odgovoravati

Odgovoravati is a verb used in standard Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian to mean to answer or to respond, especially in a habitual, general, or ongoing sense. It is the imperfective form, describing repeated or non-completed actions, or actions viewed as a process. The perfective counterpart is odgovoriti, which denotes a single act of answering.

Morphology and usage

Odgovoravati is transitive and commonly appears with the preposition na when referring to responding to something, as in odgovoravati na pitanje (to answer a question). It derives from the noun odgovor (answer) plus the suffix -avati, a productive pattern for forming imperfective verbs in South Slavic languages. In present tense it is conjugated as: ja odgovaram, ti odgovaraš, on/ona odgovara, mi odgovaramo, vi odgovarate, oni odgovaraju.

Nuances

The imperfective form karkets a sense of routine, general capability, or ongoing activity, whereas odgovoriti is used for a specific instance of answering. Examples: "On često odgovara na poruke na forumima." (He often answers messages on forums.) "Molim vas, odgovarajte na pitanja." (Please answer the questions.)

See also

Odgovor (answer), odgovoriti (to answer, perfective form), govor/razgovor (speech, discussion)