Voditi means to lead — and from that one idea Croatian builds a whole family of uses English splits across several verbs. You lead a group; you take a person somewhere (you lead them there on foot); you run / manage an organisation; and in the fixed phrase voditi računa o you take care of / keep an eye on something. The detail that trips up every learner is the person-vs-thing split: you lead a person (voditi) but you carry a thing (nositi). Croatian, like Russian, keeps "take a person" and "take a thing" in separate verbs — English uses "take" for both.
Aspect
Voditi is imperfective — leading and managing are ongoing activities. As with other motion verbs, Croatian builds its single-completed-act partners by prefixing, and crucially the prefixed perfectives switch to a different root, -vesti / -vedem:
- dovesti ("to bring [a person] here") — paired imperfective dovoditi
- odvesti ("to take [a person] away") — paired imperfective odvoditi
- provesti ("to lead through; to spend [time]"), uvesti ("to lead in; to introduce/import")
So voditi is the imperfective base; you prefix when you mean one completed act of leading someone somewhere. Beware the overlap with voziti ("to drive/convey"): odvesti (lead a person away, on foot) and odvesti from voziti (drive someone away) collapse in form but the conveying-by-vehicle sense belongs to the voziti family. See prefixed directional verbs.
| Imperfective base | Directional perfectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | voditi (lead; take a person) | dovesti (bring a person), odvesti (take a person away) |
| Sense | process, habit, "run/manage" | one completed leading in a direction |
| Example | Vodim dijete u vrtić. "I take the child to nursery." | Dovedi prijatelja. "Bring your friend (along)." |
Present tense
Voditi is a regular i-class verb on the stem vod-.
| Person | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ja | vodim | I lead / I'm taking |
| ti | vodiš | you lead |
| on/ona/ono | vodi | he/she/it leads |
| mi | vodimo | we lead |
| vi | vodite | you lead |
| oni/one/ona | vode | they lead |
Svako jutro vodim kćer u vrtić prije posla.
Every morning I take my daughter to nursery before work. — 'lead/take a person' + accusative 'kćer'.
Tko vodi ovaj projekt?
Who's running this project? — 'run/manage' sense.
The l-participle
A regular -iti verb: masculine vodio, feminine vodila.
| Gender / number | Form |
|---|---|
| masculine singular | vodio |
| feminine singular | vodila |
| neuter singular | vodilo |
| masculine plural | vodili |
| feminine plural | vodile |
| neuter plural | vodila |
Perfect tense (perfekt)
Clitic biti + l-participle. Because voditi is imperfective, its perfect describes leading/managing as a process or habit; for a single completed "I took them there" speakers reach for the prefixed perfectives odveo sam, doveo sam.
| Person | Masculine subject | Feminine subject |
|---|---|---|
| ja | vodio sam | vodila sam |
| ti | vodio si | vodila si |
| on / ona | vodio je | vodila je |
| mi | vodili smo | vodile smo |
| vi | vodili ste | vodile ste |
| oni / one | vodili su | vodile su |
Dugo je vodila taj odjel prije nego što se umirovila.
She ran that department for a long time before she retired. — imperfective, a sustained activity.
Jučer sam odveo mamu na pregled.
Yesterday I took my mum to her appointment. — prefixed perfective 'odveo' for one completed act.
Future I (futur prvi)
The infinitive voditi drops its final -i before the clitic: vodit ću (never voditi ću).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ja | vodit ću |
| ti | vodit ćeš |
| on/ona/ono | vodit će |
| mi | vodit ćemo |
| vi | vodit ćete |
| oni/one/ona | vodit će |
Vodit ću te na najbolji burek u gradu.
I'll take you to the best burek in town. — 'take a person' + accusative 'te'.
Imperative
Vodi! ("lead! / take [them]!"). Common in directions and in the fixed phrase vodi računa ("mind / take care").
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ti | vodi |
| mi | vodimo |
| vi | vodite |
Vodi psa van, molim te.
Take the dog out, please. — imperative 'vodi' + accusative 'psa'.
Conditional I (kondicional prvi)
bih-clitics + l-participle — for offers and hypotheticals.
| Person | Form (masc.) |
|---|---|
| ja | vodio bih |
| ti | vodio bi |
| on/ona/ono | vodio/vodila/vodilo bi |
| mi | vodili bismo |
| vi | vodili biste |
| oni/one/ona | vodili bi |
Vodio bih te na izlet, ali vikend mi je pun.
I'd take you on a day trip, but my weekend is packed.
Other forms
- Present verbal adverb: vodeći ("leading") — also frozen as an adjective, vodeći stručnjak ("a leading expert"), vodeća tvrtka ("a leading company").
- Passive participle: vođen, vođena, vođeno ("led / conducted"; note the d → đ jotation). Used in the passive: Postupak je vođen pred sudom ("The proceedings were conducted before the court").
Vodeći proizvođači sastali su se u Zagrebu.
The leading manufacturers met in Zagreb. — frozen adjective 'vodeći'.
Key uses and government
1. Take a person somewhere: voditi + accusative person + u/na + accusative place
The headline use. The person you lead is the accusative direct object; the destination takes u / na + the accusative, just as with ići. This is where the contrast with nositi bites: a person is led (voditi), a thing is carried (nositi), and a vehicle or anything driven is conveyed with voziti.
Vodim dijete u školu, a torbu mu nosim ja.
I take the child to school, and I carry his bag. — 'voditi' for the child, 'nositi' for the bag.
Vodim te večeras na koncert.
I'm taking you to a concert tonight. — accusative 'te' + 'na' + accusative.
See the accusative direct object and the wider carrying-and-transport picture. For one completed act use the prefixed perfectives: dovesti "bring (a person here)", odvesti "take (a person) away".
2. Run / manage: voditi + accusative
The same accusative frame covers leading an organisation, a project, a team, a meeting, accounts, a household. English here uses "run", "manage", "head", "lead", "chair", "keep" — Croatian uses one verb.
Već petu godinu vodi obiteljsku tvrtku.
He's been running the family firm for five years now. — 'manage' + accusative 'tvrtku'.
Ona vodi sastanak, a ja vodim zapisnik.
She's chairing the meeting, and I'm keeping the minutes. — two 'voditi' senses at once.
3. Take care of / be mindful of: voditi računa o + locative
The fixed expression voditi računa o + the locative means "to take care of / keep in mind / be mindful of" something. Literally "to keep account of", it is the idiomatic way to tell someone to mind something or to say you are looking after a matter. The thing minded goes into the locative after o.
Vodi računa o vremenu, ne smijemo zakasniti.
Keep an eye on the time, we mustn't be late. — 'voditi računa o' + locative 'vremenu'.
Moramo voditi računa o troškovima.
We have to be mindful of the costs. — locative 'troškovima'.
See the locative for things you talk/think about. Note that voditi računa is idiomatic and fixed — računa stays in this set form; you do not swap it for a synonym.
Common Mistakes
❌ Nosim dijete u školu svaki dan.
Wrong verb for a person — you LEAD a person ('voditi'), you don't 'carry' a walking child to school: 'Vodim dijete u školu'.
✅ Vodim dijete u školu svaki dan.
I take the child to school every day.
❌ Vodim torbu na posao.
Wrong verb for a thing — a bag is carried, not led: 'Nosim torbu na posao'.
✅ Nosim torbu na posao.
I carry the bag to work.
❌ Vodi računa na vrijeme.
Wrong preposition/case — the idiom is 'voditi računa O' + locative: 'voditi računa o vremenu'.
✅ Vodi računa o vremenu.
Keep an eye on the time.
❌ Jučer sam vodio mamu na pregled.
Aspect — for one completed act of taking someone, use the prefixed perfective 'odveo sam'. 'Vodio sam' suggests a habit/process.
✅ Jučer sam odveo mamu na pregled.
Yesterday I took my mum to her appointment.
❌ Voditi ću te na koncert.
The future drops the infinitive's final -i before the clitic: 'vodit ću te'.
✅ Vodit ću te na koncert.
I'll take you to a concert.
Key Takeaways
- voditi (impf, vodim, vodio) = "lead"; completed acts come from the prefixed perfectives dovesti (bring a person), odvesti (take a person away).
- Government is the accusative: you lead/take a person (voditi dijete), run/manage an organisation (voditi tvrtku).
- The big contrast: voditi a person vs nositi a thing — Croatian splits what English calls "take". Vehicles/conveying belong to voziti.
- The idiom voditi računa o + locative = "take care of / be mindful of" (voditi računa o troškovima) — računa is fixed.
- Future drops -i: vodit ću (never voditi ću). Passive participle vođen (d → đ); adjective vodeći "leading".
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- nositi / donijeti (to carry / bring)A2 — Carrying and the bring split.
- Prefixed Directional Motion VerbsB1 — doći, otići, ući, izaći and their direction-encoding prefixes.
- Carrying and Bringing (nositi, voziti, voditi)B1 — Verbs of conveying people and things.
- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative as the default object of transitive verbs.
- Locative for Static LocationA2 — Where something IS — the rest/position sense of u and na.