti”
The verb htjeti is the second auxiliary verb in Croatian. It is also used when we want to express things in the Future Tense. More about this in the following lessons. For now, remember that the verb “to want” in Croatian is htjeti, and it is one of the irregular verbs. The forms for the present tense are below.
| audio | verb form | audio | verb form |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja hoću | mi hoćemo | ||
| ti hoćeš | vi hoćete | ||
| on/ona/ono hoće | oni/one/ona hoće |
Just like the verb biti which has its stressed form (ja jesam) and unstressed form (ja sam), the verb htjeti is the only other verb in Croatian that has the same structure. The verb htjeti has its stressed form (as seen above) and unstressed forms. At this point, we will look only at its stressed form that we use to express our wanting for something.
The stressed form of htjeti is used in sentences when we intend to indicate ‘’wanting’’ – like in the examples: (1) Ja hoću tortu, or (2) Ja hoću kupiti tortu.
Following the two examples above we can see that the verb htjeti is followed by:
- Direct object – the noun in the Accusative case: Ja hoću tortu.
- Another verb in the infinitive form + direct object (the noun in Accusative form): Ja hoću kupiti tortu.
☰ The verb “željeti”
The verb željeti belongs to a group of verbs that end in –(j)eti. The forms for the present tense are below.
| audio | verb form | audio | verb form |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja želim | mi želimo | ||
| ti želiš | vi želite | ||
| on/ona/ono želi | oni/one/ona žele |
Just like htjeti, the verb željeti is followed by:
- Direct object – the noun in the Accusative case: Ja želim automobil.
- Another verb in the infinitive form + direct object (the noun in the Accusative form): Ja želim kupiti kuću.
👩🏻💻 Practice
What did we learn?
6.1.1 Zadatak 1: Željeti vs. htjeti
Read the following sentences and decide if they express (a) a desire to achieve something or (b) wanting for something.
6.1.1 Zadatak 2: Tko hoće…?
Read the following sentences and indicate who is the subject in each sentence. Remember that a 3rd person singular and plural have the same form.
6.1.1 Zadatak 3: Ponavljanje
Be sure to read the Grammar section carefully before completing the assignment. Some questions might have multiple answers.
