Present Verbal Adverb (glagolski prilog sadašnji) | Croatian Grammar

The present verbal adverb (glagolski prilog sadašnji) is Croatian's way of packing a whole "while/as" clause into a single word: čitajući "(while) reading", šetajući "(while) strolling", smiješeći se "(while) smiling". It is what linguists call a converb — a verb form that behaves like an adverb, telling you the circumstance under which the main action happens. English has nothing this neat; the closest match is the "-ing" of Walking home, I ran into Ana, but Croatian's form is far more sharply governed: it works only from imperfective verbs, it never changes its shape, and it locks itself to the subject of the main clause. Get those three constraints right and you have an elegant, slightly bookish tool that good writers reach for constantly.

How it is formed: 3pl present + -ći

The rule is mechanical and almost exception-free. Take the third-person plural of the present tense, the oni form, and replace the final -u with -ći.

Infinitive	3pl present (oni)	Verbal adverb	Meaning
čitati (to read)	čitaju	čitajući	(while) reading
pjevati (to sing)	pjevaju	pjevajući	(while) singing
raditi (to work)	rade	radeći	(while) working
ići (to go)	idu	idući	(while) going
govoriti (to speak)	govore	govoreći	(while) speaking
držati (to hold)	drže	držeći	(while) holding

Because the form is built off the oni present, the vowel of the ending follows the conjugation class automatically: a-class and je-class verbs keep -aju → -ajući, while i-class and e-class verbs give -e → -eći. You never have to memorise a separate stem — if you can produce the oni form, you can produce the verbal adverb.

Čitajući novine, popio je kavu na miru.

Reading the paper, he drank his coffee in peace. — 'čitajući' from 'čitaju'.

Idući prema kući, sjetio sam se da nisam kupio kruh.

On my way home, I remembered I hadn't bought bread. — 'idući' from 'idu'.

Govoreći to, gledala me ravno u oči.

Saying that, she looked me straight in the eye. — 'govoreći' from 'govore'.

A reflexive verb simply keeps its se: smijati se → smiju se → smijući se, vraćati se → vraćaju se → vraćajući se.

Smijući se, ispričala nam je cijelu priču.

Laughing, she told us the whole story. — reflexive 'smijući se' keeps its 'se'.

Only from imperfective verbs

This is the constraint that trips people up most, and it follows directly from the meaning. The present verbal adverb describes an action that is ongoing at the same time as the main verb — a process unfolding, not a completed point. Croatian's imperfective aspect is precisely the aspect of ongoing process, so only imperfective verbs can produce this form. A perfective verb describes a bounded, finished event, which is logically incompatible with "while it is happening" — so it has no present verbal adverb at all. (Completed prior actions are the job of the past verbal adverb instead.)

Pišući zadaću, slušala je glazbu.

Doing her homework, she listened to music. — imperfective 'pisati' → 'pišući', two overlapping processes.

Putujući vlakom, najviše volim gledati kroz prozor.

When I travel by train, I most love looking out the window. — imperfective 'putovati' → 'putujući'.

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If you cannot make the form imperfective, you cannot use the present verbal adverb. There is no napisajući from perfective napisati — only pišući from imperfective pisati. When a learner produces a "verbal adverb" that sounds wrong, the cause is almost always a perfective base.

Indeclinable — it never agrees

Unlike the passive participle, which inflects like a full adjective, the verbal adverb is frozen. It does not change for gender, number, or case — one shape covers everything. This is exactly what its name says: it is a verbal adverb (prilog), and adverbs do not agree. Whether the subject is I, we, she, or the children, the form stays identical.

Pjevajući, djeca su ušla u razred.

Singing, the children came into the classroom. — plural subject, but 'pjevajući' is unchanged.

Pjevajući, ušao sam u razred.

Singing, I came into the classroom. — singular masculine subject, same 'pjevajući'.

The same-subject rule — the heart of it

Here is the constraint that separates correct Croatian from a "dangling converb". The unstated subject of the verbal adverb must be identical to the subject of the main clause. The form has no subject of its own; it borrows the main clause's subject. So Šetajući gradom, srela je prijatelja means "She, strolling through town, met a friend" — the strolling and the meeting are both done by she. You cannot use it when the two actions have different subjects.

Šetajući gradom, srela je staru prijateljicu.

Strolling through town, she met an old friend. — one subject (she) does both the strolling and the meeting.

Vozeći se kući, slušao sam vijesti na radiju.

Driving home, I listened to the news on the radio. — 'I' both drive and listen.

When the two actions belong to different subjects, the verbal adverb is simply wrong, and you must use a finite clause with dok "while" instead. English tolerates a looser link ("Reading the letter, the phone rang" — sloppy but heard); Croatian does not.

Dok sam čitao pismo, zazvonio je telefon.

While I was reading the letter, the phone rang. — different subjects ('I' read, 'the phone' rang), so a 'dok' clause is required — NOT a verbal adverb.

What it means: simultaneity and means

The present verbal adverb does two closely related jobs. First, simultaneity — "while X-ing": the two actions overlap in time. Second, means or manner — "by X-ing": the verbal adverb tells you how the main action is accomplished. Croatian leaves the relationship implicit and lets context decide which reading is intended.

Učeći svaki dan, brzo je napredovala.

By studying every day, she made fast progress. — the 'means' reading: studying is how she progressed.

Plačući, pokušavala je objasniti što se dogodilo.

Crying, she tried to explain what had happened. — the 'manner/simultaneity' reading.

Štedeći cijelu godinu, skupili su za putovanje.

By saving all year, they put together enough for a trip. — 'štedjeti' → 'štedeći', the 'means' reading.

Register: bookish, and the everyday dok-equivalent

Be honest with yourself about register. The present verbal adverb is slightly formal and literary. You will meet it constantly in novels, essays, and careful journalism, but in relaxed conversation Croatian speakers usually unpack it into a finite dok-clause ("while …") or simply join two clauses with i "and". Čitajući, zaspao je is good written Croatian; in speech most people say Čitao je i zaspao "He was reading and fell asleep" or Zaspao je dok je čitao. Learners should aim to recognise and understand the verbal adverb readily, and may use it in writing, but should not feel obliged to deploy it in casual talk.

Verbal adverb (bookish)	Everyday equivalent	Meaning
Čitajući, zaspao je.	Zaspao je dok je čitao.	He fell asleep while reading.
Šetajući, razmišljao sam.	Dok sam šetao, razmišljao sam.	I was thinking while walking.
Slušajući te, sve sam shvatio.	Dok sam te slušao, sve sam shvatio.	Listening to you, I understood everything.

The full machinery of dok and kad clauses is covered on subordinating time and cause conjunctions.

Forms that have frozen into other words

A few present verbal adverbs have drifted away from the verb system and lexicalised — they now function as ordinary adjectives or even conjunctions, and a learner meets them long before learning the grammar behind them. Recognising their origin makes them less mysterious.

Frozen form	Now means	From the verb
idući	next (idući tjedan = next week)	ići (to go)
sljedeći / slijedeći	following, next	slijediti (to follow)
budući	future; (budući da) since/because	biti (to be), old present
tekući	running, current (tekuća voda = running water)	teći (to flow)

Vidimo se idući tjedan.

See you next week. — 'idući' here is a frozen adjective, not a live verbal adverb.

Budući da je padala kiša, ostali smo kod kuće.

Since it was raining, we stayed home. — 'budući da' has fully become a causal conjunction.

Common Mistakes

❌ Napisajući pismo, plakala je.

Incorrect — no verbal adverb exists from the perfective 'napisati'; only an imperfective base works.

✅ Pišući pismo, plakala je.

Writing the letter, she was crying. — imperfective 'pisati' → 'pišući'.

❌ Čitajući pismo, zazvonio je telefon.

Incorrect — different subjects (you read, the phone rings); the verbal adverb demands a shared subject.

✅ Dok sam čitao pismo, zazvonio je telefon.

While I was reading the letter, the phone rang. — use a finite 'dok' clause for mismatched subjects.

❌ Šetajuća gradom, srela je prijatelja.

Incorrect — the verbal adverb is indeclinable; it never takes a feminine '-a' ending.

✅ Šetajući gradom, srela je prijatelja.

Strolling through town, she met a friend. — the form is frozen as 'šetajući'.

❌ Smijajući, ispričala je priču.

Incorrect — 'smijati se' is reflexive, so its 'se' must stay: 'smijući se'.

✅ Smijući se, ispričala je priču.

Laughing, she told the story. — the reflexive 'se' is kept.

Key Takeaways

Formed from the 3pl present by replacing -u with -ći: čitaju → čitajući, rade → radeći, idu → idući.
Built only from imperfective verbs, because it marks an ongoing, simultaneous process.
Indeclinable — one frozen shape for every subject; it never agrees.
The unstated subject must equal the main clause's subject; mismatched subjects require a dok-clause instead.
It means "while / by doing" (simultaneity or means), and is bookish — recognise it everywhere, but speech prefers dok-clauses.
Several forms have frozen into other words: idući "next", budući (da) "future / since", tekući "current".

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