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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 07 Verbs with Obligatory Objects 42 / 600

Sometimes two words are counted as ‘one unit’ and occupy the first position

together. One example is ne¨ + verb:

Ne brijem¹ se². I’m not shaving.

brijati

This applies to all words preceded by a word ‘glued’ to it (e.g. u¨, na¨) – they

together count as ‘one unit’. (Words marked with ¨ have a fancy name – proclitics,

and ones marked with ² are also called enclitics.)

This can also happen if you have two words that are frequently used together, e.g.

skoro nikad almost never – they together occupy the first position:

Skoro nikad¹ se² ne brijem. I almost never shave.

brijati

However, you will see sometimes that even such groups are split. Such ‘strict

placement’ occurs mainly in formal writing and formal speech (e.g. on the news

service of the public TV and radio):

Skoro¹ se² nikad ne brijem. (seen sometimes in writing)

brijati

Similar verbs are oblačiti and svlačiti. They correspond to two verbs in English. First,

you can either put on (or off) something:

Ana oblači majicu. Ana is putting a shirt on.

However, when these verbs get a person (or an animal, Croatian treats them more

or less always in the same manner) as their object, they get mean dressing (or

undressing) someone:

Ana oblači Gorana. Ana is dressing Goran.

Finally, if you want to express that Ana is dressing herself, you must use a se², as she

does it on her own, to herself, not to anyone else:

Ana se oblači. Ana is dressing.

The verb buditi is usually translated as wake (up), but it does not have a meaning be

awake, only stop sleeping. You can wake someone up, and in Croatian it sounds like

this:

Ana budi Gorana. Ana is waking Goran up.

But if wake up on your own, you must use a se²:

Ana se budi. Ana is waking up.

Finally, the verb vraćati means that you either return something, or you return

yourself, i.e. come back. You must use a se² for the second meaning:

Ana vraća knjigu. Ana returning a book.

Ana se vraća. Ana is coming back.

Next, there are some verbs that must be used with an object, but when used with a

se², their meaning shifts a bit. Often used ones are:

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