Verbs: present tense & aspect
Bukvar lists verbs in the infinitive, the -ти form you'd look up. In a real sentence the verb is conjugated to its subject, and Serbian usually drops the pronoun because the ending already tells you who.
The three present-tense patterns
Verbs sort into three groups by the vowel before the ending: -а-, -и-, or -е-. The personal endings are nearly the same across all three.
| Person | имати (have) | радити (work) | писати (write) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I ја | имам | радим | пишем |
| you (sg.) ти | имаш | радиш | пишеш |
| he/she/it он/она/оно | има | ради | пише |
| we ми | имамо | радимо | пишемо |
| you (pl.) ви | имате | радите | пишете |
| they они/оне/она | имају | раде | пишу |
The present stem isn't always the infinitive minus -ти (note писати → пиш-), so it's best to learn the ја form first; the other five follow the endings above.
Common irregular verbs
A handful of the most common verbs don't follow these patterns, and you'll meet them constantly.
| Verb | ја | ти | он | ми | ви | они |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| бити to be | сам | си | је | смо | сте | су |
| хтети to want | хоћу | хоћеш | хоће | хоћемо | хоћете | хоће |
| моћи can | могу | можеш | може | можемо | можете | могу |
| ићи to go | идем | идеш | иде | идемо | идете | иду |
бити and хтети also have short "clitic" forms that lean on the previous word (сам, си, је… and ћу, ћеш, ће…), plus fused negatives (нисам "I'm not", нећу "I won't").
Aspect: two verbs where English has one
Serbian aspect has no direct English equivalent. Most verbs come in a pair, and the one you choose says how you see the action.
Imperfective
The action as a process: ongoing, repeated, or habitual. It has a normal present tense, so Читам књигу means "I'm reading" or "I read".
Perfective
The action as one complete whole: finished, with a result. Its present-tense forms don't mean "right now"; they point to the future or follow да, кад, чим, ако.
The two are usually the same root, set apart by a prefix (читати → прочитати, "read" then "read through") or a stem change. It shows up clearly in motion verbs: ићи "to be going" is imperfective, while доћи "to arrive" and отићи "to leave" are perfective, one-off events. So Идем кући is "I'm on my way home", but Дошао сам кући is "I've got home".