Negative Commands and 'let's / let him'

Telling someone not to do something, telling a third party to do something ("let him wait"), and rallying a group ("let's go!") are all commands — but none of them is the plain positive imperative from the previous page. Croatian handles each with its own small construction, and the two most useful ones surprise English speakers because there is no direct English template for them. This page covers the idiomatic prohibition with nemoj, the third-person "let" with neka, and the everyday hortative "let's" with the 1pl imperative or hajde.

Negative commands: the natural way is nemoj + infinitive

To tell someone not to do something, the most natural, neutral Croatian is nemoj (2sg), nemojmo (1pl), nemojte (2pl/Vi) followed by the infinitive. Nemoj is itself a frozen negative imperative meaning roughly "don't (you) go and…"; it then carries the action on an infinitive.

A common spoken alternative replaces the infinitive with a da-clause: Nemoj da zakasniš "Don't be late", Nemojte da to ponovite "Don't do that again". This is fully idiomatic, slightly more colloquial in tone, and especially common when a warning is implied.

Negative commands: ne + imperative (blunter)

The plain negation — ne in front of the imperative — also exists and is grammatical: Ne idi! "Don't go!", Ne brini! "Don't worry!". But it lands differently. Ne + imperative is blunter and often carries a sharper, more urgent or warning tone — a parent snapping at a child, a quick reflexive "don't!". It also strongly prefers the imperfective, because a prohibition is about not engaging in the activity at all (see aspect in the imperative).

For a calm, neutral prohibition, reach for nemoj; for a quick sharp "don't!", ne + imperative fits. Both are correct; the difference is tone.

'Let him / let them': neka + present

There is no plain third-person imperative. To say "let him come in", "let them work", "let her decide", Croatian uses neka + the present tense of the verb (in the relevant person). Neka is a particle meaning roughly "let / may"; the present tense after it does the work.

The aspect after neka follows the ordinary logic: perfective for a single completed act you are permitting (Neka napravi to do kraja "Let him get it done"), imperfective for an ongoing or repeated one (Neka radi "Let him keep working"). Neka can also express resigned acceptance — "let it be / so be it": Neka bude tako "Let it be so".

'Let's': the 1pl imperative, idemo, and hajde

For "let's do something", the simplest tool is the 1pl imperative you already know — the -mo form: Idemo! "Let's go!", Krenimo! "Let's set off!", Pjevajmo! "Let's sing!". Croatian also uses the 1pl present colloquially for the same rallying sense: Idemo! is in fact the present "we go", used as an invitation.

By far the most common spoken booster is hajde (and its variants ajde, ajmo, hajdemo, dela) — a versatile "come on / let's / go on" that energises a command or an invitation. Hajde on its own urges someone along; hajde da… + present means "come on, let's…"; hajmo / hajdemo is "let's go / let's get to it".

Putting the command types together

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• The natural, neutral prohibition is nemoj / nemojmo / nemojte + infinitive (Nemoj ići!), or nemoj + da-clause in speech.
• Ne + imperative is also correct but blunter/warning-toned, and prefers the imperfective.
• "Let him/her/them…" is neka + present (Neka uđe, Neka rade) — never a literal translation of "let".
• "Let's…" is the 1pl imperative or colloquial idemo / hajde da + present; "let's not" is nemojmo + infinitive.
• Clitics like reflexive se sit right after nemoj (Nemoj se brinuti).