~9 min · 12 exercises

Part of the unit “Medicine: a hospital visit, from symptoms to recovery”

Glagoli kretanja

verbs-of-motion

Overview

You have been using ићи (to go) since present-tense-regular-verbs-a1 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 determinate/indeterminate split for motion verbs, the kind some languages mark with two separate verbs. Идем alone covers both I am going right now and I go regularly - one verb, not two.

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.

The perfekat participle is equally irregular, built on yet a third stem: ишао, ишла, ишло, ишли, ишле, ишла - exactly the exception past-tense-perfekat-a2 flagged and left unexplained. The infinitive's -ћи ending also blocks futur I's usual fusion (future-tense-futur-a2's own noted exception): Ја ћу ићи, never a fused single word.

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, and стићи/стизати - the one member whose imperfective breaks the -лазити pattern.

Once you know one pair, the rest follow the same shape: the perfective present is built on a shared -ђе- stem after the prefix (дође, уђе, изађе, пређе, прође), and the imperfective conjugates as a completely regular -им verb (долазим, одлазим, улазим…). The perfekat participle of every member built directly on -ићи follows ићи's own irregular pattern - доћи → дошао/дошла/дошло, ући → ушао/ушла/ушло - except стићи, which has its own participle: стигао/стигла/стигло.

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 present-tense-regular-verbs-a1: it looks like a -ати verb but conjugates -им (трчим, трчиш…).

Ходати deserves a special note precisely because it looks so close to ићи: it describes walking as an activity - strolling, walking around, walking for exercise - rather than heading toward a stated destination. Once a destination is named (to school, to work), Serbian reaches for ићи or one of its directional compounds, not ходати.

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 verb-aspect-pairs-b1'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 genitive-case-a2's из куће.

Stigli smo na vreme.

We arrived on time.

Стићи's participle стигли does not follow the -шао pattern of the rest of the family.

On trči svakog jutra pre posla.

He runs every morning before work.

трчати conjugates -им - the exception present-tense-regular-verbs-a1 already flagged.

Compared with…

English has no single organizing root for direction at all - it reaches for entirely different lexical verbs (go, come, leave, enter, exit, cross, pass), so the Serbian strategy of one motion root plus a prefix family is a genuinely new way of organizing vocabulary, even though the individual meanings 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

On svaki dan dođe kasno na posao.

Right

On svaki dan dolazi kasno na posao.

A daily habit needs the imperfective долази; the perfective present-shaped дође carries future/conditional meaning, never an ongoing habit - the same rule verb-aspect-pairs-b1 applies throughout.

Wrong

Marko je dolazio kući u sedam i odmah je večerao.

Right

Marko je došao kući u sedam i odmah je večerao.

A single arrival followed by one specific evening's events needs the perfective дошао; the imperfective долазио would describe a repeated, habitual arrival instead.

Wrong

Ona hoda na posao svaki dan.

Right

Ona ide na posao svaki dan.

Ходати describes walking as an activity, not heading toward a stated destination - once a destination like посао is named, use ићи instead.

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 reflexive-verbs-a2 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: once you know доћи/долазити, отићи/одлазити, ући/улазити and изаћи/излазити all follow the identical prefix-plus-ићи-or-лазити shape.
Reserve ходати for walking without a stated destination; the moment you name where you're headed, switch to ићи or the matching directional compound.

Exceptions

Стићи/стизати breaks the family's participle pattern: стигао/стигла/стигло, not the -шао shape every other -ићи compound uses.
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 particle changes the meaning here, not just the aspect.
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 marks no determinate/indeterminate split at all: 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, стићи/стизати - sharing a -ђе- perfective present stem and, except for стићи, the -шао perfekat participle. Other motion verbs (возити (се), летети, пливати, трчати, ходати) conjugate as regular verbs from their own groups; ходати specifically marks non-directional walking, unlike ићи.