ustajati / ustati (to get up) | Croatian Grammar

Ustati ("to get up, to stand up, to rise") is the verb of getting out of bed and getting to your feet. Its aspect pair is the perfective ustati against the imperfective ustajati, and both have present stems you have to learn deliberately: perfective ustanem (an -n- stem) and imperfective ustajem. Unlike most verbs on these pages, ustati is intransitive — there is no accusative object; you simply get up. It is the backbone of describing a daily routine (ustajem u sedam — "I get up at seven"), and English speakers must keep it apart from probuditi se ("wake up"), which is a separate event.

Aspect

Verb	Aspect	Present 1sg	Typical use
ustati	perfective	ustanem	one act of getting up
ustajati	imperfective	ustajem	habitual getting up (every day); be (in the act of) rising

The members split the usual way. Ustati = I got up (one event). Ustajati = I get up (every day) / I am in the habit of rising. So "I got up at six today" is ustao sam, but "I get up at six (every day)" is ustajem. This is a suffixal aspect pair, the imperfective built with the -ja- suffix — see forming aspect pairs by suffixation.

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For routines — "I get up early", "she gets up late" — Croatian uses the imperfectiveustajem / ustaješ, because a routine is a repeated habit. The perfective ustanem is for a single getting-up, and as a present it shifts to future/subordinate meaning (čim ustanem — "as soon as I get up").

Present tense

The perfective ustati takes an -ne- present: ustanem (like stati → stanem, krenuti → krenem). The imperfective ustajati has the -je- present ustajem.

Person	ustati (pf)	ustajati (impf)
ja	ustanem	ustajem
ti	ustaneš	ustaješ
on/ona/ono	ustane	ustaje
mi	ustanemo	ustajemo
vi	ustanete	ustajete
oni/one/ona	ustanu	ustaju

Radnim danom ustajem u pola sedam.

On workdays I get up at half past six. — habitual routine, imperfective 'ustajem'.

Čim ustanem, popijem čašu vode.

As soon as I get up, I drink a glass of water. — perfective present in a 'čim'-clause = future/repeated.

The l-participle

The perfective ustati has the masculine l-participle ustao (from usta- + vocalised -l); feminine ustala. The imperfective is regular: ustajao, ustajala.

Gender / number	ustati	ustajati
masculine singular	ustao	ustajao
feminine singular	ustala	ustajala
neuter singular	ustalo	ustajalo
masculine plural	ustali	ustajali
feminine plural	ustale	ustajale
neuter plural	ustala	ustajala

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The everyday "I got up" is the perfective ustao sam; the imperfective ustajao sam describes a past habit ("I used to get up").

Person	Masculine subject	Feminine subject
ja	ustao sam	ustala sam
ti	ustao si	ustala si
on / ona	ustao je	ustala je
mi	ustali smo	ustale smo
vi	ustali ste	ustale ste
oni / one	ustali su	ustale su

Danas sam ustala u zoru jer nisam mogla spavati.

Today I got up at dawn because I couldn't sleep. — feminine speaker, perfective: one event.

Dok smo bili na selu, ustajali smo s prvim pijetlom.

When we were in the countryside, we'd get up with the first rooster. — imperfective, a past habit.

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive drops -i before the clitic: ustat ću, ustajat ću. Never write *ustati ću.

Person	ustati	ustajati
ja	ustat ću	ustajat ću
ti	ustat ćeš	ustajat ćeš
on/ona/ono	ustat će	ustajat će
mi	ustat ćemo	ustajat ćemo
vi	ustat ćete	ustajat ćete
oni/one/ona	ustat će	ustajat će

Sutra ustat ću ranije da uhvatim prvi vlak.

Tomorrow I'll get up earlier to catch the first train. — perfective future, a single event.

Imperative

The perfective ustani! ("get up! / stand up!") is the normal command, built on the ustane- stem. It is the everyday "get out of bed" wake-up call and the "stand up" instruction.

Person	ustati (pf)	ustajati (impf)
ti	ustani	ustaj
mi	ustanimo	ustajmo
vi	ustanite	ustajte

Ustani, kasniš u školu!

Get up, you're late for school! — perfective command 'ustani'.

Ustanite, molim, sudac ulazi.

All rise, please, the judge is entering. — plural/formal 'ustanite' (stand up).

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Person	ustati (masc.)
ja	ustao bih
ti	ustao bi
on/ona/ono	ustao/ustala/ustalo bi
mi	ustali bismo
vi	ustali biste
oni/one/ona	ustali bi

Ustao bih ranije da imam za što.

I'd get up earlier if I had a reason to.

Other forms

No passive participle. Ustati is intransitive — it has no direct object to "promote" into a subject, so it forms no passive participle (you cannot say *ustan). This is normal for intransitive verbs of motion and posture. To express the related state, use biti na nogama ("be up / on one's feet") or budan ("awake").
Verbal adverb: the imperfective ustajući ("[while] getting up"). Perfectives have no present verbal adverb.

Ustajući prebrzo, zavrtjelo mi se u glavi.

Getting up too fast, I felt dizzy. — verbal adverb 'ustajući'.

Key uses and government

1. Intransitive: no accusative object

Ustati takes no direct object — you do not get something up, you simply get up. See the overview of verb government. Time and manner come from adverbs and prepositional phrases: ustati rano / kasno / u sedam / iz kreveta.

Ustao je iz kreveta i otišao ravno pod tuš.

He got out of bed and went straight to the shower. — 'iz kreveta' = out of bed (genitive after 'iz'); no accusative object.

2. ustati vs probuditi se — getting up vs waking up

These are two distinct events that English sometimes blurs. Probuditi se (pf) / buditi se (impf) = "wake up" — your eyes open, you regain consciousness. Ustati = "get up" — you leave the bed and get to your feet. You can wake up long before you get up. Probuditi se is reflexive (it takes se); ustati is not.

Probudila sam se u šest, ali sam ustala tek u sedam.

I woke up at six, but I only got up at seven. — 'probuditi se' (eyes open) vs 'ustati' (out of bed).

Probudi se, vrijeme je! — Budna sam, samo ne mogu ustati.

Wake up, it's time! — I'm awake, I just can't get up. — the two verbs side by side.

3. "Stand up" and the posture verbs

Ustati also means "stand up" from a sitting position — rising to your feet. It sits in a family of posture changes against the static "be standing" verb stajati ("to stand") and the sitting pair sjediti / sjesti. Ustati is the change of posture (sit/lie → stand); stajati is staying standing. See sjediti / sjesti.

Svi su ustali kad je ušla mladenka.

Everyone stood up when the bride came in. — 'ustati' = rise to one's feet.

Common Mistakes

❌ Probudio sam se i odmah ustao se iz kreveta.

'Ustati' is not reflexive — drop the 'se': 'ustao'. Only 'probuditi se' takes 'se'.

✅ Probudio sam se i odmah ustao iz kreveta.

I woke up and got out of bed right away.

❌ Svaki dan ustanem u sedam.

Aspect — a daily routine is habitual, so use the imperfective 'ustajem'.

✅ Svaki dan ustajem u sedam.

Every day I get up at seven.

❌ Ustao sam u šest, ali sam i dalje spavao.

Sense clash — if you were still asleep you 'woke' at most; 'ustati' means out of bed. Use 'probudio sam se'.

✅ Probudio sam se u šest, ali sam i dalje ostao u krevetu.

I woke up at six, but stayed in bed.

❌ Ustani se, kasniš!

No 'se' with 'ustati' — the command is just 'ustani'.

✅ Ustani, kasniš!

Get up, you're late!

❌ Ustati ću ranije sutra.

Spelling — the infinitive drops -i before the clitic: 'ustat ću'.

✅ Ustat ću ranije sutra.

I'll get up earlier tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

ustati (pf, ustanem, ustao) = one act of getting/standing up; ustajati (impf, ustajem, ustajao) = habitual getting up — use it for routines (ustajem u sedam).
Intransitive — no accusative object, and therefore no passive participle.
Keep apart probuditi se ("wake up", reflexive, eyes open) and ustati ("get up", not reflexive, out of bed).
Imperative ustani! ("get up! / stand up!"); also "rise to one's feet" (svi su ustali).
Future drops -i: ustat ću (never ustati ću); and never add se to ustati.

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