otvarati / otvoriti (to open) | Croatian Grammar

Otvoriti / otvarati ("to open") is a model everyday-action verb and a clean illustration of how a Croatian aspect pair works in practice: one perfective member for the single completed act of opening, one imperfective member for opening as a process or habit. It takes a straightforward accusative object (you open the door, the window, a bottle), and its passive participle otvoren ("open / opened") is one of the most useful adjectives in the language — Trgovina je otvorena ("The shop is open"). Learn it together with its mirror-image partner zatvoriti ("to close").

Aspect

The pair is otvoriti (perfective — to open, the single completed act) and otvarati (imperfective — to be opening, to open repeatedly/habitually). This is a textbook suffix pair: the perfective otvoriti is the base, and the imperfective is built by inserting the -a- suffix and lengthening the stem (otvor-iti → otvar-ati). Use the perfective for one finished opening (Otvorio sam prozor — "I opened the window"); use the imperfective for ongoing or repeated opening (Ne otvaraj prozor — "Don't keep opening the window"; Trgovina se otvara u osam — "The shop opens at eight, every day"). For how this -a- suffix builds imperfectives generally, see pair formation by suffix.

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Default to the perfective otvoriti for "I opened / I'll open / open it!" — a single act. Switch to the imperfective otvarati only when the opening is repeated, habitual, in progress, or forbidden (negative imperative). This perfective-as-default instinct will serve you across most action-result verbs.

Present tense

A crucial point: the present of the perfective otvoriti does not describe a present-time event — it carries future or conditional meaning and lives mainly in subordinate clauses (kad otvorim — "when I open"). For an actual ongoing present ("I am opening it now"), you need the imperfective otvarati. Both paradigms follow below.

Perfective otvoriti — i-class, stem otvor-:

Person	Form	Meaning (non-present: future/subordinate)
ja	otvorim	(when/that) I open
ti	otvoriš	(when) you open
on/ona/ono	otvori	(when) he/she/it opens
mi	otvorimo	(when) we open
vi	otvorite	(when) you open
oni/one/ona	otvore	(when) they open

Imperfective otvarati — a-class, stem otvara-:

Person	Form	Meaning
ja	otvaram	I am opening / I open (habitually)
ti	otvaraš	you are opening
on/ona/ono	otvara	he/she/it is opening
mi	otvaramo	we are opening
vi	otvarate	you are opening
oni/one/ona	otvaraju	they are opening

Pekara se otvara u šest ujutro.

The bakery opens at six in the morning. — habitual present, imperfective 'otvara se'.

Zašto otvaraš prozor po ovoj hladnoći?

Why are you opening the window in this cold? — action in progress, imperfective 'otvaraš'.

The l-participle

Both verbs are regular. Perfective otvorio / otvorila; imperfective otvarao / otvarala.

Gender / number	otvoriti (pf)	otvarati (impf)
masculine singular	otvorio	otvarao
feminine singular	otvorila	otvarala
neuter singular	otvorilo	otvaralo
masculine plural	otvorili	otvarali
feminine plural	otvorile	otvarale
neuter plural	otvorila	otvarala

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The perfective reports the completed opening; the imperfective describes the process or a repeated habit.

Person	Masculine (pf)	Feminine (pf)
ja	otvorio sam	otvorila sam
ti	otvorio si	otvorila si
on / ona	otvorio je	otvorila je
mi	otvorili smo	otvorile smo
vi	otvorili ste	otvorile ste
oni / one	otvorili su	otvorile su

Otvorila sam ti vrata, uđi.

I've opened the door for you, come in. — feminine speaker, single completed act, perfective.

Cijelo jutro je otvarao kutije i tražio dokumente.

He spent all morning opening boxes looking for documents. — repeated action, imperfective 'otvarao'.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its -i before the clitic: otvorit ću (pf), otvarat ću (impf).

Person	Futur I (pf)
ja	otvorit ću
ti	otvorit ćeš
on/ona/ono	otvorit će
mi	otvorit ćemo
vi	otvorit ćete
oni/one/ona	otvorit će

Otvorit ću vino, slavimo!

I'll open the wine, we're celebrating!

Imperative

i-class endings -i, -imo, -ite on the perfective stem (otvor-); the imperfective imperative is otvaraj, otvarajmo, otvarajte. The positive command for a one-off opening uses the perfective; see the negative imperative note below.

Person	Perfective (do it once)	Imperfective
ti	otvori	otvaraj
mi	otvorimo	otvarajmo
vi	otvorite	otvarajte

Otvori prozor, malo je zagušljivo.

Open the window, it's a bit stuffy. — single act, perfective imperative 'otvori'.

Molim vas, otvorite knjige na stranici dvadeset.

Please open your books to page twenty. — formal plural imperative.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Person	Form (masc., pf)
ja	otvorio bih
ti	otvorio bi
on/ona/ono	otvorio/otvorila/otvorilo bi
mi	otvorili bismo
vi	otvorili biste
oni/one/ona	otvorili bi

Otvorio bih ti, ali nemam ključ.

I'd open up for you, but I don't have the key.

Other forms

Passive participle: otvoren, otvorena, otvoreno ("open / opened") — one of the highest-frequency adjectives in Croatian. It builds both the resultant-state "be open" (Vrata su otvorena — "The door is open") and the eventive passive (Izložba je otvorena u petak — "The exhibition was opened on Friday"). See the passive participle.
Present verbal adverb (imperfective): otvarajući ("[while] opening"), used in writing for simultaneous action.

Banka je otvorena do četiri.

The bank is open until four. — resultant-state 'otvorena'.

Otvarajući vrata, primijetila je da je netko bio unutra.

Opening the door, she noticed someone had been inside. — verbal adverb 'otvarajući'.

Key uses and government

1. otvoriti + accusative — the direct object

Both members are transitive and take a direct object in the accusative: what you open. This is the everyday core of the verb. See the accusative direct object.

Možeš li otvoriti bocu, ne ide čep?

Can you open the bottle, the cork won't come out? — accusative 'bocu'.

Otvorila je novi račun u banci.

She opened a new account at the bank. — accusative 'novi račun'; note the figurative 'open an account'.

2. otvoriti se — to open (intransitively)

Add the reflexive se and the verb becomes intransitive: the thing opens by itself, or opens for business. Vrata su se otvorila ("The door opened"); Restoran se otvara sljedeći tjedan ("The restaurant opens next week"). For the reflexive-as-intransitive pattern, see reflexive verbs.

Vrata su se sama otvorila.

The door opened on its own. — reflexive 'otvorila su se', intransitive.

3. Figurative and idiomatic openings

Otvoriti extends to abstract objects: otvoriti raspravu ("open a discussion"), otvoriti dušu ("open up emotionally", literally "open one's soul"), otvoriti aplikaciju ("open an app").

Otvori mi se kad god trebaš razgovarati.

Open up to me whenever you need to talk. — figurative reflexive 'otvoriti se'.

Common Mistakes

❌ Sad otvorim prozor.

Aspect/tense error — the perfective present isn't a real present; for 'I'm opening it now' use the imperfective 'otvaram'.

✅ Sad otvaram prozor.

I'm opening the window now.

❌ Otvori prozor svako jutro.

For a repeated habit use the imperfective imperative 'otvaraj', not the one-off perfective 'otvori'.

✅ Otvaraj prozor svako jutro.

Open the window every morning.

❌ Trgovina je otvoren.

Agreement error — the participle must agree with feminine 'trgovina': 'otvorena'.

✅ Trgovina je otvorena.

The shop is open.

❌ Otvoriću ti vrata.

The future clitic is a separate word and the infinitive drops '-i': 'otvorit ću'.

✅ Otvorit ću ti vrata.

I'll open the door for you.

❌ Vrata otvore.

Without 'se' this needs an object; for 'the door opens (by itself)' use the reflexive 'otvaraju se'.

✅ Vrata se otvaraju automatski.

The doors open automatically.

Key Takeaways

The pair is otvoriti (perfective, single act) / otvarati (imperfective, process or habit); built by the -a- suffix.
It governs the accusative (what you open); add se for the intransitive "open by itself / open for business".
The perfective present isn't a real present — use otvaram (imperfective) for "I'm opening it now".
The passive participle otvoren(a/o) is everywhere: Trgovina je otvorena ("The shop is open").
Mirror it with zatvoriti; the two share every structural feature.

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