~5 min · 12 exercises

Part of the unit “Transport: getting around, buying tickets and describing your commute”

Prezent pravilnih glagola

present-tense-regular-verbs

Overview

Serbian forms the present tense by dropping the infinitive ending and adding personal endings directly to the verb stem. Verbs fall into three regular groups, named after their 1st-person-singular ending: -ам, -им, and -ем.

Group I - the -ам group

Most -ати verbs form this group: remove -ати and add -ам, -аш, -а, -амо, -ате, -ају. The stem usually stays the same.

Group II - the -им group

Most -ити verbs and many -ети verbs follow this pattern: remove the infinitive ending and add -им, -иш, -и, -имо, -ите, -е. Note -е in the 3rd-person plural.

Group III - the -ем group

Regular -овати/-евати verbs replace that ending with -ујем, -ујеш, -ује, -ујемо, -ујете, -ују (e.g. путовати → путујем). Other verbs in this group may change their stem.

Other -ем verbs may change their stem; learn these forms with each verb.

Dropping the subject pronoun

Verb endings show the subject, so pronouns are often omitted: Путујем много. Add one for emphasis or contrast: Ја путујем, а он ради.

Tables

The -am group: gledati
Person	Singular	Plural
1.	gledam	gledamo
2.	gledaš	gledate
3.	gleda	gledaju

Examples

Gledam film.

I am watching a film.

Subject pronoun dropped - the ending -ам already marks 1st person singular.

Ti gledaš televiziju svaki dan.

You watch television every day.

Ona dobro govori srpski.

She speaks Serbian well.

Mi govorimo ruski i engleski.

We speak Russian and English.

On mnogo putuje za posao.

He travels a lot for work.

Putujem svake godine u Srbiju.

I travel to Serbia every year.

Ja putujem, a on radi.

I travel, while he works.

Pronoun used here for contrast between ја and он.

Compared with…

English present-tense verbs barely change (only 3rd-person singular adds -s: I watch / she watches), while Serbian changes the ending for every person. English also splits into a simple and a continuous form and needs the auxiliary do for questions and negation („Do you watch?“, I don't watch) - Serbian needs none of that: one present form, and negation is just не + verb.

Serbian

Ne gledam televiziju.

No auxiliary verb - just не directly before the conjugated verb.

English

I don't watch television.

Common mistakes

Wrong

Ja gledati film.

Right

Ja gledam film.

The verb must be conjugated for person; the bare infinitive never stands as a main-clause verb.

Wrong

Ona govoram dobro.

Right

Ona govori dobro.

говорити belongs to the -им group; the -ам-group ending -ам cannot be attached to it.

Wrong

Oni govoriju engleski.

Right

Oni govore engleski.

The -им group's 3rd-person plural ends in -е (говоре), not the made-up -ију.

Wrong

Mi putovaemo mnogo.

Right

Mi putujemo mnogo.

-овати verbs replace -овати with -уј- before adding the personal ending; путоваемо keeps the infinitive stem by mistake.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

Learn every new verb together with its 1st-person-singular form (e.g. гледати - гледам) so you immediately know which group it belongs to.
Spotting -овати/-евати in an infinitive tells you the whole conjugation instantly: replace it with -уј- and add the endings.
Subject pronouns are optional scaffolding, not a requirement - drop them once the verb ending feels automatic, and reintroduce them only for contrast or emphasis.

Exceptions

Some -ати verbs conjugate as -ем group with a stem change (писати → пишем, звати → зовем) - covered in a later lesson.
A handful of -ати verbs unexpectedly conjugate as -им group instead (држати → држим, трчати → трчим) - worth memorizing individually.
Highly irregular verbs (моћи → могу, хтети → хоћу/ћу, ићи → идем) don't fit any regular group and are introduced separately.

Summary

Regular Serbian present tense falls into three groups by 1st-person-singular ending: -ам (from most -ати verbs, e.g. гледам), -им (from -ити and many -ети verbs, e.g. говорим, 3rd plural -е), and -ем (fully predictable for -овати/-евати verbs via -ујем, e.g. путујем). One present form covers English's simple and continuous, negation is just не + verb, and subject pronouns are usually dropped since the ending already marks the person.