smanjivati

Smanjivati is a verb in South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin. It means to make something smaller or to reduce in amount, degree, or intensity. It is the imperfective form, used for ongoing or repeated decrease, while its perfective counterpart smanjiti denotes a single, completed reduction. The noun form is smanjivanje, used to describe the process of decreasing.

The verb is commonly used with nouns referring to quantities, prices, consumption, risk, or levels. Typical collocations include smanjivati cijene (to lower prices), smanjivati potrošnju energije (to reduce energy consumption), smanjivati rizik (to reduce risk), and smanjivati emisije (to lower emissions). In practice, a statement might read: Vlada planira smanjivati porezne stope. For completed actions, one would use smanjiti: Tvrtka je smanjila potrošnju energenata.

In terms of aspect, smanjivati expresses ongoing or repeated decreasing, whereas smanjiti indicates a finite reduction that has been achieved. Tenses for imperfective verbs are formed as for other Slavic verbs, and the perfective form typically conveys future or completed action, depending on the language and tense system. Noun forms such as smanjivanje or smanjenje are used to discuss the concept in abstract or technical contexts.

Etymology traces smanjivati to the root manj-, meaning “smaller,” with prefix s- signaling reduction. Related forms include smanjiti (perfective), smanjivanje (decrease, reduction), and semantically related verbs like sniziti or snizavanje in contexts of lowering or reducing.