EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns 388 / 600
one is usually a root noun:
impf. perf.
verbs padati ~ pasti (padne, pao) fall
nouns padanje falling pad fall (noun)
Similar ‘perf.’ root verbal nouns are:
doprinos contribution
ispit exam
napad attack
potpis signature
razvod divorce
uvod introduction
Objects of napasti (...) attack are changed with na¨ + A when you use the
‘perfective’ verbal noun (this is the same as in English):
Napoleon N je napao Rusiju A . (A) Napoleon attacked Russia.
napasti perf-m
napad na Rusiju A (na¨ + A) attack on Russia
There are some impf. verbs that have root verbal nouns; common ones are:
boljeti (boli,...) ache, cause pain → bol f pain
izgledati («) appear, look, seem → izgled look, appearance
raditi work / do → rad work
Some verbs have verbal nouns in -a, or completely irregular verbal nouns; for
example:
verb
bojati (boji) se² be afraid of
brinuti (brine) (se²) care, worry
trebati need / should
namjeravati («) intend
željeti (želi,...) want, desire
noun
strah fear
briga worry, care
potreba need
namjera intention
želja wish
Finally, some verbs have no verbal noun at all:
čuti (čuje) hear ići (ide, išao, išla) go
There are no underlying rules which method should be used for a verb, so it’s better
to just remember verbal nouns as words on their own, more or less connected to
the base verb.
Sometimes there’s a need to express the subject of the action expressed by a noun
which matches the verb which uses objects. When the verb permits no objects, it’s
easy (see above). But what about most verbs? Then – mostly in writing, legal
documents, etc. – the way is to add od¨ + G (lit. ‘from’) or, controversially, od strane
+ G (lit. ‘from the side of’):