Live in SerbiaGrammar · Time
Present tense: three conjugation types
Serbian has three main types of present tense conjugation. The type is determined by the first person form: -am, -im or -em/-jem. Knowing the type, it is easy to derive all six forms.
Type 1 (-am): čitam, čitaš, čita, čitamo, čitate, čitaju
Type 2 (-im): radim, radiš, radi, radimo, radite, rade
Type 3 (-em): pišem, pišeš, piše, pišemo, pišete, pišu
Examples
Čitam svaki dan.
I read every day. (type 1)
Radim u centru.
I work in the center. (type 2)
Pišem poruku.
I'm writing a message. (type 3)
Tips
- Biti (sam/si/je) and imati (imam) are irregular, remember separately.
- The type is determined not by the infinitive, but by the form “I” - try it in the dictionary.