nositi / donijeti (to carry / bring)

Nositi covers two everyday ideas English keeps apart: to carry (have something in your hands, take it along on foot) and to wear (carry clothing on your body). It is imperfective, and — just like voziti for vehicles — Croatian builds its single-completed-act partners by prefixing: donijeti ("bring [here]"), odnijeti ("take away"). The split that trips learners up most is the donijeti vs dovesti contrast: you bring a thing by carrying it (donijeti), but you bring a person (or anything by vehicle) by conveying it (dovesti). And because bringing is almost always bringing something to someone, this is the verb where the dative of the recipient gets a real workout.

Aspect

Nositi is imperfective (carrying as a process, a habit, or "wearing"). Its directional perfectives are prefixed and switch to the -nijeti / -nesem paradigm: donijeti ("bring here"), odnijeti ("carry away"), prenijeti ("carry across, transfer"), iznijeti ("carry out"), unijeti ("carry in"). Each pairs back with an imperfective donositi, odnositi, etc. So nositi is your base; you prefix when you mean one completed delivery.

Present tense

Nositi is a regular i-class verb on the stem nos-.

For reference, the perfective donijeti conjugates on the -nes- stem: donesem, doneseš, donese, donesemo, donesete, donesu.

The l-participle

Nositi is regular: masculine nosio, feminine nosila, neuter nosilo. The perfective donijeti is irregular: masculine donio, feminine donijela, neuter donijelo — note the ije / io split typical of -ijeti verbs.

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. Neither verb is reflexive — no se.

Future I (futur prvi)

Nositi ends in -ti and drops the -i: nosit ću. Donijeti drops its -i: donijet ću. See future one.

Imperative

Nositi: nosi, nosimo, nosite. The perfective donijeti has the very high-frequency imperative on the -nes- stem: donesi, donesimo, donesite — Donesi mi…! "Bring me…!".

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Other forms

• Passive participle: nošen / nošena / nošeno ("carried, worn"). Note the alternation: stem nos-
  • the participle -jen jotates s + j → š, giving nošen (not nosen). Donijeti gives donesen / donesena ("brought"). Both are common as predicate adjectives.
• Verbal adverb (present): noseći ("[while] carrying").

Government and key uses

1. nositi + accusative — "carry / wear"

Both senses take a direct object in the accusative: nositi torbu "carry a bag", nositi naočale "wear glasses". The on-foot carrying is the foot-counterpart of conveying by vehicle (voziti) — Croatian, like Russian, keeps a manner distinction in these transport verbs. See the accusative as direct object.

2. donijeti / nositi + accusative + dative — "bring something to someone"

The object carried is in the accusative; the recipient is in the dative (no preposition). This double-object pattern — donijeti nekome nešto — is the bread and butter of bringing. Donesi mi knjigu "bring me the book" (mi dative, knjigu accusative). See the dative indirect object.

3. nositi — figurative and idiomatic

Nositi spreads into the abstract: nositi se s problemom "cope with a problem" (reflexive + instrumental), nositi odgovornost "bear responsibility", and the colloquial Nosi te vrag! (vulgar) "Go to hell!".

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Nositi is imperfective (carry on foot; wear). Single completed acts are prefixed: donijeti "bring", odnijeti "take away", ponijeti "take along".
• The bring split: donijeti a thing (carried), dovesti a person or anything by vehicle (conveyed).
• Government: accusative of the thing + dative of the recipient — Donesi mi knjigu. For "fetch me some water" use the partitive genitive: Donesi mi vode.
• L-participles nosio / nosila and irregular donio / donijela; passive participle nošen (s + j → š); future nosit ću / donijet ću.
• Contrast the by-vehicle verb voziti: nositi is carrying on foot.