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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease 302 / 600

Kiša N je stala. The rain stopped.

The opposite meaning – begin, start – is expressed with an unrelated verb pair (the

perf. verb has a bit unexpected -n- in present!):

počinjati (počinje / počinje) ~ početi (počne) start, begin

The verb pair is used in the same way as the pre- pair. For example:

Kiša N je počela. The rain started.

Goran N je počeo plakati. Goran started crying.

Such verbs that indicate start or end points are often called phase verbs. Pay

attention that with these verbs, only impf. verbs in inf (e.g. plakati) are used. There’s

no accomplishment, the focus in on starting or stopping an activity.

The following verb pair has a very simple meaning:

ustajati (ustaje) ~ ustati (ustane) stand up

The following verbs follow exactly the same pattern:

pristajati (pristaje) ~ pristati (pristane) consent, agree

odustajati (odustaje) ~ odustati (odustane) give up

The first verb is often used with content clauses (I will introduce them in a short

while), or with na¨ + A. The second verb uses od¨ + G to describe what you’re giving

up:

Ana N je pristala na ručak A . Ana has agreed to have a lunch.

Ana N je odustala od izleta G . Ana has given up on the excursion.

The following verb pairs have opposite meanings:

sastajati (sastaje) se² ~ sastati (sastane) se² get together, meet

rastajati (rastaje) se² ~ rastati (rastane) se² split, separate

While English usually makes derived verbs with detached prepositions, Croatian

always uses prefixes. You will notice that often these two Croatian verb prefixes

match the English prepositions used to derive verb meaning:

ra- / ras- / raz- apart s- / sa- together

Then, there’s a verb derived with nedo- (again, the ne is always spelled together).

It’s already covered in 23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions. There’s no perf. verb

corresponding to it.

This table summarizes all verbs derived from the ‘base’ verb pair:

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