odgovarati / odgovoriti (to answer) | Croatian Grammar

Odgovoriti means "to answer, to reply" — and its government is a small masterclass in Croatian case logic. You answer a person in the dative (Odgovori mi! — "Answer me!", literally "reply to me"), but you answer a question with na + the accusative (odgovoriti na pitanje — "to answer a question"). Two complements, two different cases, and English flattens both into the same "answer". To complicate things pleasantly, the imperfective odgovarati has a whole second life meaning "to suit / to be suitable" (Odgovara mi — "it suits me", again with the dative). This page sorts all of that out.

Aspect

The pair is odgovarati (imperfective) and odgovoriti (perfective) — a classic suffixal pair where the imperfective is built with the -ava- type lengthening on the same root. Odgovoriti (pf) is the single completed reply; odgovarati (impf) is repeated/ongoing answering — or, in its other sense, the state of being suitable. See pair formation by suffix.

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The two members differ by more than aspect in practice: odgovoriti (pf) almost always means "answer/reply", while the imperfective odgovarati very often means "to suit / be suitable" (Odgovara mi termin — "the time slot suits me"). Same root, two careers.

Present tense

The perfective odgovoriti is an i-class verb: stem odgovor- + -im, -iš, -i, -imo, -ite, -e. The imperfective odgovarati is an a-class verb: stem odgovara- + -m, -š, -∅, -mo, -te, -ju. Because odgovoriti is perfective, its "present" has future/subordinate meaning.

Person	odgovoriti (pf, i-class)	odgovarati (impf, a-class)
ja	odgovorim	odgovaram
ti	odgovoriš	odgovaraš
on/ona/ono	odgovori	odgovara
mi	odgovorimo	odgovaramo
vi	odgovorite	odgovarate
oni/one/ona	odgovore	odgovaraju

Odgovori mi iskreno.

Answer me honestly. — dative person 'mi' (to me).

Ovaj stan mi savršeno odgovara.

This flat suits me perfectly. — imperfective 'odgovarati' = 'to suit', dative 'mi'.

Nitko mi ne odgovara na poruke.

Nobody answers my messages. — 'odgovarati na' + accusative; dative 'mi' optional for whose messages.

The l-participle

Gender / number	odgovoriti	odgovarati
masculine singular	odgovorio	odgovarao
feminine singular	odgovorila	odgovarala
neuter singular	odgovorilo	odgovaralo
masculine plural	odgovorili	odgovarali
feminine plural	odgovorile	odgovarale
neuter plural	odgovorila	odgovarala

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The perfective odgovorio sam = "I answered/replied" (once, done); the imperfective odgovarao sam = "I was answering / I used to answer" or "it suited (me)".

Person	odgovoriti (masc.)	odgovoriti (fem.)
ja	odgovorio sam	odgovorila sam
ti	odgovorio si	odgovorila si
on / ona	odgovorio je	odgovorila je
mi	odgovorili smo	odgovorile smo
vi	odgovorili ste	odgovorile ste
oni / one	odgovorili su	odgovorile su

Odgovorila sam mu da nemam vremena.

I told him I had no time. — feminine speaker; dative 'mu' + da-clause for the reply's content.

Termin mi je odgovarao, pa sam pristao.

The time suited me, so I agreed. — imperfective 'odgovarati' = 'to suit'.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops -i before the clitic: odgovorit ću, odgovarat ću.

Person	odgovoriti	odgovarati
ja	odgovorit ću	odgovarat ću
ti	odgovorit ćeš	odgovarat ćeš
on/ona/ono	odgovorit će	odgovarat će
mi	odgovorit ćemo	odgovarat ćemo
vi	odgovorit ćete	odgovarat ćete
oni/one/ona	odgovorit će	odgovarat će

Odgovorit ću ti čim stignem do računala.

I'll reply as soon as I get to a computer. — dative 'ti'.

Imperative

The perfective Odgovori! ("Answer! / Reply!") is the everyday command — you want one reply. i-class endings -i, -imo, -ite.

Person	odgovoriti	odgovarati
ti	odgovori	odgovaraj
mi	odgovorimo	odgovarajmo
vi	odgovorite	odgovarajte

Odgovori na sva pitanja, ništa ne preskači.

Answer all the questions, don't skip anything. — 'odgovoriti na' + accusative.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Person	Form (masc.)
ja	odgovorio bih
ti	odgovorio bi
on/ona/ono	odgovorio/odgovorila/odgovorilo bi
mi	odgovorili bismo
vi	odgovorili biste
oni/one/ona	odgovorili bi

Da sam na tvom mjestu, ne bih mu ni odgovorio.

If I were you, I wouldn't even reply to him. — conditional + dative 'mu'.

Other forms

Passive participle: odgovoren, odgovorena, odgovoreno ("answered"), e.g. Na to pitanje još nije odgovoreno ("That question hasn't been answered yet" — impersonal passive). The related adjective odgovoran ("responsible") looks similar but is a separate word.
Verbal adverb: the imperfective gives odgovarajući, which is also a fully lexicalised adjective meaning "appropriate / suitable" (odgovarajuća odjeća — "appropriate clothing").

Molimo vas da odaberete odgovarajući odgovor.

Please choose the appropriate answer. — 'odgovarajući' as the adjective 'suitable'.

Key uses and government

1. odgovoriti + dative of the person

You answer/reply to a person, and that person is in the dative — typically a clitic (mi, ti, mu, joj, nam, im). This mirrors English "reply to me", but Croatian marks it with case, not a preposition: Odgovori mi, never *odgovori me. See the dative indirect object.

Pisao sam joj prošli tjedan, ali još mi nije odgovorila.

I wrote to her last week, but she still hasn't answered me. — dative 'joj' (to her) and 'mi' (to me).

2. odgovoriti na + accusative — the question/message

You answer a question (or a message, an email, a call) with na + the accusative. This is the pattern to drill: odgovoriti na pitanje, na poruku, na e-mail, na poziv.

Možeš li odgovoriti na ovo pitanje?

Can you answer this question? — 'odgovoriti na' + accusative 'pitanje'.

Nije odgovorio na nijedan moj poziv.

He didn't answer a single one of my calls. — 'na' + accusative with the negative pronoun.

3. Both together: dative person + na + accusative question

The full frame combines them: Odgovorio sam mu na pitanje ("I answered his question / I answered him the question"). The person is dative, the question is na + accusative.

Profesorica mi je strpljivo odgovorila na sva pitanja.

The professor patiently answered all my questions. — dative 'mi' + 'na' + accusative 'pitanja'.

4. The content of the reply: da-clause or quote

To report what someone replied, use a da-clause: Odgovorio je da ne zna ("He answered that he didn't know").

Pitao sam je za cijenu, a ona je odgovorila da je sve već prodano.

I asked her the price, and she answered that everything was already sold. — 'pitati' paired with 'odgovoriti da'.

5. odgovarati = "to suit / to correspond to" (+ dative)

The imperfective alone carries a second meaning: "to suit, be convenient, be acceptable", with the thing suited in the dative. Odgovara mi ("it suits me / works for me") is one of the most useful everyday phrases. By extension odgovarati also means "to correspond to / match".

Odgovara li ti petak u tri?

Does Friday at three work for you? — 'odgovarati' = 'to suit', dative 'ti'.

Opis u oglasu ne odgovara stvarnom stanju.

The description in the ad doesn't match the actual condition. — 'odgovarati' = 'to correspond to', dative 'stanju'.

Common Mistakes

❌ Odgovori me brzo.

Wrong case — the person answered is dative 'mi', not accusative 'me'.

✅ Odgovori mi brzo.

Answer me quickly.

❌ Odgovorio sam pitanje.

Missing 'na' — you answer a question with 'na' + accusative, not the bare accusative.

✅ Odgovorio sam na pitanje.

I answered the question.

❌ Odgovaram na tebe, ne na njega.

Wrong frame — the person is dative ('tebi/ti'); 'na' + accusative is for the question, not the person.

✅ Odgovaram tebi, ne njemu.

I'm answering you, not him.

❌ Sviđa mi se taj termin, odgovori mi savršeno.

Wrong verb/aspect — 'it suits me' is the imperfective 'odgovara mi', not the perfective imperative 'odgovori'.

✅ Sviđa mi se taj termin, odgovara mi savršeno.

I like that time slot, it suits me perfectly.

❌ On odgovaraju na sve mailove odmah.

Conjugation error — 'odgovarati' is a-class; 3sg is 'odgovara', 3pl is 'odgovaraju'.

✅ On odgovara na sve mailove odmah.

He answers all emails right away.

Key Takeaways

Odgovoriti (pf) / odgovarati (impf) = "to answer, reply".
You answer a person in the dative (Odgovori mi!) and a question with na
- accusative (odgovoriti na pitanje) — two complements, two cases.
Both together: Odgovorio sam mu na pitanje; report the reply's content with a da-clause.
The imperfective odgovarati also means "to suit / correspond to" (+ dative): Odgovara mi ("it suits me").
Don't say *odgovori me (accusative) or *odgovoriti pitanje (no na) — the two classic transfer errors.

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