gubiti

Gubiti is a verb used in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian. It generally means to lose something or to misplace it, and it is also used in a broader sense to indicate wasting or shedding something, such as time, money, or energy. In addition to concrete objects, gubiti is commonly used with abstract nouns, for example gubiti vrijeme (to waste time) or gubiti snagu (to lose strength).

Etymology and related forms can be traced to the Proto-Slavic verb family associated with loss. In these languages, gubiti has a related perfective counterpart, izgubiti, which emphasizes a completed act of losing. The use of izgubiti is common when a loss is treated as a single, finished event, as in Izgubio sam ključeve (I lost the keys).

Usage notes and nuances: gubiti is versatile and often describes ongoing or repeated loss, whereas izgubiti tends to depict a definite occurrence. Both forms require appropriate agreement with gender and number in past tense constructions. Common collocations include gubiti novac (to lose money), gubiti kilograme (to lose weight), and gubiti trag (to lose track or to be unable to trace).

Conjugation (present tense) typically follows a regular pattern: gubim, gubiš, gubi, gubimo, gubite, gube. The imperfect and past tenses are formed with auxiliary verbs and gender-specific participles, while the perfective past uses forms of izgubiti, such as izgubio/izgubila/izgubilo sam.

See also: gubitak (loss), izgubiti.