Table of Contents
In order to form the past tense in the Serbian language, you need to know how to conjugate the verb BITI – to be, in the present tense, and know the endings of verbs in the past tense that we will consider now.
The conjugation in the past tense depends on gender and number. There are 3 genders in the Serbian language: masculine, feminine, and neuter. In order to use a past tense ending, drop –TI and add an appropriate one:
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | -O | -LI |
| Feminine | -LA | -LE |
| Neuter | -LO | -LA |
In order to conjugate a verb in the past tense, use the appropriate ending and add BITI (to be) in the appropriate form. The formula of past tense looks so: Verb in past tense + BITI is present.
Let’s consider it in practice:
Kupiti – to buy
| Ja sam kupioJa sam kupila | I bought (a man says)I bought (a woman says) |
| Ti si kupioTi si kupila | You bought (said to a man)You bought (said to a woman) |
| On je kupioOna je kupila Ono je kupilo | He boughtShe bought It bought |
| Mi smo kupiliMi smo kupile | We bought (m+m or m+w)We bought (w+w) |
| Vi ste kupiliVi ste kupile | You bought (m+m or m+w)You bought (w+w) |
| Oni su kupiliOne su kupile | They bought (m+m or m+w)They bought (w+w) |
Also, when/if we want to hide a personal pronoun, we can place BITI before the verb instead of after. For example Kupio sam – I bought, Kupili smo – We bought, and so on.
Irregular verbs:
Ići – to go, stem in past IŠA-
Doći – to come, stem in past DOŠA-
Reći – to say/to tell, stem in past REKA-
Negative and interrogative forms
In order to form the negative form of the Serbian present tense, use a form of BITI with the prefix –NI:
Ja nisam, ti nisi, on nije, mi mismo, vi niste, oni nisu;
And in order to form the interrogative form, place DA LI before the verb and pronoun:
Da li ja sam pevao? – Did I sing?
Da li smo mi putovali? – Did we travel?
Da li su radili? – Did they work? (notice, one can hide a pronoun, in this case – ONI)
Conjugation of BITI and HTETI in the past tense
The verb BITI is conjugated like all other regular verbs in the past tense.
BITI – to be
| Ja bio samJa bila sam | I was |
| Ti bio siTi bila si | You were |
| On bio jeOna bila je Ono bilo je | He wasShe was It was |
| Mi bili smoMi bile smo | We were |
| Vi bili steVi bile ste | You were |
| Oni bili suOne bile su | They were |
Modal verbs in the past tense
| Moći – can | Hteti – to want | Morati – must/to have to |
| Ja mogao samJa mogla sam | Ja hteo samJa htela sam | Ja morao samJa morala sam |
| Ti mogao samTi mogla si | Ti hteo siTi htela si | Ti morao siTi morala si |
| On mogao jeOna mogla je Ono moglo je | On hteo jeOna htela je Ono htelo je | On morao jeOna morala je Ono moralo je |
| Mi mogli smoMi mogle smo | Mi hteli smoMi htele smo | Mi morali smoMi morale smo |
| Vi mogli steVi mogle ste | Vi hteli steVi htele ste | Vi morali steVi morale ste |
| Oni mogli suOni mogle su Oni mogla su | Oni hteli suOni htele su Oni htela su | Oni morali suOni morale su Oni morala su |
Examples
Ja sam ti rekao – I told you
Ja sam juče govorio Ruski – I spoke Russian yesterday
Da li su farbali zid? – Did they paint the wall?
Šta si mogla da radiš? – What could you do?
Mi nismo hteli da čekamo – We didn’t want to wait
Da li ste morali ste da to radite? – Did you have to do it?
Gde si bio? – Where were you?
Vocabulary
| reći – to sayjuče – yesterday farbati – to paint | zid – wallčekati – to wait Ruski – Russian |
Exercises
- Moja sestra (feminine) ______________ na divanu (LEŽATI – to lie down) – My sister lay down on the sofa
- Jabuka (feminine) ______________ sa drveta (PADATI – to fall) – Apple fell from the tree (jabuka – apple, drvo – tree)
- Hrčak ______________ da jede (HTETI – to want) – Hamster wanted to eat (Hrčak – hamster, jesti – to eat)
- Naši prijatelji ______________ film (GLEDATI – to watch/to look at) – Our friends watched a film
- Ja (female) ______________ to drugačije(ZAMIŠLJATI – to imagine) – I imagined it differently
- Je li ___ ovi ljudi ovde? (BITI – to be) – These people were here
- Šta ___ oni ______________ tu (RADITI – to do/to work) kada su bili ovde? – What did they do when they were here?
- Da li ___ vi ______________ muzej (POSETITI – to visit) – Have you visited the museum? (muzej – museum)
- Ja(male) ______________ zid (FARBATI – to paint) – I painted the wall (zid – wall)
- Hrana ______________ u frižideru? (BITI – to be) – The food was in the refrigerator? (frižider – refrigerator)
- Ja _____________________ tekst (PISATI – to write) – I was writing a text
- ____________________ pesmu (PEVATI – to sing) – (She) sang a song
- ______________________ večeru (SPREMITI – to cook) – We have cooked a dinner
- Juče _______________ na koncertu (BITI – to be) – We were in a concert yesterday
- Hrčak ___________ da jede (HTETI – to want) – Hamster wanted to eat
- Gde __________? (BITI – to be) – Where were you (plural, feminine)
Answers:
1: je ležala, 2: je padala, 3: je hteo, 4: su gledali, 5: zamišljala sam, 6: su bili, 7: su, radili, 8: ste, posetili, 9: sam farbao, 10: je bila, 11: pisao sam, 12: je pevala je, 13: spremili smo, 14: smo bili, 15: je hteo, 16: ste bile