Verbal aspect in Croatian for learners whose L1 is not a Slavic language

Guest lecture by Ivančica Banković-Mandić, PhD, Croaticum – Centre for Croatian as a Second and Foreign Language (University of Zagreb).

The greatest challenge for non-Slavic speakers in learning verbal aspect in Croatian is correctly using perfective and imperfective verbs, as many languages lack an equivalent grammatical concept. Languages such as English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian do not have a direct equivalent for verbal aspect but use other linguistic structures to express similar meanings. The presentation will highlight common mistakes made by non-Slavic speakers and offer  some solutions.

Non-Slavic speakers often try to use perfective verbs in the present tense (e.g., naučim instead of učim). A useful teaching strategy is to compare the imperfective aspect in the present and past tense with the English Present Continuous or Past Continuous Tense. Perfective verbs can appear in the present tense, but mostly in complex sentences and very rarely in simple ones. Since perfective forms are derived from imperfective forms, it is essential to note that prefixation and suffixation not only change aspect but also alter verb meaning (učiti – "to learn" vs. poučiti – "to teach").

Some verbs are biaspectual, meaning they can function as both perfective and imperfective (vidjeti – "to see"). Teaching such verbs first may help learners grasp the concept more easily.

Semantically:

Imperfective verbs focus on the process:

Često sam čitao knjige. ("I often read books.") → Emphasizing duration and repetition.

Perfective verbs focus on the result:

Pročitao sam knjigu. ("I have read the book.") → The action is completed.

It is recommended to teach verbs in pairs and through contextualization to help learners understand subtle differences in meaning.