hodati / šetati (to walk / stroll)

Croatian keeps two everyday verbs apart that English crams into one word "walk": hodati ("to walk, to go on foot — the act of walking itself") and šetati (se) ("to stroll, to take a walk for pleasure"). The split is about purpose: hodati is walking as locomotion (your legs are moving), while šetati is walking as a leisurely activity (you are out for a walk). On top of both sits the directional verb ići ("to go"), which says that you go somewhere without saying how — and this page is partly about not confusing manner ("walk") with direction ("go"). Both walk-verbs are regular a-class imperfectives, so the conjugation is easy; the work is in the meaning.

Aspect

Hodati has no everyday single-act perfective partner — walking as locomotion is an open-ended activity, so it lives in the imperfective. Šetati does have one: the prefixed perfective prošetati (se) ("to take a walk", a single completed outing). This šetati → prošetati prefixation is the standard way Croatian forms a perfective from a simple imperfective — see forming aspect pairs by prefixation.

Present tense

Both are plain a-class verbs (stem hoda- / šeta- + -m, -š, ∅, -mo, -te, -ju).

The l-participle

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

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The imperfective hodao sam / šetao sam describes a stretch of walking ("I was walking / I used to walk"); the perfective prošetao sam reports one finished outing.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its final -i before the htjeti clitic: hodat ću, šetat ću, prošetat ću.

Imperative

a-class imperative: hodaj / šetaj, hodajmo / šetajmo, hodajte / šetajte. The perfective prošetaj! invites one specific walk ("go for a walk!").

Other forms

• The noun šetnja ("a walk, a stroll") is everyday vocabulary: ići u šetnju ("to go for a walk"), poslijepodnevna šetnja ("an afternoon walk"). Note that "go for a walk" most naturally uses ići u šetnju — the verb ići plus the noun — alongside prošetati.
• Verbal adverb (present): hodajući ("[while] walking"), šetajući (se) ("[while] strolling") — both common: Hodajući kući, naletjela sam na staru prijateljicu ("Walking home, I bumped into an old friend").
• Related noun hod = "gait, the manner of walking" (usporen hod "a slow gait"), more (formal).

Key uses and government

1. Mostly intransitive — or "po + locative" for the area covered

Both verbs are usually intransitive (you just walk). To say where you stroll, the idiomatic frame is po + locative ("around/about a place") or the bare instrumental of the area: šetati po parku / šetati parkom ("to stroll through the park"). See the locative for location and the wider verb government overview.

2. šetati with a direct object — "to walk someone/something"

Šetati can be transitive: to "walk" a dog, a child, a guest — to take them out walking. Here the se is dropped because the object fills that slot.

3. hodati vs ići — manner vs direction

This is the contrast to internalise. hodati names the manner (you are on foot, moving your legs); ići names the direction (you go somewhere, by whatever means). "I'm going to work" is Idem na posao — even if you walk there, the default verb is ići, because the point is the destination. You only reach for hodati when the act of walking itself is the point ("the baby is walking now"; "we walked the whole way"). Compare ići and basic motion.

4. A romance idiom: hodati s nekim

Colloquially, hodati s + instrumental means "to date / go out with someone" — the same metaphor as English "to be seeing someone". (informal)

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• hodati (hodam) = walking as locomotion / on foot; šetati (se) (šetam) = strolling for pleasure. Both are a-class imperfectives.
• Perfective of šetati is the prefixed prošetati (se) — one completed outing.
• Government is mostly intransitive; for the area you cover use po + locative (po parku) or the bare instrumental (parkom). Šetati
  • accusative = "to walk someone/something" (šetam psa).
• Manner vs direction: use ići ("go") for destinations, hodati only when the walking itself is the point.
• Know the noun šetnja (ići u šetnju) and the colloquial hodati s nekim ("to date someone").