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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 60 More Useful Verbs and Verbal Paerns 354 / 600

All the pairs we have seen are simply derived from the base pair, by prefixes. This

pattern of derivation can be called symmetric.

The pair opposite to davati (daje) ~ dati give is:

dobivati («) ~ dobiti (dobije) get

This verb pair is used with an object in A (more or less mandatory):

Ana N je dobila poruku A . Ana has got a message.

The origin can be expressed by adding od¨ + G:

Ana N je dobila poruku A od Ivana G . Ana has got a message from Ivan.

There is also an alternative, non-standard present form of the impf verb: dobija.

If you know only English, you should pay attention that this pair is used in a very

restricted manner compared to English get: only when you physically get

something, but also when you get an e-mail, disease, idea or chance.

It’s not used to express it’s getting dark, somebody got (understood) something,

they got busy, or a plane got delayed...

Instead of the English multi-purpose get, other verbs (i.e. verb pairs) must be used in

Croatian in the following common situations:

English get

I got beer from the fridge

I got what you said

I got home, got to work

I’ve got the tickets

I’ve got to go, gotta go

I got hungry

I’ve got my hair cut

I got my car repaired

Croatian verb(s)

donositi («) ~ donijeti (donese,...) bring

razumjeti (razumije,...) understand

dolaziti ~ doći (dođe, došao, došla) come

imati have

morati must

postajati (postaje) ~ postati (postane) become

rephrase, use specific verbs

However, if you say that you literally got the tickets (i.e. you wasn’t sure there were

any tickets left, but you got them) you should use dobivati («) ~ dobiti (dobije) get.

This is an example where English is quite imprecise.

Some of the specific verbs in the table above have been already explained;

expressing bring will be explained in the following chapters. The last line (got my car

repaired) is called causative. It can be also expressed with the verb have:

I have my car repaired.

It’s impossible to express exactly this in Croatian. Usually, it’s expressed either

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