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Welcome to the Serbian passive voice – the grammatical equivalent of saying, “It happened. Let’s not worry too much about who did it.”
If you want to learn Serbian, you’ll encounter the passive voice in everyday speech, news, and formal writing, especially when the action matters more than the person behind it.
But don’t worry, it’s way easier than it sounds. We’ll skip the lecture and jump straight into simple examples and a quick exercise so you can start using it right away.
Before we dive into the Serbian grammar machinery, let’s keep it simple.
In an active sentence, we focus on who does something:
Ana je napisala pismo.
Ana wrote the letter.
Ana’s doing the action, so she’s the star.
In the passive voice, the spotlight shifts to the thing receiving the action:
Pismo je napisano.
The letter was written.
Now the letter gets top billing, and Ana can quietly exit stage left. We don’t even need to mention who wrote it.
Use the passive when you don’t know who did something, when it doesn’t matter, or when you just want to highlight the result. In Serbian, you’ll spot it everywhere: from news headlines to formal writing and everyday chat, whenever the action itself steals the show.
Now for the part that may look a little more “grammar textbook,” but stick with us – Serbian is not trying to ruin your day.
The passive voice is generally formed with the verb biti (to be) + a passive participle, which is called trpni pridev in Serbian.
Think of it as a two-part team: biti + passive participle
For example:
Knjiga je prevedena.
The book has been translated.
Vrata su otvorena.
The door is open / has been opened.
Film je snimljen.
The movie was filmed.
The passive participle is made from a verb and changes its form to agree with the noun in gender and number. This is one of the main differences you’ll notice compared with English.
For example:
| Verb | Passive Participle |
| napisati – to write | napisan – written |
| otvoriti – to open | otvoren – opened |
| prevesti – to translate | preveden – translated |
| napraviti – to make | napravljen – made |
| kupiti – to buy | kupljen – bought |
And because Serbian likes its words to agree with each other, the ending changes depending on the noun:
Predlog projekta je napisan. – The project proposal was written.
Pismo je napisano. – The letter was written.
Knjiga je napisana. – The book was written.
Dokumenti su potpisani. – The documents were signed.
Notice napisan, napisana, napisano, napisani? Same basic idea, different endings. Serbian grammar loves a little outfit change.
The auxiliary biti changes depending on the tense, while the passive participle agrees with the noun:
Knjiga je prevedena. – The book has been translated.
Knjiga je bila prevedena. – The book had been translated.
Knjiga će biti prevedena. – The book will be translated.
You don’t need to memorize every possible form all at once. Start by recognizing the pattern, then practice using complete sentences. The more you learn Serbian in context, the more natural these forms will become.
There’s another useful passive construction you’ll come across when you learn Serbian: the reflexive passive, formed with a verb + se. Instead of using biti + a passive participle, Serbian can use se to show that an action happens without focusing on who performs it.
For example:
Ova knjiga se čita u celom svetu.
This book is read all over the world.
Kako se piše ova reč?
How is this word written?
U Srbiji se pije odlična kafa.
Excellent coffee is drunk in Serbia.
This construction is particularly common in announcements, instructions, recipes, rules, and general statements where the person doing the action is unknown, unimportant, or simply not mentioned.
You can think of it as Serbian’s way of saying: “This is what people do / what happens here.” No need to identify the mysterious coffee drinker, book reader, or word writer.
So, when you learn Serbian, keep an eye out for both patterns: biti + passive participle and verb + se. They may look different, but both can shift the focus away from the person performing the action.
Okay, enough grammar talk. Let’s see what the passive voice looks like when it leaves the textbook and enters the real world.
You’ll often encounter passive constructions when the result of an action matters more than who performed it. For example, you walk into a room and see:
Or perhaps:
No need to launch a detective investigation into who opened the door or closed the window. The important thing is that the action has happened.
The passive voice is also common in work, school, and other formal situations:
And you’ll see it frequently in the news and official language:
Sometimes, the person who performed the action simply isn’t known:
By whom? Excellent question. Serbian has decided that information is strictly need-to-know.
The more you learn Serbian, the more you’ll notice these constructions in headlines, signs, announcements, and everyday conversations.
And once you start recognizing them, they become much less mysterious – even when the mysterious missing actor never turns up.
Here’s the easiest way to tell active and passive sentences apart: active asks “Who did it?” while passive asks “What happened?”
| Active | Passive |
| Ana je otvorila vrata. | Vrata su otvorena. |
| Marko je napisao pismo. | Pismo je napisano. |
| Neko je ukrao bicikl. | Bicikl je ukraden. |
| Oni su zatvorili restoran. | Restoran je zatvoren. |
In Ana je otvorila vrata, Ana’s doing the action. In Vrata su otvorena, the focus flips to the door and what happened to it.
The passive voice shines when you don’t know who did something, when it doesn’t matter, or when the result is what counts.
It also gives sentences a more formal, impersonal vibe that’s ideal for official announcements, reports, and any situation where “Who did this?” isn’t really the point.
Time to put your new Serbian grammar skills to work! If you want to learn Serbian effectively, don’t just read the rules – use them. Here’s a quick exercise to see whether you can spot the object of an active sentence and turn it into the subject of a passive one.
Rewrite each sentence in the passive voice. Remember to change the passive participle so that it agrees with the new subject.
Ana je pročitala knjigu.
Marko je otvorio prozor.
Neko je ukrao moj bicikl.
Oni su napravili tortu.
Policija je pronašla automobil.
Knjiga je pročitana.
Prozor je otvoren.
Moj bicikl je ukraden.
Torta je napravljena.
Automobil je pronađen.
If you got most of these right, congratulations: you’re officially one step closer to being able to learn Serbian without the passive voice sending you into a grammatical panic.
Grammar guides are great – until you’re stuck staring at napisan, napisana, napisano and wondering when you’ll ever actually speak.
That’s where Go Speak Serbian flips the script.
Instead of memorizing another table, you’ll jump into real Serbian from day one. You’ll speak, chat, and make mistakes (the fun kind), with a real teacher.
Lessons are built around your level and goals, so you learn Serbian in context, not in isolation.
Join Go Speak Serbian’s online classes and learn Serbian with a real teacher, not just another grammar table.
