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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease 299 / 600

52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease

There’s a very important group of Croatian verbs having similar forms, so it’s worth

learning them together. It’s also interesting that some of them can behave as

imperfective verbs, despite being basically perfective.

First, the following verb has a simple meaning, just physically stand somewhere.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit irregular:

stajati (stoji) stand

For example:

Stajao sam tamo satima I . I was standing there for hours.

There’s an important verb similar to it, but more regular:

postojati (postoji) exist

It’s used without objects, just to express that something exists (or not):

Jeti N ne postoji. The Yeti doesn’t exist.

postojati

You will sometimes hear its present forms stressed as postoji.

Next, there is a verb pair that means stop, come to stand:

stajati (staje) ~ stati (stane) stop

Since this verb implies a kind of motion (that’s coming to stand), it’s used with

destinations, while stajati (stoji) is a static verb, therefore it’s usually used with

locations:

Stao sam pred vrata A . I stood in front of the door. (pred¨ + A = dest.)

Stajao sam pred vratima I . I was standing in front of the door. (pred¨ + I = loc.)

This verb has one more meaning: fit into (e.g. vine into a bottle, clothes into a

suitcase). In that meaning, the perf. verb is common in the present tense as well,

including the true present (that is, things going on at the very moment of speaking):

Hlače N ne stanu u kofer A . The pants don’t fit into the suitcase. ®

stati

Be careful: this means only fit into physically, it doesn’t cover the meaning belong

(e.g. fit into the crowd): for the second meaning, use the verb pripadati belong.

Furthermore, the verb stati (stane) needs destinations, including this use.

The past form of the perf. verb, in neuter singular, is used in a phrase:

DL + biti (je² +)° + stalo (+ do¨ G) = DL cares (about G)

This phrase is a way to express that someone cares about somebody or something.

Here the word stalo has no past meaning: it’s used as an adverb, like žao or

dosadno. The verb biti is here impersonal, and can be in any tense:

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