Prefixed Directional Motion Verbs | Croatian Grammar

Once you can say ići "go", the next leap is encoding direction: arrive, leave, enter, exit, cross, pass, go down, set off. Croatian does this with prefixes glued onto the bare verb — do- gives doći "arrive", od- gives otići "leave", u- gives ući "enter". The prefix supplies two things at once: a direction and perfectivity (a single completed move). Each such perfective then spins off a secondary imperfective in -laziti (dolaziti, odlaziti, ulaziti) for repeated or ongoing trips. The most elegant payoff is that the prefix and the matching preposition agree in direction — ući u + accusative, izaći iz + genitive, sići s + genitive — so learning the pair u-/u, iz-/iz, s-/s makes both the verb and its preposition predictable.

The prefix-direction-preposition table

This is the page in one table. Each row gives the perfective (one completed move), its secondary imperfective (repeated/ongoing), the direction it encodes, and the preposition + case it naturally pairs with.

Perfective	Imperfective	Direction	Matching preposition + case
doći	dolaziti	arrive, come (toward)	u / na / do + acc/gen
otići	odlaziti	leave, go away (from)	iz / od + genitive
ući	ulaziti	enter, go in	u + accusative
izaći (izići)	izlaziti	exit, go out	iz + genitive
proći	prolaziti	pass by / through	pored / kroz + gen/acc
prijeći	prelaziti	cross, go across	preko + genitive
sići	silaziti	go down, descend	s(a) + genitive
popeti se	penjati se	go up, ascend, climb	na / uz + accusative
poći	polaziti	set off, head out	(od) + genitive
obići	obilaziti	go around, visit	oko + genitive (or bare acc)

Notice the morphology: the perfectives mostly attach the prefix to the contracted -ći of ići (do-ći, u-ći, iz-aći, pri-jeći, s-ići), while the imperfectives are uniformly built on -laziti (do-laziti, u-laziti, iz-laziti). The aspect mechanics behind this are covered in aspect and verbs of motion.

doći / otići — toward and away

These are the most frequent of the family. Doći (perfective "arrive") and its imperfective dolaziti express motion toward a goal; otići / odlaziti express motion away. Choose the perfective for one completed event, the imperfective for a habit or a process in progress.

Došao sam čim sam mogao.

I came as soon as I could. — perfective 'doći', one completed arrival.

Dolazim ovamo svaku subotu.

I come here every Saturday. — imperfective 'dolaziti', habit.

Otišli su bez pozdrava.

They left without saying goodbye. — perfective 'otići'.

Gosti polako odlaze.

The guests are slowly leaving. — imperfective 'odlaziti', ongoing.

ući / izaći — in and out, with their prepositions

This pair shows the prefix-preposition agreement most clearly. ući "enter" goes with u + accusative (into); izaći "exit" goes with iz + genitive (out of). The prefix u- echoes the preposition u, and iz- echoes iz — they are the same morpheme doing the same directional work, once as a prefix and once as a preposition.

Uđi u kuću, hladno je vani.

Come into the house, it's cold outside. — 'ući u' + accusative.

Izašla je iz sobe ne rekavši ništa.

She walked out of the room without saying anything. — 'izaći iz' + genitive.

Ljudi ulaze u tramvaj na stražnja vrata.

People get on the tram through the rear doors. — imperfective 'ulaziti u' + accusative.

Izlazim iz zgrade za pet minuta.

I'm leaving the building in five minutes. — 'izlaziti iz' + genitive.

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The directional prefix and its preposition agree: ući u (in/into), izaći iz (out of), sići s/sa (down off). Learn the pairs together — u-/u, iz-/iz, s-/s, pre-/preko — and you get the verb and the right preposition+case in one move.

proći / prijeći — passing and crossing

proći "pass by / go through" pairs with kroz + accusative (through) or pored + genitive (past); prijeći "cross" pairs with preko + genitive (across). Don't confuse the two: proći is moving along/through, prijeći is getting to the other side.

Prošli smo kroz stari grad do luke.

We went through the old town to the harbour. — 'proći kroz' + accusative.

Prijeđi preko ceste na zebri.

Cross the road at the crossing. — 'prijeći preko' + genitive.

Svaki dan prolazim pored te pekarnice.

Every day I pass by that bakery. — imperfective 'prolaziti pored' + genitive.

sići / popeti se — down and up

Down and up are not symmetrical in form. "Go down" is sići (imperfective silaziti), pairing with s/sa + genitive (off/down from). "Go up / climb" is popeti se (imperfective penjati se), pairing with na + accusative or uz + accusative. Note that the ascending verb is reflexive (se) and does not belong to the -laziti series.

Moram sići na sljedećoj stanici.

I have to get off at the next stop. — 'sići', perfective descent/exit from transport.

Silazi niz stepenice polako, mokre su.

Go down the stairs slowly, they're wet. — imperfective 'silaziti'.

Popeli smo se na vrh za dva sata.

We climbed to the top in two hours. — 'popeti se na' + accusative.

poći and obići — setting off and going around

poći "set off, head out" (imperfective polaziti, also "to depart" of transport) marks the start of a journey rather than its arrival. obići "go around / drop by / visit" (imperfective obilaziti) means circling something or making the rounds.

Vlak polazi u 8:15 s prvog perona.

The train departs at 8:15 from platform one. — 'polaziti', of transport.

Pošli smo u zoru da izbjegnemo gužvu.

We set off at dawn to avoid the crowds. — 'poći', start of the journey.

Obišli smo cijelu Istru u tjedan dana.

We went all around Istria in a week. — 'obići', circling/touring.

How this differs from English

English encodes direction mostly with separate verbs and particles — come, leave, go in, go out, cross over, pass by — bolting an adverbial particle onto a generic verb of motion. Croatian instead loads the direction into the verb itself via a prefix, and then often doubles it on the preposition (ući u, izaći iz). So where English says "go out of the house" with the direction carried by out of, Croatian says izaći iz kuće, with iz- in the verb and iz again as the preposition. Two further consequences trip learners up: (1) the prefix also fixes aspect, so you must still pick perfective vs imperfective (ušao "entered" once vs ulazim "I keep entering"); and (2) the preposition's case is fixed by direction (accusative for "into", genitive for "out of / off of"), so getting the prefix right also tells you the case.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ušao sam u kući.

Incorrect — 'ući' (motion in) needs 'u' + accusative, not the locative 'kući'.

✅ Ušao sam u kuću.

I entered the house. — 'u' + accusative.

❌ Izašla je iz sobu.

Incorrect — 'izaći iz' takes the genitive: 'iz sobe', not the accusative.

✅ Izašla je iz sobe.

She left the room. — 'iz' + genitive.

❌ Svaki dan uđem u ured u devet.

Wrong aspect for a habit — 'ući' is perfective (one entry); a daily routine needs imperfective 'ulazim'.

✅ Svaki dan ulazim u ured u devet.

Every day I enter the office at nine. — imperfective 'ulaziti'.

❌ Prešli smo kroz cestu.

Wrong verb — 'kroz' (through) goes with 'proći'; to cross to the other side use 'prijeći preko'.

✅ Prešli smo preko ceste.

We crossed the road. — 'prijeći preko' + genitive.

Key Takeaways

A directional prefix turns ići into a directed perfective: do- (toward), od- (away), u- (in), iz- (out), pro- (by/through), pre- (across), s- (down).
Each perfective has a secondary imperfective in -laziti (dolaziti, odlaziti, ulaziti, izlaziti…) for repeated or ongoing motion.
The prefix and preposition agree in direction: ući u
- acc, izaći iz
  - gen, sići s
    - gen, prijeći preko
      - gen.
The prefix also fixes aspect, so you still choose perfective (one move) vs imperfective (habit/process).
Up/down are asymmetric: sići / silaziti (down) vs reflexive popeti se / penjati se (up).

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