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80 Present Adverbs and Adjectives
How to say flying saucer or playing cards in Croatian? English is here quite simple:
the same form that’s used to make the Present Continuous tense (e.g. I’m flying) is
re-used as an adjective.
Croatian has two special forms. The first one is called present adverb (or present
participle). It’s a very simple form to make, just take the pres-3pl form of the verb
and add -ći to it:
čekati wait → čekajući
ležati (leži) lie, recline → ležeći
jesti (jede) eat → jedući
učiti learn, study → učeći
Since all pres-3pl forms end in either -u or -e, all present adverbs end in -ući or -eći.
This form can be used in various ways. First, it can be used as an adverb, meaning
while x-ing:
Zaspao sam gledajući televiziju A . I fell asleep while watching TV.
Here the verb zaspati (zaspi) is a perfective verb meaning fall asleep. Such verbs will
be described in the next chapter.
The case of any noun appended to the participle is the same as used with the verb:
gledam televiziju A (A) I’m watching TV → gledajući televiziju A
Adverbs are used in this way mostly in formal writing; in speech and casual writing,
time clauses with dok are preferred, so you will hear usually:
Zaspao sam [dok sam gledao televiziju A ]. I fell asleep [while I was watching TV].
Furthermore, impf. verbs derived from davati give – which have alternative (and
non-standard) present tense forms – have often adverbs which are derived from the
non-standard form, for example:
prodavati (prodaje) sell →
prodajući
prodavajući
The ratio of the two forms (as given by Google on the .hr domain; try it yourself) is
roughly 2:1 in favor of the standard form prodajući. Therefore, expect to see and
hear both forms.
There’s one irregular adverb, common in speech, used like this:
poznavajući + A from what I know about A ®
There are more present adverbs used in phrases. A common one is:
zahvalj ivati (-uje «) thank → zahvaljujući