Reciprocal Pronouns (each other) | Serbian Grammar

Serbian can express English each other in two main ways. The compact clitic се is natural when the verb and context make reciprocity clear: Често се чујемо “We often talk to each other.” The explicit series један другог, један другом, један с другим spells out the reciprocal participants and changes case according to the Serbian verb or preposition.

That difference matters because се has several other jobs. It can be reflexive, lexical, reciprocal, or part of a passive/impersonal construction. The explicit један други pattern is longer, but it removes ambiguity and can carry contrastive emphasis. For the broader reflexive system, see Reflexive себе and се.

Reciprocal Се

With a plural or coordinated subject, many verbs allow се to mean that the participants act toward one another:

Ана и Марко се виђају скоро сваког викенда.

Ana and Marko see each other almost every weekend.

Чујемо се кад стигнеш у Београд.

We will get in touch when you arrive in Belgrade.

Две екипе су се поздравиле пре почетка утакмице.

The two teams greeted each other before the match began.

Reciprocity needs at least two semantic participants. They may be grouped in a plural noun or coordinated subject, or supplied by the plural person of the verb. Чујемо се supplies “we” through the first-person plural ending even though no subject pronoun is spoken. Serbian can also foreground one participant as the singular subject and express the co-participant with с(а) + instrumental:

Ана се редовно дописује с Марком.

Ana and Marko regularly message each other.

Only Ана is the grammatical subject, but дописивати се с неким still describes reciprocal correspondence between two participants.

The reciprocal reading is often conventional with communication and encounter verbs: видети се, срести се, чути се, дописивати се, поздравити се. However, the clitic itself does not encode “each other”; the predicate and the participant structure create that interpretation.

The two strategies are not mechanically interchangeable with the same verb. Lexical reciprocal дописивати се keeps се; an explicit dative relation instead uses a compatible verb such as писати:

Ана и Марко пишу једно другом сваке недеље.

Ana and Marko write to each other every week.

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Do not memorize се as either “self” or “each other.” Treat it as a clitic whose interpretation comes from the verb, subject, and context. Use један други when the relationship must be unmistakable.

Why Се Can Be Ambiguous

Compare three sentences built around гледати:

Гледају се преко стола и нико ништа не говори.

They are looking at each other across the table, and nobody is saying anything.

Гледају себе на снимку са прошлогодишње прославе.

They are watching themselves in a recording from last year's celebration.

Гледају један другог као да се први пут виде.

They are looking at each other as though they were meeting for the first time.

The first се receives a reciprocal reading from the scene. Full себе in the second explicitly makes each participant the object of that participant's own looking. Један другог in the third explicitly pairs each participant with the other.

Other meanings of се are not reciprocal at all:

Деца се облаче пре доручка.

The children get dressed before breakfast.

Карте се продају само преко званичног сајта.

Tickets are sold only through the official website.

In the first, се is reflexive or lexical: the children dress themselves, not one another. In the second, it marks a passive construction; the tickets are not participants in a mutual action. The passive and impersonal се page treats that contrast in depth.

Clitic Position

Reciprocal се occupies the same second-position slot as every other clitic се. It cannot begin a neutral clause.

Милица и Јована се одлично разумеју.

Milica and Jovana understand each other very well.

Јуче су се коначно упознали наши нови сарадници.

Yesterday our new associates finally met one another.

Кад се поново видимо, договорићемо све детаље.

When we see each other again, we will agree on all the details.

In Јуче су се..., the cluster is auxiliary су followed by се. After the subordinating conjunction кад, се precedes the finite verb because the conjunction provides the initial host. Clitic position does not change when the meaning is reciprocal.

The Explicit Један Други Series

The expression literally organizes the participants as “one—the other.” In the core finite-clause use shown here, the first element is nominative because it distributes over the subject participants; the second receives the case required by the verb or preposition.

Government	Masculine pair	Feminine pair	Mixed or neuter pair
accusative	један другог	једна другу	једно друго
genitive	један другог	једна друге	једно другог
dative	један другом	једна другој	једно другом
instrumental with с(а)	један с другим	једна с другом	једно с другим
locative with о	један о другом	једна о другој	једно о другом

Two male participants use the masculine series, and an all-female pair uses једна другу/другој/с другом. A mixed pair conventionally uses neuter singular једно друго/другом. Neuter agreement is also natural when the participants are referred to by neuter nouns, especially деца construed distributively or two neuter singular referents.

In nominalizations, the first element can instead reflect the case assigned to the participant phrase:

Корист од отварања једних према другима одмах се видела.

The benefit of opening up to one another was immediately apparent.

Брат и сестра увек подржавају једно друго.

The brother and sister always support each other.

With брат и сестра, neuter једно друго is the standard mixed-pair pattern; do not choose masculine један другог merely because one participant is male. With two named women, use једна другу. Larger groups commonly use plural једни друге/другима.

Ивана и Сања познају једна другу још из основне школе.

Ivana and Sanja have known each other since primary school.

Двојица комшија годинама не говоре један с другим.

The two neighbors have not spoken to each other for years.

Government Chooses the Case

English keeps each other invariant except for possessive each other's. Serbian makes the second member obey the same government as an ordinary noun phrase.

Governor	Required relation	Reciprocal expression
познавати + accusative	know someone	познају један другог
помагати + dative	help someone	помажу један другом
зависити од + genitive	depend on someone	зависе један од другог
разговарати с(а) + instrumental	talk with someone	разговарају један с другим
мислити на + accusative	think of someone	мисле један на другог

Колегинице су помагале једна другој током целог пројекта.

The female colleagues helped each other throughout the project.

Ова два система зависе један од другог.

These two systems depend on each other.

Чланови тима пажљиво слушају једни друге.

The team members listen carefully to one another.

The last example uses plural једни друге, natural when reciprocity ranges across a group rather than a single pair. Other common plural forms include једни другима, једни с другима, and једни о другима.

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Choose the case by temporarily replacing the reciprocal expression with an ordinary person: помажем колеги → dative → помажу један другом; разговарам с колегом → instrumental → разговарају један с другим.

Emphasis and Disambiguation

Use један други when two readings of се are possible, when reciprocity is contrastive, or when the governed case itself matters. Међусобно “mutually” can also reinforce the reciprocal reading, but it is an adverb and does not replace a required object in every construction.

Они не критикују себе, него један другог.

They do not criticize themselves, but each other.

Две службе међусобно размењују податке сваког јутра.

The two departments exchange data with each other every morning.

— Да ли се сестре често чују? — Да, зову једна другу скоро сваког дана.

‘Do the sisters speak often?’ ‘Yes, they call each other almost every day.’

The dialogue first uses conventional reciprocal чују се, then chooses explicit feminine accusative једна другу with transitive звати.

Reciprocal Possession

Serbian commonly uses a reciprocal construction whose second member is genitive plural to express English each other's:

Студенти су читали радове једни других пре семинара.

The students read one another's papers before the seminar.

Добро познајемо навике једни других.

We know each other's habits well.

The possessor phrase једни других is plural because the relation ranges across a group. In many contexts a reformulation with међусобно or an explicit noun is stylistically smoother, but the genitive construction is standard.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Let the governor choose the form

Complete the reciprocal phrase: (1) помажу _; (2) разговарају _; (3) мисле _; (4) зависе _.

Answers: један другом; један с другим; један на другог; један од другог. The relevant cases are dative, instrumental, accusative, and genitive.

Task 2: Remove the ambiguity

Rewrite Гледају се у огледалу to mean (1) each person watches themself and (2) the people look at one another.

Answers: Гледају себе у огледалу for the reflexive reading; Гледају један другог у огледалу for the reciprocal reading.

Common Mistakes

Starting a clause with се

❌ Се Ана и Лука често дописују?

Incorrect — unstressed се cannot stand clause-initially.

✅ Да ли се Ана и Лука често дописују?

Do Ana and Luka often message each other?

Treating један други as invariant

❌ Марина и Весна су позвале један други на ручак.

Incorrect — an all-female pair with an accusative object requires једна другу.

✅ Марина и Весна су позвале једна другу на ручак.

Marina and Vesna invited each other to lunch.

Ignoring verb government

❌ Добри суседи увек помажу један другог.

Incorrect — помагати takes the dative, so the reciprocal form is један другом.

✅ Добри суседи увек помажу један другом.

Good neighbors always help each other.

Assuming every plural се is reciprocal

❌ Деца се обувају за приредбу.

Incorrect for the intended reciprocal meaning — without special context, this says that the children put on their own shoes.

✅ Деца обувају једно друго за приредбу.

The children are putting shoes on one another for the performance.

Copying an English preposition

❌ Дуго су разговарали један о други.

Incorrect — о requires locative другом, and ordinary ‘talk with each other’ normally uses с + instrumental.

✅ Дуго су разговарали један с другим.

They talked with each other for a long time.

Key Takeaways

Reciprocal се is concise but can overlap with reflexive, lexical, and passive readings.
Се is a second-position clitic and cannot begin a neutral clause.
In један други, the first element distributes over the participants and the second takes the case required by the governor.
Gender forms such as једна другу matter, while group reciprocity often uses plural једни друге/другима.
Use the explicit series for emphasis, case visibility, or disambiguation.

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