82 Visible and Unreadable: Potential Adjectives

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There’s a group of adjectives derived from many verbs (but not all!) that stand for potential. They are kind of similar to passive adjectives. English has such adjectives too: examples are visible and readable.

They are usually derived by adding -ljiv to the verb root (that is, the infinitive form without -ati, -iti, -jeti, etc.):

čitati read → čit- → čitljiv readable
vidjeti see → vid- → vidljiv visible

They are frequently derived from perf. verbs:

prihvatiti perf. accept → prihvatljiv acceptable
shvatiti inch. understand → shvatljiv understandable
zapaliti («) perf. ignite → zapaljiv flammable

(Of course, inch. is short for inchoative, i.e. start-of-state or start-of-action.)

The stress of such adjectives seems to be always on the syllable just before the last one (that is, one before -ljiv).

Few verbs that end in -siti or -sati have pot. adj. ending only in -siv. Common ones are:

podesiti perf. adjust → podesiv adjustable
prenositi transport → prenosiv portable

If the consonant that would come before -ljiv is n or nj, it gets fused with lj; some adjectives have both forms:

promijeniti perf. change → promjenjiv / promjenljiv variable
hraniti feed → hranjiv nutritious
sumnjati suspect → sumnjiv suspicious

(You will sometimes see the spelling sumljiv; that’s considered non-standard and a gross error by some people.)

Verbs that have pres-3 ending in -e usually don’t derive such adjectives with -ljiv, but with -iv, and they appear more similar to the infinitive form:

jesti (jede) eat → jestiv eatable
opisati (opiše) perf. describe → opisiv describable
saviti (savije) perf. bend → savitljiv flexible

If the verb contains a sequence -ije-, it’s shortened in the potential adjective to -je- or just -e- (after r, preceded by another consonant):

dijeliti divide, share → djeljiv divisible
lijepiti glue, stick → ljepljiv sticky

As in English, negated versions of some potential adjectives are more common then non-negated. The negation is done by simply appending ne- to the front. Common negated potential adjectives are:

nerazumljiv incomprehensible
neshvatljiv inexplicable
neuništiv indestructible
nevidljiv invisible

The verb piti (pije) drink doesn’t have a regular potential adjective, but a specific adjective is used:

pitak (pitk-) drinkable, potable

Also, a frequent negative potential adj. has an unexpected form:

nezaboravan (nezaboravn-) unforgettable

Some potential adjectives stand for active ability, especially when someone likes to do something, or often does something; this happens mostly for verbs related to talking. For example:

paziti take care → pažljiv careful
pričati tell (stories) → pričljiv talkative
šaliti se² joke → šaljiv funny, humorous
šutjeti / šutiti be silent → šutljiv silent
uvjeriti convince → uvjerljiv persuasive

Few more adjectives have (apparently) non-potential meaning and often active meaning:

dirati touch → dirljiv touching, emotional
hraniti feed → hranjiv nutritious
osjetiti inch. feel → osjetljiv sensitive
smrdjeti / smrditi stink → smrdljiv foul-smelling
strpjeti / strpiti se² perf. be patient → strpljiv patient
štedjeti / štediti save (money, resources) → štedljiv thrifty, economical
uzbuditi («) perf. excite → uzbudljiv exciting
zanimati («) be interesting → zanimljiv interesting

Today, the main meaning of uzbudljiv is exciting – something or somebody that excites others – but you’ll sometimes see it used in meaning excitable – something or somebody that can be excited by others.

With the adjective osjetljiv, you can express what you’re sensitive to:

osjetljiv + na¨ + A = sensitive to

Croatian has a great number (likely, thousands) of verbs ending in -irati; most of them have been borrowed from German and other western languages. Examples are:

analizirati («) analyze ignorirati («) ignore

imitirati («) imitate pakirati («) pack

(As you have probably already learned, such verbs always have the stress on the same syllable). In English, you can create potential adjectives from these verbs – analyzable, ignorable, imitable and packable. Unfortunately, this is not possible in Croatian! There’s no “ignorirljiv” or “ignoririv” (try entering these words into Google™).

There are more examples where English has a potential adjective, but there’s no matching potential adjective in Croatian; for example:

enjoyable inhabitable

livable walkable

You should remember that not all verbs have potential adjectives, even if it would make sense. You’ll have to use relative clauses if you need such meanings.

Unlike passive adjectives, most potential adjectives are comparable (and always use the -iji suffix). The stress moves to the suffix (ljiv):

pažljiv careful → pažljiviji more careful
vidljiv visible → vidljiviji more visible

Similar in form to potential adjectives – but not in meaning – are adjectives derived by adding -av. There are only a couple of them derived from verbs in frequent use:

brbljati chit-chat → brbljav chatty
prljati soil, pollute → prljav dirty

This suffix is used to derive adjectives from certain nouns:

dlaka body hair, animal hair → dlakav hairy
hrđa rust → hrđav rusty ®
krv f blood → krvav bloody
mišić (») muscle → mišićav muscular

These adjectives never have a case-base with the -a- dropped, while adjectives which end in -av for other reasons sometimes have, e.g. mrtav (mrtv-) dead. (Do you remember when I wrote, way back, that -a- is not always dropped?)

________

® In Serbia and Bosnia, words for rust and rusty don’t have the initial h: they have forms rđa and rđav.

↓ Something Possibly Interesting (click to show)

The use of -iv and -ljiv to produce adjectives with active meaning is actually older. Probably one of the oldest passive potential adjectives was (ne)vidljiv (in)visible. The use of such adjectives expanded much in the 19th and 20th centuries, but they are much older.

The seemingly random use of -iv vs. -ljiv led to attempts by some Croatian linguists to basically invent and prescribe clear-cut rules, but they all failed. It’s, however, been noted that after -t, -ljiv is almost always used; for the rest, the actual rules are so complicated that it’s easier simply to remember these adjectives.

↓ Examples (click to show)

This billboard, advertising a popular newspaper, explains that they’re “insensitive to critiques” because they’re sensitive to social injustice. Note osjetljiv na¨+ A twice:

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