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 kupio Ja sam kupila | I bought (a man says) I bought (a woman says) |
| Ti si kupio Ti si kupila | You bought (said to a man) You bought (said to a woman) |
| On je kupio Ona je kupila Ono je kupilo | He bought She bought It bought |
| Mi smo kupili Mi smo kupile | We bought (m+m or m+w) We bought (w+w) |
| Vi ste kupili Vi ste kupile | You bought (m+m or m+w) You bought (w+w) |
| Oni su kupili One 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 sam Ja bila sam | I was |
| Ti bio si Ti bila si | You were |
| On bio je Ona bila je Ono bilo je | He was She was It was |
| Mi bili smo Mi bile smo | We were |
| Vi bili ste Vi bile ste | You were |
| Oni bili su One bile su | They were |
Modal verbs in the past tense
| Moći – can | Hteti – to want | Morati – must/to have to |
| Ja mogao sam Ja mogla sam | Ja hteo sam Ja htela sam | Ja morao sam Ja morala sam |
| Ti mogao sam Ti mogla si | Ti hteo si Ti htela si | Ti morao si Ti morala si |
| On mogao je Ona mogla je Ono moglo je | On hteo je Ona htela je Ono htelo je | On morao je Ona morala je Ono moralo je |
| Mi mogli smo Mi mogle smo | Mi hteli smo Mi htele smo | Mi morali smo Mi morale smo |
| Vi mogli ste Vi mogle ste | Vi hteli ste Vi htele ste | Vi morali ste Vi morale ste |
| Oni mogli su Oni mogle su Oni mogla su | Oni hteli su Oni htele su Oni htela su | Oni morali su Oni 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 morali ste da radite to? – Did you have to do it?
Gde si bio? – Where were you?
Vocabulary
| reći – to say juče – yesterday farbati – to paint | zid – wall čekati – to wait Ruski – Russian |
Exercises
- Moja sestra (feminine) ______________ na divane (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
- Da 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