за- for Starting

Starting an Action

Level 5Sounds Like za- za početok

плаче means "cry", and заплаче means "start crying, burst into tears". With many verbs of sound and movement, за- marks the beginning.

How It Works

The moment something starts. English often needs "start", "begin" or "burst into". Macedonian can say it with one verb:

  • пее → запее start singing
  • плаче → заплаче start crying, burst into tears
  • трча → затрча start running
  • лае → залае start barking
  • свири → засвири start playing (music)
  • врне → заврне start raining

In the past, use the aorist: заплака, запеаја, залаја, заврна. Заспие (fall asleep) belongs here too: Бебето заспа.

За- verb or почне да? A за- verb already contains "start", so it does not go after почне да. Say either Детето заплака or Детето почна да плаче. The second uses the plain imperfective verb, because почне да is always followed by an imperfective.

Other meanings of за-. За- is a very common prefix with several meanings: closing or finishing (затвори close, заклучи lock), doing something lightly (замие give a quick wash) and, with се, getting carried away (се зазборувавме we got carried away talking). So read за- as "start" mainly with verbs of sound, movement and weather, and check a dictionary for other verbs. See also verb prefixes and meaning.

Examples (6)

  1. Кога ја слушна веста, заплака.

    When she heard the news, she burst into tears.

    Word by Word: When it she-heard news-the, she-started-crying.

  2. Сите запеаја заедно.

    Everyone started singing together.

    Word by Word: All started-singing together.

  3. Кучето залаја и детето затрча кон куќата.

    The dog started barking, and the child started running toward the house.

    Word by Word: Dog-the started-barking and child-the started-running toward house-the.

  4. Штом заврна, влеговме внатре.

    As soon as it started raining, we went inside.

    Word by Word: As-soon-as started-raining, we-went-in inside.

  5. Музиката засвири и луѓето заиграа.

    The music started playing, and people started dancing.

    Word by Word: Music-the started-playing and people-the started-dancing.

  6. Бебето заспа.

    The baby fell asleep.

    Word by Word: Baby-the fell-asleep.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting a за- verb after почне да.

    Детето почна да заплаче.
    Детето заплака.

    Заплаче already means "start crying". Either use it alone, or say почна да плаче with the plain imperfective verb.

How It Connects

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

за- for StartingLevel 5Starting an Action

Learn This First

Starting an action follows prefix meanings.

Words in This Pattern

за-