pamtiti / zapamtiti (to remember / memorise) | Croatian Grammar

Pamtiti / zapamtiti is the transitive half of Croatian's memory vocabulary: to hold something in memory and to commit it to memory. Its object is a plain accusative — Pamtim taj dan ("I remember that day"). That is the headline of the page, because its near-synonym sjećati se ("to recall") governs the genitive and is reflexive: sjećam se tog dana. English "remember" flattens both into one verb, so learners reach for the wrong case constantly. We will not re-teach sjećati se here — it has its own page — but we will draw the accusative-vs-genitive line sharply, and tie in the antonym zaboraviti ("to forget").

Aspect

Verb	Aspect	Present 1sg	Core sense
pamtiti	imperfective	pamtim	to retain, to keep in memory (the standing state)
zapamtiti	perfective	zapamtim	to commit to memory, to memorise (the act of fixing it)

The split is the familiar state-vs-event logic. pamtiti (impf) is the standing capacity to retain — what you keep in your memory over time: Dobro pamtim lica, ali loše imena ("I'm good at remembering faces, bad at names"). zapamtiti (pf) is the act of fixing something in memory once — committing it: Zapamti ovo! ("Remember this! / Get this into your head!"). The prefix za- bounds the open activity into a single completed event, a standard prefixal aspect partner; see forming aspect pairs by prefixation.

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Use zapamti! ("commit this to memory") when you want someone to lock something in now, and pamtim for the ongoing fact that you hold something in memory. Compare the lightbulb-moment sjetiti se ("recall, it came back to me") on the sjećati se page — three different memory events, three different verbs.

Present tense

Both are regular i-class verbs (stem pamti- / zapamti- + -m, -š, ∅, -mo, -te, -e).

Person	pamtiti (impf)	zapamtiti (pf)
ja	pamtim	zapamtim
ti	pamtiš	zapamtiš
on/ona/ono	pamti	zapamti
mi	pamtimo	zapamtimo
vi	pamtite	zapamtite
oni/one/ona	pamte	zapamte

Pamtim svaki detalj tog putovanja.

I remember every detail of that trip. — 'pamtiti' + accusative 'detalj'.

Ne pamtim brojeve, moram ih zapisati.

I can't keep numbers in my head, I have to write them down. — habitual state, imperfective.

The l-participle

Regular for i-class verbs; masculine shows the vocalised -l → -o.

Gender / number	pamtiti	zapamtiti
masculine singular	pamtio	zapamtio
feminine singular	pamtila	zapamtila
neuter singular	pamtilo	zapamtilo
masculine plural	pamtili	zapamtili
feminine plural	pamtile	zapamtile
neuter plural	pamtila	zapamtila

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The imperfective pamtio sam = "I remembered / used to remember (held in memory)"; the perfective zapamtio sam = "I memorised / committed to memory (and now have it)".

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	zapamtio sam	zapamtila sam
ti	zapamtio si	zapamtila si
on / ona	zapamtio je	zapamtila je
mi	zapamtili smo	zapamtile smo
vi	zapamtili ste	zapamtile ste
oni / one	zapamtili su	zapamtile su

Odmah sam zapamtila njegovo ime, tako je neobično.

I memorised his name right away, it's so unusual. — perfective, feminine speaker; accusative 'ime'.

Generacije su pamtile tu pjesmu napamet.

Generations remembered that song by heart. — imperfective, a lasting retention; 'napamet' = by heart.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its final -i before the htjeti clitic: pamtit ću, zapamtit ću.

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

Zapamtit ćeš ovaj dan, obećavam ti.

You'll remember this day, I promise you. — perfective future; accusative 'dan'.

Imperative

The perfective zapamti! is the everyday "remember this / note it" — a fixed exhortation. The imperfective pamti is rarer and leans literary or aphoristic.

Person	pamtiti (impf)	zapamtiti (pf)
ti	pamti	zapamti
mi	pamtimo	zapamtimo
vi	pamtite	zapamtite

Zapamti ovo: nikad ne potpisuj nešto što nisi pročitao.

Remember this: never sign something you haven't read. — perfective imperative 'zapamti', the standard 'mark my words'.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle, for hypotheticals.

Person	Form (masc.)
ja	zapamtio bih
ti	zapamtio bi
on/ona/ono	zapamtio/zapamtila/zapamtilo bi
mi	zapamtili bismo
vi	zapamtili biste
oni/one/ona	zapamtili bi

Da mi ga predstaviš jednom, zapamtio bih ga.

If you introduced him to me once, I'd remember him. — conditional + accusative 'ga'.

Other forms

Verbal noun: pamćenje ("memory, the faculty of memory") — vizualno pamćenje ("visual memory"), izgubiti pamćenje ("to lose one's memory"). Note the ć (the t + j of the stem palatalises to ć).
The noun pamet ("intelligence, wits, sense") shares the root: biti pri pameti ("to be in one's right mind"), and the everyday adverb napamet ("by heart, from memory") — naučiti napamet ("to learn by heart").
Verbal adverb (present): pamteći ("[while] remembering") — relatively literary.

Ima fotografsko pamćenje, zapamti sve odjednom.

He has a photographic memory, he memorises everything at once. — the noun 'pamćenje' alongside perfective 'zapamtiti'.

Key uses and government

1. The headline: accusative object

Pamtiti and zapamtiti take a plain accusative direct object — the thing remembered or memorised. No preposition, no reflexive se. See the accusative as direct object and the verb government overview.

Pamtim taj dan kao da je bio jučer.

I remember that day as if it were yesterday. — accusative 'dan'.

Zapamti broj: pet, dva, sedam, osam.

Memorise the number: five, two, seven, eight. — accusative 'broj', perfective imperative.

2. Accusative pamtiti vs genitive sjećati se

This is the line that trips up English speakers. pamtiti takes the accusative (pamtim taj dan); the reflexive sjećati se takes the genitive (sjećam se tog dana). They overlap in meaning — both can render "I remember that day" — but the grammar is opposite: one is transitive with se-less accusative, the other is reflexive with the genitive. There is a subtle sense difference too: pamtiti leans on retaining / having stored (the memory is filed and held), while sjećati se leans on recalling / the recollection itself (the memory comes to mind). For the genitive verb in full, see sjećati se and the genitive with verbs.

Pamtim njezino lice, ali se ne sjećam imena.

I remember her face, but I can't recall the name. — accusative 'lice' with 'pamtiti', genitive 'imena' with 'sjećati se'.

3. The antonym: zaboraviti ("to forget")

The opposite of remembering is zaboraviti / zaboravljati ("to forget"), which, like pamtiti, takes the accusative: Zaboravio sam ključeve ("I forgot the keys"). So the transitive memory triplet — pamtiti, zapamtiti, zaboraviti — all share the accusative frame, and only sjećati se breaks ranks with the genitive. See zaboraviti.

Zapamti lozinku da je ne zaboraviš.

Memorise the password so you don't forget it. — 'zapamtiti' and 'zaboraviti', both + accusative.

Common Mistakes

❌ Pamtim se tog dana.

Wrong frame — 'pamtiti' is transitive with the accusative and NO 'se'. The reflexive + genitive belongs to 'sjećati se'.

✅ Pamtim taj dan.

I remember that day.

❌ Sjećam se taj dan.

Wrong case — 'sjećati se' governs the genitive, not the accusative: 'sjećam se tog dana'.

✅ Sjećam se tog dana.

I remember that day.

❌ Zapamtim tvoj broj odmah.

Aspect mismatch — a perfective present can't mean 'I (habitually) remember'; for the standing state use the imperfective 'pamtim'.

✅ Pamtim tvoj broj.

I remember your number.

❌ Pamti ime, pisat ću ti ga poslije.

For 'commit it to memory now' use the perfective imperative 'zapamti'; bare 'pamti' is aphoristic, not an everyday request.

✅ Zapamti ime, pisat ću ti ga poslije.

Remember the name, I'll write it to you later.

❌ Zapamtit ću se ovaj trenutak.

No 'se' — 'zapamtiti' is transitive: 'zapamtit ću ovaj trenutak'. Don't borrow the reflexive from 'sjećati se'.

✅ Zapamtit ću ovaj trenutak.

I'll remember this moment.

Key Takeaways

pamtiti (impf, pamtim) = retain / hold in memory; zapamtiti (pf, zapamtim) = commit to memory, memorise (Zapamti ovo!).
Government headline: accusative, no se — Pamtim taj dan, Zapamti broj.
The line to hold: accusative pamtiti vs genitive sjećati se — pamtim taj dan but sjećam se tog dana. Pamtiti = retain/store; sjećati se = recall.
The antonym zaboraviti ("forget") also takes the accusative, so only sjećati se uses the genitive.
Future drops -i: zapamtit ću. Know the noun pamćenje ("memory") and the adverb napamet ("by heart").

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