~13 min · 12 exercises

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

Glagolski prilozi u praksi

verbal-adverbs

Overview

participles-b1 already taught how to build both глаголски прилози - садашњи (3rd person plural present stem + -ћи, surfacing as -ећи after an e-type stem, as in облачећи and журећи elsewhere in this lesson, -ући after a consonant-final stem, as in пишу → пишући, or -ајући after an -ај- stem, itself a subcase of -ући, as in знају → знајући and читају → читајући) 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, 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 зна 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 almost never does.

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 this lesson's own present-gerund rule only builds from an imperfective present stem, so почети cannot form one. 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

participles-b1's same-subject rule 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 attaches directly (не знајући, not a separate particle): 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 answered him not to worry.)

Good C1 style keeps to one gerund per sentence; stacking two or three in a row reads as overwrought rather than sophisticated - Устајући, облачећи се и журећи, стигао је на посао на време. piles up where a plain sequence of finite verbs would read far more naturally. 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 like a preposition, not a live gerund built from scratch.

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 attaches directly to the gerund: не знајући, not a separate particle.

Smejući se, odgovorila mu je da se ne brine.

Laughing, she answered 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.

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 participles-b1's own English comparison 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 needs a perfective verb; читати is imperfective, so the correct form comes from its perfective partner прочитати.

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.

Stacking three gerunds in a row reads as overwrought rather than elegant; good style keeps to one gerund per sentence and lets a plain sequence of finite verbs carry the rest.

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 the idiomatic ceiling in good style; stacking several reads as overwrought rather than sophisticated.
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 (an unadorned *отишавши from отићи is rarely seen) - 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.“ - full clitic-placement detail follows in a later lesson.

Summary

Beyond participles-b1's formation rules, 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 attaches directly (не знајући), reflexive се follows the gerund - but keep to one gerund per sentence, and fall back on an ordinary док/пошто/кад clause whenever subjects don't match or you're unsure.