The present tense

Formation

The personal pronouns in the nominative are ja (I), ti (you, to one person), on (he), ona (she), ono (it) in the singular, and mi (we), vi (you, to several people), oni, one, ona (they) in the plural. On, ona and ono stand for a person or for a noun of each gender: on for a man or a masculine noun, ona for a woman or a feminine noun, ono for a neuter noun. In the plural, oni is used for men, for a group of men and women and for masculine nouns, one for women and for feminine nouns only, ona for neuter nouns.

Use

The ending of the verb shows the person, so the subject pronoun is usually left out: Umoran sam (“I’m tired”). It is said for a contrast or for emphasis, and when the subject changes: Ja sam iz Splita, a ti? A name or a noun as the subject takes the verb form of on and ona: Ivan je ovdje. Ona is both “she” and the neuter plural “they”; which is meant is seen from the verb: ona je (“she is”), ona su (“they are”).

Formation

Biti has three sets of forms in the present. The short forms sam, si, je, smo, ste, su are the usual ones in a statement. The long forms jesam, jesi, jest (je), jesmo, jeste, jesu are stressed. The negative forms are formed by adding ni- to the short form and are written as one word: nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu.

Use

The short forms are clitics: they stand second in the clause, after its first word or phrase, and are never placed first: Student sam or Ja sam student, never Sam student. The negative forms are not clitics and may stand first: Nisam umoran. The long forms are placed first in a yes–no question and are used as a short answer, as explained in Yes–no questions with li and short answers: Je li…? Jesi li…? – Jesam, nisam. Biti is followed by a noun, an adjective or a place: Liječnica sam. Gladni smo. Ana je kod kuće. A noun after biti has no article: Student sam is “I’m a student”.

Formation

Ti, with the second person singular, is said to one person addressed familiarly: Kako si? Vi, written with a capital, is the polite form for one person, and takes the second person plural, the same form as vi said to several people: Kako ste? The verb, the short form of biti and the possessive change with the choice: ti si, tvoj; Vi ste, Vaš.

Use

Ti is used with family, friends and children, and among young people; Vi with a stranger, an older person, a customer, a doctor or a teacher. The greeting is chosen in the same way: Bok! to a friend, Dobar dan! to someone addressed with Vi. Small vi is said to several people, whether they are addressed familiarly or politely.

Formation

To je (“this is”, “that is”, “it is”) is used to point out a person or a thing, and the noun after it is in the nominative: To je Marko. To je stol. To does not change with the gender of the noun; with a plural noun the verb is su: To su hoteli. Ovo is used for what is near the speaker, to for what is near the listener or has just been mentioned, ono for what is further away. The questions are Tko je to? for a person and Što je to? for a thing.

Use

A question word is placed first, and the short form of biti comes straight after it: Gdje je Ana? Kako si? Kad ste ovdje? No li is added after a question word. Ono is the pronoun for a neuter noun; to point at something and say “it’s”, to is used: To je pas (“It’s a dog”).

Formation

A yes–no question is formed by putting the verb first and the word li after it. With biti, the long form is placed first: Jesam li, Jesi li, Je li, Jesmo li, Jeste li, Jesu li. With another verb, the verb itself is placed first: Imaš li…? Govoriš li…? The short answer repeats the verb, biti in its long or its negative form, with or without da (“yes”) or ne (“no”).

Use

In standard Croatian a yes–no question begins with je li, not with da li, which belongs to Serbian and Bosnian usage and to colloquial speech. A question can also be asked with the order of a statement and a rising voice: Ti si student? A question that begins with a question word takes no li: Gdje si?

Formation

Most verbs in -ati form the present on the stem of the infinitive without -ti (čita-), with the endings -m, -š, no ending, -mo, -te and -ju: čitam, čitaš, čita, čitamo, čitate, čitaju. Imati (“to have”) is a regular -ati verb. Its negative is one word, nemati: nemam, nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju.

Use

One present translates “I read” and “I am reading”; no form of biti is added: Ana čita is “Ana reads” and “Ana is reading”. The present is also used for a habit and for a plan: Navečer gledam film. Sutra putujem. A noun subject takes the form of on and ona, two subjects named together the form of oni: Ana i Petra kuhaju.

Formation

Verbs in -iti take the vowel -i- before the endings and -e in the third person plural: govorim, govoriš, govori, govorimo, govorite, govore. Most verbs in -jeti follow the same pattern: vidim, vidiš, vidi, vidimo, vidite, vide; živim, žive; želim, žele. In verbs in -ovati, -ova- is replaced by -uj- in the present, with the endings -em, -eš, -e, -emo, -ete, -u: kupujem, kupuješ, kupuje, kupujemo, kupujete, kupuju; putujem, putuju. Many verbs in -ivati change in the same way: posjećivati → posjećujem; a few are plain -ati verbs: plivati → plivam.

Use

The class of a verb is read from its infinitive, and the third person plural is the form to learn with it: čitaju, govore, kupuju. Where English says “can see”, Croatian vidjeti (“to see”) is used alone, with no verb for “can”: Vidim more is “I can see the sea”.

Formation

A few common verbs have a present stem that differs from the infinitive, with the endings -em, -eš, -e, -emo, -ete, -u: ići (“to go”) → id-, jesti (“to eat”) → jed-, piti (“to drink”) → pij-, pisati (“to write”) → piš-, zvati se (“to be called”) → zov-. The stem is learnt with the verb.

Use

A name is given with zvati se, word for word “to call oneself”: Zovem se Ana. Kako se zoveš? Kako se zovete? Idemo, the form of ići for mi, is also used to suggest going somewhere together, as English let’s go: Idemo!

Formation

A reflexive verb is used with se, and its forms are those of the verb: osjećati se (“to feel”): osjećam se, osjećaš se, osjeća se; buditi se (“to wake up”): budim se; kupati se (“to have a bath, to swim”), opuštati se (“to relax”), igrati se (“to play”, of children), zvati se (“to be called”), vidjeti se (“to see each other”).

Use

Se is a clitic, like sam: it stands second in the clause, after the first word or phrase. It follows the verb when the verb comes first (Budim se rano), and comes before it when another word is placed first (Rano se budim, Ja se budim rano, Kako se zoveš?). Vidimo se! (“See you!”) is a set phrase.

Formation

A verb is negated with ne, written as a separate word right before it: ne radim, ne znam, ne pije. Three verbs have a negative of one word: nisam (biti), nemam (imati) and neću (htjeti). The negative words nitko (“nobody”), ništa (“nothing”), nigdje (“nowhere”) and nikad (“never”) are always used with a negated verb.

Use

A sentence with a negative word therefore has two negatives: Nitko ne zna. Ništa ne vidim. Ivan nikad ne kuha. After a negated verb, English “anything” is ništa and “anywhere” is nigdje. As a short answer, the negative word stands alone: Tko kuha večeras? – Nitko. The forms of the negative words are given in Indefinite and negative pronouns: netko, nešto, negdje; nitko, ništa, nigdje, nikad.

Formation

Two families of words are formed from the question words tko, što, gdje and kad: with ne-, words meaning “some-”: netko (“someone”), nešto (“something”), negdje (“somewhere”); with ni-, words meaning “no-”: nitko (“nobody”), ništa (“nothing”), nigdje (“nowhere”), and nikad or nikada (“never”).

Use

The words in ni- are followed by ne before the verb, as explained in The negative and double negation: ne radim, nemam, nitko ne zna. The words in ne- are used with a verb that is not negated: Netko pjeva. For “sometimes”, the everyday word is ponekad. The other words of the family, such as svatko (“everyone”), are not part of A1.