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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 37 Complete Reading: Perfecve Verbs 215 / 600
pairs – where impf. verbs have -iva-, which changes in pres-3 to -uje, while perf.
verbs just -i- or -a- (again, some pairs have change of the consonant before all these
endings):
odlučivati (odlučuje) ~ odlučiti («) decide
uspoređivati (uspoređuje) ~ usporediti («) compare
Since such impf. verbs tend to be long, I’ll often list them just by showing change in
the variable part, and the constant and variable part will be split by a thin vertical
line ( ):
Shorthand for -ivati/-uje verbs
instead of uspoređivati (uspoređuje)
I’ll write just uspoređ ivati (-uje «)
The symbol « will be there to remind you of the stress shift in the present tense,
which here applies to both Standard and ‘western’ stress patterns.
There’s no need to learn these schemes now: they are here just to show you what
lies ahead. There’s no simple rule how to make a perfective verb – the pairs must be
learned, but most of them fall into the small number of schemes above.
When should you use perf. verbs?
Perfective verbs are almost never used in the true present tense, for an ongoing
action. However, it is possible to use perf. verbs in the present tense – if we use the
present tense to describe things that happened in the past and will happen in the
future, especially when adverbs često often and ponekad sometimes are used:
Ponekad napišem pismo A i ne pošaljem ga A . Sometimes I napisati | poslati | 3m/n
write a letter and don’t send it.
Why have I used perf. verbs, e.g. poslati (pošalje)? Because sending is not something
where any progress matters (e.g. even reading a few pages from a book can
matter). Sending is normally done in one go, not split into parts. So it’s only
important that the action was not completed. The first sentence talks about
accomplishments. Letters are completed, but not sent.
For most verb pairs, in the past tense, perf. verbs are usually used, unless the action
was interrupted, you describe what you were doing at some moment, or it’s not
clear what the outcome was. Also, you can tell how long something was happening
only if you use an imperfective verb, e.g. these adverbs of time can be used only
with imperfective verbs:
dugo for a long time kratko for a short time
For example:
Pala je noć N . The night fell.
pasti past-f | f