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)

(ambitransitive) 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?
(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.”)
(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.
(transitive) to wear, have on
Imala je crveni šešir. ― She had a red bonnet on.

Conjugation

Conjugation of *imati*
		singular			plural
infinitive		imati
present verbal adverb		ìmajūći
past verbal adverb		—
verbal noun		ìmānje

		1^st	2^nd	3^rd	1^st	2^nd	3^rd
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 ćē¹ imaće
future	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	conditional I	imao bih²	imao bi²	imao bi²	imali bismo²	imali biste²	imali bi²
conditional	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

References

“imati”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025