početi

See also: početí

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

počati (Chakavian)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *počęti.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pǒt͡ʃeːti/
Hyphenation: po‧če‧ti

Verb

pòčēti pf (Cyrillic spelling по̀че̄ти)

(intransitive) to begin, start, commence
Počeo sam čitati svoju novu knjigu.
I started reading my new book.

Conjugation

Conjugation of *početi*
		singular			plural
infinitive		početi
present verbal adverb		—
past verbal adverb		pòčēvši
verbal noun		—

		1^st	2^nd	3^rd	1^st	2^nd	3^rd
present		počnem	počneš	počne	počnemo	počnete	počnu
future	future I	počet ću¹ počeću	počet ćeš¹ počećeš	počet će¹ počeće	počet ćemo¹ počećemo	počet ćete¹ počećete	počet ćē¹ počeće
future	future II	bȕdēm počeo²	bȕdēš počeo²	bȕdē počeo²	bȕdēmo počeli²	bȕdēte počeli²	bȕdū počeli²
past	perfect	počeo sam²	počeo si²	počeo je²	počeli smo²	počeli ste²	počeli su²
	pluperfect³	bȉo sam počeo²	bȉo si počeo²	bȉo je počeo²	bíli smo počeli²	bíli ste počeli²	bíli su počeli²
	aorist	počeh	poče	poče	počesmo	počeste	počeše
conditional	conditional I	počeo bih²	počeo bi²	počeo bi²	počeli bismo²	počeli biste²	počeli bi²
conditional	conditional II⁴	bȉo bih počeo²	bȉo bi počeo²	bȉo bi počeo²	bíli bismo počeli²	bíli biste počeli²	bíli bi počeli²
imperative		—	počni	—	počnimo	počnite	—
active past participle		počeo m / počela f / počelo n			počeli m / počele f / počela n
passive past participle		počet m / početa f / početo n			početi m / počete f / početa 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.

Related terms

pòčinjati impf