govoriti / reći (to speak / say) | Serbian Grammar

Serbian distributes English speak, talk, and say across several verbs. Говорити presents speaking as an activity, habit, ability, or repeated message. Perfective рећи packages one utterance or the delivery of a message. They form a conventional suppletive aspectual opposition because their stems are unrelated, but lexical choice still matters: говорити српски is not replaced by рећи српски.

Principal forms

Form	говорити (imperfective)	рећи (perfective)	казати (near-synonym of рећи)
present	говорим, говориш, говори, говоримо, говорите, говоре	кажем, кажеш, каже, кажемо, кажете, кажу	кажем, кажеш, каже, кажемо, кажете, кажу
l-participle	говорио / говорила	рекао / рекла	казао / казала
imperative	говори, говоримо, говорите	реци, рецимо, реците	кажи, кажимо, кажите
future I, 1st singular	говорићу / ја ћу говорити	рећи ћу / ја ћу рећи	казаћу / ја ћу казати

The present кажем belongs to both dictionary verbs рећи and казати. Their past and imperative forms reveal which paradigm is being used. Because рећи ends in -ћи, postposed future clitics remain separate: рећи ћу, never a fused spelling.

For the regular endings in говорим — говоре, see the i-class present; кажем — кажу belongs to the less transparent e-class system.

Говорим спорије кад знам да ме саговорник не разуме добро.

I speak more slowly when I know the other person does not understand me well.

Рекао сам јој истину чим смо остали сами.

I told her the truth as soon as we were alone. (male speaker)

Кажи ми одмах ако се план промени.

Tell me immediately if the plan changes. (informal)

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Memorize рећи — кажем — рекао/рекла — реци as four principal forms. No single mechanical stem rule derives the whole series.

Говорити: language, topic, and interlocutor

For the ability or practice of speaking a language, the language is a direct accusative object.

Она говори српски и мађарски, а учи немачки.

She speaks Serbian and Hungarian, and she is learning German.

For a topic, use о + locative. For an interlocutor, са + instrumental is the ordinary “talk with” frame. Both can occur together.

Јуче сам дуго говорила са директорком о новом распореду.

Yesterday I spoke with the director for a long time about the new schedule. (female speaker)

На састанку ћемо говорити о трошковима, али не и о отпуштањима.

At the meeting we will talk about costs, but not about layoffs.

Говорити некоме нешто is also possible: the addressee is dative and the message is accusative. It tends to present what someone says repeatedly, over time, or as discourse rather than one completed delivery.

Месецима нам говоре исто, а ништа се не мења.

They have been telling us the same thing for months, and nothing changes.

Рећи: one utterance and its content

The basic argument pattern is рећи некоме нешто: dative addressee plus accusative content. Either can be replaced by a clitic, with dative before accusative.

Реци ми адресу, па ћу је записати.

Tell me the address and I'll write it down. (informal)

Ана нам је то рекла тек после ручка.

Ana told us that only after lunch.

Content can instead be a да clause, an embedded question, or a direct quotation.

Рекли су да ће резултати стићи до петка.

They said that the results would arrive by Friday.

Нико ми није рекао где треба да сачекам.

Nobody told me where I was supposed to wait.

Лекар је рекао: „Одмарајте се наредна два дана.“

The doctor said, ‘Rest for the next two days.’

English changes from say to tell according to whether an addressee is expressed. Serbian keeps рећи and marks the addressee with the dative: рекао је истину; рекао ми је истину.

Aspect and tense

Imperfective говорити can describe speech in progress or a habit. Perfective рећи views the message as delivered. Its morphologically present forms therefore normally occur with future, modal, habitual-completive, or subordinate meaning rather than as an action unfolding now.

Не прекидај је; још говори.

Don't interrupt her; she's still speaking.

Кад му кажеш шта се догодило, вероватно ће се наљутити.

When you tell him what happened, he will probably get angry.

The second кажеш is present in form but future-oriented after кад. For repeated completed utterances, Serbian may combine the perfective present with a habitual context, while говорити remains the safer verb for extended discourse.

This opposition is suppletive, but not absolute synonymy. Рећи две речи naturally bounds an utterance; говорити два сата naturally measures an activity.

Казати, рећи, and говорити

Казати is a close standard-language synonym of рећи in the central meaning “say/tell.” It is not simply an imperfective partner of рећи. Contemporary speakers often prefer рећи in neutral prose, but казати, especially its imperative кажи, remains common and unmarked in many ordinary contexts. Do not label every use of казати as archaic or literary.

Можеш ли да ми кажеш колико је сати?

Can you tell me what time it is?

Казао је да ће доћи, али није навео тачно време.

He said he would come, but he did not give an exact time.

The present каже may be interpreted through either рећи or казати; that is normal syncretism, not a spelling error. In the past, choose рекао or казао, not an invented hybrid.

Причати often means converse, chat, narrate, or tell a story. It overlaps with говорити, especially (informal) in everyday conversation, but it adds its own lexical perspective and is not needed as a grammatical aspect partner.

Reflexive and impersonal uses

Говорити се can mean “be spoken” or suppress an unspecified speaker. The nominative patient controls agreement in a passive-like clause.

У овој кући су се одувек говорила два језика.

Two languages have always been spoken in this house.

With рећи, се appears in expressions such as може се рећи “one can say” and то се не каже “one does not say that / that is not said.” These are impersonal or passive-like, not literal self-directed speech.

Може се рећи да је договор постигнут у последњем тренутку.

It can be said that the agreement was reached at the last moment.

Micro-dialogue

„О чему сте говорили?“ — „О новом пројекту. Директор нам је рекао да почнемо у понедељак.“ — „А шта је казао о року?“

‘What did you talk about?’ — ‘About the new project. The director told us to start on Monday.’ — ‘And what did he say about the deadline?’

Here говорили names the conversation as an activity, while рекао/казао introduce bounded messages.

Common Mistakes

❌ Јуче ми је рећио да неће доћи.

Incorrect — the masculine l-participle of рећи is рекао.

✅ Јуче ми је рекао да неће доћи.

Yesterday he told me he would not come.

❌ Она рече српски и француски.

Incorrect for language ability — use говорити plus a direct object.

✅ Она говори српски и француски.

She speaks Serbian and French.

❌ Говорили смо за путовање.

Incorrect topic frame — говорити uses о + locative in this meaning.

✅ Говорили смо о путовању.

We talked about the trip.

❌ Кажио сам им све што знам.

Incorrect — use рекао from рећи or казао from казати.

✅ Казао сам им све што знам.

I told them everything I know. (male speaker)

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Activity or delivered message?

Choose говорити or рећи for: speaking Serbian, talking about a problem for an hour, telling a colleague one password, and telling someone that the train is late. Supply the required cases.

Task 2: Rebuild the paradigm

From the infinitive рећи, produce first-person present, masculine and feminine l-participles, singular imperative, and first-person future. Then replace рећи with казати and note which present forms coincide.

Key Takeaways

Говорити presents speaking as activity, habit, ability, or repeated content.
Рећи packages one utterance; its principal forms are рећи — кажем — рекао/рекла — реци.
The addressee is dative and the content may be accusative, a да clause, an embedded question, or a quotation.
Казати is a close standard synonym of рећи; кажи is ordinary contemporary Serbian.
Говорити о + locative marks a topic, while са + instrumental marks an interlocutor.

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