zvati / nazvati (to call/phone)

Zvati is the workhorse for "to call" in three senses: calling out to someone, phoning them, and naming. Its perfective partners split by meaning — nazvati ("to phone, ring up"; also "to name") and pozvati ("to invite") — and its reflexive zvati se gives you the single most useful sentence a beginner learns: Kako se zoveš? ("What's your name?"). The form to fix in your memory is the present stem zov-: the infinitive has an a, but the present switches to o (zovem), which surprises nearly every learner.

Aspect and the partners

Zvati is imperfective. Which perfective you reach for depends on the meaning:

So Zvao sam te cijelo jutro ("I was calling you all morning" — repeated, no answer) uses the imperfective, while Nazvao sam te jučer ("I phoned you yesterday" — one completed call) uses the perfective. The prefix machinery behind these pairs is on forming aspect pairs by prefixation.

Present tense (e-class)

Zvati is an e-class verb with the stem zov- plus the endings -em, -eš, -e, -emo, -ete, -u.

The perfectives keep the zov- present but it carries future meaning (a perfective present can't mean "now"): nazovem, nazoveš…, pozovem, pozoveš…

The l-participle

Regular for an -ati verb on the infinitive stem zva-; the masculine singular shows the vocalised -l (zvao).

Perfect tense (perfekt)

Clitic biti + l-participle. The aspect contrast is vivid here: imperfective zvao sam (was calling / kept calling) versus perfective nazvao sam (made one call).

Future I (futur prvi)

The infinitive zvati drops its final -i before the clitic (zvat ću); same for the perfectives (nazvat ću, pozvat ću).

Imperative

Built on the zov- stem with -i, -imo, -ite. For a single call, the perfective nazovi! is the natural command.

Conditional I (kondicional prvi)

bih-clitics + l-participle.

Other forms

• Passive participle: zvan, zvana, zvano ("called, named"), most often in the fixed phrase takozvani ("so-called"). The perfective gives nazvan ("named, called") — grad nazvan po junaku "a town named after a hero."
• Present verbal adverb: zovući ("[while] calling"), less common in speech but found in writing.

Key uses and government

1. zvati nekoga — the person is in the accusative

Whether you call out to someone, phone them, or summon them, the person is a direct object in the accusative. Clitic pronouns (me, te, ga, je/ju, nas, vas, ih) sit in second position.

2. zvati se — "to be called / named"

The reflexive zvati se is how you state names — of people, places, things. The name itself goes in the nominative, as a predicate: Zovem se Ana (literally "I call myself Ana").

3. zvati vs nazvati vs pozvati

These are easy to confuse because English "call" covers all three. Zvati / nazvati = phone or name; pozvati = invite. Reaching for nazvati when you mean pozvati is a classic slip.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Zvati is imperfective; perfectives are nazvati (phone once / name) and pozvati (invite).
• The present is the zov- stem: zovem, zoveš, zove, zovemo, zovete, zovu — the a of the infinitive becomes o.
• Government: zvati
  • accusative of the person; zvati se
    • nominative predicate name.
• Use the imperfective zvati for repeated/ongoing calling, the perfective nazvati for one completed call.
• Don't confuse nazvati (phone/name) with pozvati (invite).