nadati se (to hope) | Croatian Grammar

Nadati se ("to hope") is inherently reflexive — there is no nadati without se — and it governs the dative of the hoped-for thing: Nadam se najboljem ("I hope for the best"). For a hoped-for situation it instead takes a da-clause: Nadam se da ćeš doći ("I hope you'll come"). And on its own, Nadam se! is the everyday way to say "I hope so!". This page gives you the paradigm plus the two government patterns that cover virtually every use.

Aspect

Nadati se is imperfective only in normal use — hoping is a state, and states are imperfective, just like bojati se and nadati se's cousin radovati se ("look forward to"). There is no everyday perfective partner; for "to begin to hope" or "to pin one's hopes" Croatian rephrases (ponadati se exists but is rare and stylistically marked). Treat nadati se as a standing-state verb. Why states stay imperfective is explained at imperfective meaning.

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There is no non-reflexive *nadati. The se is welded to the verb, so it travels into every tense and joins the clitic cluster in second position. Drop it and the sentence is simply ungrammatical.

Present tense

Unlike bojati se and smijati se, nadati se really is a clean a-class verb: the infinitive nadati gives the present nadam se, nadaš se, nada se…. The a-class 3rd-person plural is -aju: nadaju se.

Person	Form	Meaning
ja	nadam se	I hope
ti	nadaš se	you hope
on/ona/ono	nada se	he/she/it hopes
mi	nadamo se	we hope
vi	nadate se	you (pl.) hope
oni/one/ona	nadaju se	they hope

Nadam se da nije ništa ozbiljno.

I hope it's nothing serious. — present + da-clause.

Nadamo se najboljem, ali spremamo se na najgore.

We hope for the best but prepare for the worst. — dative 'najboljem'.

The l-participle

Regular for an a-class -ati verb, built on the stem nada-: masculine nadao, feminine nadala, neuter nadalo.

Gender / number	Form
masculine singular	nadao se
feminine singular	nadala se
neuter singular	nadalo se
masculine plural	nadali se
feminine plural	nadale se
neuter plural	nadala se

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle, with se in the cluster. The third person deletes je before se: nadao se, not nadao se je.

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	nadao sam se	nadala sam se
ti	nadao si se	nadala si se
on / ona	nadao se	nadala se
mi	nadali smo se	nadale smo se
vi	nadali ste se	nadale ste se
oni / one	nadali su se	nadale su se

Iskreno sam se nadao da ćeš se predomisliti.

I honestly hoped you'd change your mind. — masculine speaker, perfect + da-clause.

Nadali smo se boljem vremenu za vjenčanje.

We were hoping for better weather for the wedding. — dative 'boljem vremenu'.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive nadati drops its final -i before the clitic: nadat ću se. In practice the future is rare — you usually hope now — but it is fully grammatical.

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

Dok god ima šanse, nadat ćemo se.

As long as there's a chance, we'll keep hoping.

Imperative

The a-class imperative is nadaj se, nadajmo se, nadajte se. It is most common in the encouraging nadaj se ("keep hoping") and the resigned ne nadaj se ("don't get your hopes up").

Person	Affirmative	Negative
ti	nadaj se	ne nadaj se
mi	nadajmo se	ne nadajmo se
vi	nadajte se	ne nadajte se

Ne nadaj se previše, konkurencija je jaka.

Don't get your hopes up too much, the competition is strong.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle, with se in the cluster.

Person	Form (masc.)
ja	nadao bih se
ti	nadao bi se
on/ona/ono	nadao/nadala/nadalo bi se
mi	nadali bismo se
vi	nadali biste se
oni/one/ona	nadali bi se

Nadao bih se boljem ishodu, ali ne želim ti lagati.

I'd hope for a better outcome, but I don't want to lie to you. — conditional + dative 'boljem ishodu'.

Other forms

Passive participle: none — nadati se is intrinsically reflexive and intransitive.
Present verbal adverb: nadajući se ("[while] hoping"), found in writing: Nadajući se odgovoru, čekao je satima ("Hoping for an answer, he waited for hours").

Poslala je još jednu molbu, nadajući se čudu.

She sent one more application, hoping for a miracle. — verbal adverb + dative 'čudu'.

Key uses and government

1. nadati se + dative — "hope for [a thing]"

The hoped-for thing goes in the dative: Nadam se uspjehu ("I hope for success"). English uses "hope for + object", so the absence of any preposition plus the dative case is the main thing to internalise. The dative-governing verbs are listed at dative with verbs.

Svi se nadamo miru i normalnom životu.

We all hope for peace and a normal life. — dative 'miru', 'životu'.

Nadam se tvojoj podršci u ovome.

I'm hoping for your support in this. — dative 'tvojoj podršci'.

2. nadati se + da-clause — "hope that…"

For a hoped-for situation, use da + a clause, normally with a present or future verb. The clause states the hoped outcome positively. This is the da of subordinating da.

Nadam se da ste dobro putovali.

I hope you had a good trip. — da-clause with perfect.

Nadamo se da će sve proći u redu.

We hope everything will go fine. — da-clause with future.

3. Nadam se! as a standalone — "I hope so!"

Used alone, Nadam se! answers a question or comment with "I hope so!". The opposite is Nadam se da ne! ("I hope not!").

Misliš da će uspjeti? — Nadam se!

Do you think it'll work out? — I hope so!

Common Mistakes

❌ Nadam se za bolje vrijeme.

Preposition error — 'nadati se' takes a bare dative, no 'za': 'Nadam se boljem vremenu'.

✅ Nadam se boljem vremenu.

I'm hoping for better weather.

❌ Nadam dobre vijesti.

Missing 'se' and wrong case — the verb is reflexive and governs the dative: 'Nadam se dobrim vijestima'.

✅ Nadam se dobrim vijestima.

I'm hoping for good news.

❌ Nadam se ti dolaziš.

Missing 'da' — a hoped-for clause needs the conjunction: 'Nadam se da dolaziš'.

✅ Nadam se da dolaziš.

I hope you're coming.

❌ Nadao se je da će proći.

Clitic error — 3sg 'je' deletes before 'se': 'nadao se', not '*nadao se je'.

✅ Nadao se da će proći.

He hoped it would work out.

❌ Nadajem se da je tako.

Wrong present stem — 'nadati se' is a-class: 'nadam se', not '*nadajem se'.

✅ Nadam se da je tako.

I hope that's the case.

Key Takeaways

nadati se is inherently reflexive (no nadati) and imperfective — there is no everyday perfective.
It is a clean a-class verb: nadam se, nadaš se, nada se, nadamo se, nadate se, nadaju se.
Government: dative of the hoped-for thing (Nadam se najboljem) or a da-clause (Nadam se da…).
Nadam se! = "I hope so!"; Nadam se da ne! = "I hope not!".
In the perfect, the 3sg je drops before se: nadao se, not nadao se je.

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