čekati / pričekati (to wait)

Čekati ("to wait") is an A2 verb with one A2 trap that follows learners for years: in Croatian you wait something, not "wait for something". The thing waited for is a plain accusative direct object with no preposition — Čekam autobus, never čekam za autobus. English "wait FOR the bus" puts a preposition there, and that "for" leaks into Croatian as a wrong za in the speech of nearly every English speaker. So while the conjugation of čekati is a perfectly regular a-class affair, the spine of this page is government: bare accusative, no preposition.

Aspect

The everyday verb is the imperfective čekati — waiting is an activity that fills time, so it is naturally imperfective. The two prefixed perfectives bound that activity: pričekati ("wait a bit, hold on") frames the wait as a short, completed stretch before something happens, and sačekati ("wait for [it to come], wait up for [someone]") emphasises waiting until a result arrives. This is prefixation forming aspect partners — see forming aspect pairs by prefixation and the aspect overview.

Present tense

A plain a-class verb (stem čeka- + -m, -š, ∅, -mo, -te, -ju).

The l-participle

Regular for an a-class verb; masculine shows the vocalised -l → -o.

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The imperfective čekao sam = "I was waiting / I waited (for a while)"; the perfective pričekao sam = "I waited a bit (and then…)".

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its final -i before the htjeti clitic: čekat ću, pričekat ću, sačekat ću.

Imperative

a-class imperative: čekaj, čekajmo, čekajte. The perfective pričekaj! is the everyday "hold on / wait a sec".

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle, for polite offers and hypotheticals.

Other forms

• Verbal noun: čekanje ("waiting") — Mrzim čekanje u redu ("I hate waiting in line").
• Verbal adverb (present): čekajući ("[while] waiting") — Čekajući bus, pročitao sam cijelo poglavlje ("Waiting for the bus, I read a whole chapter").
• The waiting room: čekaonica — useful real-world vocabulary built on the same root.

Key uses and government

1. The headline: bare accusative, NO preposition

What you wait for is a plain accusative direct object. There is no "for" word. Čekam + [thing in accusative]. This is the single most important fact on the page — see the accusative as direct object and the verb government overview.

2. The marked variant: čekati na + accusative

Croatian does allow čekati na + accusative, but it is marked: it suggests a long, drawn-out, often impatient wait — waiting on something one is owed or anxious about (a decision, a turn, a verdict). For everyday "I'm waiting for the bus", the bare accusative is the natural, neutral choice; čekati na is the wrong default even though it exists.

3. "Wait until…": the dok ne clause

To say you wait until something happens, Croatian uses dok ne + verb — literally "while not", an old construction where the ne is part of the "until" frame and does not make the clause negative. Čekaj dok ne dođem = "Wait until I come" (not "while I don't come").

4. Čekati a baby — an idiom

Čekati dijete / bebu ("to be expecting a baby") is the standard idiom for pregnancy — the same accusative frame.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• čekati (impf, čekam) is the everyday "wait"; perfectives pričekati ("wait a bit") and sačekati ("wait for/until [it arrives]").
• Government headline: bare accusative, NO preposition — Čekam autobus / te / prijateljicu. The English "wait FOR" never becomes za.
• čekati na
  • accusative exists but is marked (a long, impatient wait); it is the wrong neutral default.
• "Wait until…" = dok ne
  • verb, where ne is part of the "until" frame, not a real negation: Čekaj dok ne dođem.
• Future drops -i: čekat ću (never čekati ću). Useful idiom: čekati dijete ("to be expecting a baby").