lecati

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lękati (to set traps, scare). Cognates include Ukrainian ляка́ти (ljakáty, to scare, frighten), Russian ляка́ть (ljakátʹ, to scare, chase a fish caught in a net), Polish lękać się (to be afraid), Czech lekat (to frighten, scare) and Slovak ľakať (to frighten, scare).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lêt͡sati/
  • Hyphenation: le‧ca‧ti

Verb

lȅcati impf (Cyrillic spelling ле̏цати)

  1. (intransitive, reflexive) to startle, jolt, scare, frighten

Conjugation

Conjugation of lecati
infinitive lecati
present verbal adverb lecajūći
past verbal adverb
verbal noun lecānje
singular plural
1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
present lecam lecaš leca lecamo lecate lecaju
future future I lecat ću1
lecaću
lecat ćeš1
lecaćeš
lecat će1
lecaće
lecat ćemo1
lecaćemo
lecat ćete1
lecaćete
lecat ćē1
lecaće
future II bȕdēm lecao2 bȕdēš lecao2 bȕdē lecao2 bȕdēmo lecali2 bȕdēte lecali2 bȕdū lecali2
past perfect lecao sam2 lecao si2 lecao je2 lecali smo2 lecali ste2 lecali su2
pluperfect3 bȉo sam lecao2 bȉo si lecao2 bȉo je lecao2 bíli smo lecali2 bíli ste lecali2 bíli su lecali2
imperfect lecah lecaše lecaše lecasmo lecaste lecahu
conditional conditional I lecao bih2 lecao bi2 lecao bi2 lecali bismo2 lecali biste2 lecali bi2
conditional II4 bȉo bih lecao2 bȉo bi lecao2 bȉo bi lecao2 bíli bismo lecali2 bíli biste lecali2 bíli bi lecali2
imperative lecaj lecajmo lecajte
active past participle lecao m / lecala f / lecalo n lecali m / lecale f / lecala n

1   Croatian spelling: others omit the infinitive suffix completely and bind the clitic.
2   For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively.
3   Often replaced by the past perfect in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verb biti (to be) is routinely dropped.
4   Often replaced by the conditional I in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verb biti (to be) is routinely dropped.
  *Note: The aorist and imperfect were not present in, or have nowadays fallen into disuse in, many dialects and therefore they are routinely replaced by the past perfect in both formal and colloquial speech.

References

  • lecati”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025