objašnjavati / objasniti (to explain)

Objasniti / objašnjavati ("to explain") belongs to the small but important family of dative-recipient communication verbs — verbs where you transfer something (here, understanding) to a listener. Just as you show something to someone with pokazati, you explain something to someone with objasniti. The listener goes in the dative, no preposition, where English uses "to" or a bare object. That makes this verb an excellent place to drill the dative of the indirect object. The aspect pair is the usual process/result contrast — objašnjavati (explaining, going through it) versus objasniti (get it explained, make it clear).

Aspect

The perfective objasniti views the explanation as a completed act that lands — I explained it and now it's clear. The imperfective objašnjavam is the activity in progress: I'm in the middle of explaining, walking you through it, or doing so repeatedly. This is a suffix-formed aspect pair: the perfective objasniti is the base, and the imperfective adds the -(j)ava- extension — which triggers the consonant change sn → šnj in the stem (objasn- → objašnjav-).

Present tense

Objasniti is a regular i-class verb (objasnim); objašnjavati is a regular a-class verb on the softened stem (objašnjavam).

The perfective present objasnim is not a "now" tense; it reads as a future or condition: Čim mi objasniš, sve će biti jasno ("As soon as you explain it to me, it'll all be clear"). For the act in progress use objašnjavam.

The l-participle

Objasniti is regular -iti: objasnio / objasnila. Objašnjavati: objašnjavao / objašnjavala.

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The everyday "I explained" is the perfective objasnio sam / objasnila sam.

Future I (futur prvi)

Both drop the final -i: objasnit ću, objašnjavat ću.

Imperative

The perfective Objasni! ("Explain!") — most often Objasni mi! ("Explain it to me!") — is the everyday request. The imperfective objašnjavaj! implies "keep explaining / go through it".

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle, for polite offers and softened statements.

Other forms

• Passive participle: objašnjen, objašnjena, objašnjeno ("explained"). Note the jotation: the stem objasn- softens to objašnj- before the -en ending, giving objašnjen (with š and nj), not *objasnjen. Common in the predicate: Sve je jasno objašnjeno u priručniku ("Everything is clearly explained in the manual"). The imperfective gives objašnjavan.
• Verbal adverb: imperfective objašnjavajući ("[while] explaining"). The perfective has no present adverb.

Key uses and government

1. The thing explained: accusative

What you explain — the rules, the problem, the situation — is the accusative direct object.

2. The listener: dative ("explain to someone")

This is the verb's signature pattern. The person you explain to goes in the bare dative — no preposition — exactly like the recipient of pokazati ("show") or odgovoriti ("answer"). The full frame is objasniti nekomu nešto ("explain something to someone"). Short pronouns appear as the dative clitics mi, ti, mu, joj, nam, vam, im. See the dative of the indirect object and the dative with verbs.

3. A da-clause or question word as the content

Often what you explain isn't a single noun but a whole proposition — that…, how…, why…. Croatian uses a da-clause or a question word (kako, zašto, gdje, što) for the content, while the listener stays in the dative.

4. objasniti vs reći vs pokazati

All three take a dative listener, but they differ in what is transferred. Reći ("say, tell") transfers a piece of information; pokazati ("show") makes something visible; objasniti makes something understood — it implies unpacking, clarifying, giving reasons. You say the answer, but you explain the reasoning behind it.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• objašnjavati (impf, objašnjavam) = explaining in progress; objasniti (pf, objasnim) = get it explained — note the sn → šnj softening in the imperfective.
• Government = accusative thing + bare dative listener: objasniti nekomu nešto, Objasni mi! (no preposition).
• The content can be a da-clause or a question word: objasniti kako / zašto / da…
• Passive participle objašnjen (with jotation: š
  • nj). Future drops -i: objasnit ću.
• Like pokazati and odgovoriti, it is a dative-recipient verb — but it specifically makes something understood, not merely said or shown.