Imati & Nemati: How to Say "I Have" and "I Don't Have" in Serbian
Imati (to have) is one of the verbs you'll reach for every single day, so it's worth getting right early. In the positive, the object jumps into the accusative: sestra becomes sestru in Imam sestru. Inanimate masculine and neuter nouns don't budge, which is why Imam auto stays put. The negative is where most beginners slip: there's no "ne imam." Serbian fuses the two into one word, nemam (and nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju). After that negative, the object usually shifts again, this time to the genitive: Nemam novca, not nemam novac. To ask a yes/no question, just drop in li after the verb: Imaš li auto? Master these three moves and you've got the verb sorted.
Examples
- Imam sestru. I have a sister.
- Nemam novca. I have no money.
- Imaš li auto? Do you have a car?
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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Imam sestru — I have a sister. Easy, right? But the negative isn't ne imam — it's one fused word, nemam. And that's when the object often shifts to a different case. Let's clear this up for good.
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Imati means to have — you'll use it constantly: for things, family, time and obligations. The key rule: the object after imati goes into the accusative, the case that answers whom? what?.
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Here's the present tense of imati. Ja imam, ti imaš, on ima, mi imamo, vi imate, oni imaju. Focus on the form imam — that's I have, the one you'll hear most often.
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First example. Sestra is feminine and changes its ending in the accusative: sestra becomes sestru. So we say: Imam sestru. See how the ending -a turned into -u — that's the accusative at work.
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Now something that looks like an exception, but isn't. Auto is masculine and inanimate, and such nouns stay the same in the accusative — nothing changes. Imam auto. Auto is identical in the nominative and the accusative — so it sounds easy.
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Now the negative. This is key: the negation of imati is not two words. We don't say ne imam. Ne and imam merge into one word — nemam. It's irregular, but it's always like this.
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Here's the most common beginner mistake. Ne imam doesn't exist in Serbian. Always nemam. The same goes for every person: nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju.
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And the second part of the trap. After the affirmative imam the object is in the accusative. But after the negative nemam the object often shifts to the genitive — the case that answers of whom? of what?.
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Let's see it in an example. Novac after nemam goes into the genitive and becomes novca. So the correct form is: Nemam novca. Not nemam novac, but nemam novca — genitive after the negation.
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The same trap with the word vreme. After nemam we don't say nemam vreme — the correct form is nemam vremena, with the genitive.
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How do you ask a question? You add the particle li after the verb. Imaš li auto? means Do you have a car?. Simple and very common in speech. Imaš li auto?
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Finally, imati builds many everyday expressions. Imati vremena — to have free time. Imati pravo — to be right. They're worth memorizing as ready-made phrases.
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Let's recap. Imati takes the accusative: imam sestru. The negative is always the fused word nemam, never ne imam. And after nemam the object goes into the genitive: nemam novca, nemam vremena.
