plaćati / platiti (to pay) | Croatian Grammar

Platiti ("to pay") is the verb you reach for at every till, restaurant, and ticket counter, and its aspect pair carries one of Croatian's most visible sound changes: the t → ć jotation. The perfective is platiti (with t), but the imperfective and the passive participle show the softened ć — plaćati, plaćen. Getting that ć right in writing is a real orthographic test. Beyond spelling, platiti introduces the instrumental of means ("pay by card / in cash"), the dative beneficiary ("pay for someone"), and the dedicated price verbs koštati and stajati.

Aspect

Verb	Aspect	Present 1sg	Typical use
platiti	perfective	platim	one completed payment
plaćati	imperfective	plaćam	paying (in progress); regular/recurring payment

Platiti = settle it, pay it off (done). Plaćati = be in the act of paying, or pay regularly (rent, bills, taxes). So "I'll pay the bill" (now, one act) is platit ću račun, while "I pay rent every month" (recurring) is plaćam stanarinu svaki mjesec. This is a suffixal aspect pair, and the imperfective suffix is exactly what triggers the t → ć softening; see forming aspect pairs by suffixation.

💡

One pair, two consonants: perfective platiti keeps the t; imperfective plaćati and the passive participle plaćen take the ć. Writing placen or plačati is a spelling error, not a typo — the jotation gives ć, the soft one.

Present tense

Platiti is a regular i-class verb on plat-; plaćati is an a-class verb on the jotated stem plać-.

Person	platiti (pf)	plaćati (impf)
ja	platim	plaćam
ti	platiš	plaćaš
on/ona/ono	plati	plaća
mi	platimo	plaćamo
vi	platite	plaćate
oni/one/ona	plate	plaćaju

The perfective platim is not a present "now" — it's future/conditional in force: Čim platim, idemo ("As soon as I pay, we go"). The act of paying as it happens is plaćam.

Plaćam stanarinu prvog u mjesecu.

I pay the rent on the first of the month. — recurring, imperfective.

Ako platim karticom, ima li popusta?

If I pay by card, is there a discount? — perfective present, conditional reading.

The l-participle

Both are regular: masculine platio (vocalised -l), plaćao.

Gender / number	platiti	plaćati
masculine singular	platio	plaćao
feminine singular	platila	plaćala
neuter singular	platilo	plaćalo
masculine plural	platili	plaćali
feminine plural	platile	plaćale
neuter plural	platila	plaćala

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. "I paid (it)" is the perfective platio sam; the imperfective plaćao sam marks habit or process ("I used to pay / I was paying").

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	platio sam	platila sam
ti	platio si	platila si
on / ona	platio je	platila je
mi	platili smo	platile smo
vi	platili ste	platile ste
oni / one	platili su	platile su

Ne brini, već sam platila račun.

Don't worry, I've already paid the bill. — feminine speaker, perfective.

Godinama smo plaćali kredit za stan.

For years we were paying off the loan on the flat. — imperfective, drawn-out process.

Future I (futur prvi)

Platiti → platit ću (drops -i); plaćati → plaćat ću.

Person	platiti	plaćati
ja	platit ću	plaćat ću
ti	platit ćeš	plaćat ćeš
on/ona/ono	platit će	plaćat će
mi	platit ćemo	plaćat ćemo
vi	platit ćete	plaćat ćete
oni/one/ona	platit će	plaćat će

Danas ja plaćam, ti si platio prošli put.

Today I'm paying, you paid last time.

Imperative

Perfective plati! settles a specific bill; imperfective plaćaj! is "keep paying / pay (regularly)".

Person	platiti (pf)	plaćati (impf)
ti	plati	plaćaj
mi	platimo	plaćajmo
vi	platite	plaćajte

Plati i idemo, gužva je.

Pay and let's go, it's crowded. — perfective, settle it now.

Negative: Nemoj platiti gotovinom, nemaš dovoljno ("Don't pay in cash, you don't have enough").

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Person	platiti (masc.)
ja	platio bih
ti	platio bi
on/ona/ono	platio/platila/platilo bi
mi	platili bismo
vi	platili biste
oni/one/ona	platili bi

Platio bih i više za ovakvu kvalitetu.

I'd pay even more for quality like this.

Other forms

Passive participle: plaćen, plaćena, plaćeno ("paid"). The same t → ć jotation as in the imperfective: Račun je plaćen ("The bill is paid"); dobro plaćen posao ("a well-paid job"). The imperfective gives plaćan.
Verbal adverb: imperfective plaćajući ("[while] paying"). Perfective has none.

Traži dobro plaćen posao s punim radnim vremenom.

He's looking for a well-paid full-time job. — passive participle 'plaćen'.

Key uses and government

1. The thing paid: accusative

The direct object — the bill, the rent, the ticket — is the accusative.

Platili smo račun i ostavili napojnicu.

We paid the bill and left a tip. — accusative object.

2. The means of payment: instrumental (no preposition)

How you pay — card, cash — goes into the bare instrumental, where English uses "by / in". This is the instrumental of means; see instrumental: means and accompaniment.

Mogu li platiti karticom?

Can I pay by card? — instrumental 'karticom', no preposition.

Radije plaćam gotovinom nego karticom.

I'd rather pay in cash than by card. — both means in the instrumental.

3. "Pay for something" — za + accusative

To name what you are paying for, use za + accusative. Don't confuse this with the instrumental of means: platiti karticom (pay by card) vs platiti za kartu (pay for the ticket).

Koliko si platio za ovu jaknu?

How much did you pay for this jacket? — 'za' + accusative.

4. "Pay someone" — dative beneficiary, "treat someone" — dative + accusative

The person you pay (or pay back) goes into the bare dative. The same dative also gives the warm idiom Ja častim / Ja plaćam ("It's on me") — and platiti nekome piće is "to buy/stand someone a drink".

Platit ću ti čim dobijem plaću.

I'll pay you back as soon as I get my salary. — dative 'ti'.

Daj da ti platim kavu, zaslužila si.

Let me buy you a coffee, you deserve it. — dative person + accusative drink.

5. Price verbs: koštati and stajati

Platiti is what you do; the price itself is expressed with koštati or stajati ("to cost"), both used in the 3rd person. Koliko košta? = Koliko stoji? ("How much is it?"). See the "cost" sense on stajati / stati.

Koliko košta ulaznica? — Platio sam je dvadeset eura.

How much is a ticket? — I paid twenty euros for it. — 'koštati' for the price, 'platiti' for the act.

Common Mistakes

❌ Plačam stanarinu svaki mjesec.

Spelling — the imperfective jotates t → ć, not č: 'plaćam'.

✅ Plaćam stanarinu svaki mjesec.

I pay the rent every month.

❌ Račun je placen.

Spelling — the passive participle is 'plaćen' (with ć), never 'placen'.

✅ Račun je plaćen.

The bill is paid.

❌ Mogu li platiti s karticom?

Wrong construction — means of payment is the bare instrumental, no 's': 'karticom'.

✅ Mogu li platiti karticom?

Can I pay by card?

❌ Koliko plaća ova jakna?

Wrong verb — a thing's price uses 'koštati'/'stajati', not 'plaćati' (which is what a person does).

✅ Koliko košta ova jakna?

How much does this jacket cost?

❌ Platit ću za tebe.

Acceptable but blunt — to say 'I'll pay you (back)' or treat you, the natural form is the bare dative 'tebi/ti'.

✅ Platit ću ti.

I'll pay you (back) / it's on me.

Key Takeaways

platiti (pf, platim, keeps t) = one payment; plaćati (impf, plaćam, ć) = recurring/in-progress paying. Passive participle plaćen (t → ć).
Object = accusative; means of payment = bare instrumental (karticom, gotovinom); what you pay for = za
- accusative; person paid = bare dative.
The price of a thing uses koštati / stajati ("cost"), not platiti.
Future drops -i: platit ću. Watch the spelling: ć in plaćati/plaćen, t in platiti.

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