A participle is a form of a verb that is declined like adjective. There are active and passive participles of present and past tense in Serbian language.
Let’s begin from passive participles of past tense. This is analogue of English participles like “write – written”, “hide – hidden” and so on.
Passive participles of past tense in most of cases are formed from perfective form of a verb, however not always.
Pisati (imperf.) / Napisati (perf.) – to write , the participle past tense passive participle will be NAPISAN, and we will consider how to form it in the following instructions.
Verbs that have –A in ending before -TI will have participle ending –AN:
Napisati – napisan – written
Zapitati – zapitan – asked
Pročitati – pročitan – read
Verbs that have a consonant before –TI will have participle ending:
Reći – rečen – said
Naći – nađen – found
Prevesti – preveden – translated
Verbs that have –I or –E before –TI will have participle ending –EN, and ALSO, they will have consonant change before ending for these consonants:
D – đ: Videti – viđen – seen
T – ć: Vratiti – vraćen – returned
Z – ž: Opaziti – opažen – perceived
S – š: Nositi – nošen – worn
C – č: Bacati – bačen – thrown
L – lj: Voleti – voljen – loved
N – nj: Učiniti – učinjen – done
B – blj: Izgubiti – izgubljen – lost
P – plj: Popraviti – popravljen – fixed
V – vlj: Zaboraviti – zaboravljen – forgotten
M – mlj: Pripremiti – priprevljen – prepared
St – šć: Čistiti – čišćen – cleaned
St – št: Opustiti – opušten – relaxed
And the consonants R, Š, Ž, Ć, Č and ŠT, ŽD remain without change:
Stvoriti – stvoren – created
Izbušiti – izbušen – drilled
Uništiti – uništen – destroyed
And all of these participles can be declined by gender, number, case as well as adjectives:
Napisan (m), napisana (f), napisano (n), napisani (m, pl), napisane (f,pl), napisana (n, pl).
And there are some exceptions:
Prodati – prodat – sold
Dati – dat – given
Examples
Ova haljina je bila nošena mnogo puta – this dress was worn many times (haljina – dress, mnogo – many, put – time (in sense of number))
Daleka obala je viđena sa naše strane jezera – far shore is seen from our side of the lake (dalek – far, obala – shore, strana – side, jezero – lake)
Pošiljka je bila vraćena nazad u poštu – The parcel was returned back to the post office (parcela – parcel, nazad – back, pošta – post office)
Šta je napisano tamo? – What is written over there? (tamo – there/over there)
Ova knjiga nikada nije bila pročitna – This book was never read (knjiga – book, nikada – never)
Našao sam zaboravljenu stvar – I have found a forgotten thing (stvar – thing(feminine))
Da li je bilo traženo? – Was it searched?
Active past tense participles
This is how to say “Doing this task, I was thinking about another one”, or “Painting the wall, we were talking” or something like this. In order to make it simpler, look at underlined words – these are past tense active participles.
Radjući posao Ivan je slušao muziku – Doing work, Ivan was listening to music (raditi – do to/to work, posao – work/job, slušati – listen, raditi)
Participles made out of verbs of:
1st conjugation will end in –JUĆI;
2nd conjugation will end in –UĆI;
3rd conjugation will end in –EĆI.
If you don’t remember how to understand which conjugation a verb belongs to – check out lesson 1 – Serbian verbs in the present tense
Studirati – studirajući – studying (1st conj.)
Čitati – čitajući – reading (1st conj.)
Ulaziti – ulazeći – coming in (3rd conj.)
Raditi – radjeći – doing (3rd conj.)
Putovati – putovajući – traveling (2nd conj.)
Ići – Ideći – going (2nd conj.)
Examples
Studirajući na fakultetu, želio sam da radim – Studing in university, I wanted to work
Moj prijatelj iz Rusije, putovajući u Srbiju, posetio me je – My friend from Russia, traveling to Serbia, has visited me
Idući u prodavnicu, ja sam se setio da sam zaboravio novčanik kod kuće – Going to the store I recalled that I forgot the walled at home
Active present tense participles II
This kind of participle is barely used in conversational language, so if you are tired of this lesson, you can leave it for later. This is analog of the English construction “Having done …..” , “Having said …”, “Having ….” Etc. These participles are formed only from perfective verbs.
In order to form such participle from a verb, change –ТИ to –VŠI:
Pročitati – pročitavši – having read
Napisati – napisavši – having written
Kupiti – kupivši – having bought
Sačekati – Sačekavši – having waited
And there are some exceptions:
Doći – došavši (exception) – having come
Naći – našavši (exception) – having found
Uzeti – uzev (exception) – having taken
Početi – počev (exception) – having started
Izuzeti – izuzev (exception) – having excluded
Examples
Došavši do kuče, počeo sam jesti – Having come home, I started to eat
Pogledavši u tu stranu, odlučio sam da ne idem tamo – Having looked at that side I decided not to go there
Sačekavši konobara, ona je rekla šta želi – Having waited a waiter, she has said what she wants
Vocabulary
želeti – to wish posetiti – to visit Rusija – Russia sećati se – to recall kod kuće – at home | početi – to start odlučiti – decide gledati/pogledati – look at konobar – waiter strana – side |
Exercises
Use appropriate participle
- ________________ da radi domaći zadatak, Andrej je otišao da šeta (URADITI – to do) – Having finished the homework, Andrey have left to walk
- ________________ hranu, pozvao sam svih da jedu (SPREMITI – to prepare) – Having prepared food, I called everyone to eat
- Ta kniga je bila ________________ mnogo puta – (PROČITATI – to read) – That book was read many times
- ___________________ preko telefona, mislio sam o susretu (PRIČATI – to talk) – Talking by phone, I was thinking about meeting
- _______________ tekst, uvek radim mnogo grešaka (KUCATI – to type) – Typing a text, I always do many errors
- _________________ veoma daleko, Bojan je mislio o kuće (PUTOVATI – to travel) – Traveling very far, Boyan was thinking about home
- Ovo je pivo, koje nije bilo ______________ na žurke (ISPITI – to drink) – This is beer that was not drunk at the party
- Ko može da reši ________________ zadatak (DATI – to give) – Who can solve the given task?
- _______________ da igraju, deca nisu mogla da prestaju (POČETI – to start) – Having started to play, the children could not stop
- Imam arhive ___________________ sa kompjutera (KOPIRATI – to copy) – I have files copied from the computer
- Ja nisam poznavao ništa novo ____________________ ih (PITATI – to ask) – I have not known anything new asking them
- _______________ nekoliko lekcije, mi smo povećali našu kvalifikaciju – (IUZETI – to take) Having taken some lessons, we have increased our qualification
Answers
1: uradivši; 2: spremivši; 3: pročitana; 4: pričajući; 5: kucajući; 6: putujući; 7: ispito; 8: dat; 9: počevši; 10: kopirani; 11: pitajući; 12: izuzev