~15 min · 12 exercises

Part of the unit “City & urbanism: doing one thing, noticing another”

Glagolski prilozi u praksi

verbal-adverbs

Overview

The B1 lesson on participles already taught how to build both глаголски прилози - садашњи (from an imperfective verb: the 3rd person plural present + -ћи, with nothing dropped - -ући after a plural in -у, as in пишу → пишући, and likewise знају → знајући and читају → читајући, the familiar -ајући being simply this case; -ећи after a plural in -е, i.e. in the i-conjugation, as in журе → журећи and облаче → облачећи elsewhere in this lesson) and прошли (perfective infinitive stem + -вши, or, for a verb with an irregular -ћи infinitive, its extended consonantal stem plus a linking -а- and -вши, as in стићи → стигавши) - including the same-subject constraint and their invariant, non-agreeing nature. This lesson assumes that formation and turns to deploying them: when a C1 writer should reach for a gerund instead of a finite clause, which register each form belongs to, and the small set of frozen expressions built from a gerund every advanced learner needs ready-made.

The two forms diverge sharply in how alive they are today: the present gerund is a genuinely productive tool of formal and literary Serbian - economical, still a source of new frozen expressions - while the past gerund is a narrower stylistic device, largely confined to written narrative and news writing, worth recognizing and occasionally producing for deliberate effect rather than reaching for by default.

Глаголски прилог садашњи as a formal-register tool

In formal or literary register, a present-gerund phrase economically folds a same-subject circumstance into the main sentence instead of a separate пошто/док/кад clause: Пошто је знао да ће касно стићи, звао је унапред. compresses to Знајући да ће касно стићи, звао је унапред. (Knowing he'd arrive late, he called ahead.) Government reports, academic prose and quality journalism reach for this construction routinely; everyday conversation uses it far less, usually preferring a finite clause.

A handful of present gerunds have frozen into ready-made formal connectors, no longer felt as live verb forms at all: будући да (given that, since - from бити) and имајући у виду (да) (considering, given that - literally "having in mind"). почев од (starting from, as of) looks like it belongs in the same list, but it does not: почети is perfective, and the present-gerund model from the B1 lesson on participles is usually built from an imperfective verb, so почети is not an example of it. почев is instead a historically truncated fragment of почети's own past gerund, built the same way as завршити → завршивши. Learn будући да and имајући у виду as fixed phrases to drop straight into formal writing, not as gerunds built sentence by sentence; recognize почев од for what it actually is.

Глаголски прилог прошли as a literary device

The past gerund's production niche is narrower still: literary narration and, less often, feature journalism, where it chains one completed action directly into the next more economically than a пошто clause: Завршивши преговоре, обе стране су потписале споразум. (Having concluded the negotiations, both sides signed the agreement.) Reach for it in a creative-writing or narrative task when that chained, literary momentum is the goal; a neutral report or an email should use Пошто су завршили преговоре, ... instead.

Not every perfective verb sits equally naturally in this form - keep production close to the well-attested set (завршити, написати, стићи, прочитати, отворити and similar common perfectives), rather than manufacturing one from an arbitrary verb just because the suffix rule allows it.

Constraints and phrase-building in production

The same-subject rule from the B1 lesson on participles is the first thing to check before writing a gerund of your own - but production also means building gerund phrases, not single words: an object, an adverbial, even a negation can sit inside the phrase. Negation is the particle не, placed immediately before the gerund and written separately (не знајући, never *незнајући): Не знајући шта да одговори, само је ћутала. (Not knowing what to answer, she just stayed silent.) A reflexive verb's се follows the gerund the same way it follows any other clause-initial verb form: Смејући се, одговорила му је да се не брине. (Laughing, she told him not to worry.)

As an editorial rule of thumb at C1, prefer one gerund per sentence: several in a row can weigh a sentence down, and in neutral writing a simpler construction usually reads better - a sentence with two is not wrong. But Устајући, облачећи се и журећи, стигао је на посао на време. has a worse problem than style: a present gerund means "while", and getting up and dressing happen before the arrival, not during it - so this needs a plain sequence of perfective finite verbs (or, for a single earlier action, a past gerund), not a stack of present gerunds. When subjects genuinely differ between the two actions, or you're simply unsure, an ordinary док/пошто/кад clause is always correct and often what a native speaker would actually choose - the gerund is available for effect, never required.

Tables

Present gerund, with negation
Infinitive	3rd pl. present	Gerund	Negated
znati	znaju	znajući	ne znajući
čitati	čitaju	čitajući	ne čitajući
pisati	pišu	pišući	ne pišući

Examples

Znajući da će kasno stići, zvao je unapred da javi.

Knowing he'd arrive late, he called ahead to let them know.

Formal-register gerund replacing a пошто clause; the subject stays the same throughout.

Imajući u vidu trenutnu situaciju, odluka deluje razumno.

Given the current situation, the decision seems reasonable.

The frozen connector имајући у виду functions almost like a preposition, which is why journalistic and administrative writing often lets it stand before a main clause with a different subject (одлука here). Normative handbooks still count this as a departure from the shared-subject rule, so in careful writing give the main clause the subject who does the considering (донели смо одлуку).

Budući da su svi dokumenti spremni, postupak će ići brzo.

Since all the documents are ready, the process will go quickly.

Будући да - the fixed formal conjunction, historically the gerund of бити, invariant no matter what follows.

Završivši pregovore, obe strane su potpisale sporazum.

Having concluded the negotiations, both sides signed the agreement.

Past gerund chaining one completed action into the next; the subject обе стране is identical in both halves.

Ne znajući šta da odgovori, samo je ćutala.

Not knowing what to answer, she just stayed silent.

Negation is the particle не, placed immediately before the gerund and written separately: не знајући, never *незнајући.

Smejući se, odgovorila mu je da se ne brine.

Laughing, she told him not to worry.

The reflexive се follows the gerund exactly as it would follow any other clause-initial verb form.

Čitajući izveštaj za doručkom, primetila je članak o izborima.

While reading the report over breakfast, she noticed an article about the elections.

A full gerund phrase, not a single word - object извештај and adverbial за доручком both sit inside it.

Pročitavši pismo dva puta, tek tada je shvatio o čemu se radi.

Having read the letter twice, only then did he understand what it was about.

Past gerund from a well-attested verb (прочитати), marking one action completed just before the next.

Stigavši na stanicu, shvatio je da je autobus već otišao.

Having arrived at the station, he realized the bus had already left.

Стигавши - one of the past gerund's most natural, frequently attested verbs.

Budući da su svi dokumenti spremni, rekonstrukcija počinje odmah.

Since all the documents are ready, the reconstruction starts right away.

Budući da, the old verbal adverb of biti, now works as a formal conjunction meaning since.

Ne znajući šta da odgovori, nije rekla ništa.

Not knowing what to answer, she said nothing.

The present verbal adverb ne znajući shares its subject with the main clause and says why: she said nothing because she did not know.

Vraćajući se s posla, srela je starog prijatelja.

On her way back from work, she ran into an old friend.

The reflexive se stays with the verbal adverb: vraćajući se. The subject is the one of the main clause.

Compared with…

English's participial phrases are a close functional and word-order match for both prilozi, including the fronted, comma-set structure: "Reading the report, she…" parallels the present gerund, "Having finished the report, she…" parallels the past one almost exactly, as the English comparison in the B1 lesson on participles already noted for form. What's genuinely useful here is that English composition style guides explicitly warn against exactly the same error as the same-subject constraint, under the name "dangling modifier" - if that phrase was ever marked on your own writing, you already know precisely which mistake to avoid in Serbian too.

Serbian

Čitajući izveštaj, primetila je grešku.

English's present participle phrase is a near-exact structural match for the Serbian present gerund - same fronted position, same same-subject requirement.

English

Reading the report, she noticed a mistake.

Common mistakes

Wrong

Pišući izveštaj, otišla je struja.

Right

Dok je pisala izveštaj, otišla je struja.

The gerund's implicit subject must match the main clause's subject - the power cannot be writing the report, so a док clause replaces the gerund here.

Wrong

Čitavši knjigu, otišao je na spavanje.

Right

Pročitavši knjigu, otišao je na spavanje.

The past gerund is built, as a rule, from a perfective verb (imperfective ones such as бивши or не знавши are rare, fixed exceptions); читати is imperfective, so the natural form here comes from its perfective partner прочитати - the reading was finished before he went to bed.

Wrong

Ustajući, oblačeći se i žureći, stigao je na posao na vreme.

Right

Ustao je, obukao se i požurio, pa je stigao na posao na vreme.

The real error is one of meaning: a present gerund says "while", but getting up and dressing happen before the arrival, not at the same time as it - so a sequence of perfective finite verbs is needed (or, for a single earlier action, a past gerund). Stacking three gerunds in a row also tends to read as overwrought rather than elegant.

Wrong

Buduća da su dokumenti spremni, postupak će ići brzo.

Right

Budući da su dokumenti spremni, postupak će ići brzo.

Будући да is an invariant frozen conjunction built from the gerund, not the ordinary adjective будући (future, upcoming) - it never agrees in gender, unlike будућа генерација, where будући genuinely is an adjective.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

One present gerund per sentence is a sensible editorial rule of thumb at C1; several can weigh a sentence down, so in neutral writing prefer a simpler construction (a sentence with two is not wrong). And each one means "while", so it can only carry an action happening at the same time as the main verb, never one that came before it.
Learn будући да and имајући у виду (да) as ready-made formal connectors, not as gerunds you build from scratch each time - that's how fluent writers actually use them.
When in doubt whether the two subjects genuinely match, default to an ordinary док/пошто/кад clause - it is always correct, if slightly less economical, and native speakers routinely prefer it anyway; the gerund is available for effect, not required.

Exceptions

The past gerund sounds stilted from certain very common perfective verbs even in literary prose - stick to the well-attested verb set (завршити, написати, стићи, прочитати and similar) rather than manufacturing one from an arbitrary perfective.
A handful of present gerunds have drifted all the way into ordinary adjectives and no longer feel like verb forms to native speakers at all - следећи (next, following, from следити) declines fully like any adjective in modern usage; будући does the same when it means future, upcoming (будућа генерација), even though the very same word is also the invariant conjunction covered above.
A reflexive verb's се stays right after the gerund regardless of how long the rest of the phrase runs - „Смејући се гласно целим путем, стигла је кући.“ - the C1 lesson on clitic placement in complex clauses covers the full detail.

Summary

Beyond the formation rules from the B1 lesson on participles, production means choosing the right register: the present gerund is a live, economical tool of formal and literary Serbian, with будући да and имајући у виду as ready-made frozen connectors worth learning outright; the past gerund is a narrower literary device, best kept to well-attested verbs. Build phrases, not single words - negation is the separate particle не right before the gerund (не знајући), reflexive се follows the gerund - but as a C1 rule of thumb prefer one gerund per sentence, and fall back on an ordinary док/пошто/кад clause whenever subjects don't match or you're unsure.