tvrditi (to claim / assert) | Croatian Grammar

Tvrditi ("to claim, to assert, to maintain") is the verb of argument and attribution — the one journalists, lawyers, and debaters lean on when reporting what someone insists is true. It is imperfective (a sustained position, not a one-off act), it takes a da-clause ("claim that…") or the accusative, and it carries a specific colour: to tvrditi something is to assert it as fact and stand behind it. That distinguishes it sharply from reći ("to say" — a single neutral utterance) and from smatrati ("to consider, to regard" — a held opinion). English "claim" is the closest single word, but Croatian tvrditi is stronger and more confrontational than a casual "say".

Aspect

Tvrditi is imperfective — asserting is a maintained stance. Its perfective partner is ustvrditi ("to establish, to assert, to state firmly"), used when the claim is made once and settled, often after investigation: Vještak je ustvrdio da… ("The expert established/stated that…"). For the ongoing act of claiming and insisting, you want the imperfective tvrditi.

Verb	Aspect	Present 1sg	Typical use
tvrditi	imperfective	tvrdim	to maintain/insist (ongoing); reporting a claim
ustvrditi	perfective	ustvrdim	"to establish / state firmly" — once, often after checking

See aspect: the overview and the government overview.

💡

The semantic core of tvrditi is the root tvrd- ("hard, firm" — the adjective tvrd means "hard"). To tvrditi something is literally to "make it firm" — to assert it as solid fact. Keep that image and you'll never confuse it with the softer reći ("say") or misliti ("think").

Present tense

Tvrditi is a regular -iti verb on the stem tvrd-. The third person (tvrdi, tvrde) dominates because the verb is mostly used to attribute claims to others.

Person	Form	Meaning
ja	tvrdim	I claim
ti	tvrdiš	you claim
on/ona/ono	tvrdi	he/she/it claims
mi	tvrdimo	we claim
vi	tvrdite	you claim
oni/one/ona	tvrde	they claim

Optuženi i dalje tvrdi da je nevin.

The defendant still claims he's innocent. — da-clause, courtroom register.

Svjedoci tvrde suprotno.

The witnesses claim the opposite. — accusative object 'suprotno'.

The l-participle

A regular -iti verb: masculine tvrdio (vocalised -l), feminine tvrdila.

Gender / number	Form
masculine singular	tvrdio
feminine singular	tvrdila
neuter singular	tvrdilo
masculine plural	tvrdili
feminine plural	tvrdile
neuter plural	tvrdila

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. Because tvrditi is imperfective, the past reads "claimed / kept insisting" — a stance held over time, very common in reported speech: Tvrdio je da… ("He claimed that…").

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	tvrdio sam	tvrdila sam
ti	tvrdio si	tvrdila si
on / ona	tvrdio je	tvrdila je
mi	tvrdili smo	tvrdile smo
vi	tvrdili ste	tvrdile ste
oni / one	tvrdili su	tvrdile su

Godinama je tvrdila da nije ništa znala o tome.

For years she maintained that she had known nothing about it. — past, reported claim.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive ends in -ti, so it drops its final -i before the clitic: tvrdit ću (never tvrditi ću).

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

I na sudu ću tvrditi isto što i sada.

In court too I'll assert the same thing I'm saying now.

Imperative

The imperative is uncommon — you rarely command someone to assert something. When it appears it is the challenging "(don't) claim that" turn in an argument: Nemoj tvrditi da nisi znao ("Don't claim you didn't know").

Person	Form
ti	tvrdi
mi	tvrdimo
vi	tvrdite

Nemoj tvrditi nešto što ne možeš dokazati.

Don't assert something you can't prove.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle — for hedged or hypothetical assertions ("I wouldn't claim that…").

Person	Form (masc.)
ja	tvrdio bih
ti	tvrdio bi
on/ona/ono	tvrdio/tvrdila/tvrdilo bi
mi	tvrdili bismo
vi	tvrdili biste
oni/one/ona	tvrdili bi

Ne bih tvrdio da je to jedini razlog, ali svakako je važan.

I wouldn't claim that's the only reason, but it's certainly an important one. — hedged assertion.

Other forms

Related noun tvrdnja: "claim, assertion, statement" — the everyday noun behind the verb, ubiquitous in news and argument: neutemeljena tvrdnja ("an unfounded claim"), iznijeti tvrdnju ("to put forward a claim").
Passive participle: chiefly from the perfective ustvrditi → ustvrđen ("established, ascertained") — note the d → đ jotation. The imperfective tvrditi gives the rarer tvrđen (e.g. utvrđen from utvrditi, "established/fortified").
Verbal adverb: imperfective tvrdeći ("[while] claiming"), common in reporting: …tvrdeći da nije kriv ("…claiming that he wasn't guilty").

Njegova je tvrdnja ostala nedokazana.

His claim remained unproven. — the noun 'tvrdnja'.

Key uses and government

1. A da-clause: "claim that…"

The most common frame by far is tvrditi + da-clause. You assert that something is the case; the verb inside the da-clause keeps its own tense. This is the standard structure of reported claims.

Vlada tvrdi da je inflacija pod kontrolom.

The government claims that inflation is under control. — da + present, news register.

Tvrdio je da nikada nije primio taj poziv.

He claimed he had never received that call. — da + past.

Croatian uses the finite da-clause here, not an infinitive; see the infinitive vs the da-clause.

2. The accusative object

Tvrditi can also take a direct accusative — typically a pronoun or a short noun standing for the content of the claim (to "that", suprotno "the opposite", isto "the same", nešto "something").

Ona tvrdi jedno, a dokazi pokazuju drugo.

She claims one thing, and the evidence shows another. — accusative 'jedno'.

Kako možeš tvrditi takvo što bez ijednog dokaza?

How can you assert such a thing without a single piece of evidence? — accusative 'takvo što'.

See the accusative as direct object.

3. tvrditi (assert as fact) vs reći (say) vs smatrati (consider)

This three-way contrast is where the verb earns its register. All three can introduce a da-clause, but they differ in force:

reći ("to say") — a single, neutral utterance. Rekao je da dolazi = "He said he's coming." No claim to truth, no insistence; just reported speech.
tvrditi ("to claim / assert") — to put something forward as fact and stand behind it, often against doubt or opposition. Tvrdi da dolazi = "He insists/maintains he's coming" (and you might doubt it). It implies a stake in the truth of the statement.
smatrati ("to consider, to regard, to hold the opinion") — a held view, explicitly subjective. Smatra da treba doći = "He thinks/holds that he should come." It frames the content as opinion, not asserted fact.

So a witness kaže (says) what happened, tvrdi (insists on) a disputed version, and smatra (considers) that the law was broken — three different epistemic stances.

On to samo kaže, ona to tvrdi, a ja smatram da nitko ne zna istinu.

He just says it, she insists on it, and I think nobody knows the truth. — reći (say) vs tvrditi (assert) vs smatrati (consider).

See smatrati and the broader set of opinion verbs.

Common Mistakes

❌ Tvrdim da doći sutra.

A 'da'-clause needs a finite verb, not an infinitive: 'Tvrdim da ću doći sutra'.

✅ Tvrdim da ću doći sutra.

I claim/insist I'll come tomorrow.

❌ Tvrdio je meni da je nevin.

No dative addressee — 'tvrditi' doesn't mark whom you tell. Use a plain da-clause: 'Tvrdio je da je nevin'. (To add the addressee, switch to 'rekao mi je'.)

✅ Tvrdio je da je nevin.

He claimed he was innocent.

❌ Samo sam tvrdio „dobar dan” i otišao.

Wrong verb — for a neutral utterance use 'reći/kazati', not 'tvrditi': 'Samo sam rekao „dobar dan” i otišao'.

✅ Samo sam rekao „dobar dan” i otišao.

I just said „good afternoon” and left.

❌ Tvrdim da je to dobra ideja, ali to je samo moje mišljenje.

Mismatch — if it's explicitly your opinion, 'smatrati' fits better than the fact-asserting 'tvrditi': 'Smatram da je to dobra ideja…'.

✅ Smatram da je to dobra ideja, ali to je samo moje mišljenje.

I think it's a good idea, but that's just my opinion.

❌ Tvrditi ću suprotno.

The future drops the infinitive's final -i before the clitic: 'Tvrdit ću'.

✅ Tvrdit ću suprotno.

I'll claim the opposite.

Key Takeaways

tvrditi (impf, tvrdim, tvrdio) = "to claim / assert / maintain"; perfective ustvrditi ("establish, state firmly").
Government: a finite da-clause (tvrdi da je nevin) or the accusative (tvrditi suprotno) — never an infinitive after da.
Force: from the root tvrd- ("firm"), tvrditi asserts something as fact — stronger than reći-style neutral "saying".
Distinguish reći (neutral utterance), tvrditi (assert as fact, often disputed), and smatrati (held opinion).
The noun tvrdnja ("claim/assertion") is its everyday companion. Future drops -i: tvrdit ću.

Now practice Croatian

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Croatian→