The Serbian Imperative: Giving Commands, Invitations and Requests
The imperative is the verb mood for commands, invitations and requests – the most everyday verb form you'll meet in Serbian. It's built from the present-tense third-person-plural stem. For one person you know well (ti), you add -i: radi! ("work!"). Verbs in -ati take -j instead: čitaj! ("read!"). For vi you add -te: radite!, čitajte!. An invitation to one close person is "Dođi ovamo!", while a direction to a group is "Čitajte glasno!". There's also a mi ("let's") form – radimo! – which we'll just mention in passing. Here's a point that trips learners up: vi is not only plural. It is also the polite form you use with a stranger or an elder, exactly the way English speakers reach for a more formal register with someone they don't know. That's why you'll hear "Dođite ovamo!", "sedite", "izvolite", "uđite" addressed to a single person out of respect. You soften any imperative into a request by adding molim te (informal) or molim vas (polite); the verb itself doesn't change: "Sačekaj me, molim te." The key teaching point of this lesson is the negative. Careful standard Serbian forms a negative command with nemoj (to one person) / nemojte (to several) + da + present tense: "Nemoj da brineš." ("Don't worry."), "Nemojte da brinete." There's also a nemoj + infinitive option: "Nemoj brinuti." A bare "ne" + imperative (e.g. ne brini) is heard in fast speech, but it is not the careful standard – build the habit on nemoj(te) + da from the start. Unlike English, where you simply put "don't" in front of the bare verb (don't worry, don't write), Serbian uses a dedicated helper word, nemoj. That's exactly where English speakers slip: it isn't enough to drop a "ne" in front of the verb. And remember: the imperative is not rude in Serbian – it's the normal, warm way to invite someone in ("Dođi ovamo!") or to reassure them.
Examples
- Dođi ovamo! Come here!
- Čitajte glasno! Read aloud!
- Nemoj da brineš. Don't worry.
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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Uđi. Sačekaj. Ne brini. Three little words you say to someone every day — and all three are the same form. That's the imperative: with it you command, you invite, you ask. And when you want to say nemoj, the game changes completely.
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The imperative is the form you use to address someone directly: you ask them to do something. It has just two persons you'll use all the time — ti, for one close person, and vi, for several people or when you're being polite. It's built from the present tense, so let's start with the stem.
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Here's the recipe. Take the they-form in the present and drop the ending. What's left is the stem. For ti you add -i or -j, and for vi you add -ite or -jte. Verbs ending in -ati usually take -j, the rest take -i.
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Look at the verb raditi. In the present they say rade, so the stem is rad-. Add -i and you get a command to one person: Radi! And for several people you add -ite: Radite!
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Now a verb in -ati: čitati. They say čitaju, and the stem takes -j. For one person: Čitaj glasno! And for a group, or politely, you add -jte: Čitajte glasno!
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In real life you'll most often hear the imperative as an invitation, not a stern order. When you call someone to come closer, you say: Dođi ovamo! The verb is doći, and the form dođi is firm and warm at once — the tone comes from your voice, not the form.
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The same verb toward several people, or politely toward one person you don't know well, takes -ite: Dođite ovamo! The vi form isn't just plural — it's also your politeness. With the same ending you address a group and a stranger alike: sedite, izvolite, uđite.
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Now the most important part, the reason you're here. You don't make the negative imperative by just putting ne in front of the form. In careful Serbian you use the helper word nemoj for one person, or nemojte for several, then da and the present tense.
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Want to reassure someone, to tell them not to worry? Take nemoj, add da and the present of the verb brinuti: Nemoj da brineš. For several people: nemojte da brinete. The word nemoj carries the whole prohibition, and the verb just sits in the present after da.
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Here's the trap. Many people try to negate by putting ne in front of the imperative — ne brini. You'll hear it in fast speech, but in careful, standard Serbian nemoj da brineš sounds more natural. Build the habit on nemoj, not on a bare ne in front of the form.
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You soften the imperative with one phrase — molim te, or politely molim vas. That turns a command into a request without changing the verb form: Sačekaj me, molim te. Same imperative, a completely different tone: add molim te and the command becomes a polite request.
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Let's recap. You build the imperative from the present-tense stem: for ti add -i or -j, for vi add -ite or -jte. Vi is both plural and politeness. And the negative isn't a bare ne — it's nemoj or nemojte, then da and the present. Say uđi, sačekaj, nemoj da brineš — and you'll sound natural.
