Dialogue: Talking About Hobbies

When Croatians ask what you do in your free time, the answer almost always uses one of three verbs — and choosing the right one is half the battle. Baviti se takes the instrumental for any activity you "do"; igrati covers games and sports while svirati covers musical instruments (English blurs both into "play"); and voljeti + infinitive expresses what you simply enjoy. Add a sprinkle of frequency adverbs (često, ponekad, nikad) and you can hold a whole hobbies conversation. This chat between two new acquaintances shows the pattern in action.

The dialogue

— Ivana: Čime se baviš u slobodno vrijeme? — Marko: Bavim se planinarenjem, a volim i čitati. — Ivana: Super! Ja često igram tenis, a vikendom igram i nogomet. — Marko: A sviraš li neki instrument? — Ivana: Sviram gitaru, ali samo ponekad. Nemam puno vremena. — Marko: Razumijem. Ja nikad ne sviram ništa, nemam sluha. — Ivana: Haha, ni ja nisam talentirana. A baviš li se kakvim sportom? — Marko: Ne baš. Volim plivati ljeti, ali to je sve. — Ivana: Plivanje je odlično! Trebao bi se baviti time redovito. — Marko: Možda i hoću. Hoćeš li ti sa mnom na planinarenje? — Ivana: Rado! Obožavam prirodu, samo me zovi. — Marko: Dogovoreno!

Grammar in action

Baviti se + instrumental — Bavim se planinarenjem. The single most useful hobby verb is the reflexive baviti se ("to be engaged in / do as an activity"). The activity goes into the instrumental case, never the accusative: baviti se planinarenjem ("to go hiking"), baviti se sportom ("to do sport"). The matching question word is čime ("with what"), the instrumental of što. English has no case here, so this is a pure transfer trap — learners want to say a direct object.

The full conjugation and case behaviour of this verb is on baviti se.

Voljeti + infinitive — volim čitati, volim plivati. To say what you enjoy doing, Croatian uses voljeti ("to love/like") plus a bare infinitive — exactly parallel to English "I like to read". No da-clause is needed here. Volim čitati, volim plivati ljeti. (When you like a thing rather than an activity, you often switch to sviđati se, but for activities the infinitive is natural.)

When the feeling is stronger than mere liking, obožavati ("to adore") works the same way but ramps up the enthusiasm — here with a noun object rather than an infinitive.

Igrati vs svirati — the two 'plays'. Croatian splits English "play" in two. Igrati is for games and sports — igrati tenis, igrati nogomet, igrati šah — with the activity in the accusative. Svirati is exclusively for musical instruments — svirati gitaru, svirati klavir — also accusative. Mixing them up (~svirati nogomet~ or ~igrati gitaru~) is one of the most recognisable beginner errors.

The exact division of labour is detailed on igrati and svirati.

Frequency adverbs — često, ponekad, nikad. How often you do something is carried by a small set of adverbs that sit before the verb: često ("often"), ponekad ("sometimes"), redovito ("regularly"), nikad ("never"). Note that nikad triggers double negation — the verb must still be negated: nikad ne sviram ("I never play"), literally "never not-I-play". This is obligatory in Croatian, unlike English.

The full inventory of frequency and quantity adverbs is on quantity and frequency adverbs.

Vocabulary

Culture & register note

Key Takeaways

• Activities you "do" take baviti se + instrumental: bavim se planinarenjem — and the question word is čime.
• For things you enjoy doing, use voljeti + infinitive: volim čitati, volim plivati.
• Split English "play": igrati for games and sports (igrati nogomet), svirati for instruments (svirati gitaru).
• Frequency adverbs (često, ponekad, redovito) sit before the verb.
• Nikad ("never") forces double negation — the verb still takes ne: nikad ne sviram.