početi / prestati / nastaviti + Infinitive

Starting Stopping and Continuing

Level 3

Phase verbs name a stage of another activity.

How It Works

Početi čitati means begin reading, prestati čitati stop reading, and nastaviti čitati continue reading. The phase verb changes the stage; čitati names the activity.

Inflect the phase verb for the sentence: počela je čitati or nastavljamo raditi. Keep the complement in the infinitive rather than giving both verbs separate person endings.

The two verbs need not have the same aspect. Perfective početi can mark the onset of imperfective čitati. Choosing a completed-result verb as the complement can change or disrupt this normal phase construction.

Examples (3)

  1. Ana je počela učiti hrvatski.

    Ana began learning Croatian.

    Počela agrees with Ana; učiti names the activity.

  2. Prestao je pušiti.

    He stopped smoking.

    The phase verb marks the end of the smoking activity.

  3. Nastavljamo čitati knjigu.

    We are continuing to read the book.

    Nastavljamo is finite and čitati is infinitive.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

početi / prestati / nastaviti + InfinitiveLevel 3Starting Stopping and Continuing

Learn This First

Phase verbs select an infinitive whose imperfective viewpoint fits starting or continuing an activity.

Words in This Pattern

početiprestatinastaviti