Group I - the -ам group

Most verbs whose infinitive ends in -ати belong here: drop -ати and add -ам, -аш, -а, -амо, -ате, -ају - the largest and most predictable group, with no stem changes.

Group II - the -им group

Verbs whose infinitive ends in -ити, plus many ending in -ети, belong here: drop -ити/-ети and add -им, -иш, -и, -имо, -ите, -е. The 3rd-person plural ending is -е, not -у - a frequent point of confusion.

Group III - the -ем group

The fully regular, highly productive corner of this group is -овати/-евати verbs: drop -овати/-евати and add -ујем, -ујеш, -ује, -ујемо, -ујете, -ују. Spotting an infinitive ending in -овати tells you the whole conjugation.

Other -ем-group verbs exist too, often with a stem change (see the exceptions below) - those are covered in a later lesson, once you have more vocabulary to practice them with.

Dropping the subject pronoun

Because the ending alone already shows the person, the subject pronoun (see personal-pronouns-a1) is often left out: „Путујем много.“ (I travel a lot.) needs no ја. Use the pronoun only for contrast or emphasis: „Ја путујем, а он ради.“ (I travel, while he works.)