zadati

Zadati is a verb used in several South Slavic languages, most notably Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin. It is the perfective form related to the root dati (to give) and conveys the action of imposing, assigning, or inflicting something on someone. The imperfective counterpart is zadavati, used for repeated or ongoing actions. The sense of zadati covers tasks, questions, harm, or challenges being brought to someone.

Common uses of zadati include assigning a task, posing questions, or causing something to happen to someone. Typical collocations are zadati zadatak (to assign a task), zadati pitanja (to pose questions), zadati bol (to inflict pain), zadati štetu (to cause damage), and zadati poraz (to deal a defeat). The verb is versatile and can describe both educational, legal, or competitive contexts, as well as hostile or adversarial situations.

Grammatical notes emphasize its perfective aspect. Zadati denotes a single, completed action, while zadavati expresses repeated or ongoing actions. It typically takes a direct object in a way that mirrors other give-related verbs, such as you would say zadati zadatak or zadati pitanja. In usage, it often appears with pronouns and can be used in various tenses depending on the narrative.

The noun form zadatak means “task” or “assignment,” illustrating the common semantic anchor of the verb. Related vocabulary includes dati (to give) and other prefixed verbs in the same family.