htjeti (to want) | Croatian Grammar

Htjeti leads a double life. As a lexical verb it means "to want" (Hoću kavu "I want a coffee"). As an auxiliary — in its clitic form — it builds the future tense (radit ću "I'll work"). That is why a beginner must master it early: you cannot talk about the future in Croatian without it. Like biti, it has a full present, a clitic present, and a fused negative, and its irregular stem (hoć- / ć-) bears no resemblance to the infinitive htjeti.

Aspect and partner

Htjeti is imperfective. It has no true perfective aspect partner — wanting is a state, not a bounded event, so it resists perfectivisation. For a punctual "decided to / came to want," Croatian reaches for other verbs (odlučiti "decide," poželjeti "come to wish"). Treat htjeti as a one-aspect modal-type verb.

Present — the three series

Person	Full (stressed)	Clitic (future aux)	Negative
ja	hoću	ću	neću
ti	hoćeš	ćeš	nećeš
on / ona / ono	hoće	će	neće
mi	hoćemo	ćemo	nećemo
vi	hoćete	ćete	nećete
oni / one / ona	hoće	će	neće

The full form means "want" and answers questions; the clitic is the future auxiliary; the negative covers both "don't want" and "won't." Note that the negative is one fused word — neću, never ne ću — and is one of the most frequently misspelled forms in the language even among native writers.

Hoću sladoled, ne kolač.

I want ice cream, not cake. — full 'hoću' carrying lexical 'want'.

Hoćeš li sa mnom u kino?

Do you want to come to the cinema with me? — full 'hoćeš' in a question with 'li'.

Neću to ni gledati.

I won't even look at that. — fused negative 'neću' (= 'I don't want to' / 'I won't').

L-participle (the past form)

Masc. sg.	Fem. sg.	Neut. sg.	Plural (m / f / n)
htio	htjela	htjelo	htjeli / htjele / htjela

Mind the vowel: the masculine is htio (the je of the stem reduces before -o), but the feminine and the rest keep htjela, htjelo, htjeli. This ije/je → i alternation trips up learners constantly.

Perfect (perfekt)

Perfect = clitic of biti + l-participle of htjeti: htio sam "I wanted."

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	htio sam	htjela sam
ti	htio si	htjela si
on / ona	htio je	htjela je
mi	htjeli smo	htjele smo
vi	htjeli ste	htjele ste
oni / one	htjeli su	htjele su

Htio sam ti pomoći, ali nisam stigao.

I wanted to help you, but I didn't get the chance. — masculine 'htio sam'.

Htjela je nazvati, no bilo je prekasno.

She wanted to call, but it was too late. — feminine 'htjela je'.

Future I — htjeti as auxiliary

This is htjeti's great structural job. Future I = clitic of htjeti + infinitive. The pattern is the same for every verb in the language: drop the infinitive's final -i and add the clitic.

Person	raditi → Future I
ja	radit ću
ti	radit ćeš
on / ona / ono	radit će
mi	radit ćemo
vi	radit ćete
oni / one / ona	radit će

When the clitic comes first (clause-initial future), the order inverts and the infinitive can no longer drop its -i: Ja ću raditi but never Ću radit. See Future I.

Sutra ćemo raditi do kasno.

Tomorrow we'll work late. — clitic 'ćemo' building the future of 'raditi'.

Imperative

The imperative of htjeti is defective: you cannot order someone to want. There is no everyday imperative. (Archaic/dialectal htjej exists in old texts but is not used today.)

💡

If you need an imperative-like "do want / be willing," Croatian rephrases — e.g. Budi voljan… ("Be willing…") with biti. Htjeti simply has no living command form.

Conditional I — the polite "I would like"

Conditional I = conditional auxiliary (bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi) + l-participle. Htio bih / htjela bih is the standard polite way to order or request — softer than the blunt hoću.

Person	Masculine	Feminine
ja	htio bih	htjela bih
ti	htio bi	htjela bi
on / ona	htio bi	htjela bi
mi	htjeli bismo	htjele bismo
vi	htjeli biste	htjele biste
oni / one	htjeli bi	htjele bi

Htio bih jednu kavu s mlijekom, molim.

I'd like a coffee with milk, please. — polite 'htio bih' instead of blunt 'hoću'.

Htjeli bismo rezervirati stol za dvoje.

We'd like to book a table for two. — polite plural 'htjeli bismo'.

Government — what htjeti takes

Lexical htjeti "want" takes three kinds of complement:

accusative noun
— Hoću kavu ("I want a coffee").
infinitive
(same subject) — Hoću učiti ("I want to study"). The infinitive is the more concise, written-leaning option.
da-clause
(especially when the subject differs) — Hoću da dođeš ("I want you to come"). English's "want someone to do" maps onto the da-clause, since the infinitive cannot carry a separate subject. See da vs infinitive.

Što hoćeš za rođendan?

What do you want for your birthday? — '+ accusative' object.

Hoćemo otići ranije danas.

We want to leave earlier today. — '+ infinitive', same subject.

Hoću da mi kažeš istinu.

I want you to tell me the truth. — '+ da-clause', because the wanter and the doer differ.

Neću da se svađamo.

I don't want us to argue. — negative 'neću' + da-clause.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ja htijem kavu.

Incorrect — the present is the irregular 'hoću', not a regular form.

✅ Hoću kavu.

I want a coffee.

❌ Ne ću doći.

Incorrect — 'ne' + 'ću' must fuse into 'neću'.

✅ Neću doći.

I won't come.

❌ Hoću ti dođeš.

Incorrect — a different-subject complement needs 'da': 'Hoću da dođeš'.

✅ Hoću da dođeš.

I want you to come.

❌ Htjela sam te pomoći.

Incorrect — 'pomoći' governs the dative: 'pomoći ti', not the accusative 'te'.

✅ Htjela sam ti pomoći.

I wanted to help you.

Key Takeaways

Htjeti is both the lexical verb "want" and the future auxiliary: full hoću, clitic ću, negative neću.
The negative is always one word — neću, nećeš, neće… — never ne ću.
The l-participle is htio (m) / htjela (f); mind the ije/je → i shift in the masculine.
Want + same subject → infinitive (Hoću učiti); want + different subject → da-clause (Hoću da učiš).
For polite requests use the conditional htio / htjela bih ("I'd like"), not the blunt hoću.

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