razgovarati (to talk/converse) | Croatian Grammar

Razgovarati ("to talk, to converse, to have a conversation") is the verb for two-way talk — a chat, a discussion, a phone call. It is what English would render with "talk with someone about something", and that double frame is exactly its grammatical signature: the person you talk with takes s(a) + the instrumental, and the topic takes o + the locative. Master Razgovaram s prijateljem o poslu ("I'm talking with a friend about work") and you have the whole verb. The hard part for English speakers is not the conjugation — it is keeping razgovarati apart from govoriti ("speak") and reći ("say").

Aspect

Razgovarati is imperfective: it describes conversation as an ongoing, durative activity, with no built-in endpoint. Its perfective partner is porazgovarati ("to have a (quick, bounded) talk / to have a word"), formed with the prefix po-, which adds the sense of a delimited, completed chat.

imperfective: Razgovarali smo cijelo popodne. — "We talked all afternoon." (the process)
perfective: Trebamo malo porazgovarati. — "We need to have a little talk." (a bounded conversation)

So razgovarati never "finishes"; reach for porazgovarati when you mean a single, rounded-off conversation. The prefix mechanism is covered on aspect pair formation with prefixes.

Present tense (a-class)

Razgovarati is a clean a-class verb: stem razgovar- + the theme vowel -a- + endings -m, -š, (—), -mo, -te, -ju. The theme vowel stays visible throughout, including the 3rd-person plural razgovaraju (a-class -aju, not the i-class bare -e).

Person	Form	Meaning
ja	razgovaram	I talk / I'm talking
ti	razgovaraš	you talk
on/ona/ono	razgovara	he/she/it talks
mi	razgovaramo	we talk
vi	razgovarate	you talk
oni/one/ona	razgovaraju	they talk

O čemu vas dvoje stalno razgovarate?

What do you two keep talking about?

Roditelji i djeca premalo razgovaraju.

Parents and children talk too little.

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The 3rd-person plural is the a-class -aju: razgovaraju. Don't borrow the i-class bare -e here (no *razgovare). The whole verb sits in the a-class because the infinitive ends in -arati with the theme vowel -a- intact in the present. See the a-class present.

The l-participle

Gender / number	Form
masculine singular	razgovarao
feminine singular	razgovarala
neuter singular	razgovaralo
masculine plural	razgovarali
feminine plural	razgovarale
neuter plural	razgovarala

The masculine singular razgovarao shows the vocalised -l (two vowels in a row, -ao), regular for an a-class verb.

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle, agreeing with the subject.

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	razgovarao sam	razgovarala sam
ti	razgovarao si	razgovarala si
on / ona	razgovarao je	razgovarala je
mi	razgovarali smo	razgovarale smo
vi	razgovarali ste	razgovarale ste
oni / one	razgovarali su	razgovarale su

Jučer sam razgovarala s liječnikom o rezultatima.

Yesterday I talked to the doctor about the results. — feminine speaker; person in instrumental, topic in locative.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive razgovarati drops its final -i before the clitic: razgovarat ću.

Person	Form
ja	razgovarat ću
ti	razgovarat ćeš
on/ona/ono	razgovarat će
mi	razgovarat ćemo
vi	razgovarat ćete
oni/one/ona	razgovarat će

Razgovarat ćemo o tome kad se smiriš.

We'll talk about it when you calm down.

Imperative

a-class imperatives end in -aj, -ajmo, -ajte.

Person	Form	Meaning
ti	razgovaraj	talk! / have a conversation
mi	razgovarajmo	let's talk
vi	razgovarajte	talk! (pl./formal)

Razgovaraj s njom, nemoj se ljutiti.

Talk to her, don't be angry.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

The bih-clitics + l-participle.

Person	Form (masc.)
ja	razgovarao bih
ti	razgovarao bi
on/ona/ono	razgovarao / razgovarala / razgovaralo bi
mi	razgovarali bismo
vi	razgovarali biste
oni/one/ona	razgovarali bi

Rado bih razgovarao s tobom o tome jednom na miru.

I'd gladly talk to you about it sometime, calmly.

Other forms

Passive participle: none in normal use — razgovarati is intransitive (it has no accusative object), so it does not form a personal passive. There is no *razgovaran.
Present verbal adverb: razgovarajući ("while talking, in conversation"), used in writing — Sjedili su razgovarajući do zore "They sat talking until dawn."

Sjedili smo na terasi razgovarajući do kasno u noć.

We sat on the terrace talking until late at night. — verbal adverb 'razgovarajući'.

Key uses and government

This is the heart of the verb. Razgovarati takes no direct object; it frames its two participants with prepositions.

1. razgovarati s(a) + instrumental — "talk with someone"

The person you talk with takes s (or sa before sibilants) + the instrumental. There is no accusative here — you do not "talk someone", you "talk with someone".

Moram razgovarati s tobom nasamo.

I need to talk with you privately. — 's' + instrumental 'tobom'.

Razgovarala je sa šeficom o povišici.

She talked with her boss about a raise. — 'sa' before 'š', instrumental 'šeficom'.

2. razgovarati o + locative — "talk about something"

The topic takes o + the locative. The two frames stack freely: razgovarati s nekim o nečemu.

Ne želim razgovarati o politici za stolom.

I don't want to talk about politics at the table. — 'o' + locative 'politici'.

Razgovaramo s djecom o školi svaki dan.

We talk with the kids about school every day. — both frames at once.

3. razgovarati vs govoriti vs reći

This is the distinction English speakers most often blur. Razgovarati is reciprocal two-way conversation; govoriti is one-directional speaking (a language, a topic, an ability); reći is a single completed utterance. You can govoriti hrvatski but you cannot *razgovarati hrvatski — conversing has no language object. See govoriti / reći.

Govorim hrvatski, ali ne volim razgovarati telefonom.

I speak Croatian, but I don't like talking on the phone. — 'govoriti' + language, 'razgovarati' = converse.

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One sentence locks the contrast: govoriti + a language or topic (you do it alone, possibly one-way), razgovarati s + a person (it takes two), reći + one finished statement. English "talk" overlaps all three, so translate by the situation, not the word.

Common Mistakes

❌ Razgovaram tebe o poslu.

Wrong frame — you don't talk SOMEONE; the person takes 's' + instrumental: 's tobom'.

✅ Razgovaram s tobom o poslu.

I'm talking with you about work.

❌ Razgovarali smo o posao cijelo jutro.

Wrong case — 'o' takes the locative, not the nominative/accusative: 'o poslu'.

✅ Razgovarali smo o poslu cijelo jutro.

We talked about work all morning.

❌ Ona razgovara hrvatski jako dobro.

Wrong verb — speaking a language is 'govoriti', not 'razgovarati' (which needs a conversation partner).

✅ Ona govori hrvatski jako dobro.

She speaks Croatian very well.

❌ Oni razgovare svaku večer.

Wrong ending — 'razgovarati' is a-class, so the 3pl is '-aju': 'razgovaraju'.

✅ Oni razgovaraju svaku večer.

They talk every evening.

❌ Razgovarao sam sa direktor.

Wrong case — 'sa' + instrumental: 's direktorom' (and 's' suffices before a non-sibilant; 'sa' is reserved for sibilants/clusters).

✅ Razgovarao sam s direktorom.

I talked with the director.

Key Takeaways

Razgovarati is imperfective (the conversation as process); the perfective is porazgovarati ("have a (quick) talk").
It is a-class: razgovaram … razgovaraju — watch the 3pl -aju.
Government: person in s(a)
- instrumental, topic in o
  - locative. No direct object, so no passive participle.
Keep it apart from govoriti (speak a language / one-way) and reći (a single utterance) — English "talk" covers all three.
Future razgovarat ću; imperative razgovaraj; verbal adverb razgovarajući.

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