~11 min · 13 exercises

Glagoli kretanja

verbs-of-motion

Overview

You have been using ићи (to go) since the lesson on the present tense of regular verbs flagged it as irregular. This lesson gives its full paradigm, the large family of prefixed partners built on the same root (доћи, отићи, ући…), and the other, regularly-conjugated motion verbs you have not yet met.

The single biggest thing to notice is what Serbian does not have: a systematic determinate/indeterminate split for motion verbs, the kind some languages mark with two separate verbs for each kind of motion. Идем alone covers both I am going right now and I go regularly - one verb, not two. (Ходати, below, is not the other half of a pair with ићи but a separate verb for walking as an activity.)

Ићи - the general verb of motion

Ићи conjugates on a stem that looks nothing like its infinitive: идем, идеш, иде, идемо, идете, иду. This is the same irregular present already glimpsed informally in earlier lessons - this lesson simply makes it complete.

Its perfect participle is also irregular: ишао/ишла/ишло/ишли/ишле/ишла. Infinitives ending in -ћи do not fuse with Futur I auxiliary forms: ићи ћу, unlike радићу. These two frequent forms are worth learning as blocks.

Directional prefixes - the -ићи/-лазити family

Prefixing ићи produces a large, systematic family of perfective motion verbs, each paired with its own imperfective built on -лазити: доћи/долазити, отићи/одлазити, ући/улазити, изаћи/излазити, прећи/прелазити, проћи/пролазити. Стићи/стизати (to arrive, to make it in time) sits beside them in the aspect table, but it only looks like a member: it is not built on ићи at all, which is why its imperfective does not end in -лазити.

Most perfective partners use a -ђе- present stem after the prefix (дође, уђе, изађе, пређе, прође); отићи is the exception (одем, одеш, оде). Their imperfective partners are regular -им verbs, and their participles are irregular (доћи → дошао, ући → ушао). Стићи is a separate pattern: стигнем, стигао, paired with стизати.

Other everyday motion verbs

Not every motion verb is built on ићи. Возити (се), летети, пливати and ходати all conjugate as regular verbs from their own groups - no irregular stems to learn. Трчати belongs here too, and was already flagged as an exception in the lesson on the present tense of regular verbs: it looks like a -ати verb but conjugates -им (трчим, трчиш…).

Ходати describes walking as an activity, while ићи is the neutral verb for going somewhere: Идем у школу / идем на посао does not specify the means of travel. Ходам до школе / ходам до посла emphasizes that the person is walking, though ходати can also name a destination.

Tables

Ići - present tense
Person	Singular	Plural
1.	idem	idemo
2.	ideš	idete
3.	ide	idu

Examples

Svaki dan idem na posao peške.

I go to work on foot every day.

Habitual and directional in one verb, идем - languages with a determinate/indeterminate split would switch verbs here; Serbian doesn't.

Upravo idem u prodavnicu, treba li ti nešto?

I'm just heading to the store now, do you need anything?

Same Serbian verb идем as above, now describing right-now motion - a language with a determinate/indeterminate split would need a different verb here.

Ona dolazi kući svakog dana u devet.

She comes home every day at nine.

Imperfective habitual - regular -им present.

Došla je kući kasno sinoć.

She came home late last night.

Perfective perfekat - one completed arrival.

Kad dođeš, javi mi se.

When you arrive, let me know.

Perfective present-shaped дођеш after кад - future meaning, from the verb aspect pairs lesson's rule.

On odlazi sa posla u pet, ali danas će otići ranije.

He leaves work at five, but today he'll leave earlier.

Imperfective habitual одлази next to the perfective infinitive отићи in the same sentence.

Izašli smo iz kuće u osam ujutru.

We left the house at eight in the morning.

Perfective perfekat, plural - reuses из куће from the genitive lesson.

Stigli smo na vreme.

We arrived on time.

The example uses the plural participle стигли. Стићи is not built on ићи: its participle is стигао/стигла/стигло (plural стигли/стигле/стигла), with no -шао form like дошао/дошла/дошло (plural дошли/дошле/дошла).

On trči svakog jutra pre posla.

He runs every morning before work.

трчати conjugates -им - the exception the lesson on the present tense of regular verbs already flagged.

Compared with…

English has no single root-plus-prefix system for direction - it mostly reaches for different lexical verbs (go, come, leave, enter, exit, cross, pass). Its closest analogue is the phrasal particle - go in, go out, go away, come back - which marks direction much as a Serbian prefix does, only as a separate word. So the Serbian strategy of one motion root plus a prefix family is a new way of packaging meanings that are all familiar. English also has nothing resembling Russian's determinate/indeterminate split, so that particular trap does not exist for English speakers - идем maps onto English go/am going just as simply either way.

Serbian

Ona dolazi kući u devet.

долази - one English verb, comes, with no prefix visible at all.

English

She comes home at nine.

Common mistakes

Wrong

Počeo je da dođe kasno na posao.

Right

Počeo je da dolazi kasno na posao.

After почети (and престати) a habit takes the imperfective: почео је да долази. A perfective present such as дође is not wrong in a routine as such - in a chain of habitual events it is normal (сваки дан дође, скине капут и седне) - but a phase verb normally combines with the imperfective, and the plain statement of a single routine is usually imperfective too (сваки дан долази касно).

Wrong

Marko je sinoć dolazio kući u sedam i odmah je večerao.

Right

Marko je sinoć došao kući u sedam i odmah je večerao.

Синоћ pins this to one evening: a single arrival followed by the next event needs the perfective дошао. Without such an anchor, долазио would be fine - it would simply describe a habit (he used to come home at seven and eat straight away).

Wrong

Ona svaki dan hoda kolima na posao.

Right

Ona svaki dan ide kolima na posao.

Ићи is the neutral verb for going to work or to school, whatever the means; ходати means walking (on foot, or walking about), so it contradicts колима.

Wrong

Se vozim biciklom svakog vikenda.

Right

Vozim se biciklom svakog vikenda.

The reflexive clitic се cannot start a clause - the same second-position rule the reflexive verbs lesson established applies to возити се too.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

There is no determinate/indeterminate split to hunt for - идем alone covers both going right now and going regularly; only context tells them apart.
Learn the -ићи compounds as one family, not six separate words: доћи/долазити, отићи/одлазити, ући/улазити, изаћи/излазити, прећи/прелазити and проћи/пролазити all share the prefix + ићи / prefix + -лазити shape. Стићи/стизати is a look-alike, not a member - learn its forms (стигнем, стигао) separately.
For going somewhere - to school, to work - default to ићи or the matching directional compound; keep ходати for walking itself (on foot, or walking about).

Exceptions

Стићи only looks like a member of the -ићи family: it is built on a root of its own, so none of the family's forms carry over - present стигнем (not a -ђе- form), participle стигао/стигла/стигло (not a -шао form), and стизати (стижем) as its imperfective.
Возити without се means to drive (as the driver) or to transport something; adding се shifts the meaning to to ride, to travel by vehicle. The reflexive се changes the meaning here - the aspect stays imperfective either way.
A few directional compounds drift into idiomatic, non-physical meanings - проћи/пролазити can mean to pass (an exam), not only to pass by - treat these as extra vocabulary to pick up individually.

Summary

Serbian's motion-verb system has no systematic determinate/indeterminate split: ићи (идем, идеш… ишао/ишла irregular perfekat) covers both habitual and right-now going on its own. A large, systematic family of prefixed partners builds directional pairs on the same root - доћи/долазити, отићи/одлазити, ући/улазити, изаћи/излазити, прећи/прелазити, проћи/пролазити - mostly on a -ђе- perfective present stem (отићи has одем) and all with the -шао perfekat participle. Стићи/стизати only looks like a member: стигнем, стигао come from a root of its own. Other motion verbs (возити (се), летети, пливати, трчати, ходати) conjugate as regular verbs from their own groups; ходати means walking itself (on foot, or walking about), while ићи is the neutral verb for going somewhere.