imati

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• imeti (Kajkavian)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *jьmati, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ǐmati/
• Hyphenation: i‧ma‧ti

Verb

ìmati impf (Cyrillic spelling ѝмати)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to have, possess, own

   Imam vremena. ― I have time.

   Ona ima 19 godina. ― She is 19 years old. (literally, “She has 19 years.”)

   Imaš pravo! ― You are right! (literally, “You have it right.”)

   Što ste imali na umu? ― What did you have in mind?

   Imaju li nešto protiv toga? ― Do they have something against that?

2. (transitive, with genitive case (except for singular countable nouns — with nominative), in existential clauses) there be, be present, exist (in the universe of discourse; in past and future tenses usually replaced by bȉti (“to be, exist”))

   Ima li šećera? ― Is there any sugar?

   Ima li crvenih auta na parkiralištu? ― Are there any red cars on the parking lot?

   Što ima za večeru? ― What is there for dinner?

   Ima pet godina otad. ― Five years have passed since then. / It has been five years since then. (literally, “There are five years since then.”)

3. (intransitive, regional, with da) to have to, be obliged to (have the responsibility)

   Ima(š) da mu pošteno platiš. ― You have to pay him fairly.

   Ima(ju) da rade c(ij)eli dan. ― They have to work the whole day.

4. (transitive) to wear, have on

   Imala je crveni šešir. ― She had a red bonnet on.

Conjugation

Conjugation of imati

Infinitive: imati		Present verbal adverb: ìmajūći		Past verbal adverb: —		Verbal noun: ìmānje
Number		Singular			Plural
Person		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Verbal forms		ja	ti	on / ona / ono	mi	vi	oni / one / ona
Present		imam / imadem	imaš / imadeš	ima / imade	imamo / imademo	imate / imadete	imaju / imadu
Future	Future I	imat ću1 imaću	imat ćeš1 imaćeš	imat će1 imaće	imat ćemo1 imaćemo	imat ćete1 imaćete	imat će1 imaće
	Future II	bȕdēm imao2	bȕdēš imao2	bȕdē imao2	bȕdēmo imali2	bȕdēte imali2	bȕdū imali2
Past	Perfect	imao sam2	imao si2	imao je2	imali smo2	imali ste2	imali su2
	Pluperfect3	bȉo sam imao2	bȉo si imao2	bȉo je imao2	bíli smo imali2	bíli ste imali2	bíli su imali2
	Imperfect	imah / imadijah / imađah	imaše / imadijaše / imađaše	imaše / imadijaše / imađaše	imasmo / imadijasmo / imađasmo	imaste / imadijaste / imađaste	imahu / imadijahu / imađahu
Conditional I		imao bih2	imao bi2	imao bi2	imali bismo2	imali biste2	imali bi2
Conditional II4		bȉo bih imao2	bȉo bi imao2	bȉo bi imao2	bíli bismo imali2	bíli biste imali2	bíli bi imali2
Imperative		—	imaj	—	imajmo	imajte	—
Active past participle		imao m / imala f / imalo n			imali m / imale f / imala n
1   Croatian spelling: others omit the infinitive suffix completely and bind the clitic. 2   For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively. 3   Often replaced by the past perfect in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verb biti (to be) is routinely dropped. 4   Often replaced by the conditional I in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verb biti (to be) is routinely dropped.   *Note: The aorist and imperfect were not present in, or have nowadays fallen into disuse in, many dialects and therefore they are routinely replaced by the past perfect in both formal and colloquial speech.

Antonyms

• némati

Derived terms

• pòimati
• snímati
• ùimati
• zàimati

References

• “imati”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Further reading

• Pero Budmani, editor (1887–1891), “”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[1] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 3, Zagreb: JAZU, page 797
• Pero Budmani, editor (1892–1897), “jìmati”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[2] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 4, Zagreb: JAZU, page 651
• Pero Budmani, editor (1892–1897), “jèmati”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[3] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 4, Zagreb: JAZU, page 586
• Pero Budmani, editor (1892–1897), “jȁmati”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[4] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 4, Zagreb: JAZU, page 447