The Past Tense of Verbs Ending in -ći
Most Croatian verbs form their past tense (the l-participle) predictably by swapping their infinitive ending for -o, -la, or -lo. However, verbs ending in -ći are highly irregular. Their past tense forms must often be memorized, as the core stem changes.
Stems with a Hidden -k- or -g-
Many -ći verbs hide a -k- or -g- in their root that reappears when you form the past tense.
For example, the verb peći (to bake) has the past tense forms pekao for a masculine subject, pekla for a feminine subject, and pekli for plural subjects. Notice how an -a- is inserted before the -o in the masculine form to make it easier to pronounce, but is dropped in the feminine form.
| On Friday, I baked meat in the oven. | U petak sam pekao meso u pećnici. |
This pattern carries over to related verbs, like opeći se (to burn oneself).
| She baked a cake and burned herself. | Ona je pekla kolač i opekla se. |
The common verb reći (to say) behaves the same way, becoming rekao (m), rekla (f), and rekli (pl).
| Did you say that there is smoke in the house? | Jesi li rekao da je u kući dim? |
Another everyday verb following this -k- pattern is izvući (to pull out), which turns into izvukao / izvukla.
| The cook pulled the pot out of the oven. | Kuhar je izvukao lonac iz pećnice. |
If the verb's hidden root letter is -g-, the past tense forms use that instead of -k-. This applies to common verbs like moći (to be able to), which becomes mogao / mogla.
| I could not watch the pot, so I burned myself. | Nisam mogao paziti na lonac, pa sam se opekao. |
The verb pobjeći (to run away) also uses the -g- stem, becoming pobjegao / pobjegla.
| On Wednesday, I ran away from the smoke. | U srijedu sam pobjegao od dima. |
Moving back to the -k- pattern, the verb teći (to flow) becomes tekao / tekla. You can use it to describe plumbing mishaps, like dealing with a leaking pipe.
| The water flowed into the bathroom and made a flood. | Voda je tekla u kupaonicu i napravila poplavu. |
The Highly Irregular ići
The verb ići (to go) uses a completely different stem for the past tense. You will need to memorize its forms: išao (m), išla (f), išlo (n), and išli (pl).
| I went into the kitchen because I could not find the pot. | Išao sam u kuhinju jer nisam mogao naći lonac. |
These tricky -ći past tense forms appear constantly in everyday spoken Croatian. Here is one more example combining a few of the verbs you have just learned:
| They said that the water was flowing from the pipe. | Rekli su da je voda tekla iz cijevi. |