čestitati (to congratulate)

Čestitati ("to congratulate, to wish well") is the verb behind every Čestitam! ("Congratulations!"), Sretan rođendan! card, and toast at a wedding. It is one of the most socially useful verbs in the language — and, like several Croatian verbs of communication, its government catches English speakers off guard: you do not congratulate someone (accusative, as in English) — you congratulate to someone (dative). This page lays out the full paradigm and the dative-plus-occasion pattern that makes čestitati work.

Aspect

Čestitati is bi-aspectual (dvovidni glagol): the same form serves as both imperfective and perfective, taking its aspect from context. This is typical of verbs of Latin or learned origin and of several speech-act verbs (compare telefonirati, organizirati). In practice you almost always use it perfectively — a congratulation is a single completed act — so Čestitao sam mu reads as "I congratulated him" (once, done). Crucially, there is no separate prefixed perfective partner to switch to: čestitati keeps one and the same form for both aspects, and the completed-vs-ongoing reading comes purely from context (a single occasion vs a habit). See suppletive and bi-aspectual verbs.

Present tense

Čestitati is a regular a-class verb: the infinitive čestita- keeps its -a- in the present and adds -m, -š, -∅, -mo, -te, -ju.

The single most frequent form is the bare 1sg Čestitam! used on its own as the interjection "Congratulations!" — literally "I congratulate (you)", with the dative left understood.

The l-participle

Built on the infinitive stem čestita-.

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle agreeing with the subject. Because the act is normally completed, the perfekt of čestitati reads as a clean "congratulated".

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive čestitati drops its final -i: čestitat ću.

Imperative

Built on the present stem čestita- + -j: čestitaj.

Other forms

• Passive participle: čestitan is rare as a verb form; the related adjective čestit ("honest, upright, decent") is a separate, older word and a false friend you should not confuse with the verb — čestit čovjek means "an honest man", not "a congratulated man".
• Verbal noun: čestitka ("a greeting card; congratulations") is extremely common — rođendanska čestitka ("a birthday card"), poslati čestitku ("to send a card").

Key uses and government

This is where English speakers must retrain their instincts. The pattern is person in the DATIVE + occasion in na + LOCATIVE (or the occasion directly in the accusative for fixed wishes).

1. čestitati + DATIVE of the person

The person you congratulate goes in the dative, never the accusative — even though English "congratulate" takes a direct object. Think of it as "to extend congratulations to someone." See the dative as indirect object.

2. The occasion: na + LOCATIVE

The thing being celebrated most often takes na + locative ("congratulate someone on something"). This is the everyday default for achievements and events. See locative for topic.

3. Fixed wishes: occasion in the ACCUSATIVE

For set holidays and milestones you can put the occasion directly in the accusative, as a thing you "wish to" someone: čestitati nekomu rođendan / Božić / Novu godinu ("to wish someone a happy birthday / Christmas / New Year"). Here the dative person stays, and the accusative names what you wish.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Čestitati is bi-aspectual — one form for both aspects; usually read as completed ("congratulated").
• Present: regular a-class, čestitam — čestitaš — čestita — čestitamo — čestitate — čestitaju.
• Government: person in the dative (never accusative, unlike English), occasion in na
  • locative
  for achievements or the bare accusative for set wishes.
• Čestitam! alone = "Congratulations!"; the noun čestitka = "greeting card".
• Don't confuse the adjective čestit ("honest, decent") with the verb čestitati.