Almost every verb has a partner. There are four ways of forming them:
| method | imperfective → perfective |
|---|---|
| 1. prefix (perfective) | pisati → napisati, čitati → pročitati, piti → popiti, jesti → pojesti, raditi → uraditi, učiti → naučiti |
| 2. suffix -ava-, -iva-, -ova- (imperfective made from a perfective) | dati ← davati, prodati ← prodavati, pokazati ← pokazivati, kupiti ← kupovati, otvoriti ← otvarati |
| 3. -nuti (just once) | vikati → viknuti (give a shout), kucati → kucnuti (knock once) |
| 4. different stems | uzimati / uzeti (take), govoriti / reći (say), dolaziti / doći (come), stavljati / staviti (put), tražiti / naći (look for / find) |
Careful: a prefix often changes the meaning too, and the new (perfective) verb makes a new imperfective with -iva-: pisati (write) → potpisati (sign) → potpisivati; opisati / opisivati (describe), prepisati / prepisivati (copy out), upisati se / upisivati se (enrol).
A few verbs are both at once: čuti, ručati, večerati, and many in -irati / -ovati (organizirati / organizovati, telefonirati).
How to choose:
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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