Lesson 04.Present Tense (Imperfective Verbs) + Basic Adjective Agreement

Lesson Goals

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Conjugate imperfective verbs in the present tense
Recognize the six present tense endings in Serbian
Understand subject–verb agreement
Use adjectives that match the gender and number of nouns
Make sentences with verbs and descriptive adjectives

1. Present Tense of Imperfective Verbs

Serbian present tense is formed by removing the infinitive ending -ti (sometimes -ći) from the verb and adding the appropriate personal ending.

Example with raditi (to work):

Person	Singular	Plural
ja	radim	radimo
ti	radiš	radite
on/ona/ono	radi	rade

2. Six Personal Endings (Present Tense)

These endings apply to most imperfective verbs:

Person	Ending	Example (raditi)
ja	-m	radim
ti	-š	radiš
on/ona/ono	-∅ (no ending)	radi
mi	-mo	radimo
vi	-te	radite
oni/one/ona	-e / -u	rade

The choice between -e and -u depends on the verb stem — covered in Lesson 9: Verb Groups.

3. Subject–Verb Agreement

The verb ending must match the subject in person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular/plural).