ljutiti se / naljutiti se (to be/get angry) | Serbian Grammar

Serbian packages anger as a reflexive construction: љутити се / наљутити се. Imperfective љутити се presents anger as an ongoing state, repeated reaction, or process; perfective наљутити се presents the onset of anger as one bounded change. The person or thing anger is directed at normally follows на + accusative, so learning only the English gloss “be angry” leaves out both се and the verb’s government.

Principal forms

Form	љутити се (imperfective)	наљутити се (perfective)
present	љутим се, љутиш се, љути се, љутимо се, љутите се, љуте се	наљутим се, наљутиш се, наљути се, наљутимо се, наљутите се, наљуте се
l-participle	љутио се, љутила се, љутило се; љутили се, љутиле се, љутила се	наљутио се, наљутила се, наљутило се; наљутили се, наљутиле се, наљутила се
imperative	љути се, љутимо се, љутите се	наљути се, наљутимо се, наљутите се
future, 1st singular	љутићу се	наљутићу се
conditional, 1st singular	љутио / љутила бих се	наљутио / наљутила бих се

The present stems are regular once you know the two infinitives, but the construction is incomplete without invariant clitic се. Ordinary Serbian spelling does not mark pitch accent or vowel length; none of the forms in the table needs an accent mark in normal writing.

И даље се љутим на себе што нисам раније поставио то питање.

I'm still angry with myself for not asking that question earlier. (male speaker)

Немој да се наљутиш, али мислим да овај план неће успети.

Don't get angry, but I don't think this plan will work.

State or repeated reaction versus onset

Use љутити се when anger is already present, lasts, or recurs. Use наљутити се for the moment someone becomes angry. A perfective past can imply that the resulting anger still matters, but the verb itself profiles the change into that state.

Кад год закасним, сестра се љути на мене цео дан.

Whenever I'm late, my sister stays angry with me all day.

Сестра се наљутила кад је видела да сам опет закаснио.

My sister got angry when she saw that I was late again. (male speaker)

The repeated clause кад год закасним contains perfective закасним because each late arrival reaches its boundary; the main verb љути се describes the recurring state. Aspect must be chosen for each event, not once for the whole sentence.

Док се он љутио, ми смо покушавали да мирно објаснимо шта се догодило.

While he was angry, we were trying to explain calmly what had happened.

💡

If English can naturally be expanded to “be/stay angry,” choose љутити се; if it means “become/get angry,” choose наљутити се. Context, not tense alone, decides the aspect.

The target of anger: на + accusative

The person, institution, behavior, or situation at which anger is directed normally follows на + accusative.

Base form	After на	Meaning
мој брат	на мог брата	at/with my brother
нова одлука	на нову одлуку	at the new decision
ја	на мене	at/with me
он / она	на њега / на њу	at/with him/her
себе	на себе	at/with oneself

Зашто се љутиш на мене кад нисам ни знао за промену?

Why are you angry with me when I didn't even know about the change? (male speaker)

Грађани су се наљутили на одлуку да се парк затвори без најаве.

Residents became angry at the decision to close the park without notice.

After a preposition, Serbian requires a full pronoun such as мене, њега, њу, себе. An accusative clitic such as ме cannot follow на. Masculine animate nouns also show the accusative-genitive form мог брата, not nominative мој брат.

💡

Record the construction as љутити се на + accusative, not as three independent words. That one entry predicts на мене, на њу, на мог колегу, and blocks impossible clitic forms after the preposition.

Cause: због, што, and зато што

The target and the reason are different roles. На + accusative identifies who or what anger is directed at. Због + genitive identifies a cause; a clause can use што or зато што.

Нисам љут на тебе, него сам љут због начина на који су нам то саопштили.

I'm not angry with you; I'm angry because of the way they told us.

Наљутила се на колегу зато што је послао извештај без њеног одобрења.

She got angry with her colleague because he sent the report without her approval.

Љути ме што нико није проверио податке пре објављивања.

It makes me angry that nobody checked the data before publication.

The last sentence is not reflexive: transitive љутити некога takes the affected person as an accusative object, here clitic ме. It describes something causing anger rather than the experiencer being angry at a target.

Reflexive and transitive constructions

Removing се changes argument structure. Reflexive наљутити се means “get angry”; transitive наљутити некога means “make someone angry.”

Коментар ју је наљутио, али се није наљутила на аутора.

The comment angered her, but she did not get angry with the author.

In ју је наљутио, feminine accusative clitic ју is the affected person and коментар is the subject. In се није наљутила, the female subject undergoes the change herself. This is why replacing се with an object pronoun does not merely change emphasis—it builds a different clause.

The adjective љут / љута / љуто describes the state without a reflexive clitic and takes the same на + accusative target.

Био је љут на управника, али није желео да се свађа пред гостима.

He was angry with the manager, but he did not want to argue in front of the guests.

Разљутити (се) means to anger or become angered, often more strongly, but it is a lexical relative rather than a form to substitute mechanically for every perfective наљутити (се).

Clitic placement

Се occupies the normal second-position clitic cluster. In the perfect, the third-person singular auxiliary је is omitted beside се; other auxiliary forms remain.

Context	Natural pattern
present	Она се љути на мене.
negative present	Она се не љути на мене.
1st-person perfect	Наљутио сам се на њега.
3rd-person perfect	Она се наљутила на њега.
future	Она ће се наљутити.
conditional	Она би се наљутила.

На мене се не љути, али с братом још не разговара.

She isn't angry with me, but she still isn't speaking to her brother.

The fronted phrase на мене provides the first constituent; clitic се follows it. Fronting highlights the contrast “not with me.” The full clitic-order guide treats larger clusters.

Commands and interpersonal tone

Negative не љути се and немој да се љутиш are both standard. The first is compact and can sound reassuring or abrupt depending on intonation; the немој да version is frequent in conversation and often feels more explicitly preventive. Perfective немој да се наљутиш warns against a possible onset.

Не љутите се, али мораћемо поново да проверимо ваш захтев.

Please don't be angry, but we'll have to review your request again. (polite or plural)

Немој да се љутиш на Петра; није знао да је састанак померен.

Don't be angry with Petar; he didn't know the meeting had been moved.

Positive perfective imperatives such as наљути се are grammatically possible but pragmatically unusual unless someone deliberately invites or challenges the reaction. Do not treat every paradigm cell as equally frequent in real interaction.

Micro-dialogue

„Јеси ли љута на мене?“ — „Нисам, само ми је жао што ми ниси раније рекао.“ — „Мислио сам да ћеш се наљутити.“

‘Are you angry with me?’ — ‘No, I'm just sorry you didn't tell me earlier.’ — ‘I thought you would get angry.’ (female addressee; male speaker in the final turn)

The adjective љута asks about a current state. Perfective ћеш се наљутити refers to the anticipated onset of anger.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: State, onset, or cause

Translate three versions: She is angry with the director; She got angry with the director; The decision angered her. Use љутити се, наљутити се, and transitive наљутити with the correct participants.

Task 2: Build the full frame

Replace Ana with I, he, and my new colleague after на in “Don't be angry with Ana.” Use full accusative pronouns and animacy-sensitive masculine accusative.

Common Mistakes

❌ Љутим на њега јер је опет закаснио.

Incorrect — the experiencer construction requires lexical reflexive се.

✅ Љутим се на њега јер је опет закаснио.

I'm angry with him because he was late again.

❌ Она се љути са мном због поруке.

Incorrect — the target of anger takes на + accusative, not с + instrumental copied from English ‘angry with.’

✅ Она се љути на мене због поруке.

She is angry with me because of the message.

❌ Немој да се љутиш на ја.

Incorrect — after на, the first-person pronoun must be full accusative мене.

✅ Немој да се љутиш на мене.

Don't be angry with me.

❌ Марија се је наљутила кад је прочитала одговор.

Incorrect — third-person singular auxiliary је is omitted beside reflexive се in the perfect.

✅ Марија се наљутила кад је прочитала одговор.

Marija got angry when she read the reply.

❌ Вест се наљутила Јовану.

Incorrect argument structure — a piece of news angers someone transitively, with the person in accusative.

✅ Вест је наљутила Јована.

The news made Jovan angry.

Key Takeaways

Љутити се presents an ongoing or repeated state; наљутити се presents the onset of anger.
Learn the target frame на + accusative: на мене, на њу, на мог колегу.
Use због + genitive or a clause for the reason, and keep target separate from cause.
Without се, љутити / наљутити некога is transitive “anger/make someone angry.”
Keep се in the second-position cluster and omit third-person singular је beside it in the perfect.

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