Модални глаголи
Overview
Modal verbs express ability, obligation, permission and desire: моћи (can/may), морати (must), смети (may/dare), умети (know how to), желети (want, wish), волети (like, love) and хтети (want - already met in future-tense-futur-a2). Every Serbian modal verb is an ordinary lexical verb that conjugates fully for person and number.
Most modal verbs are followed by да + the present tense of the main verb, not an infinitive: Желим да радим. (I want to work.). This lesson focuses on the да-construction, since it is the everyday standard; see the Common Mistakes below for why an infinitive cannot stand in for another person's action.
моћи - the irregular one
Моћи (can, be able to / may) is irregular (see the table below), with 1st singular and 3rd plural sharing the same form, могу. It covers both physical/mental ability and permission: Могу да пливам. (I can swim.), Можеш да уђеш. (You may come in.).
морати, смети, умети - regular but easy to mix up
Морати (must, have to) conjugates like читати: морам, мораш, мора, морамо, морате, морају. Смети (may, be permitted to - and, negated, must not) and умети (know how to, have the skill to) share one pattern: смем/смеш/сме/смемо/смете/смеју and умем/умеш/уме/умемо/умете/умеју. Keep the three apart by meaning - obligation, permission, skill: Умем да возим, смем да возим, али не морам да возим данас. (I know how to drive, I'm allowed to drive, but I don't have to drive today.)
желети, волети - and хтети's place among them
Желети (to want, wish) and волети (to like, love, prefer) conjugate identically - желим, волим and so on (table below) - despite their infinitive ending -ети, following the same present-tense pattern you already know from present-tense-regular-verbs-a1's -им group. Хтети also means to want, but its short (enclitic) forms additionally build the future tense (see future-tense-futur-a2); Хоћу да идем кући. (I want to go home.) uses the long form purely for want, with no future meaning at all.
The да-construction - why not an infinitive?
When the modal verb's subject and the main verb's subject are the same person, either да + present or a bare infinitive is possible: Желим да радим. ≈ Желим радити. (I want to work.) But when a different person is meant to do the action, only да + present works, because the да-clause's own verb ending carries the person: Желим да дођеш. (I want you to come.) An infinitive carries no person marking at all, so it can only refer back to the modal verb's own subject.
Треба да - the impersonal necessity
Треба (it is necessary) never conjugates - it stays fixed for every person, and the person is expressed only by the да-clause's verb: Треба да идем. (I need to go.), Треба да иду. (They need to go.). This lesson covers only this everyday impersonal pattern; the deeper modal system (требало би, conditional nuances) is covered in modality-c1.
Tables
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | могу | можемо |
| 2. | можеш | можете |
| 3. | може | могу |
Examples
Compared with…
English modal verbs (can, must, may, want to) are grammatically defective: no infinitive form of their own, no full conjugation, and they pair with a bare or to-infinitive rather than a clause. Serbian modal verbs are ordinary lexical verbs that conjugate fully and pair with да + present - the one point of convergence is треба, which, like English must, never changes form at all.
Common mistakes
Tips & exceptions
- Memorize моћи's irregular forms first - могу/можеш/може/можемо/можете/могу - since it's the most frequent modal by far, and note that 1st singular and 3rd plural share the same form могу.
- желети and волети share one conjugation pattern - learn them together, then морати's regular -ам pattern needs almost no extra effort.
- Default to да + present for any modal complement; reach for a same-subject infinitive only once да feels automatic - it's a regional/formal alternative, not the everyday base case.
- Negated смети (не смем, не смеш…) means must not - a genuine prohibition, stronger than negated моћи's plain can't.
- Треба is the one modal in this lesson that never conjugates for person at all - the exception to the rule that Serbian modal verbs behave like any other verb.
Summary
Opens Focus mode: one exercise at a time, with explanations — either script accepted.
Grammar Words Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Listening Reading Writing Speaking Test
This lesson is the unit's first step. The grammar, the words and the first guided lesson are open to everyone; the rest of the unit's lessons and its text, dialogue and tasks come with Premium.