vjerovati

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• verovati (Ekavian)
• virovati (Ikavian)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *věrovati. By surface analysis, vjȅr- +‎ -ovati.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋjêroʋati/
• Hyphenation: vje‧ro‧va‧ti

Verb

vjȅrovati impf (Cyrillic spelling вје̏ровати)

1. (ambitransitive) to believe, have faith in (vjerovati u + [accusative])

   Ne vjerujem u Boga. ― I don't believe in God.

   • 14th c., Pelagius, “Starohrvatski latinički rukopis "Žića sv. otaca"”, in anonymous translator, edited by Vinko Premuda, Starine, volume 40, Zagreb: JAZU, translation of Patrologiæ Latinæ Tomus LXXIII: Vitæ Patrum, sive Historiæ Ermeticæ Libri Decem, Tomus Prior: De Vitis Patrum Liber Quintus, sive Verba Seniorum [...] interprete Pelagio S. R. E. diacono (ed. J. P. Migne, 1879), published 1942:

     Veruyu-bo u-boga d[a] chi godi ſidi u-çeli ſa yime negouo i-ſtrſſe ſſapouid boſyu nayde i-on meſto u antonj :

     Veruju bo u Boga da ki godi sidi u celi [?čeli] za ime Njegovo i zdrže zapovid božju najde i on mesto u Antonj

     [original: Credo enim in Deo, quia quicunque sedet in cella propter nomen ejus, et custodit conscientiam suam, invenuatur et ipse in Antonii loco. [p. 901, §34.]]

     I believe thus in God that whoever sits in the cell for His name and upholds God's command will also find himself in Anthony's place.

2. (intransitive) to trust, to believe (vjerovati + [dative])

   Ne vjerujem mu. ― I don't trust/believe him.

   • 1836, Вук Стеф. Караџић, editor, Српске народне пословице‎^[1], Беч, published 1849, page 22:

     Боље је вјеровати својим очима него туђим ријечима.

     Bolje je vjerovati svojim očima nego tuđim riječima.

     It's better to trust one's own eyes than an another man's words.

3. (intransitive, reflexive) to believe, hold (something as true)

   Nekad se vjerovalo da je Zemlja ravna ploča. ― It used to be held that Earth was flat.

Conjugation

Conjugation of vjerovati

infinitive		vjerovati
present verbal adverb		vjȅrujūći
past verbal adverb		—
verbal noun		vjȅrovānje
		singular			plural
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
present		vjȅrujēm	vjȅrujēš	vjȅrujē	vjȅrujēmo	vjȅrujēte	vjȅrujū
future	future I	vjȅrovat ću1 vjȅrovaću	vjȅrovat ćeš1 vjȅrovaćeš	vjȅrovat će1 vjȅrovaće	vjȅrovat ćemo1 vjȅrovaćemo	vjȅrovat ćete1 vjȅrovaćete	vjȅrovat ćē1 vjȅrovaće
	future II	bȕdēm vjȅrovao2	bȕdēš vjȅrovao2	bȕdē vjȅrovao2	bȕdēmo vjȅrovali2	bȕdēte vjȅrovali2	bȕdū vjȅrovali2
past	perfect	vjȅrovao sam2	vjȅrovao si2	vjȅrovao je2	vjȅrovali smo2	vjȅrovali ste2	vjȅrovali su2
	pluperfect3	bȉo sam vjȅrovao2	bȉo si vjȅrovao2	bȉo je vjȅrovao2	bíli smo vjȅrovali2	bíli ste vjȅrovali2	bíli su vjȅrovali2
	imperfect	vjȅrovāh	vjȅrovāše	vjȅrovāše	vjȅrovāsmo	vjȅrovāste	vjȅrovāhu
conditional	conditional I	vjȅrovao bih2	vjȅrovao bi2	vjȅrovao bi2	vjȅrovali bismo2	vjȅrovali biste2	vjȅrovali bi2
	conditional II4	bȉo bih vjȅrovao2	bȉo bi vjȅrovao2	bȉo bi vjȅrovao2	bíli bismo vjȅrovali2	bíli biste vjȅrovali2	bíli bi vjȅrovali2
imperative		—	vjȅrūj	—	vjȅrūjmo	vjȅrūjte	—
active past participle		vjȅrovao m / vjȅrovala f / vjȅrovalo n			vjȅrovali m / vjȅrovale f / vjȅrovala 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.

Daničić (1925:194 (Акценти у глагола §84.)) has original length in active past participle: vjȅrovāl-a/-o/etc. Other sources provide forms with shortened -a-.

Related terms

• pòvjerovati pf

See also

• misliti

References

• Josip Jedvaj, editor (1973–1974), “vjerovati”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[2] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 21, Zagreb: JAZU, page 100
• Budmani, Pietro (1867) Grammatica della lingua serbo-croata (illirica)‎^[3], Vienna: a spese dell' autore
• Даничић, Ђуро (1925) Милан Решетар, editor, Српски акценти‎^[4], Београд-Земун: Српска краљевска академија
• Kapović, Mate (2015) Povijest hrvatske akcentuacije. Fonetika [History of Croatian Accent. Phonetics]‎^[5] (in Serbo-Croatian), Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, →ISBN
• Klaić, Bratoljub (2011) Naglasni sustav standardnoga hrvatskog jezika, Zagreb: Umjetnička organizacija Netfaces