Learn Croatian & Serbian language

Moja baka je cijeli život živjela na selu. / Moja baba je celi život živela na selu.

My grandmother lived in the village all her life.

Nije često bila u velikim gradovima.

She was not often in big cities.

 Grad joj se nije sviđao i nije pričala o gradovima.

She didn’t like the city and didn’t talk about cities.

Uvijek kad je morala putovati u grad, govorila je: „Osjećam se kao da moram ići u džunglu.” / Uvek kad je morala da putuje u grad, govorila je: „Osećam se kao da moram da idem u džunglu.” 

Whenever she had to travel to the city, she said, “I feel like I have to go to the jungle.”

Kad je ostarila, morala je posjećivati doktore, a doktori su bili u gradu. / Kad je ostarila, morala je da posećuje lekare, a lekari su bili u gradu.

When she got older, she had to visit doctors, and the doctors were in town.

Iako nije vjerovala doktorima, kad je imala termin, išla je u bolnicu s mojom mamom, svojom kćerkom. / Iako nije verovala lekarima, kad je imala termin, išla je u bolnicu sa mojom mamom, svojom ćerkom.

Although she didn’t trust doctors, when she had an appointment, she went to the hospital with my mom, her daughter.

Moja mama je uvijek htjela pomoći baki. Išle su autom. Mama je vozila. / Moja mama je uvijek htela da pomogne baki. Išle su kolima. Mama je vozila.

My mom always wanted to help grandma. They went by car. Mom was driving.

Kad su se mama i ona vozile kroz grad, baka joj je stalno govorila: „Pazi, kćeri, semafor! Gle, pogazit ćeš/pogazićeš čovjeka/čoveka, bože, bože…”.

When my mom and she were driving through the city, my grandmother constantly said to her: “Watch out, daughter, the traffic lights! Look, you will run over the man, oh God, oh God…”.

Jednom je mama postala baš nervozna zbog bake i njezinih komentara i rekla joj je: „Sad je dosta.

Once, mom got really nervous because of grandma and her comments and said to her: “That’s enough now.

Izađi iz auta i idi sama. Blizu bolnice smo. Idi po ovim stepenicama i skreni u ulicu lijevo/levo. Nećeš se više ponašati tako bezobrazno prema meni!”

Get out of the car and go alone. We are near the hospital. Go up these stairs and turn left into the street. You won’t behave so rude toward me anymore!”

Let’s analyze the text from the beginning considering the cases that are used.

LEGEND:

NOM – nominativ, basic form

GEN – genitiv

DAT – dativ

AK – akuzativ

VOK – vokativ

LOK – lokativ

INST – instrumental

CRO: Moja baka (NOM) je cijeli život (AK) živjela na selu (LOK).

SRB: Moja baba (NOM) je celi život (AK) živela na selu (LOK).

Maybe you wonder why cijeli život/ celi život is akuzativ. The answer is that we use akuzativ when expressing period, like for whole life, for a year, for a month… – cijeli/celi život, jednu godinu, jedan mjesec/mesec…

Nije često bila u velikim gradovima (LOK, plural).

Grad (NOM) joj se nije sviđao i nije pričala o gradovima (LOK).

Reminder: Lokativ comes after the connectors u, na, po, prema, o.

Uvijek/uvek kad je morala putovati u grad (AK), govorila je: „Osjećam/osećam se kao da moram ići u džunglu (AK).” 

In both examples, it’s about direction – akuzativ.

CRO: Kad je ostarila, morala je posjećivati doktore (AK), a doktori (NOM, plural) su bili u gradu (LOK).

SRB: Kad je ostarila, morala je da posećuje lekare (AK), a lekari (NOM, plural) su bili u gradu (LOK).

Iako nije vjerovala doktorima/verovala lekarima (DAT, plural), kad je imala termin (AK), išla je u bolnicu (AK) sa mojom mamom (INST), svojom kćerkom (INST).

Moja mama (NOM) je uvijek htjela pomoći/uvek htela da pomogne baki (DAT).

Išle su autom/kolima (INST). Mama (NOM) je vozila.

Kad su se mama (NOM) i ona vozile kroz grad (AK), baka (NOM) joj je stalno govorila: „Pazi, kćeri (VOK), semafor! Gle, pogazit ćeš čovjeka (AK)/pogazićeš čoveka (AK), bože, bože… (VOK)”.

Here we have 2 uses of vokativ – kćeri and bože – because she’s referring to her daughter and God. Did you know that God – Bog – in vokativ sounds Bože. It’s because a vocal change called palatalizacija occurs.

Jednom je mama (NOM) postala baš nervozna zbog bake (GEN) i njezinih komentara (GEN, plural) i rekla joj (DAT) je: „Sad je dosta.

Prestani mi (DAT) soliti pamet (AK)! / Prestani da mi (DAT) soliš pamet (AK)!

Izađi iz auta/kola (GEN) i idi sama.

Blizu bolnice (GEN) smo. Idi po ovim stepenicama (LOK) i skreni u ulicu (AK) lijevo/levo.

Nećeš se više ponašati tako bezobrazno prema meni! (LOK)”

Remember that “ja” in lokativ/dativ has long and short form, just like all other pronouns. Meni is a long form and it’s used always with a prepositions, like prema in the example above. The short form is mi and it’s used in all other cases, like Rekla mi je, Dao mi je…

What does SOLITI PAMET mean and when can you use it?

Soliti pamet literally means to salt my brain or mind.

The phrase is used in Croatian and Serbian languages when someone is constantly saying what you should do. They’re giving you advice you haven’t asked for. They behave like they’re smarter than you and that annoys you. Then you can say – Ne soli mi pamet!

Pamet is used like a synonym for mozak (brain) or um (mind) only in the phrases. Except for this one, we often say: “Sišao/la si s pameti!” That means “You climbed down your mind” literally. It’s used when you can not believe what someone did, how stupid thing.

Imala sam jednog prijatelja/drugara koji je uvijek/uvek bio smiren, miran čovjek/čovek osim kad je bio u prometu/saobraćaju.

I had one friend who was always a calm, shy man except when he was in traffic.

Jako/Mnogo mu je smetala gužva u prometu/saobraćaju.

The traffic jam bothered him a lot.

Kad smo hodali u centru grada među puno/mnogo ljudi, ta gužva mu nije smetala, više je smetala meni, ali kad je sjeo/seo u auto/kola, postao je drugi čovjek/čovek. 

When we walked in the center of the town among a lot of people, that crowd didn’t bother him, it bothered me more, but when he sat in his car, he became another man.

“Ajde glupane, vozi! Ma kako to voziš, …”

“Come on, you stupid, drive! Oh how your drive is…”

Psovao je i vikao na druge vozače. Bio je ljut, bio je bijesan/besan. 

He sweared and yelled at other drivers. He was angry, he was furious.

Baš sam se pitala kakav je danas.

I was just wondering what is he like today.

Je li još uvijek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u prometu? / Da li je još uvek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u saobraćaju?

Is he still so angry and impatient in the traffic?

Danas se ne družimo više niti ga vidim u gradu, mislila sam.

Today we don’t hang out anymore nor do I see him in the town, I was thinking.

Ali, eto njega, sretnem ga jutros kad sam išla u banku.

But, here he is, I met him this morning when I was going to the bank.

Kažem mu da sam se baš sjetila/setila kako je uvijek/uvek bio ljut u prometu/saobraćaju, a on mi kaže:

I told him that I just remembered that he was always angry in the traffic, and he told me:

“Uh, nemoj da me podsećaš. Da, i danas sam takav, ali više ne smem da budem takav.

“Uh, don’t remind me. Yes, still today I’m like this but I can’t be like this anymore (I can’t behave like this).

Upravo se vraćam sa suda.

I’m just getting back from the court.

Prije/Pre neki dan razljutio sam se na jednog vozača i počeo vikati/ da vičem na njega.

I got mad at a driver the other day and started to yell at him.

Lik je izašao iz auta/ kola, došao do mojeg auta/mojih kola i ja sam ga udario. Posvađali smo se i čak potukli. 

The guy got out of his car, he came to my car and I pushed him. We had an argue and even fight.

Dobio sam novčanu kaznu – upravo su mi rekli na sudu.

I got a fine (penalty of money) – they just told me on the court.

Od sad ću paziti kad sam vozim.

From now on, I will take care when I drive alone.

Neću više biti nervozan, upisat ću neki kurs meditacije ili joge, k vragu.”

I won’t be nervous anymore, I’ll join a meditation or yoga course, damn it.”

In this text, we have all 3 tenses.

PAST TENSE

The story begins with the past tense since it narrates about the old times in the narrator’s life:

Imala sam jednog prijatelja/drugara koji je uvijek/uvek bio smiren, miran čovjek osim kad je bio u prometu/saobraćaju.

When using connectors like koji, kad, the helping verb “to be” comes first: koji je bio, kad je bio.

It’s understandable if you say kad bio je, but in the opposite order, it sounds more natural.

Jako mu je smetala gužva u prometu/saobraćaju. Kad smo hodali u centru grada među puno ljudi, ta gužva mu nije smetala, više je smetala meni, ali kad je sjeo/seo u auto/kola, postao je drugi čovjek/čovek. 

Remember the conjugation of the verbs like smetati, nedostajati, sviđati se. Smeta mu is the present tense and smetao/la mu je is the past tense.

“Ajde glupane, vozi! Ma kako to voziš, …”

Here we see a rare example of vokativ – grammatical case that is used when you’re addressing someone.

Psovao je i vikao na druge vozače. Bio je ljut, bio je bijesan/besan. 

Baš sam se pitala kakav je danas.

Note the difference between the verbs “pitati” (to ask; + akuzativ) and “pitati se” (to wonder).

PRESENT TENSE

The part with the present tense begins with a question in the present tense:

Je li još uvijek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u prometu? / Da li je još uvek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u saobraćaju?

There is a difference between Serbian and Croatian when it comes to making questions. In Serbian, the question always begins with da li and then, simply the verb.

PRESENT: Da li radiš?

PAST: Da li si radio?

FUTURE: Da li ćeš raditi?

In Croatian, the long forms of the helping verbs are used in the past and future, while in the present, only the verb first and li after that:

PRESENT: Radiš li?

PAST: Jesi li radio?

FUTURE: Hoćeš li raditi?

Review the present tense in Serbo-Croatian again if you need to. It’s in the first story analysis.

The narration about nowadays continues so the present tense is used:

Danas se ne družimo više niti ga vidim u gradu, mislila sam.

PRESENT USED FOR THE PAST

In that part of the story, the recent happening is narrated. Often when we narrate about something from the past, we use the present tense, but we use perfective verbs, opposite to the rule about using only imperfective verbs in the present tense.

Ali, eto njega, sretnem ga jutros kad sam išla u banku.

Kažem mu da sam se baš sjetila/setila kako je uvijek/uvek bio ljut u prometu/saobraćaju, a on mi kaže:

“Uh, nemoj me podsjećati/podsećati. Da, i danas sam takav, ali više ne smijem/smem biti takav.

Takav is a word that answer to question kakav? (What like). Takav is like that, just like the answer to kako? (how) is tako (this way).

Upravo se vraćam sa suda.

In that direct speech, it’s used imperfective verb in the present since the man says what’s happening right now. (vraćati se – imperfective; vratiti se – perfective)

Past tense – happening from the other day

Prije/pre neki dan razljutio sam se na jednog vozača i počeo vikati na njega. Lik je izašao iz auta, došao do mojeg auta i ja sam ga udario. Posvađali smo se i čak potukli. Dobio sam novčanu kaznu – upravo su mi rekli na sudu.

When listing the verbs in the past tense, if the subject is the same, it’s not needed to repeat the first part, the helping verb: Razljutio sam se, počeo vikati, došao do njega i udario. “Sam” is enough only in the beginning.

FUTURE TENSE

It’s used to express the plans for the future.

Od sad ću paziti kad sam vozim. Neću više biti nervozan, upisat ću neki tečaj meditacije ili joge, k vragu.”

What does it mean “bre” in Serbian?

In Croatian, there is no such expression, also not in Bosnian. Only in Serbian, people use “bre” very often.

This word doesn’t have a literal translation to any language. It’s something people use at the end of the sentence.

It is used when you’re upset, like in the text: Ma kako to voziš, bre!

Or when you say a contradictory:

-Sad si ljut. – Ma nisam, bre!

Or when you hurry up someone: Hajde vozi, bre!

Or…

There are really many uses of that word. Even when you narrate something, to make it “Serbian”, just insert “bre” from time to time 😉

Primer:

“I tako ja vozim, a neki lik mi trubi – bip biiip. (ja) Rek’o šta trubiš, bre? Šta trubi, bre, ravna cesta, može da me zaobiđe ako mu se ne sviđa voziti iza mene, a on, bre, trubi.”

Kad sam bila mala, svaki dan sam dolazila iz škole, najela sam se i sjela/sela na kauč u dnevnom boravku.

When I was little, every day I came home from school, I ate and sat on the couch in the living room.

Na televiziji je bila smiješna/smešna serija.

There was a funny series on TV.

Glavni lik je bio Steve Urcle/Stiv Urkl.

The main character was Steve Urcle.

On je bio jako nespretan – uvijek/uvek je razbijao stvari slučajno i onda je pitao: „Jesam li ja to napravio? / Da li sam ja to uradio?“

He was very clumsy – he always broke things by accident and then asked, “Did I do that?”

Ali nisam mogla gledati dugo. / Ali nisam mogla da gledam dugo.

But I couldn’t watch for long.

Morala sam učiti i pisati zadaću. / Morala sam da učim i pišem domaći zadatak.

I had to study and write homework.

Kad sam naučila sve i napisala zadaću/zadatak, već sam bila umorna i zaspala.

When I learned everything and wrote the homework, I was already tired and fell asleep.

Spavala sam do 7 sati/časova ujutro i onda sam ustala i išla u školu.

I slept until 7 in the morning and then I got up and went to school.

Jedva sam čekala doći/da dođem iz škole i gledati/gledam Stevea Urclea/Stiva Urkla opet. 

I couldn’t wait to get home from school and watch Steve Urcle again.

*Literally: I barely waited (Jedva sam čekala)

Perfective and imperfective verbs

In this story, perfective and imperfective verbs are in focus. We had an introduction to (im)perfective verb forms in the previous story but now, let’s go deeper into this topic.

What are perfective and what are imperfective verbs?

In English, Spanish, French, and many more non-Slavic languages, there are a lot of tenses. In English, for example, there are present simple and present continuous, then past simple and past continuous, and many more tenses.

Well, in Serbian and Croatian (and in general in Slavic languages), there are much fewer tenses. We actively use only 3 tenses (present, past, and future).

However, we mark a completed action or action that is still in process by using two forms of one verb. These forms are called perfective (svršen) and imperfective (nesvršen).

Perfective forms

Perfective verbs signify completed action, finished, done. It is similar to past simple in English. For example:

…najela sam se i sjela/sela na kauč.

“Najela” comes from the verb najesti (se) and it’s perfective form of the verb “jesti” (to eat). Najesti se means to finish eating, to get full. Eating is over, I ate, so it’s a perfective, finished verb. If we want to say that I was eating, we emphasize that it lasted for a long time, we would use the imperfective form – jesti (Jela sam.)

The same works for a perfective form of the verb “to sit” – sjesti / sesti.

Its imperfective form is sjediti. So if you want to say that you sat down, this action was quick and you want to inform somebody about the result – use perfective form – Sjeo sam; Sjela sam / Seo sam / Sela sam.

If you want to inform about the activity you were doing, it lasted for a longer time, use the imperfective verb – Sjedio sam; Sjedila sam / Sedio sam; Sedila sam.

The same is in all the verbs when using them in the PAST TENSE or FUTURE TENSE.

• the result is in focus – perfective (finished)
• the activity is in focus – imperfective (not finished)

Moreover, in the past tense, you use the imperfective form when talking about something in the far past, what you used to do, what was your routine in the past.

Kad sam bila mala, svaki dan sam dolazila iz škole.

Instead of using the perfective form – doći (došao, došla, došli), we use its imperfective form because that was the routine of the narrator in the past, when she was little.

Uvijek / Uvek je razbijao stvari.

In that sentence, the imperfective verb is used (razbijati) and not its perfective form (razbiti) because it’s about the routine, what always happened in the series when she watched it as a little girl.

PRESENT TENSE

Which form to use in the present tense?

If you talk about what you do in general, about your routine or what are you doing right now – use the imperfective form only.

In all these cases, the perfective form sounds strange.

For example, if you want to say that you’re drinking coffee right now or that you drink it every day, instead of using perfective form – popijem kavu / kafu – use imperfective – pijem kavu / kafu.

However, after a connector (the most common connectors are: da, kad, dok), use perfective present:

Mama mi je rekla da popijem kavu/kafu i dođem kod nje.

*NOTE that here we talk about “da” meaning to…do something, and not “that”. With “that”, we can use imperfective form (Mama mi je rekla da pije kavu/kafu i dolazi k meni – My mom said that she’s drinking coffee and coming to my place)

RADITI – URADITI – NAPRAVITI

The verb we use every day is the verb “to do”. In both Croatian and Serbian, it is – RADITI. And that’s an imperfective form, not finished. Its perfective form is uraditi in Serbian and napraviti in Croatian.

Therefore, when you want to ask about someone’s activities, you will use imperfective form:

Što/šta si radio danas?

And when you want to know the achievements, the results, you will use perfective form:

Što si napravio danas? (CRO) / Šta si uradio danas?

How to know which form is perfective and which one is imperfective?

Good question! But the answer is not so comforting 😉

Part of verbs has the prefix (small part that comes in the beginning of a word) in perfective forms so you can know these are finished, and without prefix, these are imperfective, unfinished verbs. For example:

• to eat: jesti (imperfective) – pojesti (perfective); najesti se (also one more perfective form with a little bit different meaning we explained above)
• to watch; to look: gledati (imperfective) – pogledati (perfective)
• to learn, to study: učiti (imperfecitve) – naučiti (perfective)
• to write: pisati (imperfective) – napisati (perfective)

The prefixes are different. In most cases, they are “po” and “na” but there are also other ones like:

• to read: čitati – pročitati
• to cook: kuhati/kuvati – skuhati/skuvati
• to wash: prati – oprati

Now we come to the less comforting part: many verbs can not be recognized by prefix but you just need to remember which form is perfective and which one imperfective. Just like the verb we have in the text – sjediti (imperf) and sjesti (perf) / sediti (imperf) and sesti (perf). More example:

• to come, to arrive: dolaziti (imperf) – doći (perf)
• to get up: ustajati (imperf) – ustati (perf)
• to come back, to get back: vraćati (se) (imperf) – vratiti (se) (perf)
• to pay: plaćati (imperf) – platiti (perf)
• to buy: kupovati (imperf) – kupiti (perf)

Let’s analyze and compare the examples form the text

IMPERFECTIVE	PERFECTIVE	HOW WOULD IT SOUND IN OPPOSITE FORM
Kad sam bila mala (verb to be doesn’t have two forms), svaki dan sam dolazila iz škole -routine in the past		If we’d use perfective form “doći”, we’d use it in context like I came yesterday, I came only once, it was not routine: Jučer su došli moji roditelji u goste (Yesterday my parents came in guests)
	…najela sam se i sjela na kauč.	We’d use imperfective forms in the context of long-lasting activity: …ja sam dolazila iz škole, jela sam 2 sata, sjedila na kauču cijeli dan…
Uvijek/Uvek je razbijao stvari…		Example of using its perfective form: Jednom je razbio vazu. (Once / One day he broke a jar)
Onda je pitao…		Onda je upitao… Actually, upitati really is perfective form of the verb “pitati” but there is no difference in meaning. If you want to say “He asked once”, you can use both forms (On je pitao // On je upitao). If you want to say he was constantly asking, the sentence will be the same: On je stalno pitao.
	Jesam li ja to napravio? / Da li sam ja to uradio?	Jesam li ja to radio svaki dan? Da li sam ja to radio svaki dan? -we need routine or longer period to use its imperfective form
Ali nisam mogla gledati dugo. / Ali nisam mogla da gledam dugo. -verb “to be able” – moći – doesn’t have two forms [and other modal verbs don’t have, too]		Jučer nisam mogla pogledati / da pogledam seriju jer je brat gledao utakmicu. (Yesterday I couldn’t watch my series because my brother was watching the match.) -we want to say that the series couldn’t be watched from beginning to end -if we want to say that the series couldn’t be watched in general, not completely, we can say: Nisam mogla gledati seriju / Nisam mogla da gledam seriju.
Morala sam učiti i pisati zadaću. / Morala sam da učim i pišem zadatak. -the accent is on the long-lasting activities (learning and doing homework for hours)		Morala sam naučiti engleski i napisati zadaću. / Morala sam da naučim engleski i napišem zadaću. -with perfective forms, we talk about the achievements we needed to gain or tasks we needed to do
	Kad sam naučila i napisala zadaću/zadatak –When I learned and wrote…	Kad sam učila i pisala… –While I was learning and writing…
	…već sam bila umorna i zaspala.	There is no imperfective form of this verb – zaspati (to fall asleep)
Spavala sam do 7 sati ujutro		Odspavala sam malo, do 7, a išla sam spavati u 3. -odspavati is used for short periods of sleeping
	i onda sam ustala	Ustajala sam svaki dan u 7. -routine – imperfective
…i išla u školu.		Similar to the case with “pitati” and “upitati” are the verbs ići and otići. You can use ići for both perfective and imperfective functions, and otići only for perfective. Otišla sam u školu. – I left, I’m there, it’s finished.
Jedva sam čekala doći iz škole / Jedva sam čekala da dođem iz škole		Pričela sam mamu da dođe s posla. -perfective form “pričekati” signifies waiting for a little bit, for a short period

Nikad nisam davao poklone nikome. Ni za rođendan, ni za Božić, ni za Novu godinu…

I never gave gifts to anyone. Not for a birthday, not for Christmas, not for the New Year…

Uvijek/uvek sam mislio da je to glup običaj.

I always thought that this was a stupid custom.

Moji prijatelji/drugari su uvijek bili dosadni s pitanjem: “Kome ćeš dati poklon za Božić?”

My friends were always boring with the question: “Who are you going to give a present for Christmas?”

A kad je Božić prošao, pitali su: „Što/šta si dao curi za poklon? Što/šta si dao bratu za Božić?“ 

And when Christmas was over, they asked: “What did you give your girlfriend as a gift?” What did you give your brother for Christmas?”

Međutim, to se promijenilo/promenilo kad mi se rodio sin.

However, that changed when my son was born.

Kad sam vidio/video kako je sretan/srećan kad dobije poklon od mene, rekao sam: „Od sad ću mu uvijek/uvek kupovati poklone.“

When I saw how happy he was when he got a present from me, I said, “From now on, I will always buy him presents.”

 Žena i ja smo kupovali djetetu/detetu poklon sve dok nije odrastao.

My wife and I bought a present for our son until he grew up.

Kad je postao punoljetan/punoletan, postao je kao ja pa više ne dobivam poklone od njega, a želim. Eh, karma. 

When he became an adult, he became like me, so I don’t get presents from him anymore, but I want. Eh, karma.

Dativ

From this story, we can learn DATIV. It is a grammatical case used to express giving something (material or figurative) to someone. Those receiving the thing, an object (in AKUZATIV) is in DATIV form. Example:

Šta si dao curi za poklon?

The subject is TI.

The object is something that you (ti) gave.

And cura (girlfriend) is the recipient of this gift so the word cura is in the dativ form – curi.

The same is in the question:

Šta si dao bratu za Božić? (brat – masculine singular in DATIV – bratu)

How does DATIV sound? Which are the suffixes?

The same as for LOKATIV. Completely the same. Therefore, it could be only one case since they have the same suffixes but grammar separates it into two because of their different functions (LOKATIV is used to express location and DATIV for the recipient).

Questions in DATIV

You know that the question words “tko/ko” and “što/šta” sound differently when they are in other cases. In DATIV, they sound:

tko/ko – komu or kome (both versions are used in both Croatian and Serbian; they are completely the same)

što/šta – čemu

Actually, the questions are the same as for lokativ.

Kome ćeš dati poklon za Božić? (Whom will you give a Christmas present to?)

NOBODY & NOTHING in DATIV

When you want to say no one (NITKO/NIKO) or someone (NETKO/NEKO) as well as nothing (NIŠTA) and something (NEŠTO) but these words have the function of the recipient in the sentence so you need to use dativ form, just change nominativ part (tko/ko, što/šta) with dativ form (komu, čemu).

The result is: nikome, ničemu

Nikad nisam davao poklone nikome.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN DATIV

We’ll learn all the personal pronouns in each case in the stories on the next level but now we’ll just explain in short.

To se promijenilo/promenilo kad mi se rodio sin.

Here, the pronoun “ja” is in dativ form. It is used instead of the possessive pronoun (moj). This sentence could sound also like:

To se promijenilo/promenilo kad se rodio moj sin.

It is grammatically super correct. However, natives rather use the version with the pronoun in dativ.

One more example of pronoun in dativ. Now it’s about “on” (he):

Od sad ću mu uvijek/uvek kupovati poklone.

Double negation

In Croatian and Serbian, when using any negative word such as never, no one, nothing, nowhere, and so on, the verb must be in the negative form. It is called double negation.

Nikad nisam davao poklone nikome.

Actually, here it’s about triple negation 😉

nikad + nisam davao + nikome

Since we used the negative words nikad and nikome, we needed to negate the verb. It would sound really strange if you wouldn’t negate the verb, like in English:

Nikad sam davao poklone nikome.

If you want to say I never gave gifts to anyone, you need to use the negative form in Serbo-Croatian: Nikad nisam davao poklone nikome.

Ni and niti

Nikad nisam davao poklone nikome. Ni za rođendan, ni za Božić, ni za Novu godinu…

When listing something, for example, that you didn’t give gifts to anyone for a birthday, for Christmas, for New Year and so on but you want to emphasize that you didn’t give, use the word “ni”:

Ni za rođendan, ni za Božić, ni za Novu godinu…

Opposite, if the sentence would be positive, we’d use “i”:

I za rođendan, i za Božić, i za Novu godinu – uvijek/uvek sam davao poklone.

One more use of “ni” is when emphasizing “both” in a negative sentence. Something like neither and nor in English.

Example 1:

A: Je li zvala Marija? / Da li je zvala Marija? Ili Sanja? (Did Marija call? Or Sanja?)

B: Ni Marija ni Sanja nije zvala. (Neither Marija nor Sanja called).

Example 2:

A: Idemo na ručak? Ali nisam baš gladan. (Shall we go for lunch? But I’m not so hungry)

B: Ni ja. Nisam ni ja. Pričekat ćemo još pola sata onda. (Me neither. Neither am I. We’ll wait still half an hour)

When the sentence is positive, just change “ni” with “i”: I ja. I ja sam gladan.

NITI

In the same context but when there is a whole sentence, when there is a verb, it’s used “niti”. Example:

Niti sam davao poklone niti sam ih dobivao. (I neither gave nor received gifts)

With “niti”, the negation doesn’t apply.

Perfective and imperfective verbs

In the text, there are used two forms of the same verbs. They are called perfective (finished, completed) and imperfective (not finished).

For example:

to give: dati perfecitve) – davati (imperfective)

DATI: Šta si dao curi za poklon?

to get: dobiti (perfective) – dobivati (imperfective)

DOBITI: Kad sam vidio/video kako je sretan/srećan kad dobije poklon…

DOBIVATI: …pa više ne dobivam poklone…

All the verbs in Serbian and Croatian have these two forms. Let’s explain what each of them is used for.

PERFECTIVE form is used completed actions, something what is done, and IMPERFECTIVE form is purposed for actions in process, actions that last longer. Similar to “simple” and “continuous” tenses in English. Example:

Šta si dao bratu za Božić?

In that question, it’s used perfective form since the question is about action that happened once, lasted for a short time and it’s done.

But if we want to ask about continuous or repeated action, we use imperfective form. It would sound:

Šta si davao bratu za Božić? (Here we should add some context like: Šta si davao bratu za Božić kad ste bili mali?)

The same is with the sentence:

Žena i ja smo kupovali djetetu poklon sve dok nije odrastao.

Perfective form of the verb to buy is kupiti and imperfective form is kupovati.

In the sentence above it’s used imperfective because it refers to a longer period when they were buying gifts for their child.

Od sad ću mu uvijek kupovati poklone. – In that sentence, it’s also about long period (from now until, perhaps forever) so it’s used imperfective form, too.

We’ll learn more in detail about perfective and imperfective verbs in the next story.

Sve dok + negative

Žena i ja smo kupovali djetetu poklon sve dok nije odrastao.

Dok or sve dok plus a verb in negation is used to say “until”, “unless”.

Dok is also used to say “while” but then, there is not used negation.

Dok sam kupovala poklone, srela sam susjedu. (While I was buying gifts, I met my neighbor.)

Kupovala sam poklone dok nisam srela susjedu. (I was buying gifts until I met my neighbor.)

Evo što se dogodilo jučer. / Evo šta se desilo juče.

Here’s what happened yesterday.

Jučer sam bila u gradu i videla sam bivšeg šefa, ali on nije video mene.

Yesterday I was in town and I saw my ex-boss but he didn’t see me.

Išla sam u kafić. Naručila sam kavu/kafu s mlijekom/mlekom i sjela/sela za stol/sto.

I went to the cafe. I ordered a coffee with milk and I sat at the table.

Čitala sam knjigu kad me sestra zvala na mobitel:

I was reading a book when my sister called me on mobile phone:

„Jesi li vidjela/Da li si videla šefa? Ušao je u kafić gde si ti.“ – rekla mi je. „Kako znaš?“ 

“Did you see your boss? He entered the cafe where you are.” – she told me. “How do you know?”

Znala je jer je radila u centru grada, u uredu/kancelariji na petom katu/spratu.

She knew because she worked in the center of the town, in the office on the 5th floor.

Gledala je centar grada i vidjela/videla ljude koji su šetali, djecu/decu koja su vozila bicikl i, takođe, mene i šefa. 

She was watching the town center and saw people who were in walk, kids who were riding bike, and also, me and my boss.

U tom trenutku sam ga ugledala.

At that moment I saw him.

Sjedio/Sedeo je pored prozora. Čitao je novine, ali nije pio ništa.

He was sitting next to the window. He was reading the newspaper but he didn’t drink anything.

Samo je jeo kroasan. Onda je ustao i uzeo je kafu za poneti.

He was eating croissant only. Then he got up and took coffee to go.

Uh, zrak/vazduh je čist. Tada sam ustala i ja (takođe) i izašla iz kafića.

Oh, the air is clear. I got up then, too, and got out of the cafe.

This story is narrated in the past tense. In Croatian and Serbian, the same grammar construction is used for all the past tense forms that exist in English and other languages. What is called in English “past simple” (Ex. I did) and “past continuous” (I was doing), in Serbo-Croatian is the same construction.

However, there is little difference between these two forms. It’s something we call “perfective” (simple) and “imperfective” (continuous) forms but about this later. Now let’s see how to form the past tense.

It’s formed from two parts. The first part is the present tense of the verb “to be”. It’s the first you learned probably. I’ll remind you:

ja	sam
ti	si
on, ona	je
mi	smo
vi	ste
oni, one	su

This is the first part. The second part is formed the way:

1. you have an infinitive. For example: raditi
2. remove – ti from the infinitive. It left: radi
3. put one of the suffixes:

o – for masculine

la – for feminine

lo – for neutral

li – for plural (only masculine or masculine and feminine mixed)

le – for plural (only feminine)

EXAMPLES

If you’re a man and you want to say: Yesterday I worked, you’d say:

Jučer, ja sam radio.

If you’re a woman, the same sounds:

Ja sam radila.

In both cases, the first part is “sam” because it refers to “ja” but the second part changes due to the person’s gender.

Therefore, we can see that the narrator of our story is a woman because it says:

CRO: Jučer sam bila u gradu i vidjela sam bivšeg šefa…

SRB: Juče sam bila u gradu i videla sam bivšeg šefa…

But when talking about her boss, who is a man, it’s used another form: On je vidio/video

The same is with the second person singular – ti. When you talk with someone, will you use masculine form (example: Šta si radio?) or feminine form (Šta si radila?) depending on if the person is a man or woman, boy or girl.

In the PLURAL, there are two options depending on people’s genders, too.

If you’re a man and you’re in a group of only men, men and women or even only women, you’ll always say: Mi smo radili.

But if you’re a woman, you will say “Mi smo radili” if there are only men or men and women in your group. If there are only women, you will say: Mi smo radile.

The same works for “vi”. For “oni”, it’s always radili and for “one” – radile.

EXAMPLES

The same rule about the past tense applies to any other verb whose infinitive ends with -ti. Let’s see the examples from the text:

Naručila sam kavu/kafu s mlijekom/mlekom…

Čitala sam knjigu kad me sestra zvala na mobitel… (when we have “me” and “te” in the sentence, it’s not needed to use “je”, but it’s not incorrect, so you can add it: kad me je sestra zvala.)

Znala je jer je radila u centru grada…

Gledala je centar grada…

…ljude koji su šetali, djecu/decu koja su vozila bicikl… (djeca/deca as a collective noun is specific – first part is adjusted to plural, which “djeca/deca” are in reality, but the second part is adjusted to its grammatical gender, and it’s feminine)

U tom trenutku sam ga ugledala. Sjedio/Sedeo je pored prozora. Čitao je novine, ali nije pio ništa. Samo je jeo kroasan. Onda je ustao i uzeo je kavu/kafu za poneti.

Tada sam ustala i ja…

NOTE that we can not literally translate the past tense, like: Ja sam radila – I am worked. These two parts of the past tense are translated together, as one part. In English past simple – I worked or past continuous – I was working – depending on the context.

NEGATION IN THE PAST TENSE

…ali on nije video mene. — Here you can see how to make a negation in the past. Only negate the first part:

Ja nisam radila, ti nisi radio, mi nismo radili, etc.

VERBS -JETI/ETI GROUP

As seen in the first sentence, the verbs of -jeti in Croatian and -eti group in Serbian form the past tense the same way as all the verbs whose infinitives end with -ti, like raditi, gledati, slušati…

However, in Croatian, these verbs are different a little bit only in masculine form. Instead of:

On je vidje-ti –> vidjeo

The correct form is:

On je vidio (“je” changes to “i”)

The same will be:

živjeti – Ja sam živio.

željeti – Ti si želio.

But it’s only in masculine form and in Croatian.

In Serbian, the infinitive ends with -eti so it’s always regular:

videti –> vide-ti –>On je video, ona je videla, mi smo videli…

živeti –> Ja sam živeo, ona je živela, oni su živeli…

VERBS -ĆI GROUP

The next sentence in the text shows an example of how to make the past tense from the verbs that end with -ći in the infinitive form, like:

ići (to go), ući (to enter, to come in), izaći (to go out/to leave), doći (to come), naći (to find) and more.

The rule is that you remove the last “i”, change “ć” with “š” and then put the suffixes:

ao – for masculine

la – for feminine

lo – for masculine

li – for plural

le – for plural feminine

These are actually the same suffixes we use with the verbs that end with -ti, only the masculine form is a little bit different (-ao instead of only -o):

Ušao je u kafić… (UĆI)

Let’s see other examples of -ći verbs in the past tense from the text:

Išla sam u kafić. (IĆI)

Tada sam ustala i ja i izašla iz kafića. (IZAĆI)

Exceptions are a few verbs of -ći group:

reći (to tell) – rekao, rekla, rekli Ušao je u kafić gdje/gde si ti.“ – rekla mi je.

peći (to bake) – pekao, pekla, pekli

obući se (to get dressed) – obukao, obukla, obukli

moći (to be able) – mogao, mogla, mogli

pomoći (to help) – pomogao, pomogla, pomogli

VERBS -STI GROUP (JESTI & SJESTI/SESTI)

These verbs lose the last -sti before adding the suffixes:

Naručila sam kavu/kafu i sjela/sela za stol/sto. – SJESTI/SESTI

Samo je jeo kroasan. – JESTI

QUESTIONS IN THE PAST TENSE

And the last we need to learn about the past tense is how to make questions.

CROATIAN

-long form of the first part:

Ja sam radila.

The long form of “sam” is “jesam”. The same is with the rest:

ti jesi, mi jesmo, vi jeste, oni jesu. The exception is: on, ona je (stays short).

Jesi + li + radila + ? Jesi li radila? (Did you work?)

Je li on radio? or Je li radio?

Jeste li radili?

Jesu li radili?

With QUESTION WORDS, it’s used the short form: Što si radio? Što si radila? Gdje ste pili kavu? Kada je Marko jeo doručak?

SERBIAN

In Serbian, just put the phrase “da li” in the beginning:

Da li si radio? Da li si jela? Da li ste pili kafu?

Order of the past tense parts

In the past tense, we also don’t need to use the pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona…) if it’s not necessary. We can remove them but then, just reverse two parts of the past tense:

Sam išla – incorrect

Išla sam – correct

You can do the same with other -ći group verbs. Examples:

Došao sam na posao u 8. ( I came to work at 8)

Našli ste moj mobitel! (You guys found my mobile phone! or You guys have found my mobile phone – present perfect in English is also translated with the past tense in Croatian and Serbian)

The same is with the verbs that end with -ti:

Naručila sam kavu/kafu s mlijekom/mlekom…

Čitala sam knjigu…

Znala je jer je radila u centru grade

Čitao je novine…

Ana ide u školu, ali mama ju pita: Što/šta imaš u torbi/tašni?

Ana goes to school, but her mom asks her: What do you have in your bag?

Ništa, kaže Ana, ali iz torbe/tašne se čuje: Mjauu.

Nothing, says Ana, but there comes a sound from the bag: Meow.

Zapravo, kaže mama, koga imaš u torbi/tašni?

Actually, says mom, whom do you have in your bag?

ANA: No dobro, imam mačku. 

ANA: Well okay, I have a cat.

MAMA: Čija je to mačka?

MOM: Whose cat is that?

ANA: To je moja mačka. 

ANA: That’s my cat.

MAMA: Tvoja mačka? Mi imamo samo psa. 

MOM: Your cat? We have only a dog.

ANA: To nije naš pas. To je djedov/dedin pas. 

ANA: That’s not our dog. That’s grandpa’s dog.

MAMA: No dobro, djedov i bakin pas, nema veze. To je isto kao da je tvoj ili moj pas. Ali čiju mačku imaš u torbi/tašni?

MOM: Well okay, grandpa’s and grandma’s dog, never mind. That’s the same like he’s your or my dog. But whose cat do you have in your bag?

ANA: Ma… to je susjedova mačka. 

ANA: Ehh… that’s our neighbor’s cat.

MAMA: Mačka našeg susjeda Davida?

MOM: Our neighbor David’s cat?

ANA: Ne, mačka njegove žene Sabine.

ANA: No, his wife Sabina’s cat. 

MAMA: To je Sabinina mačka? Joj, moraš odmah vratiti mačku! Sabina je luda!

MOM: That’s Sabina’s cat? Oh, you have to give the cat back immediately! Sabina is crazy!

ANA: Ne, želim ići u školu s mačkom. 

ANA: No, I want to go to school with the cat.

MAMA: Ne budi luda, pusti mačku, to je tuđa mačka.

MAMA: Don’t be insane, leave the cat, that’s a stranger’s cat.

AKUZATIV of PRONOUNS

We learned how the nouns change in akuzativ form – when you have a direct object in the sentence.

Mama pita Anu. 

Ana pita mamu. 

And when we use the pronouns to avoid repeating the same noun, we also need to decline the pronoun.

Ana ide u školu, ali mama ju pita: Što imaš u torbi?

Ana ide u školu, ali mama pita Anu. → Instead of repeating Ana again, we put the pronoun “ona” but in akuzativ form. “Ona” in akuzativ sounds “ju”.

Here’s masculine and neutral form – ga.

Marko ide u školu, ali mama ga pita. (Marko is going to the school but mom is asking him.)

Ti – Ti ideš u školu, ali mama te pita. (You are going to the school but mom is asking you.)

Mi – Mi idemo u školu, ali mama nas pita. (We are going to the school but mom is asking us.)

Vi – Vi idete u školu, ali mama vas pita. (You guys are going to the school but mom is asking you.)

Oni, one – Oni idu u školu, ali mama ih pita.  (They are going to the school but mom is asking them.)

Koga, što/šta?

Not only the pronouns but we need to change the question word who adjusting it to akuzativ. 

That’s why we CAN NOT say:

Tko imaš u torbi? / Ko imaš u tašni?

Meaning Whom do you have in your bag? But we need to change tko/ko to akuzativ form:

Koga imaš u torbi/tašni?

When using the word što/šta, it doesn’t change in akuzativ. 

Što imaš u torbi? / Šta imaš u tašni? – Imam mobitel.

What do you have in your bag? – I have my mobile phone.

Čiji, čija, čije?

Here’s one more question word that means whose – čiji.

But this is masculine form. That means you use it with a masculine word:

Čiji je to pas?

But with feminine word, it change to čija – Čija je to mačka?

In the neutral form, it’s čije – Čije je to dijete/dete?

In the plural, it’s again čiji – Čiji su to psi? Or Čije if we talk only about females – Čije su to mačke?

And it can be declined – Ali čiju mačku imaš u torbi? → Here we have a verb that requires akuzativ – imati – so we changed “čija mačka” to akuzativ form.

EXPRESSING POSSESSION

Here’s how to explain whose is something or someone – how to express ‘s (neighbour’s, Philip’s, Ana’s…)

If the person who possesses it is male, add – ov (bratov, Filipov)

If the person is female, add – in (Ana → Anin, mama → mamin)

No dobro, djedov i bakin pas, nema veze.

NOTE!

If we have a word that signifies a male person in reality but it’s feminine grammatically, such as – deda, komšija, kolega – we put the feminine suffix – in.

Example: To je komšijina mačka.

When the object of possession is a feminine word, put “a” at the end:

Susjed + ov + a mačka

Mam(a) + in + a mačka

But in masculine, it’s not needed : susjed + ov pas, mam(a) + in pas

And did you notice akuzativ form of “pas”? – It’s psa, not pasa – “a” is removed.

“Genitiv way” of expressing possession

Mačka našeg susjeda Davida

Here is one more way how to express possession – by using genitiv. Use it when you have 3 words (my mom’s dog – moja mama + pas) while the suffixes described above are used when you have two words (neighbour’s dog – susjed + pas → susjedov pas)

Here’s how to use genitiv:

My mom’s dog:

Moja mama + pas

Pas + moja mama in GENITIV → pas moje name

Just like in the text: mačka njegove žene Sabine

This is feminine, and now the masculine form is:

Pas mojeg susjeda.

We use genitiv for even more that 3 words

His wife Sabina’s cat → mačka njegove žene Sabine

Bolded is all in genitiv

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

We learned how to make possessive adjectives and now let’s review possessive pronouns:

My – moj, moja, moje; moji, moje

All the possessive pronouns have 5 forms:

Masculine, feminine, neutral; plural masculine, plural feminine

[Yes, some forms are the same – neutral singular and plural feminine, but we get the difference from the context: moje dijete/dete – my child, moje mačke – my cats]

Your – tvoj, tvoja, tvoje; tvoji, tvoje

To je isto kao da je tvoj ili moj pas. (pas is a masculine word)

*To je moja mačka. (mačka is a feminine word so the pronoun “moj” gets the suffix -a)

His – njegov, njegova, njegovo; njegovi, njegove

Her:

Croatian: njezin, njezina, njezino; njezini, njezine

Serbian: njen, njena, njeno; njeni, njene

Our – naš, naša, naše; naši, naše

Your (plural, used for group of people or for one person when talking in the formal way) – vaš, vaša, vaše; vaši, vaše

Their – njihov, njihova, njihovo; njihovi, njihove

One NOTE in the end – you noticed that neutral gender changes:

sometimes there is -e, and sometimes -o.

That depends on the last letter – after j and š (moj, tvoj, naš, vaš) it comes -e, and after the rest it comes -o (njegovo, njezino, njihovo).