igrati (se) / odigrati (to play) | Croatian Grammar

English "play" covers three things Croatian keeps apart, and getting them straight is the real lesson of this page. Igrati (+ accusative) is to play a game or a sport: igrati nogomet, igrati šah. The reflexive igrati se (+ instrumental) is to play around — what children do, playing with toys: djeca se igraju. And svirati is to play a musical instrument: svirati gitaru — never igrati. So a Croatian footballer igra, a child se igra, and a guitarist svira. We will build the page around that three-way split, with the aspect pair igrati / odigrati handled along the way.

Aspect

Verb	Aspect	Present 1sg	Typical use
igrati	imperfective	igram	play (a game/sport) — the activity, the habit
odigrati	perfective	odigram	play [one match / one move] through to the end

The split is the usual one: igrati = play in progress or as a habit ("I play football"), odigrati = one bounded instance taken to completion ("we played [the] match", "he made his move"). This is a prefixal pair — the perfective adds od- ("play it out"). See forming aspect pairs by prefixation and aspect overview. (The reflexive igrati se and svirati have their own perfectives — poigrati se, odsvirati / zasvirati — but their imperfective base forms are what you need first.)

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One memory hook: igrati shares its root with igra "a game" and igrač "a player" — so it is the verb of games and sport. Svirati goes with svirka "a gig" and svirač "a player (musician)" — the verb of music. Different root, different word; English just happens to use "play" for both.

Present tense

Igrati and odigrati are regular a-class verbs (stem igra-, endings -m, -š, -∅, -mo, -te, -ju). The reflexive igrati se adds the clitic se.

Person	igrati (impf)	igrati se (reflexive)	odigrati (pf)
ja	igram	igram se	odigram
ti	igraš	igraš se	odigraš
on/ona/ono	igra	igra se	odigra
mi	igramo	igramo se	odigramo
vi	igrate	igrate se	odigrate
oni/one/ona	igraju	igraju se	odigraju

Igramo nogomet svake subote na školskom igralištu.

We play football every Saturday at the school pitch. — habit, 'igrati' + accusative.

Djeca se igraju u parku.

The children are playing in the park. — reflexive 'igrati se', no object.

The l-participle

Regular -ati verbs: masculine igrao (vocalised -l), odigrao.

Gender / number	igrati	odigrati
masculine singular	igrao	odigrao
feminine singular	igrala	odigrala
neuter singular	igralo	odigralo
masculine plural	igrali	odigrali
feminine plural	igrale	odigrale
neuter plural	igrala	odigrala

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. Igrao sam = "I played / used to play"; odigrao sam = "I played [that one match] / made [that move]". For the reflexive, the se sits in the clitic cluster: igrao sam se.

Person	igrati (masc.)	odigrati (masc.)
ja	igrao sam	odigrao sam
ti	igrao si	odigrao si
on / ona	igrao / igrala je	odigrao / odigrala je
mi	igrali smo	odigrali smo
vi	igrali ste	odigrali ste
oni / one	igrali su	odigrali su

Kao klinac igrao sam košarku, a sada samo gledam.

As a kid I played basketball, now I just watch. — imperfective habit in the past.

Odigrali su sjajnu utakmicu i pobijedili.

They played a great match and won. — perfective: one finished game.

Future I (futur prvi)

Igrati → igrat ću (drops -i); odigrati → odigrat ću. Never write igrati ću.

Person	igrati	igrati se
ja	igrat ću	igrat ću se
ti	igrat ćeš	igrat ćeš se
on/ona/ono	igrat će	igrat će se
mi	igrat ćemo	igrat ćemo se
vi	igrat ćete	igrat ćete se
oni/one/ona	igrat će	igrat će se

Večeras igramo protiv prvaka, bit će teško.

Tonight we're playing against the champions, it'll be tough. — present for a scheduled future is also fine here.

Imperative

a-class imperatives end in -aj, -ajmo, -ajte. The reflexive keeps se: igraj se!

Person	igrati	igrati se
ti	igraj	igraj se
mi	igrajmo	igrajmo se
vi	igrajte	igrajte se

Idite se igrati vani dok je lijepo vrijeme.

Go play outside while the weather's nice. — 'igrati se', kids playing.

Other forms

Verbal adverb: imperfective igrajući ("[while] playing"), reflexive igrajući se. The perfective has no present adverb; its past adverb is odigravši, literary.
Related words: igra "game, play", igrač / igračica "player", igralište "playground / pitch", igračka "a toy". For the musical side: svirati, svirač / sviračica "instrumentalist", svirka "a gig".
Igrati also means "to dance" in the folk sense — igrati kolo "to dance the kolo (circle dance)" — and "to flicker/dart" of light. These are good to recognise but rarer than the game sense.

Na svadbi su svi igrali kolo do zore.

At the wedding everyone danced the kolo until dawn. — 'igrati' = dance, folk sense.

Key uses and government — the three-way split

1. igrati + accusative — play a game or sport

A game or sport played goes in the accusative, no preposition: igrati nogomet, košarku, šah, karte, tenis. See the accusative direct object.

Igraš li šah? Mogli bismo odigrati partiju.

Do you play chess? We could play a game. — 'igrati' + accusative 'šah'.

2. igrati se + instrumental — play around / play with

The reflexive igrati se is "to play (around)" — the unfocused, fun activity, what children do. The thing you play with goes in the instrumental (often with s/sa): igrati se loptom / s loptom, igrati se kockicama "play with blocks". See the instrumental of accompaniment and means and reflexive verbs.

Mali se igra s autićima na podu.

The little one is playing with toy cars on the floor. — 'igrati se' + instrumental 's autićima'.

Ne igraj se vatrom, opeći ćeš se.

Don't play with fire, you'll burn yourself. — 'igrati se' + instrumental 'vatrom', also figurative.

3. svirati — play a musical instrument

This is the trap. To play an instrument you use svirati (sviram), with the instrument in the accusative: svirati gitaru, klavir, violinu. Using igrati here is simply wrong. Svirati also covers "to play" a piece or "be playing" of music: Na radiju svira dobra pjesma "A good song is playing on the radio".

Svira gitaru i pjeva u bendu.

He plays guitar and sings in a band. — 'svirati' + accusative 'gitaru', never 'igrati'.

Učim svirati klavir već godinu dana.

I've been learning to play the piano for a year now. — 'svirati klavir'.

4. igrati za / protiv — play for / against a team

For teams, igrati za + accusative ("play for") and igrati protiv + genitive ("play against").

Igra za reprezentaciju već pet godina.

He's played for the national team for five years now. — 'igrati za' + accusative.

Common Mistakes

❌ Igram gitaru.

An instrument is played with 'svirati', not 'igrati': 'sviram gitaru'.

✅ Sviram gitaru.

I play the guitar.

❌ Djeca igraju u parku.

'Play around' is the reflexive 'igrati se': 'djeca se igraju u parku'.

✅ Djeca se igraju u parku.

The children are playing in the park.

❌ Igram se nogomet.

A sport takes plain 'igrati' + accusative, no 'se': 'igram nogomet'.

✅ Igram nogomet.

I play football.

❌ Dijete se igra s loptu.

'Play with' takes the instrumental, not the accusative: 's loptom'.

✅ Dijete se igra s loptom.

The child is playing with the ball.

❌ Igrati ću šah s tobom.

The infinitive drops its -i before the clitic: 'igrat ću', never 'igrati ću'.

✅ Igrat ću šah s tobom.

I'll play chess with you.

Key Takeaways

igrati (impf, igram) / odigrati (pf, od-) = play a game or sport, accusative
: igrati nogomet, šah.
igrati se (reflexive) = play around / play with, instrumental
: djeca se igraju, igrati se s loptom.
svirati (sviram) = play a musical instrument, + accusative: svirati gitaru — never igrati. Different root, different verb.
Bonus senses of igrati: "to dance" (igrati kolo) and team frames igrati za / protiv.
Future drops -i: igrat ću (never igrati ću).

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