čuvati

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *čuvati.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t͡ʃǔːʋati/
  • Hyphenation: ču‧va‧ti

Verb

čúvati impf (Cyrillic spelling чу́вати)

  1. (transitive) to guard, protect
  2. (transitive) to watch over
  3. (transitive) to save, preserve, conserve
  4. (reflexive) to be careful
  5. (reflexive) to beware, keep away from
    čuvaj se ružnih ženaBeware of ugly women!

Conjugation

Conjugation of čuvati
infinitive čuvati
present verbal adverb čúvajūći
past verbal adverb
verbal noun čúvānje
singular plural
1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
present čuvam čuvaš čuva čuvamo čuvate čuvaju
future future I čuvat ću1
čuvaću
čuvat ćeš1
čuvaćeš
čuvat će1
čuvaće
čuvat ćemo1
čuvaćemo
čuvat ćete1
čuvaćete
čuvat ćē1
čuvaće
future II bȕdēm čuvao2 bȕdēš čuvao2 bȕdē čuvao2 bȕdēmo čuvali2 bȕdēte čuvali2 bȕdū čuvali2
past perfect čuvao sam2 čuvao si2 čuvao je2 čuvali smo2 čuvali ste2 čuvali su2
pluperfect3 bȉo sam čuvao2 bȉo si čuvao2 bȉo je čuvao2 bíli smo čuvali2 bíli ste čuvali2 bíli su čuvali2
imperfect čuvah čuvaše čuvaše čuvasmo čuvaste čuvahu
conditional conditional I čuvao bih2 čuvao bi2 čuvao bi2 čuvali bismo2 čuvali biste2 čuvali bi2
conditional II4 bȉo bih čuvao2 bȉo bi čuvao2 bȉo bi čuvao2 bíli bismo čuvali2 bíli biste čuvali2 bíli bi čuvali2
imperative čuvaj čuvajmo čuvajte
active past participle čuvao m / čuvala f / čuvalo n čuvali m / čuvale f / čuvala n
passive past participle čuvan m / čuvana f / čuvano n čuvani m / čuvane f / čuvana 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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Further reading

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