napraviti

Napraviti is a verb used in the South Slavic languages, especially Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin. It is the perfective counterpart of praviti (to make or to do) and is built with the prefix na- added to the imperfective base praviti. As a perfective verb, napraviti denotes the completion of an action and is transitive, taking a direct object in the accusative.

Core meanings include to make, to create, to produce, and to prepare (for example, a meal). It can also express carrying out or performing a task, and in idiomatic use it can mean to cause something (for example, to make a mistake, to make a plan, to make trouble). Common usages include phrases such as napraviti tortu (to make a cake) and napraviti plan (to make a plan). The verb also appears in fixed expressions like napraviti utisak (to make an impression) or napraviti nešto od ničega (to make something out of nothing).

Grammatical notes emphasize its perfective aspect: it is generally used for actions viewed as complete rather than ongoing or habitual. The past tense is formed with a past participle (napravio, napravljila, napravili, etc.) plus an auxiliary verb (sam, si, je, etc.). Present and future readings are obtained through standard conjugation patterns for perfective verbs, often with a nuance that the action will be completed.

See also: praviti; perfective aspect; Serbo-Croatian verbs.