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Croatian · Verb Tables · Intermediate

Poznavati / upoznati Conjugation

poznavati / upoznati means "to know" in Croatian. Present: ja poznajem, ti poznaješ, on / ona / ono poznaje, mi poznajemo, vi poznajete, oni / one / ona poznaju. Below: all 11 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.

Perfect (perfective verb) Perfekt (svršeni glagol)

Same form built from the perfective partner (napravio, pročitao, napisao, kupio). It presents the action as completed, with a result: 'I bought it', 'I read it through'.

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.'

Imperative (perfective) Imperativ (svršeni glagol)

Same endings on the perfective verb: one-time commands to complete an action: 'Napiši mi poruku.' 'Kupi kruh.'

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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