Forming Aspect Pairs: Suffixation and Secondary Imperfectives | Serbian Grammar

Serbian can reopen a perfective event by deriving an imperfective with a suffix. These secondary imperfectives preserve the perfective verb's lexical content—its prefix, path, or result type—but make that situation available as a process or repeatable activity. The most important formations contain -авати, -ивати, or a historical -ј- that may change the preceding consonant.

Why “secondary” imperfective?

A derivational family may have three layers:

Simple imperfective	Prefixed perfective	Secondary imperfective
писати — write	преписати — copy once/to completion	преписивати — be copying/copy repeatedly
градити — build	изградити — build completely	изграђивати — be building up/develop repeatedly
мењати — change	изменити — alter	измењивати — be altering/repeatedly alter

The third member is “secondary” because it is derived after prefixation or perfectivization. It does not erase lexical material. Преписивати remains “copy,” not generic “write”; измењивати remains “alter,” not simply “change.”

Док је преписивала адресу, два пута је проверила број стана.

While she was copying the address, she checked the apartment number twice.

Град постепено изграђује нову мрежу бициклистичких стаза.

The city is gradually developing a new network of bicycle lanes.

These examples show the forms in context, but the central problem on this page is morphological: how to recognize and store them.

The -ивати pattern and -ујем present

A productive group inserts -ивати in the infinitive. Its present commonly has -ујем, -ујеш..., not a form copied from the perfective present.

Perfective infinitive	Perfective present	Secondary imperfective	Imperfective present
преписати	препишем	преписивати	преписујем
потписати	потпишем	потписивати	потписујем
уписати	упишем	уписивати	уписујем
изградити	изградим	изграђивати	изграђујем

Notice that препишем contains ш, while преписивати restores с and преписујем has -сујем. The perfective present stem alone is therefore not a safe base for mechanical suffix attachment.

Референт сваког јутра уписује нове захтеве у евиденцију.

Every morning the clerk enters new requests in the register.

Директорка тренутно потписује уговоре у суседној канцеларији.

The director is currently signing contracts in the next office.

The infinitive and present must be learned together: потписивати — потписујем, not an invented form based on потпишем. Stress may shift between members of a derivational family too. Ordinary Serbian spelling does not show that shift, so learn pronunciation from a reliable accent dictionary or audio source rather than trying to predict it from the written suffix.

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Record four principal parts across a family: perfective infinitive and present, then imperfective infinitive and present. This exposes stem alternations that one citation form hides.

The -авати pattern

Another productive pattern uses -авати and normally has a present in -авам. The stem may be reshaped, so the relation is not always simple concatenation.

Perfective	Secondary imperfective	Present
решити	решавати	решавам
обећати	обећавати	обећавам
покушати	покушавати	покушавам

Технички тим решава проблем без прекида рада система.

The technical team is resolving the problem without interrupting the system.

Не обећавамо рок који не можемо да испоштујемо.

We do not promise a deadline that we cannot meet.

Perfective решити selects one solution event; imperfective решавати makes the same problem-solving relation internally viewable. Yet suffix choice is a property of the lexeme. There is no universal instruction “remove -ити, add -авати” that works for every verb.

Historical -ј- and consonant changes

In many imperfectives, a j element historically combined with the final stem consonant. Serbian spelling shows the resulting palatalized consonant rather than simply inserting the letter ј.

Perfective	Imperfective	Visible change
вратити	враћати	т + ј → ћ
родити	рађати	д + ј → ђ, with vowel alternation
најавити	најављивати	в + ј → вљ
поновити	понављати	в + ј → вљ, with vowel alternation
посетити	посећивати	т + ј → ћ

These changes follow Serbian jotation patterns, but the choice of suffix and accompanying vowel alternation remain lexical. Поновити — понављати cannot be obtained by attaching a visible -јати to the complete perfective infinitive.

Кустос посетиоцима понавља правило пре уласка у салу.

The curator repeats the rule to visitors before they enter the hall.

Агенција већ недељама најављује нови програм.

The agency has been announcing the new program for weeks.

Током лета често посећујемо пријатеље у Нишу.

During the summer we often visit friends in Niš.

See jotation in Serbian spelling for the broader consonant system.

Lexicalized and irregular formations

Some common aspect pairs use other suffixes or substantial stem alternation: купити — куповати, дати — давати, узети — узимати, послати — слати. These belong in an aspect dictionary, not under one productive recipe.

Perfective	Imperfective	Present imperfective
купити	куповати	купујем
дати	давати	дајем
узети	узимати	узимам
послати	слати	шаљем

Обично купујем поврће на пијаци, али сам данас све купила у продавници.

I usually buy vegetables at the market, but today I bought everything in a shop. (female speaker)

The forms are frequent and standard; their unpredictability is the difficult part. Memorizing principal parts is more efficient than inventing a historical derivation while speaking.

Not every possible derivative is equally normal

Serbian morphology can theoretically build many secondary imperfectives, but actual frequency and meaning vary. A form may be standard yet restricted to repeated complete events, technical prose, or a particular lexical sense. The simple imperfective can remain the ordinary choice where its meaning already fits.

For example, читати is the neutral process “read,” while прочитавати is possible when repeated reaching of an endpoint is relevant but is much less frequent in ordinary conversation. Likewise, a learner should not manufacture a secondary imperfective for every new perfective encountered.

Свако вече читам неколико страна пре спавања.

Every evening I read a few pages before going to sleep.

This neutral habit does not need the heavier derivative прочитавати. Consult a dictionary and corpus evidence before treating a theoretically possible form as the normal partner.

Tense forms of a secondary imperfective

Once derived, the verb conjugates as an imperfective. Преписујем can be an actual present; past преписивао сам/преписивала сам agrees through the l-participle; future преписиваћу retains the open viewpoint.

Сутра ћу преписивати белешке из старе свеске.

Tomorrow I'll be copying notes from the old notebook.

The aspectual behavior follows from the derived verb, but its inflectional class must still be learned from the present principal part.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Build complete principal-part sets

For преписати, решити, and најавити, supply the perfective present, secondary imperfective infinitive, and imperfective present. Circle every consonant or stem change rather than merely naming the suffix.

Task 2: Preserve the prefix meaning

Explain the lexical difference between писати and преписивати, then between градити and изграђивати. Write one sentence showing that the secondary imperfective keeps the prefixed meaning.

Common Mistakes

❌ Сваког дана препишавам податке у табелу.

Incorrect formation — the imperfective of преписати is преписивати, with present преписујем.

✅ Сваког дана преписујем податке у табелу.

Every day I copy the data into a table.

❌ Управа најавива нова правила сваког месеца.

Incorrect formation — the standard imperfective is најављивати, with present најављује.

✅ Управа најављује нова правила сваког месеца.

The administration announces new rules every month.

❌ После посла увек вратјам службени лаптоп у ормар.

Incorrect — jotation produces враћам, not вратјам.

✅ После посла увек враћам службени лаптоп у ормар.

After work I always return the company laptop to the cabinet.

❌ Преписивати значи исто што и писати јер су оба глагола несвршена.

Incorrect — aspect matches, but преписивати preserves the lexical meaning ‘copy.’

✅ Писала је свој текст док је он преписивао цитате.

She was writing her own text while he was copying quotations.

❌ Сваки свршени глагол добија несвршени пар простим додавањем -ивати.

Incorrect — suffix choice and stem alternations are lexical, and some verbs use suppletion or have no equally frequent derivative.

✅ Послати има несвршени пар слати, а његов презент је шаљем.

Poslati has the imperfective partner slati, whose present is šaljem.

Key Takeaways

Secondary imperfectives reopen a perfective situation while retaining its lexical prefix or result type.
Productive -ивати often corresponds to a present in -ујем; -авати commonly has -авам.
Historical -ј- can surface as ћ, ђ, љ, with additional vowel alternations.
Learn perfective and imperfective infinitives together with both present stems; derivation is productive but never completely mechanical.

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