dodati

Dodati is a verb used in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian to mean to add or to append something to what already exists. It is a perfective verb, indicating a completed action, and is typically contrasted with dodavati, the imperfective form used for ongoing or repeated additions.

Etymology and usage notes: Dodati is formed with the prefix do- added to dati (to give). In this sense, it conveys the sense of providing or supplying something in addition to what is already present. Because it is perfective, it is commonly used to describe a one-time or definite act of adding, often in cooking, data entry, mathematics, or listing items.

Grammars and forms: In present tense, the standard form is dodam, dodaš, doda, dodamo, dodate, dodaju. These reflect the completed-action nuance. The imperfective counterpart, dodavati, has present tense forms such as dodajem, dodaješ, dodaje, dodajamo, dodajete, dodaju, used for repeated or ongoing additions. Past participles are dodao (masc.), dodala (fem.), dodali (pl.), used to form perfect tenses like “dodao sam” (I added).

Examples: Dodao sam so u juhu. (I added salt to the soup.) Dodajte još jednu stavku na popis. (Add one more item to the list.) U tom iznosu treba dodati još podatak. (In that amount, another datum must be added.)

See also: dodavanje (the act of adding) and dodavanje podataka (data entry). The term is widely understood in everyday language and professional contexts when referring to placing something in addition to what is present.