English has one verb, bring, for the act of causing something to arrive — bring a book, bring your sister, bring the car around. Croatian splits this single idea three ways, depending on what you are conveying: you carry an object (nositi), you lead a person or animal (voditi), or you convey something by vehicle (voziti). Each base verb describes the manner of transport, and each takes the same directional prefixes you met for ići — do- "bring (here)", od- "take away", pre- "transfer/move across". This page sorts out the three families and, crucially, the threefold split of "bring": donijeti (a thing), dovesti (a person/animal, or by vehicle), and dovesti for vehicular conveyance.
The three base verbs
| Verb | Manner | Used for | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| nositi | carrying (on foot, in hands/arms) | objects, loads | Nosim torbu. |
| voditi | leading (on foot, by the hand/leash) | people, animals | Vodim psa. |
| voziti | conveying by vehicle | anyone/anything in/on a vehicle | Vozim djecu u školu. |
All three are imperfective and transitive — they take a direct object in the accusative. The distinction is purely about how the thing moves: in your hands (nositi), at your side under your guidance (voditi), or aboard a vehicle you operate (voziti).
Nosim dvije teške vrećice, pomozi mi.
I'm carrying two heavy bags, give me a hand. — 'nositi', an object in hand.
Vodim malu u vrtić svako jutro.
I take my little one to nursery every morning. — 'voditi', leading a person on foot.
Vozim baku k liječniku.
I'm driving Grandma to the doctor. — 'voziti', conveying a person by vehicle.
Prefixed forms: bringing, taking away, transferring
Add the directional prefixes and you get the conveyance counterparts of doći / otići. Watch the morphology: nositi and voditi shift to -nijeti / -vesti in the perfective, with irregular presents and l-participles you simply have to learn.
| Base | do- (bring here) | od- (take away) | pre- (move across/transfer) |
|---|---|---|---|
| nositi (carry) | donijeti / donositi | odnijeti / odnositi | prenijeti / prenositi |
| voditi (lead) | dovesti / dovoditi | odvesti / odvoditi | prevesti / prevoditi |
| voziti (drive) | dovesti / dovoziti | odvesti / odvoziti | prevesti / prevoziti |
A genuine difficulty: dovesti serves both "lead someone here" (from voditi) and "bring by vehicle" (from voziti) — and prevesti means both "lead across" and, in another sense entirely, "to translate". Context disambiguates, but be aware of the overlap. This is real irregularity, not something you can derive — memorise these forms as a set.
donijeti — bring (an object, by carrying)
Present: donesem, doneseš, donese…; l-participle donio / donijela.
Donesi mi čašu vode, molim te.
Bring me a glass of water, please. — 'donijeti', a thing, perfective.
Konobar nam stalno donosi nove tanjure.
The waiter keeps bringing us new plates. — imperfective 'donositi', repeated.
Donio sam ti knjigu koju si tražio.
I brought you the book you wanted. — l-participle 'donio'.
dovesti — bring (a person/animal, or by vehicle)
Present: dovedem, dovedeš…; l-participle doveo / dovela.
Dovedi sestru na zabavu, bit će zabavno.
Bring your sister to the party, it'll be fun. — 'dovesti', a person.
Možeš li me dovesti do kolodvora autom?
Can you bring me to the station by car? — 'dovesti', by vehicle.
Doveli su novog psa iz skloništa.
They brought home a new dog from the shelter. — 'dovesti', an animal.
The threefold "bring"
This is the heart of the page. English "bring X" forces you to ask one question Croatian asks automatically: what is X, and how does it travel?
| You are bringing… | Verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| an object (carried) | donijeti | Donesi knjigu. |
| a person/animal (led on foot) | dovesti | Dovedi sestru. |
| anyone/anything (by vehicle) | dovesti | Dovezi prijatelje autom. |
Donesi knjigu, a dovedi i sestru.
Bring the book, and bring your sister too. — 'donijeti' for the book, 'dovesti' for the sister.
Što da donesem na večeru?
What should I bring to dinner? — a thing → 'donijeti'.
Koga dovodiš sutra?
Who are you bringing tomorrow? — a person → 'dovesti' (imperfective 'dovoditi').
Taking away and transferring
The od- prefix gives "take away / remove", and pre- gives "carry/move across" or "transfer". Same three-way object split applies.
Odnesi ovo smeće van, smrdi.
Take this rubbish out, it stinks. — 'odnijeti', a thing.
Odveli su ga u bolnicu sinoć.
They took him to the hospital last night. — 'odvesti', a person by vehicle.
Prenijeli smo sve stvari u novi stan.
We moved all our things to the new flat. — 'prenijeti', transfer of objects.
Možeš li mi to prevesti na hrvatski?
Can you translate that into Croatian for me? — 'prevesti' in its 'translate' sense.
How this differs from English
English collapses the whole field into a handful of light verbs — bring, take, carry, drive — and lets context or a particle (bring along, take away) do the rest. Croatian instead front-loads the distinction into the verb stem: the manner of conveyance (carry / lead / drive) is chosen before you even reach the direction. So a single English sentence — "I'll bring the kids and the cake" — forces two different Croatian verbs (dovest ću djecu i donijeti tortu), because children are led/driven and a cake is carried. The mental discipline to build is: first ask what kind of thing it is (object? person/animal? vehicle-load?), pick the base (nositi / voditi / voziti), and only then add the direction prefix.
Common Mistakes
❌ Donesi sestru na zabavu.
Incorrect (or comical) — 'donijeti' is for carried objects; a person is led: use 'dovesti'.
✅ Dovedi sestru na zabavu.
Bring your sister to the party. — 'dovesti' for a person.
❌ Dovedi mi čašu vode.
Incorrect — water in a glass is carried, not led: use 'donijeti'.
✅ Donesi mi čašu vode.
Bring me a glass of water. — 'donijeti' for an object.
❌ Vodim kovčege na kolodvor.
Incorrect — suitcases are carried/driven, not led: use 'nositi' or 'voziti'.
✅ Nosim kovčege na kolodvor.
I'm carrying the suitcases to the station. — 'nositi' for objects.
❌ Svaki dan donesem djecu u školu autom.
Two errors — children go by 'voziti/voditi', not 'donijeti'; and a daily habit needs the imperfective.
✅ Svaki dan vozim djecu u školu.
Every day I drive the kids to school. — 'voziti', imperfective for the habit.
Key Takeaways
- "Bring/take" splits by manner: nositi (carry an object), voditi (lead a person/animal on foot), voziti (convey by vehicle).
- Directional prefixes give the conveyance verbs: donijeti (bring), odnijeti (take away), prenijeti (transfer) — and the vesti series for people/vehicles.
- The threefold "bring": donijeti for objects, dovesti for people/animals or by vehicle.
- Watch the irregular forms: donijeti → donesem, donio/donijela; dovesti → dovedem, doveo/dovela.
- Decide the object type first (thing / person / vehicle-load), then choose the base verb, then add the direction.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
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- Basic Verbs of Motion (ići, doći, hodati)A1 — Going, coming, and walking — and why Croatian is simpler than Russian here.
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- Verbal PrefixesB1 — How prefixes perfectivise, direct, and coin new verbs.
- Giving and Taking (dati, uzeti)A2 — The give/take pair and the dative recipient.
- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative as the default object of transitive verbs.