obaveze

Obaveze is a noun used in many South Slavic languages, most often translated as obligations, duties, or commitments. In Serbian and Bosnian the standard form is obaveza (plural obaveze); in Croatian the related form obveza is also used. The term denotes something a person is required to do or refrain from doing, either by law, by contract, or by social expectation.

The concept appears in legal, administrative, educational, and everyday contexts. Examples include contractual obligations to deliver goods or services, legal duties such as paying taxes or following regulations, and moral or social duties such as caring for family or respecting others. In workplaces, employees have obaveze defined by job contracts; in schools, students have obaveze such as attending classes and completing assignments. Obaveze can be binding and enforceable, but they may also be voluntary commitments accepted by individual choice.

Distinctions with related terms vary by language. Obavezan describes something obligatory or bound to be done; obavezno (or obvezno in some varieties) is an adverb meaning mandatorily or necessarily. The noun dužnost often emphasizes a formal or official duty, whereas obaveza stresses a binding obligation, which may be legal, contractual, or moral. Responsibility (odgovornost) is related but focuses more on accountability for outcomes rather than the obligation to act.

Etymology traces obaveza to the verb obaviti, meaning to fulfill or complete, and to the sense of binding or obliging, with derivatives such as obavezan/obavezno forming part of the same word family.