~12 min · 14 exercises

Сложене реченице - односне и зависне реченице

complex-sentences

Overview

The lesson on basic conjunctions already showed that а/и/или/али join two independent clauses as equals (coordination), while да/јер/ако/кад attach a dependent clause (subordination). This lesson gives the main subordinating conjunctions, plus - new here - relative clauses with који/која/које, which describe a noun the way an adjective would, but with a whole clause instead of one word.

The lesson on participles already flagged where this is going: „Serbian has no verb form meaning the one reading - that meaning is expressed with a relative clause instead (онај који чита), never a participle.“ This lesson delivers that construction: wherever an active participle might seem like the reflex reach, Serbian reaches for који + a finite verb instead.

Relative clauses - који/која/које

A relative clause attaches to a noun (the antecedent) and behaves like an adjective in one respect only: gender and number. Који/која/које always agrees with the antecedent's gender and number, never its case. „Видео сам човека који чита књигу.“ - човека is accusative (object of видео сам), but који is nominative, because inside its own clause it is the subject of чита.

The relative pronoun’s case depends on its role inside the clause, while its gender and number agree with the antecedent. In Ово је књига коју читам, коју is feminine singular to match књига and accusative because it is the object of читам. With masculine animate antecedents, accusative has a genitive-like form (човек кога сам видео); with inanimate antecedents, it matches the nominative (захтев који сам поднео).

Subordinate clauses of time, cause, concession and purpose

Temporal clauses use кад(а) (when) or док (while, as long as) - „Док си спавао, ја сам спремила ручак.“ Causal clauses use јер or зато што (because), both already met in the basic conjunctions lesson. Concessive clauses use иако or мада (although), new at this level, marking a contrast between what happens and what would be expected. A few more conjunctions work the same way and turn up in this unit: пре него што (before), кад год (whenever) and пошто (since - giving a reason).

Да + present introduces content clauses after verbs of wanting, saying and thinking (желети, хтети, рећи): „Желим да дођеш на моју прославу.“ (I want you to come.) It also expresses purpose: „Дошла сам да пријавим квар.“ (I came to report a fault.) With the same subject, some verbs also allow an infinitive: Желим да радим / Желим радити. With different subjects, use да + a finite verb to show who performs the action.

Word order and aspect in complex sentences

The second-position rule applies separately inside each subordinate clause. The conjunction or relative pronoun counts as the first element, so the clitic follows it: иако је уморан, да ти кажем, који ми је рекао. A subordinate clause can come before or after the main clause: „Он иде на посао иако је уморан.“ / „Иако је уморан, он иде на посао.“ Restrictive relative clauses have no commas („Видео сам човека који чита књигу.“); additional information about a known person is set off with commas („Мој брат, који живи у Новом Саду, долази сутра.“).

The verb aspect pairs lesson's habitual-vs-completed test and its perfective-has-no-present-tense-meaning rule both carry over unchanged into temporal clauses: „Кад дођеш, зваћу те.“ uses the perfective present-shaped дођеш for one future arrival, never the futur ћеш доћи, inside the кад-clause itself. Futur II (кад будеш дошао) is also correct there, though the present is the usual neutral choice, especially in speech; futur II is more at home in careful, formal or written Serbian (see the lesson on Futur II).

Tables

The pronoun „који“ across the cases (masculine singular)
Case	Form	Example
nominative	који	Човек који чита...
genitive	кога / којег	Пријатељ без кога не могу.
dative	коме / којем	Човек коме верујем...
accusative (animate)	кога / којег	Човек кога сам видео...
accusative (inanimate)	који	Захтев који сам поднео...
instrumental	којим	Пријатељ с којим идем...
locative	коме / којем	Човек о коме говоримо...

Examples

Видео сам човека који чита књигу.

I saw a man who is reading a book.

који is nominative - subject of чита inside its own clause - regardless of човека's accusative role in the main clause.

Ово је књига коју читам.

This is the book that I'm reading.

Feminine agreement with књига plus accusative case from читам's object role.

Жена којој сам дао књигу је моја комшиница.

The woman to whom I gave the book is my neighbor.

Dative којој - the recipient role the dative lesson taught, now inside a relative clause.

Кад дођеш, зваћу те.

When you arrive, I'll call you.

Perfective present-shaped дођеш after кад - future meaning, the verb aspect pairs lesson's rule reapplied.

Док си спавао, ја сам спремила ручак.

While you were sleeping, I made lunch.

док + imperfective for one action running alongside another.

Остао је код куће јер је био болестан.

He stayed home because he was sick.

Causal јер, already met in the basic conjunctions lesson.

Иако пада киша, идемо у шетњу.

Although it's raining, we're going for a walk.

Concessive иако - new at this level.

Желим да дођеш на моју прославу.

I want you to come to my celebration.

Different subjects: да + present, never an infinitive - the only option in Serbian here.

Књига која је написана прошле године постала је бестселер.

The book that was written last year became a bestseller.

A relative clause built around a participial passive - the passive voice lesson's трпни придев inside која је написана: која is feminine to agree with књига and nominative as the subject of је написана.

Compared with…

English's who/whom/which/that barely echo који's full case declension, and even that vestige (whom) has nearly vanished from casual speech - Serbian's case marking on који stays fully productive and cannot be dropped. English also has no equivalent to the да-clause for a different-subject wish: I want you to come uses an infinitive with its own subject, a construction Serbian simply doesn't have - да + a present tense agreeing with the new subject does that job instead.

Serbian

Желим да дођеш на прославу.

English's infinitive-with-subject (you to come) has no Serbian counterpart - only да + present.

English

I want you to come to the celebration.

Common mistakes

Wrong

Видео сам човека кога чита књигу.

Right

Видео сам човека који чита књигу.

који must be nominative here - it is the subject of чита inside the relative clause; the antecedent's accusative role in the main clause is irrelevant to the pronoun's own case.

Wrong

Ово је књига који читам.

Right

Ово је књига коју читам.

коју agrees with feminine књига and is accusative because it is the object of читам inside the relative clause - који читам gets both parts wrong.

Wrong

Кад ћеш доћи, зваћу те.

Right

Кад дођеш, зваћу те.

Serbian never uses futur I inside a кад-clause about the future; the perfective present-shaped verb alone (see the lesson on verb aspect pairs) already carries that meaning.

Wrong

Желим те да дођеш на прославу.

Right

Желим да дођеш на прославу.

English I want you to come tempts learners to make you an object of желим (те). In Serbian the person who should come is the subject of the да-clause, shown only by the verb ending: желим да дођеш - never желим те да дођеш, and never an infinitive with its own subject.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

To find the right case for који, ignore the antecedent's case entirely and ask only what job the pronoun does inside its own clause - subject, object, object of a preposition.
Reach for a relative clause (који + a finite verb) where languages with active participles would use one instead - the lesson on participles already noted Serbian has no such form at all.
Never use futur I inside a кад/док/ако clause about the future - use the present instead: perfective for one completed event (кад дођеш, ако заврши), imperfective for something going on at the same time (док чекаш). Futur II (кад будеш дошао) is also correct there; the present is the usual neutral choice, especially in speech, and futur II suits careful or written Serbian.

Exceptions

Који has no vocative form, which is never a problem in practice - a relative pronoun is never used to address someone directly.
You may colloquially hear с ким where a relative clause would take с којим - that instrumental ким belongs to the interrogative pronoun ко (who), not to који; the two paradigms share several oblique forms but not this one, so treat с ким here as a loose spoken substitute, not a second correct form of који.
Colloquial speech sometimes substitutes шта for који with an inanimate antecedent ("ствар шта сам купио" instead of the standard "ствар коју сам купио") - recognizable, but nonstandard; avoid it in writing.
Same-subject да-clauses after морати/моћи/желети (Морам да идем.) look identical to this lesson's different-subject да-clauses but were already covered in the basic conjunctions lesson, as the usual substitute for the infinitive - this lesson's focus is specifically the different-subject case.

Summary

Serbian builds complex sentences with relative clauses (који/која/које - gender/number from the antecedent, case from the pronoun's own role inside its clause, animacy deciding the masculine accusative; redeeming the participles lesson's forward reference to the active-participle meaning Serbian expresses this way) and subordinate clauses introduced by temporal (кад, док, пре него што), causal (јер, зато што) and concessive (иако, мада) conjunctions, plus да + present, which gives either the content of a wish or statement or a purpose - with its own subject when that subject differs. Each clause keeps its own independent second position for enclitics (see the lesson on word order and enclitics), and the verb aspect pairs lesson's aspect rules - including no futur I inside a кад/ако clause, where the present or futur II goes instead - apply inside subordinate clauses exactly as in simple ones.