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Learn Hardcore Croatian: Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. - Try to convince him.

Hardcore Croatian
/Playing in a pub quiz
/Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

Try to convince him.

Breakdown of Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

him (accusative/genitive short form)

to convince; persuade

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Questions & Answers about Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

What does Pokušajte mean here?

Pokušajte is the imperative form of pokušati, meaning to try or to attempt.

So Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. means something like Try to convince him.

The ending -jte shows that this is:

addressed to more than one person, or
addressed to one person formally/politely.

Why is it Pokušajte and not Pokušaj?

Both are imperative forms, but they are used for different people:

Pokušaj = try when speaking to one person informally
Pokušajte = try when speaking to several people or to one person formally

So:

Pokušaj ga uvjeriti. = talking to one friend
Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. = talking to a group, or politely to one person

What does ga mean?

Ga is a short unstressed pronoun meaning him.

In this sentence, it is the direct object of uvjeriti, so ga = him in convince him.

It can also sometimes mean it for a masculine noun, depending on context, but in a sentence like this learners will usually first meet it as him.

Why is ga used instead of on or njega?

Because ga is the correct object form here.

on = he (subject form)
ga = him (short object form)
njega = him (full/stressed form)

Croatian usually prefers the short clitic form ga when there is no special emphasis.

So:

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. = normal, neutral
Pokušajte njega uvjeriti. = more emphatic, like Try to convince him, not someone else

What case is ga in this sentence?

Here ga is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of uvjeriti.

The verb uvjeriti takes someone as its object:

uvjeriti ga = to convince him
uvjeriti je = to convince her
uvjeriti ih = to convince them

Why is uvjeriti in the infinitive?

Because after pokušati (to try), Croatian commonly uses another verb in the infinitive:

pokušati + infinitive

So:

pokušati uvjeriti = to try to convince
pokušati pomoći = to try to help
pokušati objasniti = to try to explain

That is exactly what is happening in Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

Why is it uvjeriti and not uvjeravati?

This is a question of aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

uvjeriti = perfective: to convince, with focus on the result
uvjeravati = imperfective: to be convincing, to keep trying to convince, to persuade over a period of time

In Pokušajte ga uvjeriti, the idea is try to achieve the result of convincing him, so the perfective uvjeriti is natural.

Compare:

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. = try to convince him
Uvjeravali su ga satima. = they were trying to convince him for hours

Why does ga come before uvjeriti?

Because ga is a clitic, a short unstressed word that tends to appear in a fixed position in the sentence, usually near the beginning of the clause.

In Croatian, short pronouns like ga, je, mi, ti, se usually come early, not where English would place them.

So Croatian prefers:

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.

rather than:

Pokušajte uvjeriti ga.

The second version sounds unnatural in standard usage.

Can this sentence also mean Try to persuade him?

Yes. In many contexts, uvjeriti can be translated as either convince or persuade, depending on the situation.

Very roughly:

convince often focuses on making someone believe something
persuade often focuses on getting someone to do something

But in real usage, the Croatian verb uvjeriti can overlap with both.

Is this sentence formal?

It can be.

Because Pokušajte is used for:

plural you: speaking to several people
formal singular you: speaking politely to one person

So without more context, Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. could mean:

You all, try to convince him
Please try to convince him when speaking politely to one person

Could I also say Probajte ga uvjeriti?

Yes. Probati and pokušati can both mean to try.

So:

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti.
Probajte ga uvjeriti.

Both are possible.

Very generally:

pokušati can sound a bit more neutral or standard in many contexts
probati can sometimes feel a bit more everyday or conversational

But both are common, and both would be understood perfectly.

How would I change the sentence if I wanted to say Try to convince her or them?

You only need to change the pronoun:

Pokušajte ga uvjeriti. = Try to convince him
Pokušajte je uvjeriti. = Try to convince her
Pokušajte ih uvjeriti. = Try to convince them

The rest of the sentence stays the same.

How is uvjeriti pronounced?

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is roughly:

oo-vye-ri-ti

A few helpful points:

u sounds like oo
vj is pronounced together, something like vy
stress is not usually marked in normal writing, so learners normally just learn the word as they hear it

So uvjeriti is approximately oo-vye-ri-ti, though the exact sound becomes more natural with listening practice.

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