Глагол „бити“ - презент
Overview
Бити (to be) is the most important verb in Serbian: you use it to say who you are, how you feel, and where you are from. In the present tense it has a short (enclitic) form and a long (stressed) form, plus a distinct negative form.
The short form is by far the most common in everyday speech; the long form is for emphasis, one-word answers, and certain questions. Serbian always keeps this verb in the present tense - it is never dropped.
Short (enclitic) form - the everyday form
The short form is unstressed: it cannot stand alone or begin a sentence. It normally sits in the second position of the clause, leaning on the word before it.
„Ја сам уморан.“ (I am tired.) and „Уморан сам.“ (Tired, I am.) are both correct; „Сам уморан.“ is wrong because the enclitic сам cannot start a sentence.
Long (stressed) form - emphasis and short answers
The long form is stressed and can stand alone: use it to answer a yes/no question with one word - Јесам. (Yes, I am.) - and for emphasis: „Ја јесам студент.“ (I really am a student.)
The long form also combines with the question particle ли: „Јеси ли уморан?“ (Are you tired?)
Negation
The negative present is a single word beginning with ни-: нисам, ниси, није, нисмо, нисте, нису. Do not write it as two words: не сам is wrong.
Tables
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ја сам | ми смо |
| 2. | ти си | ви сте |
| 3. | он/она/оно је | они/оне/она су |
Examples
Compared with…
English also conjugates to be (I am / you are / she is), so the idea is familiar. What it lacks is the short-vs-long distinction and the rule that the short form cannot begin a clause and prefers second position.
Common mistakes
Tips & exceptions
- The short form is unstressed and never begins a sentence - start with a pronoun or another word.
- To answer yes to a question with бити, use the long form alone: Јесам. / Јесмо.
- For a yes/no question you can use „Да ли…“ + short form („Да ли си уморан?“) or the long form + ли („Јеси ли уморан?“).
- The 3rd-person-singular long form јесте also has an older, regionally Croatian variant јест; јесте is standard in Serbian today.
- The long form јесте is spelled the same as the 2nd-person-plural (ви јесте) - context and the pronoun disambiguate them.
Summary
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