Reflexive verbs with 'se'
Many verbs carry the reflexive particle 'se': zvati se (to be called), osećati se (to feel), vraćati se (to return). 'Se' is a clitic — it follows the same second-position rule as 'sam' and friends and never starts a sentence.
Examples
- Kako se zoveš? What is your name?
- Osećam se dobro. I feel good.
- Vraćam se kući. I'm going back home.
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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Want to ask someone their name? Without one tiny word — „se“ — it won't work. You need it to introduce yourself and to say how you feel. A lot of verbs carry that „se“. Let's learn where it belongs.
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Here's what it's all about. A huge number of Serbian verbs come paired with the little word „se“. That „se“ is part of the verb — learn it together with the verb, as a single unit. „Zvati se“ means to have a name. „Osećati se“ means to be in some state. „Vraćati se“ means to go back.
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Look how many of them are all around you. On the left, verbs with „se“ that you need every day: zvati se, osećati se, vraćati se, žuriti se. On the right, a few without „se“, so you can see the difference: raditi, pisati, čitati. „Se“ isn't random — it goes with specific verbs.
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Let's start with what you'll say on day one — asking for a name. Notice where „se“ stands: Kako se zoveš? „What is your name?“ The verb is „zvati se“, but „se“ doesn't sit next to the verb — it jumped right after the first word „kako“. Remember that spot.
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And the answer to that question also carries „se“. When you introduce yourself, you say: Zovem se Ana. „My name is Ana.“ Literally: „zovem se Ana“ — „I call myself Ana“. You can see „se“ comes right after the verb „zovem“ because the verb is at the start. „Se“ wants the second position in the sentence.
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Here's the key rule. „Se“ is a clitic — a short, unstressed little word that never stands first in the sentence and is never stressed. It „leans“ on the first word and lands right after it — in the so-called second position. It's the same rule that holds for „sam“, „si“, „je“. Clitics love the second position.
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Let's see that second position in action. You want to say how you are — you use „osećati se“: Osećam se dobro. „I feel good.“ The verb „osećam“ comes first, so „se“ comes right after it, in second position, and only then „dobro“. The order is: verb, „se“, the rest. You never start a sentence with „se“.
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Now watch what happens when the sentence doesn't start with the verb. If another word comes first, „se“ sticks to it: Vraćam se kući. „I'm going back home.“ The verb is first, so „se“ is right after it. But in „Sutra se vraćam kući“ the first word is „sutra“, so „se“ jumps right after it — far from the verb „vraćam“.
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Compare two sentences with the verb „žuriti se“. When the verb comes first, „se“ is right after it: Žurim se na posao. „I'm hurrying to work.“ But if the sentence starts with „Uvek“, watch how „se“ shifts forward: Uvek se žurim ujutru. „I always hurry in the morning.“ „Se“ is always in second position.
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And what happens when several clitics meet at once? They line up in a strict order. „Sam“, „si“, „je“ come first, and „se“ goes after them. That's why you say „vratio sam se“, not „vratio se sam“. The verb clitic first, „se“ behind it.
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Look at it in the past tense. You want to say you went back home yesterday: Vratio sam se kući. „I went back home.“ Two clitics together: „sam“ then „se“, exactly in that order, right after the first word „vratio“. Never the other way around.
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And now the main trap — the reason you're here. Don't start a sentence with „se“ and don't always glue it right next to the verb. „Se zovem Ana“ sounds wrong because „se“ can't come first. It has to follow the first word: „Zovem se Ana“. Second position, always.
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And the second common mistake — simply dropping „se“. Without it the verb changes meaning or doesn't exist. „Kako zoveš?“ means „who are you calling, who are you summoning“, not „what is your name“. Without „se“ you're asking something completely different. Don't leave it out.
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Let's sum up. Many verbs carry „se“ — zvati se, osećati se, vraćati se — and it's part of the verb, so learn it together with the verb. „Se“ is a clitic: never the first word, always in second position, after clitics like „sam“. And don't forget it — without „se“ the sentence means something else.