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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 42 Come In, Come Out, Go 244 / 600

Odlazimo na plažu A . We’re leaving for the beach.

This perf. verb is a bit ambiguous. It stands for two things: departure (like the impf.

verb) and completing the whole motion:

Otišla je na plažu A .

otići past-f

(1) She has left for the beach. (departed)

(2) She has gone to the beach. (completed)

The meaning #2 is just perfective of ići (...) go: the motion is completed.

On the other hand, do- corresponds to English come/came:

Došli smo na plažu A . We came to the beach.

doći past-mpl

There are more Croatian verb families that show this opposition. Their pair with otor

od- is similar to one described above – a bit ambiguous perf. verb, often being

just perfective of the base verb, and another pair, derived do-, similar to come.

For both pairs, the place you’re going to is expressed as a destination.

When you want to express that you leave some place, you have to use origins (that

is, the right prepositions + G), and not objects:

Otišli smo iz Zagreba G . We left Zagreb.

otići past-mpl

This verb pair means only go somewhere or leave a place; there’s another Croatian

verb pair that means go and not take something (e.g. leave the wallet):

ostavljati ~ ostaviti leave (e.g. keys)

For example:

Ostavila sam novčanik A negdje. I left the wallet somewhere. (I = female)

This verb pair is also used when you intentionally leave things, e.g. for someone:

Ostavila sam ručak A za tebe A u frižideru DL . I left the lunch for you in the fridge.

If you know some Spanish, you can see these two Croatian verb pairs correspond to

two Spanish verbs: salir (leaving a place) and dejar (leaving a thing). The same

difference exists in French: partir vs. laisser, and in German: abfahren vs. lassen.

However, French laisser and German lassen have many generic meanings, while

ostavljati ~ ostaviti means only leave things or people.

Another verb also deviates from the above pattern:

izlaziti ~ izaći (izađe, izašao, izašla) come out, exit

It is used in a similar way to odlaziti, but mostly for closed spaces, e.g. rooms,

houses, etc. You have to use origins:

Izašla sam iz sobe G . I came out of the room.

izaći past-f

The perf. verb in this pair has also an alternative form, with izi- instead of iza-; it’s

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