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Držati Conjugation

držati means "to hold" in Croatian. Present: ja držim, ti držiš, on / ona / ono drži, mi držimo, vi držite, oni / one / ona drže. Below: all 9 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present Prezent

Stem + personal ending (-im, -am, -em, -ujem). Only imperfective verbs have a true present: it covers 'I work' and 'I am working'. The present of a perfective verb (napravim) is not a present: it is used after da, kad, ako and in the future sense.

Perfect (imperfective verb) Perfekt (nesvršeni glagol)

The everyday past: present of 'biti' (sam, si, je...) + l-participle, which agrees in gender and number (radio / radila). The imperfective verb describes an ongoing, repeated or unfinished past action; the clitic sam/si/je normally stays in second position, so 'Ja sam radio' but 'Radio sam'. Pronouns are optional.

Pluperfect (rare) Pluskvamperfekt

Perfect of 'biti' + l-participle: 'bio sam radio'. Used for an action before another past action; in everyday speech the plain perfect is used instead, so treat it as recognition vocabulary.

Future I Futur I.

Infinitive + short present of 'htjeti' (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će). With -ti infinitives, the -i is dropped when the auxiliary follows directly: 'radit ću'; if the auxiliary comes first, the full infinitive stays: 'Ja ću raditi'. Perfective verbs are common here: 'napravit ću' = 'I will get it done'.

Future II Futur II. (futur egzaktni)

'Budem' (the future of 'biti') + l-participle. Only used in subordinate clauses with ako, kad, čim, dok, nakon što, to say that something will already have happened: 'Kad budem radio...'. It is usually built with perfective verbs; it never stands alone as a main-clause future.

Conditional I Kondicional I.

Short aorist of 'biti' (bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi) + l-participle: 'radio bih / radila bih'. Used for polite requests ('Mogli biste li...?'), wishes and unreal present or future situations: 'Da imam vremena, putovao bih.'

Conditional II (rare) Kondicional II.

'Bio bih' + l-participle: 'bio bih radio'. For unreal past situations; in speech it is often replaced by the simple conditional (Da sam znao, došao bih).

Imperative (imperfective) Imperativ

Drop the ending of the 3rd-person plural and add -i (radi), -j (čitaj, kupuj) or -i after a consonant cluster (piši). 'Mo' / 'te' are added for 'let's' and 'you (pl./formal)'. Imperfective imperatives suit instructions, repeated advice and polite offers: 'Čitaj svaki dan.'

Negative imperative Zabranjeni (niječni) imperativ

'Nemoj' (singular), 'nemojmo', 'nemojte' + infinitive of an imperfective verb. Prohibitions normally use the imperfective: 'Nemoj kupovati to!'

Examples

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