popravljati / popraviti (to repair/fix)

Popraviti / popravljati ("to repair, to fix") is the verb you reach for whenever something is broken and you make it work again — a car, a tap, a relationship, a mistake in a text. It is a clean aspect pair (perfective popraviti, imperfective popravljati), and it carries one of Croatian's most characteristic sound changes hiding in plain sight: the v → vlj jotation that surfaces in the imperfective present (popravljam) and in the passive participle (popravljen). It governs a simple accusative object, and its reflexive popraviti se opens up two everyday meanings — "to improve / mend one's ways" and, of the weather, "to clear up". Learn it back-to-back with its opposite number, pokvariti ("to break, to spoil").

Aspect

The split is the usual perfective-vs-imperfective one. Popraviti = I fixed this specific thing and now it works (done). Popravljati = I am (in the middle of) fixing it, I fix things for a living, or I fix it again and again. So "the mechanic is fixing my car right now" is popravlja, while "the mechanic fixed my car" (and it's done) is popravio je. This is a suffixal pair: the perfective popraviti is the base, and the imperfective is derived by the -a- suffix with stem lengthening (poprav-iti → popravlj-ati) — see forming aspect pairs by suffix.

Present tense

The perfective popraviti is a regular i-class verb. The imperfective popravljati is an a-class verb whose stem already carries the jotated -vlj-.

As with every perfective, the present popravim is not a "right now" tense — it has future or subordinate-clause meaning (kad popravim — "when I fix it"). For the repair in progress you need the imperfective popravljam.

The l-participle

Both are regular. Perfective popravio / popravila; imperfective popravljao / popravljala.

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The everyday "I fixed it" is the perfective popravio sam; the imperfective popravljao sam marks a process or a habit ("I was fixing / I used to fix").

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its -i before the clitic: popravit ću (pf), popravljat ću (impf). Write the clitic as a separate word — never popraviti ću.

Imperative

The perfective popravi! is the normal command for one specific repair; the imperfective popravljaj! leans toward "keep fixing / get on with the repairs".

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle — for polite offers and hypotheticals.

Other forms

• Passive participle: popravljen, popravljena, popravljeno ("fixed / repaired"). Here the v → vlj jotation is unmissable: an -iti verb with a labial stem (poprav-) inserts the epenthetic -lj- before the -en ending, exactly as kupiti → kupljen or staviti → stavljen. This participle is extremely useful as a resultant-state adjective — Auto je popravljen ("The car is fixed / repaired") — and in the eventive passive: Cesta je popravljena prošle godine ("The road was repaired last year"). The imperfective popravljati gives popravljan ("being repaired / repeatedly repaired").
• Verbal adverb: imperfective popravljajući ("[while] fixing"). The perfective, as always, has no present verbal adverb.

Key uses and government

1. popraviti + accusative — the thing repaired

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

2. Figurative repairs — fixing more than objects

Popraviti extends naturally to abstractions you "put right": popraviti grešku ("fix a mistake"), popraviti ocjenu ("improve a grade"), popraviti odnose ("mend relations"), popraviti raspoloženje ("lift the mood"). The accusative object stays the same; only the noun changes. For the general logic of which case a verb assigns, see verb government.

3. popraviti se — to improve, to clear up

Add the reflexive se and the verb turns inward. With a person it means "to improve / to mend one's ways / to do better"; with the weather it is the standard way to say it "clears up / gets better". This reflexive is intransitive — there is no longer an object. For how se turns a transitive verb into an intransitive change-of-state, see the se passive and impersonal.

4. The opposite verb: pokvariti "to break / spoil"

Popraviti (fix) is the natural antonym of pokvariti (break, spoil), which takes the same accusative frame: Pokvario sam daljinski ("I broke the remote"). Crucially, pokvariti also has a much-used reflexive — Auto se pokvario ("The car broke down") — that does not parallel the "improve" sense of popraviti se. See kvariti / pokvariti for that contrast.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• popraviti (pf, popravim, popravio) = one completed repair; popravljati (impf, popravljam, popravljao) = fixing as an activity or habit — a suffix pair.
• The v → vlj jotation runs through the imperfective present (popravljam) and the passive participle (popravljen) — never *popravam or *popravjen.
• Object = accusative; the verb works for concrete repairs and figurative ones (popraviti grešku, popraviti odnose).
• popraviti se = "improve / mend one's ways", and of the weather "clear up" — intransitive, with se.
• Future drops -i: popravit ću (never popraviti ću). The opposite verb is pokvariti "to break".