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The Serbian Present Tense (Sadašnje vreme)
(PDF version)
Here I discuss only the present
tense of regular verbs in Serbian. For the conjugation of
irregular verbs, such as ‘biti’
(be),
hteti (want) and
moći (can) please
see irregular verbs.
| The Present
Tense of Regular Verbs |
The present tense in Serbian is used to describe:
- the habitual action: Ja plivam svaki dan.
‘I swim every day’
- the action occurring now: Ja plivam sada.
‘I am swimming now.’
- to express future events: Idem sutra u bioskop.
‘I am going tomorrow to the movie theater.'
Formation of the present tense is a tricky
process, because there are many verbs that ‘misbehave’, i.e.
they have somewhat unpredictable present tense stems.
But we could roughly say that the present tense is made
by taking out the verb’s infinitive endings –ti/ati/eti
and inserting the present tense endings to the infinitive
stem (see Table 1 below). We can express this using a
formula:
- Present tense = infinitive
stem + present tense ending (of Table 1)
where, infinitive stem = infinitive verb (what is
listed in the dictionary)
minus infinitive ending: -iti/eti/ati.
Here is an example:
- raditi – iti = rad
(infinitival stem)
+ im (present tense
suffix)
= radim (I work).
There are three present tense endings (or conjugations)
for three classes of verbs: -im,
-am- and –em.
Table 1 below, shows the present tense endings for these
three verb classes.
The actual examples are shown in Table 2.
Table 1: The Present Tense Endings for Three Classes of
Verbs
| |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
| First person |
-im |
-am |
-em |
-imo |
-amo |
-emo |
| Secont person |
-iš |
-aš |
-eš |
-ite |
-ate |
-ete |
| Third person |
-i |
-a |
-e |
-e |
-aju |
-u |
Table 2: Three present tense verb classes – examples
| I: -im
verbs |
II: -am
verbs |
III: -em
and -jem verbs
|
Raditi
(to work) |
Pitati
(to ask) |
Spasti
(to rescue) |
Čuti
(to hear) |
Rad-im
(I work) |
Pit-am
(I ask) |
Spas-em
(I rescue) |
Ču-jem
(I hear) |
Rad-iš
(you work) |
Pit-aš
(you ask) |
Spas-eš
(you rescue) |
Ču-ješ
(you hear) |
Rad-i
(he/she/it works) |
Pit-a
(he/she/it ask) |
Spas-e
(he/she/it rescue) |
Ču-je
(he/she/it hear) |
Rad-imo
(we work) |
Pit-amo
(we ask) |
Spas-emo
(we rescue) |
Ču-jemo
(we hear) |
Rad-ite
(you work) |
Pit-ate
(you ask) |
Spas-ete
(you rescue) |
Ču-jete
(you hear) |
Rad-e
(they work) |
Pit-aju
(they ask) |
Spas-u
(they rescue) |
Ču-ju
(they hear) |
Notes about the present tense forms in Table 2:
Notice that in Table 2, all the verb forms appear with
no pronouns. For example, the verb form ‘radim’
means
‘I work’, but there is no personal pronoun ‘I’.
Unlike English, where you cannot just say
‘work’ to mean ‘I work’, in Serbian, of
course, you can. We generally don’t use a personal pronoun in the subject
position, like
Ja radim ‘I work’. We use it only for
emphasis. For more details, see the discussion on
word order.
Now you’re ready to use verbs in the present tense. Easy?
Yes, but… While for many verbs the above formula works,
there are many verbs where the infinitive stem is somewhat modified, so, it is
not predictable, which means, you need to memorize it. This is especially the
case with the –em verbs.
I describe each conjugation class: -im, -am
and –em, in separate files, so please read these files
carefully.
To negate a verb, you need to add the particle ‘ne’
in front of the verb. Note that the irregular verb jesam is
an exception to that rule, because the negative particle is
ni, not
ne.
Examples of negated verbs:
- Ja ne volim. ‘I do not like.’
- Ti ne želiš. ‘You do not wish.’
While in English we have to add a supporting verb ‘do’
before ‘not’, in Serbian, the negative particle
ne is enough.
| Present tense
conjugations of some frequently used verbs |
Below, is a list of some frequent verbs (both regular
and irregular) in the present tense for all three classes of
verbs.
Table 3: Three present tense verb classes – more examples
| English |
Infinitive |
Present tense – for
all persons
singular: first line
plural: second line |
Verb class |
| be |
biti |
sam, si, je
smo, ste su |
irregular |
| want |
hteti |
hoću, hoćeš, hoće
hoćemo, hoćete, hoću |
irregular |
| can |
moći |
mogu, možeš, može
možemo, možete, mogu |
irregular |
| sleep |
spavati |
spavam, spavaš, spava
spavamo, spavate, spavaju |
-am |
| read |
čitati |
čitam, čitaš, čita
čitamo, čitate, čitaju |
-am |
| ask |
pitati |
pitam, pitaš, pita
pitamo, pitate, pitaju |
-am |
| know |
znati |
znam, znaš, zna
znamo, znate, znaju |
-am |
| have |
imati |
imam, imaš, ima
imamo, imate, imaju |
-am |
| talk |
razgovarati |
razgovaram, razgovaraš, razgovara
razgovaramo, razgovarate, razgovaraju |
-am |
| speak |
pričati |
pričam, pricaš, priča
pričamo, pričate, pričaju |
-am |
| watch |
gledati |
gledam, gledaš, gleda
gledamo, gledate, gledaju |
-am |
| get |
dobiti |
dobijem, dobiješ, dobije
dobijemo, dobijete, dobiju |
-em |
| give |
davati (impf) |
dajem, daješ, daje
dajemo, dajete, daju |
-em |
| go |
ići |
idem, ideš, ide
idemo, idete, idu |
-em |
| hear |
čuti |
čujem, čuješ, čuje
čujemo, čujete, čuju |
-em |
| eat |
jesti |
jedem, jedeš, jede
jedemo, jedete, jedu |
-em |
| believe |
verovati |
verujem, veruješ, veruje
verujemo, verujete, veruju |
-em |
| call |
zvati |
zovem, zoveš, zove
zovemo, zovete, zovu |
-em |
| sell |
prodati |
prodajem, prodaješ, prodaje
prodajemo, prodajete, prodaju |
-em |
| bring |
dovesti (perfective) |
dovedem, devedeš, devede
dovedemo, dovedete, dovedu |
-em |
| ask for |
tražiti |
tražim, tražiš, traži
tražimo, tražite, traže |
-im |
| beg, pray |
moliti |
molim, moliš, moli
molimo, molite, mole |
-im |
| work |
raditi |
radim, radiš, radi
radimo, radite, rade |
-im |
| bring |
doneti |
donosim, donosiš, donosi
donosimo, donosite, donose |
-im |
| learn |
učiti |
učim, učiš, uči
učimo učite, uče |
-im |
| desire |
želeti |
želim, želiš, želi
želimo, želite, žele |
-im |
| love |
voleti |
volim, voliš, voli
volimo, volite, vole |
-im |
| say |
govoriti |
govorim, govoriš, govori
govorimo, govorite, govore |
-im |
| come |
doći |
dolazim, dolaziš, dolazi
dolazimo, dolazite, dolaze |
-im |
| see |
videti |
vidim, vidiš, vidi
vidimo, vidite, vide |
-im |
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