raditi/napraviti, raditi vs praviti | Croatian Grammar

English has two verbs — "do" and "make" — and a maddening, unpredictable split between them. Croatian carves the territory differently. Raditi covers "do/work" (imperfective process), and the perfective results are napraviti ("make/do — finished") and its imperfective twin praviti ("be making"). The single most important shift for English speakers is that the do-vs-make line you fight with in English mostly dissolves here: Croatian leans on one core verb (napraviti / praviti) for an enormous range of "make" and "do" meanings, and lets aspect — process versus result — do the heavy lifting that English does with verb choice. This page lays out the raditi → napraviti and praviti → napraviti relationships side by side.

The three verbs at a glance

Verb	Aspect	Core sense	Typical use
raditi	imperfective	do / work (process)	Što radiš? "What are you doing?"
praviti	imperfective	make / be making (process)	Pravim ručak. "I'm making lunch."
napraviti	perfective	make / do (finished result)	Napravio sam ručak. "I made lunch."

So there are two aspect pairs that meet at the same perfective:

praviti (impf) ↔ napraviti (pf) — "make": the clean prefixed pair. Pravim = "I'm making"; napravim = "I make/finish making".
raditi (impf) ↔ napraviti / uraditi (pf) — "do": raditi is the process of doing; the finished "did/got done" is napraviti or uraditi.

Raditi is treated in full on its own page — raditi. Here the focus is the perfective napraviti and its contrast with praviti and raditi.

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Don't try to map English "do" to one Croatian verb and "make" to another — that mapping does not hold. Instead ask: process or result? Process → imperfective (radim / pravim); finished result → perfective (napravim). That single question solves most choices.

napraviti — present tense

Napraviti is perfective, built on praviti with the prefix na-. It conjugates as an i-class verb: stem naprav- + -im, -iš, -i, -imo, -ite, -e. Because it is perfective, this "present" does not describe something happening now — it has future or subordinate meaning (e.g. after kad, ako, da).

Person	napraviti (pf)	praviti (impf)
ja	napravim	pravim
ti	napraviš	praviš
on/ona/ono	napravi	pravi
mi	napravimo	pravimo
vi	napravite	pravite
oni/one/ona	naprave	prave

Kad napravim kavu, sjest ćemo.

When I make the coffee, we'll sit down. — perfective present in a 'kad'-clause = future.

Pravim tortu za rođendan.

I'm making a cake for the birthday. — imperfective 'praviti', the process is underway.

Što da napravim s ovim?

What should I do with this? — perfective 'napraviti' for a single decisive action.

The l-participle

Regular for an -iti verb. Masculine singular napravio shows the vocalised -l.

Gender / number	napraviti	praviti
masculine singular	napravio	pravio
feminine singular	napravila	pravila
neuter singular	napravilo	pravilo
masculine plural	napravili	pravili
feminine plural	napravile	pravile
neuter plural	napravila	pravila

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Here the aspect contrast is at its sharpest. Pravio sam tortu = "I was making a cake" (process, maybe unfinished); napravio sam tortu = "I made a cake" (done, it exists). This is the heart of aspect in the past.

Person	napraviti (masc.)	napraviti (fem.)
ja	napravio sam	napravila sam
ti	napravio si	napravila si
on / ona	napravio je	napravila je
mi	napravili smo	napravile smo
vi	napravili ste	napravile ste
oni / one	napravili su	napravile su

Napravila sam pogrešku, žao mi je.

I made a mistake, I'm sorry. — feminine speaker; perfective: the mistake is a fact.

Cijelo popodne smo pravili kolače za sajam.

We spent the whole afternoon making cookies for the fair. — imperfective: the focus is the activity.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops -i before the clitic: napravit ću, pravit ću.

Person	napraviti	praviti
ja	napravit ću	pravit ću
ti	napravit ćeš	pravit ćeš
on/ona/ono	napravit će	pravit će
mi	napravit ćemo	pravit ćemo
vi	napravit ćete	pravit ćete
oni/one/ona	napravit će	pravit će

Ne brini, napravit ću to do petka.

Don't worry, I'll have it done by Friday. — perfective future: a completed result by a deadline.

Imperative

The perfective Napravi! ("Do it! / Make it!") is the everyday command — you want the thing done, once. The imperfective Pravi! commands an ongoing activity and is far rarer on its own.

Person	napraviti	praviti
ti	napravi	pravi
mi	napravimo	pravimo
vi	napravite	pravite

Napravi mi uslugu i nazovi ga.

Do me a favour and call him. — perfective imperative for a single act; 'napraviti uslugu' = 'do a favour'.

Ne pravi probleme, molim te.

Don't make trouble, please. — negative imperative naturally takes the imperfective 'praviti'.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Person	napraviti (masc.)
ja	napravio bih
ti	napravio bi
on/ona/ono	napravio/napravila/napravilo bi
mi	napravili bismo
vi	napravili biste
oni/one/ona	napravili bi

Što bi ti napravio na mom mjestu?

What would you do in my place? — conditional, perfective for a hypothetical single act.

Other forms

Passive participle: napravljen, napravljena, napravljeno ("made, done"). Note the v → vlj jotation regular for -iti verbs with a labial stem (the same change as raviti → ravljen). The imperfective gives pravljen. See the passive participle.
Verbal adverb: the imperfective praveći ("[while] making") exists; perfectives have no present verbal adverb.

Sve je ručno napravljeno od recikliranog drva.

Everything is handmade from recycled wood. — passive participle 'napravljeno'.

Key uses and government

1. Government: the accusative

Both napraviti and praviti are transitive and take a direct object in the accusative — napraviti kavu, plan, pogrešku, buku. There is no preposition. See the accusative direct object.

Možeš li napraviti rezervaciju za večeras?

Can you make a reservation for tonight? — accusative 'rezervaciju'.

2. The aspect choice: process vs result

This is the decision that replaces the English do/make distinction. Use the imperfective when the activity matters (it's in progress, habitual, or repeated); use the perfective when the outcome matters (it's done, achieved, a single event).

Svaki vikend pravimo palačinke.

Every weekend we make pancakes. — habitual → imperfective 'praviti'.

Jutros sam napravio palačinke.

This morning I made pancakes. — single completed event → perfective 'napraviti'.

3. napraviti vs raditi vs uraditi — "do"

For "do" in the result sense, napraviti and uraditi overlap heavily; both are perfective and very common (napravio sam zadaću / uradio sam zadaću — "I did the homework"). Raditi stays for the ongoing "doing/working": Radim na tome ("I'm working on it"). A useful split: raditi = be busy doing/working; napraviti / uraditi = get it done.

Cijeli dan radim na izvještaju, ali još ga nisam napravio.

I've been working on the report all day, but I still haven't finished it. — 'raditi' (process) vs 'napraviti' (result) in one sentence.

4. Set phrases with napraviti

A handful of common collocations: napraviti pauzu ("take a break"), napraviti red ("sort things out / put in order"), napraviti scenu ("make a scene"), napraviti korak ("take a step"). Learn these as units.

Hajde da napravimo kratku pauzu.

Let's take a short break. — set phrase 'napraviti pauzu'.

Common Mistakes

❌ Pravio sam tortu i evo je, gotova je.

Aspect clash — if the cake is finished, the result wants the perfective.

✅ Napravio sam tortu i evo je, gotova je.

I made a cake and here it is, it's done.

❌ Napravljam kavu, dođi za pet minuta.

Wrong form — there is no imperfective '*napravljati'; the process is 'pravim'.

✅ Pravim kavu, dođi za pet minuta.

I'm making coffee, come in five minutes.

❌ Oni napraviju sve sami.

Conjugation error — i-class 3pl is the bare '-e': 'naprave', not '-iju'.

✅ Oni naprave sve sami.

They do everything themselves.

❌ Ovaj stol je ručno napravjen.

Spelling — the labial stem palatalises v → vlj: 'napravljen', not 'napravjen'.

✅ Ovaj stol je ručno napravljen.

This table is handmade.

❌ Napravit ću na projektu sutra.

Wrong verb — 'work on' (ongoing) is 'raditi na', not the perfective 'napraviti'.

✅ Radit ću na projektu sutra.

I'll work on the project tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

The do/make split English worries about mostly dissolves in Croatian — ask process or result instead.
praviti (impf) ↔ napraviti (pf) is the "make" pair; raditi (impf) ↔ napraviti / uraditi (pf) covers "do".
All three take the accusative with no preposition.
Perfective napravi! is the everyday command; perfective napravio sam states a finished result; imperfective pravim / radim is the ongoing activity.
Passive participle napravljen (v → vlj); there is no *napravljati — the imperfective is praviti.

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