pozdravljati / pozdraviti (to greet)

Pozdraviti / pozdravljati ("to greet, to say hello") is the everyday verb of social contact: it covers waving across the street, shaking hands at a door, and the formula you tack onto the end of a phone call — Pozdravi sve! ("Say hi to everyone!"). It is also an aspect pair worth learning early, because the two members divide labour cleanly: the perfective pozdraviti is a single greeting, the imperfective pozdravljati is repeated or habitual greeting. The related noun pozdrav ("a greeting", and the standard sign-off "regards") will follow you into every email you write.

The aspect pair

The imperfective shows jotation v → vlj: the suffix -jati fuses with the stem-final v, giving pozdravljam (not *pozdravjam). This is the same softening you see in zdravlje "health" and the passive participle pozdravljen. Knowing this one alternation tells you how the whole imperfective inflects. The general aspect machinery is laid out on aspect overview.

pozdraviti — present (i-class, perfective)

Regular i-class: stem pozdrav- + -im, -iš, -i, -imo, -ite, -e. Because pozdraviti is perfective, this "present" does not mean "I am greeting now" — it carries future or subordinate meaning (čim ga vidim, pozdravim ga "as soon as I see him, I greet him").

pozdravljati — present (a-class, imperfective)

The imperfective conjugates as an a-class verb on the softened stem pozdravlj-: pozdravljam, pozdravljaš … pozdravljaju.

The l-participle

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su) + the l-participle, which agrees with the subject. The aspect contrast is sharp here: pozdravio sam ga is one completed greeting; pozdravljao sam ga describes repeated greeting over time.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive ends in -ti and drops its -i before the clitic: pozdravit ću. The imperfective behaves the same: pozdravljat ću.

Imperative

The perfective pozdravi! is by far the most common — you want a single act of greeting. This is the form behind the everyday request Pozdravi mi obitelj! ("Give my regards to your family!").

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

The bih-clitics (bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi) + the l-participle.

Other forms

• Passive participle: pozdravljen, pozdravljena, pozdravljeno ("greeted") — note the same v → vlj jotation as the imperfective. Used in formulas: toplo pozdravljen "warmly welcomed".
• Present verbal adverb (imperfective): pozdravljajući ("while greeting"), found in narrative writing — Ušao je pozdravljajući sve redom "He came in greeting everyone in turn."

Key uses and government

1. pozdraviti nekoga — accusative of the person

The person greeted goes in the accusative. With clitic pronouns this is ga (him), je / ju (her), ih (them), in the usual second-position slot.

2. pozdraviti od + genitive — "say hi from someone"

To convey a greeting on someone's behalf, use od + the genitive: Pozdravi je od mene ("Say hi to her from me").

3. pozdraviti se s + instrumental — "say goodbye / take leave"

The reflexive pozdraviti se s nekim means to exchange goodbyes — the person you part from takes s(a) + the instrumental. This is the standard way to say "we said our goodbyes".

4. Pozdrav as a sign-off

The noun pozdrav ("a greeting / regards") is the standard friendly close of an email or message, and plural pozdravi / lijepi pozdravi ("kind regards") is the formal equivalent of "Best regards".

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Aspect pair: imperfective pozdravljati (habitual greeting) vs perfective pozdraviti (one greeting). The imperfective shows v → vlj jotation.
• The person greeted is accusative (Pozdravi ga!); the sender of regards is od
  • genitive (od mene).
• The reflexive pozdraviti se s
  • instrumental means "to say goodbye to / take leave of" someone.
• Passive participle pozdravljen (same jotation); the noun pozdrav is the everyday email sign-off.
• Use the perfective pozdravi! for a single greeting, the imperfective pozdravlja for "always/habitually greets".