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Do you sometimes feel like your Serbian lacks flair? You’ve got all your grammar points in order and memorized all the vocabulary you might need in everyday chats, yet you can’t get your emotions across? Enter Serbian aorist tense!
This little grammar point will help add drama to your convos and emphasize feelings like surprise, frustration, and more. Ready to master a tense that packs more punch than a shot of rakija? Step right into the action!
Dođoh, videh, pobedih! The famous quote by Julius Caesar (I came, I saw, I conquered) is a typical example of the aorist tense in Serbian. But is this grammar point necessary, and do Serbs even use it?
In previous articles, we’ve suggested that you only need three Serbian tenses: past, present, and future.
Indeed, you can express anything you wish with these three and get your point across every time. However, as you become more advanced, you’ll want to add more nuance and variety to your Serbian.
Expectedly, that’s where aorist comes in handy. Among other things, this tense will help you stress different emotions or recount events more dramatically.
On the other hand, you might’ve heard that the aorist tense in Serbin is outdated. Is this true? Yes and no.
If you tackle Serbian literature from long ago, it’ll likely overflow with aorist and other outdated tenses.
That being said, the aorist is still alive, although we only use it in specific contexts. The most typical meaning can be summed up as I’ve just (don’t something). In other words, it refers to the recent past.
So, instead of going with the past tense and saying, stigla sam kući (I got home), you can say:
Stigoh kući.
(I’ve just arrived home.)
Of course, this tense can have a range of meanings, some of which aren’t even about the past.
Before we get into all that, let’s shed some light on how to build the aorist tense in Serbian. But don’t start snoring yet — we’ll keep it brief and super simple!
To get a tad technical, here’s how to form the aorist in Serbian:
infinitive base of a verb + suffix
Before we get into details, we need to split verbs into two groups:
When building the aorist of -ti verbs, you’ll drop the ending (-ti) and add an appropriate suffix:
singular | plural | |
1 | -h | -smo |
2 | / | -ste |
3 | / | -še |
Let’s take, for example, the verb oprati (to wash):
infinitive base: oprati → opra:
singular | plural | |
1 | ja oprah | mi oprasmo |
2 | ti opra | vi opraste |
3 | on/ona/ono opra | oni/one/ona opraše |
Example sentence: Samo što oprah sudove, a već je puna sudopera.
(I’ve just finished washing the dishes and the sink is already full.)
When the infinitive ends in -sti or -ći, you’ll take the first-person singular form of the aorist and drop the ending. Then, you’ll add a new ending to the stem:
singular | plural | |
1 | -oh | -osmo |
2 | -e | -oste |
3 | -e | -oše |
For instance, let’s apply this to the verbs pasti (to fall down) and otići (to leave).
pasti — infinitive base: padoh → pad:
singular | plural | |
1 | ja padoh | mi padosmo |
2 | ti pade | vi padoste |
3 | on/ona/ono pade | oni/one/ona padoše |
otići — infinitive base: odoh → od:
singular | plural | |
1 | ja odoh | mi odosmo |
2 | ti ode | vi odoste |
3 | on/ona/ono ode | oni/one/ona odoše |
Also, note that if the infinitive stem of a verb ends in k,g, or h, these consonants will change like this in the 2nd and 3rd person singular:
For example, let’s apply this to the verb reći (to say):
reći — infinitive base: rekoh → rek:
singular | plural | |
1 | ja rekoh | mi rekosmo |
2 | ti reče | vi rekoste |
3 | on/ona/ono reče | oni/one/ona rekoše |
Finally, you’ve got an idea of how the aorist tense in Serbian works. But you don’t have to cram all the rules and suffixes. Instead, we suggest that you remember the common phrases as they are. Once you hear or read these expressions enough times, you’ll know how to use them yourself.
At last, let’s get into the meat of the matter. How do Serbian people use aorist?
Imagine you’re describing an accident to a friend:
I onda padoh niz stepenice!
(And then I fell down the stairs!)
Unlike the bland past tense (I onda sam pala niz stepenice), the aorist does a fine job of stressing how dramatic the event felt.
Here’s a similar example of the aorist making the situation sound so much more intense:
Uđoh u sobu i začuh buku.
(I entered the room and heard the noise.)
After coming home from a party, you may text your friend:
Stigoh kući upravo.
(I just got home.)
Upravo videh Anu na ulici.
(I just saw Ana on the street.)
Also, here’s a phrase Serbs often use:
Uze mi reč iz usta.
(You took the words right out of my mouth.)
It means that someone said exactly what you were thinking. In other words, you agree with what they said.
If someone jumps out of a dark room trying to frighten you, you may exclaim:
Uplaši me!
(You gave me a fright!)
You may also add a juicy swear word of your choosing.
Similarly, here’s something that Serbs often say in summer:
Ujede me komarac.
(I got bitten by a mosquito.)
Next, does your roommate ever hog the bathroom, taking hours-long baths? Then, you can express your impatience with:
Okupa li se?
(Have you finished your bath already?)
In addition, holidays often have us stuffing our faces without control. Whenever that happens, you can sigh and say:
Prejedoh se!
(I ate too much.)
Also, the aorist is your go-to when people ask you the same things over and over:
Rekoh ti već!
(I’ve told you already!)
And if someone offends you, you have every right to get angry and ask:
Šta to reče?
(What have you just said?)
Although the aorist is grammatically a past tense form, it can also refer to the future. How?
Imagine you’re at your friend’s home and about to leave. You can say:
Odoh kući.
(I’m going home.)
However, this meaning only seems to work with this verb. Still, Serbs use the aorist in this way pretty often, so here are a couple more examples:
Odoh u krevet.
(I’m going to bed.)
Odosmo na posao.
(We’re off to work.)
Finally, the aorist tense in Serbian is your secret weapon whenever you wish to make your speech more dynamic or full of emotion. So, anytime you’re telling a funny story or sharing an intense experience, the aorist will spice it up with a dash of drama.
Ready to put it all into practice and level up your Serbian? Join our online group classes, and let’s bring your skills — and stories — to life!
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