Spavati ("to sleep") is one of the most useful everyday verbs in Croatian and a textbook example of why the aspect system matters: sleeping is an ongoing state, but starting to sleep is an instantaneous event, and Croatian uses two different verbs for the two ideas. Spavati is the state; zaspati ("to fall asleep") is the event. English crams both into "sleep" / "fall asleep" with the same root, but in Croatian the two verbs don't even share a present-tense pattern. Learn them as a pair and you learn one of the cleanest illustrations of the imperfective/perfective contrast in the language.
Aspect
The core verb spavati is imperfective — it names the ongoing activity of sleeping, which has no built-in endpoint. Its most important partner is the inceptive perfective zaspati ("to fall asleep"), formed with the prefix za- that adds the meaning "begin to / cross into the state". There is also odspavati ("to have a sleep, get some sleep in"), a perfective that bounds the activity ("sleep for a while and be done").
- spavati (impf) — Spavam osam sati ("I sleep eight hours"), Dijete spava ("The child is sleeping").
- zaspati (pf, inceptive) — Zaspao sam pred TV-om ("I fell asleep in front of the TV"), the moment sleep takes over.
- odspavati (pf, delimitative) — Odspavao sam sat vremena ("I had an hour's sleep").
The prefix-based pairing is explained at aspect pairs from prefixes.
Present tense
spavati is a regular a-class verb (stem spava-), with endings -m, -š, –, -mo, -te, -ju. This is the easy, predictable class — the theme vowel -a- stays visible everywhere, and the 3rd plural is -ju (spavaju).
| Person | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ja | spavam | I sleep / I'm sleeping |
| ti | spavaš | you sleep |
| on/ona/ono | spava | he/she/it sleeps |
| mi | spavamo | we sleep |
| vi | spavate | you (pl.) sleep |
| oni/one/ona | spavaju | they sleep |
The perfective zaspati does NOT follow this pattern — its present is zaspim, zaspiš, zaspi, zaspimo, zaspite, zaspe (an i-type present, no theme -a-). And as a perfective, its "present" forms never mean a present action; they live in kad/čim clauses and after phase verbs: čim zaspim ("the moment I fall asleep").
Beba napokon spava, govori tiše.
The baby is finally sleeping, talk more quietly. — ongoing state, imperfective 'spava'.
Obično zaspim za pet minuta čim legnem.
I usually fall asleep within five minutes once I lie down. — 'zaspim' (pf) for the recurring event.
The l-participle
Regular for spavati. Watch zaspati: its masculine is zaspao (not zaspio), with feminine zaspala, neuter zaspalo.
| Gender / number | spavati (impf) | zaspati (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | spavao | zaspao |
| feminine singular | spavala | zaspala |
| neuter singular | spavalo | zaspalo |
| masculine plural | spavali | zaspali |
| feminine plural | spavale | zaspale |
| neuter plural | spavala | zaspala |
Perfect tense (perfekt)
Clitic biti + l-participle. This is where the aspect contrast really bites: spavao sam = "I slept / I was sleeping" (a stretch of time), while zaspao sam = "I fell asleep" (a single moment).
| Person | spavati (masc. / fem.) | zaspati (masc. / fem.) |
|---|---|---|
| ja | spavao sam / spavala sam | zaspao sam / zaspala sam |
| ti | spavao si / spavala si | zaspao si / zaspala si |
| on / ona | spavao je / spavala je | zaspao je / zaspala je |
| mi | spavali smo / spavale smo | zaspali smo / zaspale smo |
| vi | spavali ste / spavale ste | zaspali ste / zaspale ste |
| oni / one | spavali su / spavale su | zaspali su / zaspale su |
Sinoć sam loše spavala, budila sam se svaki sat.
I slept badly last night, I kept waking up every hour. — feminine speaker, ongoing state 'spavala'.
Zaspao je na kauču prije kraja filma.
He fell asleep on the couch before the end of the film. — single event 'zaspao'.
Future I (futur prvi)
The infinitive spavati drops its final -i before the clitic: spavat ću. Same for zaspat ću.
| Person | spavati | zaspati |
|---|---|---|
| ja | spavat ću | zaspat ću |
| ti | spavat ćeš | zaspat ćeš |
| on/ona/ono | spavat će | zaspat će |
| mi | spavat ćemo | zaspat ćemo |
| vi | spavat ćete | zaspat ćete |
| oni/one/ona | spavat će | zaspat će |
Večeras ću spavati kod prijateljice.
Tonight I'll sleep over at a friend's place.
Imperative
spavati gives the gentle, everyday command spavaj (and spavajmo, spavajte). It is the verb behind the bedtime line Spavaj! ("Go to sleep!") and the standard goodnight Laku noć! ("Good night!", literally "(have a) light night", accusative).
| Person | spavati | zaspati |
|---|---|---|
| ti | spavaj | zaspi |
| mi | spavajmo | zaspimo |
| vi | spavajte | zaspite |
You command someone to sleep (the state) far more often than to fall asleep, so spavaj is the workhorse; zaspi is marginal in real speech.
Spavaj sad, sutra imaš školu. Laku noć!
Go to sleep now, you have school tomorrow. Good night!
Conditional I (kondicional prvi)
bih-clitics + l-participle.
| Person | Form (masc.) |
|---|---|
| ja | spavao bih |
| ti | spavao bi |
| on/ona/ono | spavao/spavala/spavalo bi |
| mi | spavali bismo |
| vi | spavali biste |
| oni/one/ona | spavali bi |
Spavao bih do podne da me netko ne probudi.
I'd sleep till noon if someone didn't wake me up.
Other forms
- Passive participle: none in practice — spavati is intransitive (you can't "be slept"), so it has no passive participle.
- Present verbal adverb: spavajući ("while sleeping"), used in writing for backgrounded simultaneous action: Spavajući, nešto je promrmljao ("Sleeping, he mumbled something"). Built only from the imperfective; perfectives like zaspati form a past verbal adverb (zaspavši) instead.
Spavajući, beba se smiješila.
While sleeping, the baby was smiling. — present verbal adverb.
Key uses and government
1. Intransitive — no object
Spavati takes no direct object. You do not "sleep something"; you simply sleep, and any complement is an adverb of manner (dobro, loše, mirno) or duration (osam sati).
Dobro sam spavao, hvala na pitanju.
I slept well, thanks for asking.
2. Place — locative
Where you sleep is a static location, so it takes a preposition + locative: u krevetu (in bed), na kauču (on the couch), kod prijatelja (at a friend's). The locative for static position is covered at locative for location.
Djeca spavaju u svojoj sobi, a mi u dnevnom boravku.
The kids sleep in their room, and we (sleep) in the living room. — 'u' + locative.
3. spavati s nekim — "sleep with someone"
Exactly as in English, spavati s + instrumental can mean sharing a bed, or, by implication, a sexual relationship — context decides.
Mali spava s nama otkad je bila oluja.
The little one has been sleeping in our bed since the storm. — 's' + instrumental, literal sense.
Common Mistakes
❌ Sinoć sam spavao odmah.
Aspect mismatch — 'fell asleep instantly' is a single event, so use the perfective 'zaspao', not the ongoing 'spavao'.
✅ Sinoć sam odmah zaspao.
Last night I fell asleep immediately.
❌ Oni spavaju u krevet.
Wrong case — static location takes the locative ('u krevetu'), not the accusative ('u krevet').
✅ Oni spavaju u krevetu.
They sleep in the bed.
❌ Zaspajem za pet minuta.
Wrong present stem — 'zaspati' is i-type: 'zaspim', not '*zaspajem'.
✅ Zaspim za pet minuta.
I fall asleep within five minutes.
❌ Spavaj ću kod bake.
Future spelling — the infinitive drops its '-i' before the clitic: 'spavat ću'.
✅ Spavat ću kod bake.
I'll sleep over at grandma's.
❌ Laku noć, spij dobro!
Wrong imperative — the command of 'spavati' is 'spavaj', not the made-up '*spij'.
✅ Laku noć, spavaj dobro!
Good night, sleep well!
Key Takeaways
- spavati (impf, a-class: spavam, spavaš, spava…) = the ongoing state of sleeping.
- zaspati (pf, i-present: zaspim; l-part zaspao) = the event of falling asleep; odspavati = "have a sleep".
- The aspect contrast is sharp in the past: spavao sam ("I slept / was sleeping") vs zaspao sam ("I fell asleep").
- Place is locative (spavam u krevetu); the verb is intransitive.
- Everyday forms: imperative spavaj, goodnight Laku noć, future spavat ću, verbal adverb spavajući.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Present Tense: -a- VerbsA1 — The largest, most regular present conjugation.
- Verbal Aspect: The Big PictureA2 — Why nearly every verb comes in an imperfective/perfective pair.
- What the Perfective MeansB1 — Completion, result, single bounded events, and the no-present rule.
- Locative for Static LocationA2 — Where something IS — the rest/position sense of u and na.
- Present Verbal Adverb (glagolski prilog sadašnji)B2 — The -ći form meaning 'while doing' — a compact 'while/as' clause with a shared subject.
- Forming Aspect Pairs: PrefixationB1 — How perfectives are built by adding a prefix.