The Genitive case and the preposition “iz”

The preposition iz (meaning “from”) + the Genitive case is used when we want to express that:

8.3.2 Zadatak 1: Iz čega jedemo / pijemo?

Complete the sentences in a logical/correct way. Choose one of the following words that are presented through images. Be sure to use the preposition iz in your answer.

Verbs in -ći

Verbs that end in -ći have irregular forms in Croatian and you will need to learn them as we go through the rest of the units. At this point, in this module, you have encountered the verb peći (imperfective) and ispeći (perfective) – both with meaning to bake. You have also encountered the verb pomoći, which changes its form in the present tense differently than the verb peći.

Present Tense: peći

As you can see in the conjugation pattern, the infinitive ending -ć will transform (due to historical changes) into -č- (peći: ja pečem). Only the final form of the 3rd person plural (oni) will have the -k- instead of the -ć- (peći: oni peku).

Present Tense: pomoći

Past Tense: peći

As you can see, all forms of peći in the past tense will have -k- instead of –ć– (brat je pekao, sestra je pekla, dijete je peklo).

The verb “prati”

There is a group of verbs that change their present tense stem by adding a vowel in between the first two consonants. These verbs have only one-syllable after removing the final -ati part. They should be learned separately. You are actually already familiar with these verbs, because the first verb you learned last semester was the verb zvati se (ja se zovem). 

When we remove the final -ati part, all that is left is one syllable that consists of two consonants. Those two consonants have to be separated by a vowel. The vowel is usually -o- [zvati – ja zovem] or -e- [prati – ja perem]. To this new stem, we add the appropriate ending.

Perfective and Imperfective verbs – Aspect Pairs

You already know that in Croatian there is an imperfective aspect and a perfective aspect of most verbs. Each of these aspects is associated with specific ways of viewing actions. Look at the following two examples.

Imperfective verbs

They indicate duration of an action over a longer period of time, the action is not completed, or it happens often (repeats, happens regularly). Words that will trigger using imperfective verbs: ponekad (sometimes), često (often), nikada (never), svaki [dan] (every [day]).

Perfective verbs

They indicate that an action is complete, it happens only one time and it is completed action.

How to know whether a verb is perfective or imperfective?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. You will need to learn pairs of imperfective and perfective verbs. Below you can find a list of some verbs that we covered in this module. All the verbs are presented as pairs with imperfective infinitives given first, followed then by perfective infinitives.

8.3.2 Zadatak 2: Što su rekli?

Below are some sentences from this unit. Identify which aspect is used in each sentence.

8.3.2 Zadatak 3: Što radimo?

Read the following sentences and identify which aspect is used in each sentence.

8.3.2 Zadatak 4: Koji glagol?

Use the appropriate verb in order to finish the sentence. Sometimes both forms can be used. It all depends on what notion you are trying to convey.

❗ Verbs