8.Croatian Verbs: The Three Present-Tense Groups

Three endings, one system: keep -am, -im, and -em apart and you'll conjugate almost any Croatian verb in the present tense correctly — from raditi and gledati to pisati.

Your goal

After this lesson, you'll instantly see a verb's group from its ending — “-am,” “-im,” or “-em” — and you'll build all six present-tense forms with confidence. The five irregular key verbs (biti, htjeti, moći, ići, jesti) you'll know by heart. With that, you'll conjugate the most important Croatian verbs correctly.

I.Three groups — one system

In the tense, Croatian verbs add personal endings to a . The endings are almost the same for every — only one vowel in front of them (“a,” “i,” or “e”) splits the verbs into three groups. This is usually shown by the dictionary form.

Croatian	English
ja → -m	I(1st person singular)
ti → -š	you
on / ona → –	he / she(no ending)
mi → -mo	we
vi → -te	you (plural)
oni / one → -ju / -e / -u	they(depends on the group)

The personal endings — almost identical in every group. Only the third person plural is different.

The dictionary form shows the group

Rule of thumb: verbs ending in “-ati” usually fall into the -am group (gledati → gledam), verbs ending in “-iti / -jeti” into the -im group (raditi → radim), and many others into the -em group (pisati → pišem). Three patterns — and you cover almost everything.

II.The -am group: gledati (to watch)

The easiest group. The stays the same; you just add -am, -aš, -a, -amo, -ate, -aju. The third person ends in -aju.

Croatian	English
ja gledam	I watch
ti gledaš	you watch
on / ona gleda	he / she watches
mi gledamo	we watch
vi gledate	you watch
oni / one gledaju	they watch

Present tense of the -am group: gledati (to watch). The Croatian ending is green, the English ending is blue.

The same goes for imati (to have → imam), znati (to know → znam), pitati (to ask → pitam) and čekati (to wait → čekam).

III.The -im group: raditi (to work)

Here the is “i”: -im, -iš, -i, -imo, -ite. Watch out for the third person — here it ends only in -e (oni rade), not in “-iju.”

Croatian	English
ja radim	I work
ti radiš	you work
on / ona radi	he / she works
mi radimo	we work
vi radite	you work
oni / one rade	they work

Present tense of the -im group: raditi (to work). Third person plural ends in -e.

The same: govoriti (to speak → govorim), vidjeti (to see → vidim), voljeti (to love → volim) and živjeti (to live → živim).

IV.The -em group: pisati (to write)

The is “e”: -em, -eš, -e, -emo, -ete, -u. The third person ends in -u (oni pišu).

Croatian	English
ja pišem	I write
ti pišeš	you write
on / ona piše	he / she writes
mi pišemo	we write
vi pišete	you write
oni / one pišu	they write

Present tense of the -em group: pisati (to write). Third person plural ends in -u.

Why “pišem” and not “pisem”?

With “pisati,” the last sound of the stem changes: before the ending, “s” becomes “š.” This is no accident — it's a fixed pattern in the -em group, like “kazati → kažem” (to say). Learn the ja form along with it, and you'll have the right stem: piše → piš-.

V.Special case: verbs in -ovati (kupovati = to buy)

Verbs in -ovati swap this for -uj- and then work like the -em group: kupuj{em}. Many everyday verbs work this way.

Croatian	English
ja kupujem	I buy
ti kupuješ	you buy
on / ona kupuje	he / she buys
mi kupujemo	we buy
vi kupujete	you buy
oni / one kupuju	they buy

kupovati → kupujem (to buy). Also putovati → putujem (to travel), vjerovati → vjerujem (to believe).

VI.The irregular key verbs

Five verbs are too important and too irregular to work out from a rule — you learn them by heart. biti, htjeti, moći, ići and jesti. They show up in almost every sentence.

Croatian	English
ja sam	I am
ti si	you are
on / ona je	he / she is
mi smo	we are
vi ste	you are
oni / one su	they are

biti (to be) — the short forms. Covered in detail in its own lesson “glagol-biti”.

Croatian	English
ja hoću	I want
ti hoćeš	you want
on / ona hoće	he / she wants
mi hoćemo	we want
vi hoćete	you want
oni / one hoće	they want

htjeti (to want). More on this in the lesson “glagol-hjeti”.

Croatian	English
ja mogu	I can
ti možeš	you can
on / ona može	he / she can
mi možemo	we can
vi možete	you can
oni / one mogu	they can

moći (can). Note: ja mogu and oni mogu are the same — and the stem switches between g and ž.

Croatian	English
ja idem	I go
ti ideš	you go
on / ona ide	he / she goes
mi idemo	we go
vi idete	you go
oni / one idu	they go

ići (to go) — the dictionary form is “ići”, but the present-tense stem is “id-”.

Also irregular in the , but with normal -em endings: jesti (to eat → jedem), piti (to drink → pijem) and doći (to come → dođem).

VII.The most common mistakes

✗ Falsch	✓ Richtig
oni radiju	oni rade raditi is in the -im group. The third person plural ends in -e, not -iju.
oni pišeju	oni pišu In the -em group, the third person plural ends in -u.
oni gledu	oni gledaju In the -am group, the third person plural ends in -aju.
ja možem	ja mogu moći has mogu in the ja form (with g), not možem.

Wrong form on the left, correct form on the right. Most mistakes happen in the third person plural.

Three endings for “they”

The third person plural is the most common mistake: -am group → “-aju” (gledaju), -im group → “-e” (rade), -em group → “-u” (pišu, idu). If you memorize one pattern per group, memorize this one.

VIII.The most important verbs by group

This is how you sort each of the most common verbs into its group — and you instantly know its . Learn each together with its ja form:

Croatian	English
gledati → gledam	to watch
imati → imam	to have
znati → znam	to know
pitati → pitam	to ask
čekati → čekam	to wait
slušati → slušam	to listen
čitati → čitam	to read
igrati → igram	to play
kuhati → kuham	to cook
trebati → trebam	to need

-am group (dictionary form usually ends in -ati).

Croatian	English
raditi → radim	to work
govoriti → govorim	to speak
misliti → mislim	to think
voljeti → volim	to like / to love
vidjeti → vidim	to see
živjeti → živim	to live
učiti → učim	to learn
nositi → nosim	to carry
platiti → platim	to pay
sjediti → sjedim	to sit

-im group (dictionary form ends in -iti / -jeti).

Croatian	English
pisati → pišem	to write
ići → idem	to go
doći → dođem	to come
piti → pijem	to drink
jesti → jedem	to eat
uzeti → uzmem	to take
zvati → zovem	to call
prati → perem	to wash
kupovati → kupujem	to buy
putovati → putujem	to travel

-em group and -ovati verbs (the stem often changes slightly).

Croatian	English
biti → sam(irregular)	to be
htjeti → hoću(irregular)	to want
moći → mogu(irregular)	to be able / can
morati → moram(-am class)	to have to / must

The key verbs for want, can, must, and be — memorize the “ja” form.

The golden rule

Look at the dictionary form, find the group, add the ending: the ja form ends in “-am,” “-im,” or “-em” — and for “they” it's “-aju,” “-e,” or “-u.” You learn the five irregular verbs as one package. That's all you need in the present tense.

Croatian	English
Ja gledam film.	I watch a movie.
Mi radimo u Zagrebu.	We work in Zagreb.
Oni pišu poruku.	They write a message.
Ja hoću kavu, ali ne mogu sada.	I want a coffee, but I can't right now.