poznavati / upoznati (to know / get to know)

Poznavati is the verb for knowing a person, a place, or a field — the knowledge of acquaintance and familiarity, as opposed to the knowledge of facts. Croatian draws a line English does not: you poznaješ a person (you are acquainted with them) but you znaš a fact (you have the information). Saying znam Anu for "I know Ana" is the single most common error English speakers carry into Croatian, because English uses one verb "know" for both. This page handles the poznavati / upoznati aspect pair, its accusative government and reflexive upoznati se s, and — the real work — the bright line between poznavati and znati.

Aspect

The aspect split is intuitive once you see the state-vs-event logic. poznavati (impf) is the standing state of knowing someone — Poznajem ga godinama ("I've known him for years"). upoznati (pf) is the event of becoming acquainted — the moment you meet and get to know them: Upoznao sam je na konferenciji ("I met her at a conference"). The prefix u- turns the open state into a bounded event — a typical prefixal aspect partner, see forming aspect pairs by prefixation.

Present tense

Poznavati uses the -aje- present stem (poznaje-); upoznati is a regular a-class perfective.

The l-participle

Poznavati is regular for an -avati verb (poznavao); upoznati is regular a-class (upoznao).

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The imperfective poznavao sam = "I knew / used to know"; the perfective upoznao sam = "I met / got to know" (a point in time).

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its final -i before the htjeti clitic: poznavat ću, upoznat ću.

Imperative

The perfective upoznaj! ("get to know / meet") is the everyday form; the imperfective poznaj is rare. Note the very common reflexive upoznajte se ("(you two,) meet / get acquainted").

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle, for hypotheticals and softened wishes.

Other forms

• Passive participle: upoznat, upoznata, upoznato ("acquainted, familiar") — Dobro sam upoznat s problemom ("I'm well acquainted with the problem"). The adjective poznat ("(well-)known, famous"), from the same root, is the everyday word for "famous": poznati glumac ("a famous actor").
• Verbal adverb (present): poznavajući ("knowing, being acquainted with") — Poznavajući ga, neće odustati ("Knowing him, he won't give up").
• Verbal noun: poznavanje ("knowledge, command") — poznavanje jezika ("command of the language"); poznanstvo ("an acquaintance, a connection").

Key uses and government

1. Accusative: know / get to know a person or place

Both verbs take a plain accusative object — the person, place, or field you know or come to know. No preposition. See the accusative as direct object.

2. Reflexive upoznati se s + instrumental — "get acquainted with"

Add se and the verb becomes reciprocal/mediopassive: upoznati se s + instrumental = "to get acquainted with, to make the acquaintance of". Two people upoznaju se ("they meet each other"); you upoznaš se s nekim ("you get acquainted with someone"). To introduce a third party, use the transitive upoznati nekoga s nekim ("introduce someone to someone"). See the reflexive se and verb government.

3. The meeting formula: Drago mi je

When introduced, Croatians say Drago mi je ("nice to meet you", literally "it is dear to me") — a dative-experiencer phrase, not a form of upoznati. You may add upoznati vas: Drago mi je što sam vas upoznao ("I'm glad I've met you"). The dative mi here is the same experiencer pattern you meet on dative with verbs and adjectives.

4. poznavati vs znati — acquaintance vs facts

This is the line to hold. poznavati = know a person, place, or field (you are acquainted, familiar). znati = know a fact, information, or how to do something (you have it in your head). You poznaješ Anu but znaš njezin broj ("you know Ana" / "you know her number"). You poznaješ Zagreb (the city, you find your way) but znaš gdje je kolodvor ("you know where the station is"). Mixing them up — znam Anu — is the classic error. The full split lives on znati.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• poznavati (impf, poznajem) = the standing state of knowing a person / place / field; upoznati (pf, upoznam) = the event of getting to know / meeting.
• Government: accusative for the person or place known. Reflexive upoznati se s
  • instrumental = "get acquainted with"; transitive upoznati nekoga s nekim = "introduce someone to someone".
• Present is poznajem (not poznavam) — the -avati → -aje- stem swap.
• Hold the line vs znati: poznavati a person, znati a fact. Poznajem Anu but znam njezin broj.
• On being introduced, say Drago mi je; future drops -i: upoznat ću.