Impersonal Predicate Frames | Serbian Grammar

Serbian impersonal predicates evaluate a situation without installing an ordinary nominative subject in the matrix clause. They cover possibility (могуће је), difficulty (тешко је), appearance (чини се), and necessity (треба), among many other meanings. English often inserts dummy it—“it is possible,” “it seems”—but Serbian has no corresponding subject pronoun in these frames.

The advanced difficulty is not the vocabulary. It is keeping apart three roles: the proposition being evaluated, a dative experiencer who feels or judges it, and an embedded nominative subject that belongs inside a да-clause.

A whole clause can be the content

In могуће је да + finite clause, the matrix predicate is third-person singular neuter and the да-clause supplies what is possible.

Могуће је да ће комисија затражити додатна објашњења.

It is possible that the committee will request further explanations.

There is no Serbian equivalent of dummy it before могуће. The embedded subject комисија controls only ће затражити; it does not make the matrix adjective feminine.

Мало је вероватно да су сви учесници добили обавештење на време.

It is unlikely that all the participants received the notice on time.

Here мало вероватно evaluates the proposition. The plural noun inside the complement does not trigger вероватни су in the matrix clause.

Other evaluative adjectives behave similarly:

Важно је да свака примедба буде образложена.

It is important that every comment be justified.

The passive form буде образложена agrees with embedded feminine примедба. Matrix важно је remains neuter because it has no agreeing nominative controller.

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When an adjective evaluates an entire да-clause, expect the neutral frame adjective-neuter + је. Do not let the nearest embedded noun pull the matrix adjective into its gender or number.

Dative experiencers identify who finds it difficult

An impersonal predicate can add a dative phrase for the person who experiences a state or evaluates an action.

Мени је тешко да пратим расправу кад сви говоре истовремено.

I find it hard to follow the discussion when everyone speaks at once.

English makes I the subject of find. Serbian makes мени a dative experiencer, while тешко је remains impersonal. The short clitic is natural when the experiencer is not contrastive:

Тешко ми је да одбијем њену молбу без објашњења.

It is hard for me to refuse her request without an explanation.

Full мени contrasts or reactivates the experiencer; clitic ми is neutral background information and follows the normal second-position pattern. The complement may instead be an infinitive when the generic or controlled reading is natural:

Без детаљне мапе било нам је немогуће пронаћи улаз у тунел.

Without a detailed map, it was impossible for us to find the tunnel entrance.

The dative does not become the grammatical subject of the infinitive. It supplies the understood experiencer or actor through interpretation of the frame.

Impersonal bodily and dispositional states show the same architecture:

После целоноћне вожње свима нам се спавало.

After driving all night, all of us felt sleepy.

Past спавало се is singular neuter. Dative свима нам names the experiencers; it does not require plural спавали смо unless the meaning changes to the personal “we slept.”

Чини се and изгледа package evidence cautiously

Чини се да and изгледа да present a proposition as an inference or appearance rather than a flat assertion.

Чини се да су нове мере смањиле време чекања.

It seems that the new measures have reduced waiting times.

Изгледа да је неко погрешно унео датум у систем.

It appears that someone entered the date incorrectly in the system.

The embedded subjects нове мере and неко belong to their finite clauses. Matrix чини се and изгледа remain third-person singular. A dative evaluator can be added:

Мени се чини да овај закључак не следи из наведених података.

It seems to me that this conclusion does not follow from the cited data.

The dative makes the source of judgment explicit, while се is part of the predicate чинити се. This is not the same as personal чинити “to make/do.” Formal syntactic tests that distinguish raising-like structures from control are treated on control and raising; the practical rule here is to keep the evaluator in the dative and the proposition’s subject inside its clause.

In the careful standard baseline, modal necessity is commonly expressed by invariant треба + да + present. Person appears in the embedded verb.

Треба да проверимо да ли су сви прилози читљиви.

We need to check whether all the attachments are legible.

Past and conditional necessity use neuter требало:

Требало је да ме обавесте пре него што су променили термин.

They should have informed me before they changed the time.

Требало би да правна служба прегледа коначну верзију.

The legal department should review the final version.

Personal modal patterns occur in usage, especially in some relative structures and regional or conversational varieties; they should not be presented as nonexistent. For controlled learner production, the impersonal frame is the dependable neutral standard. See the two faces of требати for the variation.

Lexical требати “to be needed” is different. The needed thing is nominative and controls agreement; the person who needs it is dative.

За архиву нам треба још један примерак уговора.

We need one more copy of the contract for the archive.

За теренски рад требају нам поуздане батерије.

We need reliable batteries for the fieldwork.

Singular примерак selects треба; plural батерије selects требају. This is not the invariant modal construction.

Tense and conditional forms stay impersonal

Adjectival impersonal frames use било је for past, биће for future, and било би for the conditional.

Током прве фазе било је тешко проценити стварне трошкове.

During the first phase, it was difficult to estimate the actual costs.

Без резервне копије биће ризично мењати структуру базе.

Without a backup, it will be risky to change the database structure.

Било би корисно да аутори наведу изворе за све табеле.

It would be useful for the authors to cite sources for all the tables.

Do not create agreement with a later plural noun: биће ризично мењати структуру, not биће ризичне because структуру is merely the object of the infinitive.

Detached assessment can hide the assessor

Impersonal packaging is common in (formal) and (academic) prose because it places the proposition, not the person judging it, in the foreground.

На основу доступних података, могуће је закључити да су трошкови потцењени. Ипак, тешко је утврдити када је одступање настало, јер се чини да део документације недостаје. Стога би било оправдано да независни ревизор поново прегледа евиденцију.

On the basis of the available data, it is possible to conclude that the costs were underestimated. Nevertheless, it is difficult to determine when the discrepancy arose, because some of the documentation appears to be missing. It would therefore be justified for an independent auditor to review the records again. (formal)

This style can be appropriately cautious, but it can also obscure responsibility. If identifying the analyst matters, an active clause is clearer: Наш тим је на основу података закључио... “Our team concluded from the data...” Impersonal does not automatically mean more objective.

Practice

Task 1: Separate the roles

Build a sentence meaning “Ana finds it difficult to believe that the figures are correct.” Use a dative experiencer for Ana, an impersonal adjective, and a separate nominative subject inside the embedded proposition. Label all three layers.

Task 2: Change time without changing agreement

Put Важно је да сви присуствују into the past, future, and conditional. Keep the matrix predicate impersonal and explain why сви does not make the matrix adjective plural.

Common Mistakes

❌ Оно је могуће да ће седница бити одложена.

Incorrect—Serbian does not insert a dummy subject pronoun corresponding to English it.

✅ Могуће је да ће седница бити одложена.

It is possible that the meeting will be postponed.

❌ Ја је тешко да читам ситна слова без наочара.

Incorrect—the experiencer must be dative, not nominative.

✅ Мени је тешко да читам ситна слова без наочара.

I find it difficult to read small print without glasses.

❌ Вероватне су да ће цене поново порасти.

Incorrect—the matrix adjective cannot agree with the plural subject hidden inside the following proposition.

✅ Вероватно је да ће цене поново порасти.

It is likely that prices will rise again.

❌ Требали смо да доставимо образац јуче.

Avoid this as the careful neutral modal baseline—the personal past modal is variable in modern usage.

✅ Требало је да доставимо образац јуче.

We were supposed to submit the form yesterday.

❌ Требају нам да проверимо сваку ставку.

Incorrect—the invariant modal frame is being confused with personal lexical требати.

✅ Треба да проверимо сваку ставку.

We need to check every item.

Key Takeaways

Serbian impersonal predicates do not take an English-style dummy subject.
A dative experiencer is not a nominative controller and does not trigger matrix agreement.
Чини се and изгледа keep the proposition’s subject inside the embedded clause.
Modal треба is normally invariant in the careful standard baseline; lexical требати agrees with the thing needed.
Formal impersonal packaging can express caution, but writers should check whether it unnecessarily hides responsibility.

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