~9 min · 11 exercises

Part of the unit “Work: what I need, can and want to do”

Modalni glagoli

modal-verbs

Overview

Modal verbs express ability, obligation, permission or desire: моћи, морати, смети, умети, желети, волети and хтети.

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 the -им group in the lesson on the present tense. Хтети also means to want, but its short (enclitic) forms additionally build the future tense (see the lesson on the future tense); 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?

If both verbs have the same subject, use да + present or an infinitive: Желим да радим / Желим радити. If the subjects differ, use да + present, which shows who acts: Желим да дођеш. Infinitives do not mark person.

Треба да - the impersonal necessity

In standard Serbian, impersonal треба stays unchanged; the verb after да shows the person: Треба да идем (I need to go), Треба да иду (they need to go). Personal forms such as требам are colloquial; more complex uses are covered at C1.

Tables

Present tense: moći (irregular)
Person	Singular	Plural
1.	mogu	možemo
2.	možeš	možete
3.	može	mogu

Examples

Mogu da plivam.

I can swim.

моћи + да + present - ability.

Ne mogu da dođem sutra.

I can't come tomorrow.

Negated моћи - inability, not prohibition.

Moram da radim vikendom.

I have to work on weekends.

морати + да + present - obligation.

Ne smeš to da radiš.

You mustn't do that.

Negated смети - prohibition, stronger than a simple can't.

Umem da kuvam dobra jela.

I know how to cook good dishes.

умети - a learned skill, distinct from raw ability.

Želim da putujem sledeće godine.

I want to travel next year.

Same-subject да-construction.

Želim da dođeš na proslavu.

I want you to come to the celebration.

Different-subject да-construction - an infinitive is impossible here.

Hoću da idem kući.

I want to go home.

хтети's long form used purely as want, no future meaning.

Treba da učim za ispit.

I need to study for the exam.

Impersonal треба, the neutral standard; person shows only on учим.

Compared with…

English can, must and may are grammatically defective modals: no infinitive form of their own, no full conjugation, and they pair with a bare infinitive rather than a clause. Want is not one of them - it is an ordinary verb with a full conjugation and its own infinitive (to want), which simply takes a to-infinitive complement (I want to go) instead of Serbian's да-clause. Serbian modal verbs are ordinary lexical verbs that conjugate fully and pair with да + present - the one point of convergence is треба, which in the neutral standard does not change for person, much like English must.

Serbian

Želim da dođeš.

English uses object pronoun + bare infinitive; Serbian marks the other person entirely on the да-clause's verb.

English

I want you to come.

Common mistakes

Wrong

Želim tebe da radiš.

Right

Želim da radiš.

The person is already marked on радиш (2nd singular) - Serbian doesn't add a separate object pronoun the way English „I want you to…“ does.

Wrong

Mogu radim.

Right

Mogu da radim.

Моћи needs either да + present or a bare infinitive - never two finite verbs stacked with no connector.

Wrong

Oni treba rade.

Right

Oni treba da rade.

Impersonal треба is followed by да + present, and that verb carries the person (да раде) - the finite verb cannot follow треба directly with no connector.

Wrong

Treba da ići.

Right

Treba da idem.

After да comes a present-tense verb that carries the person (да идем), never an infinitive. The neutral standard puts no pronoun in front either: „Треба да идем.“ The dative „Мени треба да идем.“ is heard in colloquial speech, but it is not the form to learn.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

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.

Exceptions

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 the neutral standard uses impersonally, without person endings - the exception to the rule that Serbian modal verbs behave like any other verb. Personal forms (требам, требају) exist, but they are colloquial.

Summary

Serbian modal verbs - моћи (irregular: могу/можеш/може/можемо/можете/могу), морати, смети, умети, желети, волети and хтети - are full lexical verbs, usually followed by да + present rather than an infinitive; the да-construction is required whenever the action belongs to a different person, since only a conjugated verb marks who is meant. Треба да expresses impersonal necessity and, in the neutral standard, does not change for person. In the neutral standard the construction takes no pronoun in front of треба да: person is expressed on the да-clause's own verb; a dative in front (Мени треба да идем) is colloquial, not the form to learn.