Detailed Guide through a Croatian Past Tense

Even though there are four tenses in Croatian that express the past (perfect, pluperfect, imperfect, and aorist), only one is commonly used in everyday conversations.

This is the perfect tense or “perfekt” as it is called in Croatian. If you are a beginner in learning Croatian, this is the only past tense that you should focus on at the beginning. 

You use the perfect tense to express an action that happened or was happening in the past.

In this article, you will learn:

  • How to form the Perfect Tense
  • Word order for the Perfect Tense
  • How to form the negative sentences
  • How to ask questions
This article is presented on our YouTube channel and you can watch it here.

How to form the Perfect Tense

The Perfect Tense is a compound verb. This means it is made up of two segments, or building blocks.  

  1. a shortened form of the auxiliary verb “biti” (to be)
  2. past participle

The auxiliary verb to be

Auxiliary verbs are an important part of a lot of languages. They are commonly used in some English tenses as well, such as Present Continuous Tense.

He is playing. 
I am reading.
We are traveling.

As you can see, the Present Continuous Tense is also a compound verb, made up of two segments:

  1. auxiliary verb “to be”  (am, are, is)
  2. present participle

The same thing happens in the Croatian perfect tense. So, let’s look at the verb “biti” (to be) in Croatian:

Verb “to be”Verb “biti”
I am(ja) jesam (sam)
You are(ti) jesi (si)
He/she/it is(on) jest (je)
We are(mi) jesmo (smo)
You (pl.) are(vi) jeste (ste)
They are(oni) jesu (su)

The table above shows the full form and the auxiliary form of the verb “biti” (to be). In the perfect tense you would only use the shortened form of the auxiliary verb:

SingularPlural
1.samsmo
2.siste
3.jesu

So, this is the first building block for the perfect tense. The second one is the past participle:

The Past Participle

It is simple to form the Past Participle. You would simply take the infinitive form of the verb (such as you would find in the dictionary), take off the -ti ending:

trčati > trča | -ti

The root of the word that is left is called the infinitive base form

The next step is to add the past participle endings. Now, the past participle differentiates between genders, so there is an ending for the feminine, masculine and neuter:

singularplural
masculine-o-li
feminine-la-le
neuter-lo-la

For instance, the past participle of the verb trčati (to run) is as follows:

singularplural
masculinetrčaotrčali
femininetrčalatrčale
neutertrčalotrčala

Depending on the subject of the sentence, you would choose one of the endings and add them onto the infinitive base form from above:

trča + o > trčao (masc.)
trča + la > trčala (fem.)
trča + lo > trčalo (neut.)

You are now ready to form the perfect tense in Croatian. 

Let’s try to say: He/she/it ran. 

On je trčao
[He is (auxiliary verb) he-ran (past participle)]
He ran.

Ona je trčala.
[She is she-ran]
She ran.

Ono je trčalo.
[It is it-ran]
It ran.

Let’s try to use another verb – čitati (to read). 

Step #1: use the auxiliary verb

Step #2: find the infinitive base form – čitati > čita | -ti

Step #3: add the past participle ending -o, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la

We were reading a book:
Mi smo čitali knjigu.
[We are we-read (past participle) book (A)]

The reason this sentence was translated with the Past Continuous Tense is that the verb čitati is an imperfective verb. If you were to use the simple past – we read – you would need to use the perfective aspect – pročitati. This would express an action that was finished in the past. 

pročitati > pročita | -ti

verb to be (we-are) smo + pročita -li (past participle we-read)

Mi smo pročitali knjigu.
[We are we-read (past participle) book (A)]
We read a book. 

Almost every verb is either perfective or imperfective and the easiest way to learn them is to memorize both forms. The reason for that is because the perfective verb form doesn’t really follow any set of rules for how it is formed from the imperfective one. 

Perfective and imperfective verbs are best shown with the perfect tense and you can clearly see that they are two separate words with the same root. This is shown in the table that differentiates between the perfective and imperfective verb in the masculine Perfect Tense. 

Verbimperfectiveperfective
readčitao jepročitao je
writepisao jenapisao je
drinkpio jepopio je
callzvao jenazvao je
correctispravljao jeispravljao je
Perfective and imperfective verbs are best seen in the past tense. Oni su čitali knjigu is imperfective verb, while Oni su pročiteli knjigu is a perfective verb.

Exceptions

Unfortunately, it’s very common to have exceptions to the rules in Croatian. The Perfect Tense is no different. 

The exceptions here apply to the verbs that end on -ći.

Verbs that end in -ći

As you probably already know, the majority of Croatian verbs end on some version of -ti (kuhati – to cook, skakati – to jump, plivati – to swim, trčati – to run, etc.), but there’s a variety of verbs that end of -ći (ići – to go, peći – to bake, pomoći – to help, reći – to say, teći – to flow, etc.)

When you look up these verbs in the dictionary, they will be listed with the masculine past participle, so it is easier for you to learn them. All the other past participle forms can be formed following the regular rules. 

to go – ići, išao (pp. m.), išla (pp.f.)

to bake peći, pekao (pp.m.), pekla (pp.f.)

to help pomoći, pomogao (pp.m.), pomogla (pp.f.)

to say reći, rekao (pp.m.), rekla (pp.f.)., etc.

As you can see, all the masculine past participles end in –ao. The feminine end as usual. Notice that the infinitive base form is a little different. 

Verbs that end on -jeti 

Another exception to the rule are the verbs that end on -jeti (letjeti – to fly, htjeti – to want, gorjeti – to burn, etc.).

These verbs have somewhat different forms for the past participle. 

infinitivepast participle masculinepast participle feminine
letjeti (to fly)letioletjela
htjeti (to want)htiohtjela
gorjeti (to brun)goriogorjela
razumjeti (to understand)razumiorazumjela

As you can see by the examples above, the change happens in the masculine form of the past participle. 

Make sure that you form the masculine with “i”, instead of “je” as is the case with the feminine and neuter. 

Verbs that end on -sti

Even though these verbs all end in -ti, some of them are irregular, especially in the feminine form. 

infinitivepast participle masculinepast participle feminine
pasti (to fall)paopala
sjesti (to sit)sjeosjela
gristi (to bite)grizaogrizla
jesti (to eat)jeojela

Normally, you would take the ending -ti off. However, for the majority of verbs that end in -sti, you take the whole ending off and replace it with the past participle endings. 

However, be careful with some verbs such as “gristi – to bite” because they undergo a sound change. 

Be careful of the word order in the Perfect Tense.

Word order for the Perfect Tense

The verbs in Croatian express the gender in their form, so you will always be able to tell who you are talking to or about, even if the subject is omitted. 

For example, it’s absolutely the same to say the following:

Ona je čitala knjigu. 
[She is she-read book (A)]
She was reading a book. 

Čitala je knjigu. 
[She-read is book (A)]
She was reading a book. 

Notice that the meaning didn’t change even though the subject (pronoun she) was omitted. 

However, what did change was the word order.

Since the Perfect Tense in Croatian is always expressed with two words (verb to be and past participle), it is important to learn the correct word order in the sentence. 

An important rule to remember is that the verb to be (biti) almost always comes in second place in the sentence.

Ja sam čitala knjigu. 
Čitala sam knjigu.
I was reading a book. 

Ona je kupovala kruh.
Kupovala je kruh. 
She was buying bread.

Oni su te tražili.
Tražili su te.
They were looking for you.

Mi smo trebali pomoć.
Trebali smo pomoć.
We needed help.  

As you can see in the examples above, the verb biti always comes second. But, what if the subject is made up of two words?

Let’s say My friends were looking for a taxi. In English, the verb comes after the entire subject, no matter how long the subject is. 

In Croatian, the verb biti should still come as the second word regardless of the complexity of the subject. 

Moji su prijatelji tražili taksi. 
[My are friends they-were-looking taxi (A)]
My friends were looking for a taxi.  

However, in everyday speech, the locals will often put the verb after the subject. Even though this is incorrect, you will more often hear this version for the past tense:

Moji prijatelji su tražili taksi.
[My friends are they-were-looking taxi (A)]
My friends were looking for a taxi. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that both parts of the perfect tense don’t have to stand by one another. If you follow the rule where the verb biti is in the second place in the sentence, the past participle part of the verb can sometimes be placed far away from the verb biti. Let’s look at these examples:

Marko je često tražio pomoć. 
[Marko is often he-looked-for help (A)]
Marko often asked for help. 

Klara je veselo i brzo trčala prema mami.
[Clara is joyfully and rapidly she-was-running toward mom]
Clara was running towards her mom joyfully and rapidly. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that the pronouns in the genitive, accusative, or dative, and locative usually need to come second in the sentence. For this reason, another rule to learn about the word order of the perfect tense is that the verb biti will still come second before the pronoun, except for the verb biti for 3rd person singular. 

Zvala sam ga cijeli dan. 
[She-was-calling am him whole day.]
I was calling him the whole day. 

Notice that the verb biti comes second, and the pronoun him in the accusative comes after the verb biti

Zvali smo ga cijeli dan. 
[We-were-calling are him whole day.]
We were calling him the whole day. 

Oni su ga zvali cijeli dan. 
[They are him they-were-calling whole day]
They were calling him the whole day. 

However, this rule doesn’t apply to the third person singular of the verb biti.

Zvala ga je cijeli dan. 
[She-was-calling him is whole day]
She was calling him the whole day. 

On ga je zvao cijeli dan. 
[He him is he-was-calling whole day]
He was calling him the whole day. 

How to form the negative sentences 

Since the Perfect Tense consists of two words, in order to negate the Perfect Tense, you would need to use the negative form of the verb biti

The negation is simple to form. Simply use the shortened form of the verb biti (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su) and add the prefix ni-.

PersonPositiveNegative
Isamnisam
yousinisi
he/she/itjenije
wesmonismo
you – plural / you – respectsteniste
theysunisu

So, in order to negate the Perfect Tense, use the negative form of the auxiliary verb biti and the past participle, as usual. 

IndicativeNegation
Jučer sam kupila kruh.
[Yesterday am she-bought bread]
Yesterday I bought bread.
Jučer nisam kupila kruh.
[Yesterday am-not  she-bought bread]
Yesterday I didn’t buy bread.
Marko je pročitao tu knjigu. 
[Marko is he-read that book]
Marko read that book. 
Marko nije pročitao tu knjigu. 
[Marko isn’t he-read that book]
Marko didn’t read that book. 
Moji su roditelji prodali stan.
[My are parents they-sold apartment ]
My parents sold the apartment. 
Moji roditelji nisu prodali stan.
[My parents aren’t they-sold apartment ]
My parents sold the apartment. 
Tražili smo psa cijeli dan. 
[We-looked-for we-re dog whole day]
We looked for the dog the whole day. 
Nismo tražili psa cijeli dan. 
[We’re-not we-looked-for dog whole day]
We didn’t look for the dog the whole day. 

You might have noticed that the negative form of the auxiliary verb biti doesn’t follow the before mentioned rule where biti has to come second. In the case of the negative auxiliary verb biti, it usually comes right before the past participle. 

nisu prodali – they didn’t sell

nismo tražili – we didn’t look for

How to ask questions

In order to form interrogative sentences in Perfect Tense, we need to go back to the Perfect Tense form: 

The shortened form of the verb biti + past participle

Pročitala sam knjigu.
[She-read am book]
I read(fem.) a book.

If we want to make an interrogative sentence, then we will need:

full form of the auxiliary verb biti+     interrogative particle li+    past participle
Jesamli        pročitala

Jesam li pročitala knjigu?
[I-am interrogative particle she-read book]
Did I read a book?

Reminder of the auxiliary verb to be:

Verb “to be”Verb “biti”
I am(ja) jesam (sam)
You are(ti) jesi (si)
He/she/it is(on) jest (je)
We are(mi) jesmo (smo)
You (pl.) are(vi) jeste (ste)
They are(oni) jesu (su)

The only exception in interrogative sentences is with the 3rd person singular – he/she/it. 

When it comes to the 3rd person singular, still only the shortened form of the auxiliary verb is used.

So, instead of staying:

Jest li on pročitao knjigu?
(Did he read a book?)

You still need to use the shortened form of the auxiliary verb and ask:

Je li on pročitao knjigu?
(Did he read a book?)

IndicativeInterrogative
Pročitao je knjigu.
[He-read is book]
He read a book.
Je li pročitao knjigu?
[Is interrogative particle he-read book]
Did he read a book?
On je pročitao knjigu.
[He is he-read book]
He read a book.
Je li on pročitao knjigu?
[Is interrogative particle he he-read book]
Did he read a book?

If you remember from earlier, because of the past participle that expresses the gender of the subject, you can often completely omit the pronoun and the meaning won’t change. 

However, if the pronouns aren’t omitted, then the sentence needs to follow the word order:

    1.                         2.                                3.                                 4.     
auxiliary verb – interrogative particle li – subject (pronoun) – past participle

Je li pročitao knjigu?
Je li on pročitao knjigu?

As you can see, the subject (in this case the pronoun) comes in the middle of the interrogative form of the Perfect Tense, just like it does in English as well. 

Let’s look at more examples:

IndicativeInterrogative
Tražili su pomoć.
[They-looked-for are help]
They looked for help.
Jesu li tražili pomoć?
[Are interrogative particle they-looked-for help]
Did they look for help?
Ponijeli smo vodu.
[We-brought are water]
We brought water.
Jesmo li ponijeli vodu?
[Are interrogative particle we-brought water]
Did we bring water?
Ti si poslao pismo.
[You are he-sent letter]
You sent a letter.
Jesi li ti poslao pismo?
[Are interrogative particle you he-sent letter]
Did you send the letter?
Vi ste pronašli psa.
[You-pl. are you-found dog]
You found a dog. 
Jeste li vi pronašli psa?
[Are interrogative particle you-pl. you-found dog]
Did you find a dog?

Remember that the Perfect Tense is the most common of the tenses that express the past in Croatian. The other tenses will be covered in another article. 

Contact me if you have any questions with the Perfect Tense! Happy learning!

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