čitati / pročitati (to read) | Croatian Grammar

Čitati ("to read") is the verb every Croatian course should use to teach aspect, because its imperfective/perfective pair is as clean as they come: čitati (impf, "to read, be reading") versus pročitati (pf, "to read [through], finish reading"). The two differ by a single prefix pro-, they share an identical conjugation pattern, and the meaning contrast — process versus completed result — is exactly the distinction English handles with context or "finished". Learn this pair well and you have a template for hundreds of others.

Aspect

	Imperfective	Perfective
Verb	čitati	pročitati
Core sense	read, be reading (process, habit)	read through, finish reading (result)
Question it answers	Što radiš? "What are you doing?"	Jesi li? "Have you (done it)?"
Typical use	Čitam knjigu. "I'm reading a book."	Pročitao sam je. "I've read it / finished it."

The key idea: čitati names the activity of reading without saying whether it ends; pročitati names the completion — the book is now read. This is why pročitati has no real present tense meaning "I am finishing reading right now": a perfective present points to the future or to subordinate clauses, never to an action unfolding before your eyes. The whole system is laid out on aspect overview; čitati / pročitati is the model the rest of the system imitates.

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A reliable test for English speakers: if you could add "for an hour" the verb is imperfective (čitao sam sat vremena "I read for an hour"); if you could add "in an hour / through to the end", it is perfective (pročitao sam za sat vremena "I read it through in an hour").

Present tense (a-class)

Čitati is a textbook a-class verb: the theme vowel -a- stays in every person, and the stem čit- never changes. The 3rd-person plural is -aju — contrast this with the i-class -e of raditi.

Person	čitati (impf)	pročitati (pf — future/subordinate sense)
ja	čitam	pročitam
ti	čitaš	pročitaš
on/ona/ono	čita	pročita
mi	čitamo	pročitamo
vi	čitate	pročitate
oni/one/ona	čitaju	pročitaju

Čitam baš zanimljiv roman ovih dana.

I'm reading a really interesting novel these days.

Čitaš li novine ujutro ili navečer?

Do you read the paper in the morning or in the evening?

Čim pročitam ovo poglavlje, idem spavati.

As soon as I finish reading this chapter, I'm going to bed. — perfective present 'pročitam' has future sense after 'čim'.

The l-participle

Built on the stem + -o / -la / -lo. The masculine singular čitao shows the vocalised -l (the -l became -o); the feminine and the plurals keep the -l- visible.

Gender / number	čitati	pročitati
masculine singular	čitao	pročitao
feminine singular	čitala	pročitala
neuter singular	čitalo	pročitalo
masculine plural	čitali	pročitali
feminine plural	čitale	pročitale
neuter plural	čitala	pročitala

Perfect tense (perfekt)

This is where aspect does its real work. Čitao sam knjigu says "I was reading / used to read a book" — an activity, possibly unfinished. Pročitao sam knjigu says "I read the book (to the end)" — done. Both use the clitic biti (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su) plus the l-participle.

Person	čitati (masc.)	pročitati (masc.)
ja	čitao sam	pročitao sam
ti	čitao si	pročitao si
on / ona	čitao / čitala je	pročitao / pročitala je
mi	čitali smo	pročitali smo
vi	čitali ste	pročitali ste
oni / one	čitali su	pročitali su

Sinoć sam čitala u krevetu dok nisam zaspala.

Last night I was reading in bed until I fell asleep. — imperfective: ongoing activity, feminine speaker.

Jesi li pročitao mejl koji sam ti poslao?

Have you read the email I sent you? — perfective: did you read it through?

The contrast in the past is treated in full on aspect in the past.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive čitati drops its final -i before the clitic htjeti: čitat ću. Same for the perfective: pročitat ću.

Person	čitati	pročitati
ja	čitat ću	pročitat ću
ti	čitat ćeš	pročitat ćeš
on/ona/ono	čitat će	pročitat će
mi	čitat ćemo	pročitat ćemo
vi	čitat ćete	pročitat ćete
oni/one/ona	čitat će	pročitat će

Na plaži ću čitati cijeli dan, ništa drugo.

On the beach I'll read all day, nothing else. — imperfective future: ongoing activity.

Imperative

a-class imperatives end in -aj, -ajmo, -ajte. The perfective pročitaj! tells someone to read something through; the imperfective čitaj! means "read / keep reading".

Person	čitati	pročitati
ti	čitaj	pročitaj
mi	čitajmo	pročitajmo
vi	čitajte	pročitajte

Pročitaj ovo pa mi reci što misliš.

Read this through and then tell me what you think. — perfective: read it to the end.

Čitaj dalje, slušam te.

Keep reading, I'm listening. — imperfective: continue the activity.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics (bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi) + l-participle.

Person	čitati (masc.)	pročitati (masc.)
ja	čitao bih	pročitao bih
ti	čitao bi	pročitao bi
on/ona/ono	čitao bi	pročitao bi
mi	čitali bismo	pročitali bismo
vi	čitali biste	pročitali biste
oni/one/ona	čitali bi	pročitali bi

Pročitao bih je do kraja da imam vremena.

I'd read it to the end if I had the time.

Other forms

Passive participle: čitan, čitana, čitano ("read", impf) and pročitan, pročitana, pročitano ("read [through]", pf). The perfective is the everyday one: Knjiga je pročitana "The book has been read." It also adjectivises: najčitaniji autor "the most-read author".
Present verbal adverb (čitati only): čitajući ("[while] reading"). Perfectives form a past verbal adverb instead: pročitavši ("having read"), literary. See the present verbal adverb.

Ova knjiga je najčitanija u zemlji ove godine.

This book is the most-read in the country this year. — passive participle as a superlative adjective.

Čitajući naglas, lakše ćeš zapamtiti riječi.

Reading aloud, you'll remember the words more easily. — verbal adverb 'čitajući'.

Government

Čitati / pročitati is transitive and takes a direct object in the accusative — the thing read. With masculine inanimate and neuter nouns the accusative looks like the nominative (roman, pismo); with feminines it ends in -u (knjigu); with masculine animates it copies the genitive (rare here, but čitam autora "I read [the works of] an author"). For the case mechanics see the accusative direct object.

Djeca čitaju slikovnicu prije spavanja.

The children read a picture book before bed. — accusative 'slikovnicu'.

Voliš li čitati poeziju ili ti je dosadna?

Do you like reading poetry, or do you find it boring? — accusative 'poeziju'.

You can also "read about" something with o + locative (čitam o povijesti "I read about history") and "read to someone" with the dative (čitam djetetu priču "I read the child a story").

Common Mistakes

❌ Oni čite svaki dan.

Incorrect — the a-class 3pl is '-aju', not the i-class '-e': 'čitaju'.

✅ Oni čitaju svaki dan.

They read every day.

❌ Sinoć sam pročitao u krevetu dva sata.

Aspect clash — an activity that lasted two hours is imperfective: 'čitao sam'. Perfective 'pročitao' = finished it.

✅ Sinoć sam čitao u krevetu dva sata.

Last night I read in bed for two hours.

❌ Jesi li čitao cijelu knjigu?

If you mean 'did you get through the whole book', use the perfective 'pročitao'; imperfective leaves completion open.

✅ Jesi li pročitao cijelu knjigu?

Did you read the whole book (to the end)?

❌ Čitam knjiga svaku večer.

Wrong case — the object is accusative: feminine 'knjigu', not the genitive/other form 'knjiga'.

✅ Čitam knjigu svaku večer.

I read a book every evening.

❌ Pročitaću ti to sutra.

Spelling — the future is written 'pročitat ću' (two words; infinitive drops -i), not fused.

✅ Pročitat ću ti to sutra.

I'll read that to you tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

Čitati (impf, "read / be reading") and pročitati (pf, "read through / finish") are the model aspect pair — they differ only by the prefix pro-.
It is a clean a-class verb: čitam, čitaš, čita, čitamo, čitate, *čitaju* — note the -aju in the 3pl.
Government: accusative direct object (čitam knjigu); "about" = o
- locative; "to someone" = dative.
Past contrast: čitao sam (activity, maybe unfinished) vs pročitao sam (done).
Passive participle pročitan; verbal adverb čitajući; future čitat ću.

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