plašiti se / uplašiti se (to be scared) | Croatian Grammar

Plašiti se / uplašiti se ("to be scared, to get scared") is the close cousin of bojati se — and the cleanest illustration of one of Croatian's most useful aspect contrasts. The imperfective plašiti se is the standing fear ("be scared of something"); the perfective uplašiti se is the sudden jolt ("get scared, take fright"). Like bojati se, the reflexive governs the genitive of what scares you (plašiti se mraka = "be scared of the dark"). And unlike bojati se, it has a live transitive twin — plašiti / uplašiti nekoga ("to frighten someone") — that takes the accusative. This page lays out the pair, the genitive government, and the scare-vs-frighten split. For the near-synonymous standing-state verb, see bojati se.

Aspect

Verb	Aspect	Present 1sg	Sense
plašiti se	imperfective	plašim se	be scared (of); be frightened (ongoing state)
uplašiti se	perfective	uplašim se	get scared, take fright (single onset)

This is a textbook prefixal aspect pair: the perfective uplašiti se is the imperfective plašiti se plus u-. The semantic split is the whole point. Plašim se describes a state — "I'm scared / I get scared (of this)". Uplašio sam se describes a bounded event — "I got scared / I got a fright (just now)". So a child afraid of the dark plaši se mraka (states it as ongoing), but a child startled by a noise uplašio se (a single jolt). For the general logic, see aspect overview.

💡

plašiti se = the standing fear / habit (imperfective state). uplašiti se = the moment of fright (perfective onset). The same split that separates bojati se (state) from uplašiti se (jolt) — and uplašiti se is in fact the everyday perfective for both.

Present tense

Both are regular i-class verbs (plašim se, uplašim se). The perfective present is not a "now" tense — it appears in conditionals and subordinate clauses (ako se uplašim "if I get scared").

Person	plašiti se (impf)	uplašiti se (pf)
ja	plašim se	uplašim se
ti	plašiš se	uplašiš se
on/ona/ono	plaši se	uplaši se
mi	plašimo se	uplašimo se
vi	plašite se	uplašite se
oni/one/ona	plaše se	uplaše se

Pas se plaši grmljavine pa se sakrije pod krevet.

The dog is scared of thunder, so it hides under the bed. — imperfective state + genitive 'grmljavine'.

Ne diraj ga dok spava, lako se uplaši.

Don't touch him while he's asleep, he's easily startled. — perfective present, habitual reading.

The l-participle

Built on the stem plaši- / uplaši-: masculine plašio se / uplašio se, feminine plašila se / uplašila se.

Gender / number	plašiti se	uplašiti se
masculine singular	plašio se	uplašio se
feminine singular	plašila se	uplašila se
neuter singular	plašilo se	uplašilo se
masculine plural	plašili se	uplašili se
feminine plural	plašile se	uplašile se
neuter plural	plašila se	uplašila se

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle, with se in the cluster; the third person drops je before se (uplašio se, not *uplašio se je). The perfective uplašio sam se ("I got scared") is the everyday past; the imperfective plašio sam se marks an ongoing/habitual past fear.

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	uplašio sam se	uplašila sam se
ti	uplašio si se	uplašila si se
on / ona	uplašio se	uplašila se
mi	uplašili smo se	uplašile smo se
vi	uplašili ste se	uplašile ste se
oni / one	uplašili su se	uplašile su se

Tako sam se uplašila kad je nešto puklo u kuhinji.

I got such a fright when something cracked in the kitchen. — perfective jolt, feminine speaker.

Kao mali sam se plašio dubokog dijela bazena.

As a kid I was scared of the deep end of the pool. — imperfective state + genitive 'dijela'.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops its final -i before the clitic: uplašit ću se, plašit ću se.

Person	plašiti se	uplašiti se
ja	plašit ću se	uplašit ću se
ti	plašit ćeš se	uplašit ćeš se
on/ona/ono	plašit će se	uplašit će se
mi	plašit ćemo se	uplašit ćemo se
vi	plašit ćete se	uplašit ćete se
oni/one/ona	plašit će se	uplašit će se

Ako mu to kažeš tako naglo, uplašit će se.

If you tell him that so abruptly, he'll get frightened. — perfective future, the onset of fright.

Imperative

The reassuring negative is the high-frequency form: ne plaši se ("don't be scared"). The transitive ne plaši me! ("don't scare me!") is just as common.

Person	plašiti se (impf)	uplašiti se (pf)
ti	plaši se	uplaši se
mi	plašimo se	uplašimo se
vi	plašite se	uplašite se

Ne plaši se, to je samo vjetar u dimnjaku.

Don't be scared, it's just the wind in the chimney. — negative imperative 'ne plaši se'.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle, with se in the cluster — for hypotheticals.

Person	Form (masc.)
ja	uplašio bih se
ti	uplašio bi se
on/ona/ono	uplašio/uplašila/uplašilo bi se
mi	uplašili bismo se
vi	uplašili biste se
oni/one/ona	uplašili bi se

I ja bih se uplašio da sam to vidio u mraku.

I'd have got scared too if I'd seen that in the dark.

Other forms

Passive / resultative participle: uplašen, uplašena, uplašeno ("scared, frightened") — extremely common as an adjective: uplašeno dijete ("a frightened child"), Izgledaš uplašeno ("You look scared"). The imperfective gives plašen (rarer). The transitive verb's passive is uplašen too: Bila je uplašena viješću ("She was frightened by the news"). See the se-passive and impersonal.
Present verbal adverb: plašeći se ("[while] being scared"), literary.

Mačka je istrčala van, sva uplašena.

The cat ran outside, all frightened. — the participle/adjective 'uplašena'.

Key uses and government

1. plašiti se / uplašiti se + genitive — "be scared of [a thing]"

Just like bojati se, the reflexive governs the genitive of what scares you: plašiti se mraka ("be scared of the dark"), uplašiti se psa ("get scared of a dog"). English speakers default to a direct object; Croatian uses the genitive. The pattern belongs to the verb family at genitive with verbs.

Plaši se visine pa ne želi ići na vrh tornja.

She's scared of heights, so she doesn't want to go to the top of the tower. — genitive 'visine'.

2. plašiti se od + genitive — a colloquial alternative

In speech you'll also hear od + genitive for the source of fear: plašiti se od nečega. This is a touch more colloquial; the bare genitive is the cleaner, recommended form, but the od variant is widely used. (Compare bojati se, where the bare genitive is firmly the norm.)

Mali se plaši od pasa otkad ga je jedan zalajao.

The little one is scared of dogs ever since one barked at him. — colloquial 'od' + genitive 'pasa'.

3. plašiti / uplašiti nekoga + accusative — "frighten / scare someone" (transitive)

Drop the se and you get the transitive verb: plašiti / uplašiti nekoga ("to frighten / scare someone"), governing the accusative. Uplašio si me! = "You scared me!". This is the active counterpart of the reflexive — X plaši Y ("X frightens Y") vs Y se plaši X-a ("Y is scared of X"). See accusative direct object.

Nemoj me tako plašiti, srce mi je stalo!

Don't scare me like that, my heart stopped! — transitive 'plašiti' + accusative 'me'.

Buka petardi uplašila je sve pse u kvartu.

The noise of the firecrackers frightened all the dogs in the neighbourhood. — transitive 'uplašiti' + accusative 'pse'.

Common Mistakes

❌ Plašim se mrak.

Case error — the feared thing is genitive ('mraka'), not the nominative/accusative 'mrak'.

✅ Plašim se mraka.

I'm scared of the dark. — genitive.

❌ Uplašio sam se psa jučer cijeli dan.

Aspect mismatch — the perfective 'uplašiti se' is a single jolt, incompatible with 'all day'; an ongoing state is imperfective: 'plašio sam se psa'.

✅ Cijeli dan sam se plašio psa.

I was scared of the dog all day. — imperfective state.

❌ Plašim se te.

Reflexive vs transitive mix — 'I'm scared of you' is 'Plašim te se' (clitic order: 'te' + 'se'), or 'Bojim te se'. 'Plašim se te' mis-orders the clitics.

✅ Plašim te se.

I'm scared of you. — genitive pronoun 'te' + reflexive 'se'.

❌ Uplašio si mene!

Use the clitic, not the stressed pronoun, in neutral position: 'Uplašio si me!'. 'Mene' is only for contrast/emphasis.

✅ Uplašio si me!

You scared me!

❌ Ne uplaši se, sve je u redu.

Aspect of the reassuring command — 'don't be scared' uses the imperfective: 'Ne plaši se'. The perfective negative imperative is unidiomatic here.

✅ Ne plaši se, sve je u redu.

Don't be scared, everything's fine.

Key Takeaways

plašiti se (impf, plašim se) = the standing fear (state); uplašiti se (pf, uplašim se) = the sudden fright (onset) — a prefixal aspect pair.
Government: genitive of what scares you (plašiti se mraka), like bojati se; colloquially also od + genitive.
Transitive twin plašiti / uplašiti nekoga
- accusative = "frighten/scare someone" (Uplašio si me!).
The participle uplašen ("scared, frightened") is a high-frequency adjective.
Future drops -i: uplašit ću se (never uplašiti ću se). Reassuring command: ne plaši se (imperfective).

Now practice Croatian

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

Start learning Croatian→