Personal and Impersonal trebati

Two Ways to Express Need

Level 4

Trebati supports personal and impersonal constructions. Identify who needs something, what is needed, and whether the complement names an action.

How It Works

For a needed thing, compare Trebam kartu with Treba mi karta. In the second pattern, a plural needed item takes plural agreement: Trebaju mi karte. Mi does not make the verb first person.

For an action, Trebam poslati prijavu gives the obligation to the first-person subject. An impersonal statement such as Treba poslati prijavu leaves the responsible person unstated. A conditional softens advice: Trebao bi se odmoriti.

Both personal and impersonal patterns are used in Croatian. A da-clause can make its own subject explicit, but cannot simply be substituted everywhere without considering style and meaning.

Examples (3)

  1. Trebam novu bilježnicu.

    I need a new notebook.

  2. Za ovaj kolač trebaju nam tri jaja.

    We need three eggs for this cake.

  3. Prije polaska treba zatvoriti prozore.

    The windows need to be closed before departure.

How It Connects

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

Personal and Impersonal trebatiLevel 4Two Ways to Express Need

Learn This First

Contrast personal trebati with an impersonal necessity construction using the same lexical verb.

Words in This Pattern

trebati