Adjectives of Potential (-iv / -ljiv)
When assessing items, such as during art restoration, you often need to describe what can or cannot be done to a material. In Croatian, you express this passive potential—meaning a subject is capable of undergoing an action—by adding the suffixes -iv or -ljiv to a verb stem.
This functions exactly like the English suffixes "-able" or "-ible" (as in "washable" or "visible").
| This layer is soluble, even though it is not washable. | Ovaj sloj je topiv, mada nije periv. |
| It looks as if the material is flammable, and not repairable. | Izgleda kao da je materijal zapaljiv, a ne popravljiv. |
To express the opposite—that something is incapable of undergoing an action—you simply attach the negative prefix ne- directly to the derived adjective.
| Although the signature is invisible, every detail of the painting is noticeable. | Premda je potpis nevidljiv, svaki detalj slike je uočljiv. |
| He who writes a diary wants a legible and indestructible handwriting. | Onaj tko piše dnevnik želi čitljiv i neuništiv rukopis. |
Because these function as standard adjectives, they must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Notice how the endings change depending on whether they modify a masculine noun (ending in a consonant), a feminine noun (ending in -a), or a neuter concept (ending in -o).
| It looks as if the dust is invisible, and the liquid is flammable. | Izgleda kao da je prašina nevidljiva, a tekućina je zapaljiva. |
| That which is soluble is often salvageable. | Ono što je topivo često je spasivo. |
| The problem with the canvas is noticeable, but luckily, repairable. | Problem s platnom je uočljiv, ali srećom, popravljiv. |