nositi / doneti (to carry / bring) | Serbian Grammar

Serbian носити means carry, bear, or wear. Донети means bring something so that it reaches a relevant destination. They are closely related historically and semantically, but they are not a simple aspect pair: the imperfective partner of донети is доносити, while unprefixed носити describes the manner or state without asserting arrival. This distinction prevents one of the most persistent English-based errors with carry and bring.

Principal forms and the real aspect relation

Form	носити (imperfective)	доносити (imperfective)	донети (perfective)
present	носим, носиш, носи, носимо, носите, носе	доносим, доносиш, доноси, доносимо, доносите, доносе	донесем, донесеш, донесе, донесемо, донесете, донесу
l-participle	носио / носила	доносио / доносила	донео / донела
imperative	носи, носимо, носите	доноси, доносимо, доносите	донеси, донесимо, донесите
future, 1st singular	носићу	доносићу	донећу

Learn perfective донети as донети — донесем — донесу — донео/донела — донеси — донећу. Its forms cannot be predicted by simply placing до- before the present of носити.

Носим две тешке торбе, па не могу сада да се јавим на телефон.

I'm carrying two heavy bags, so I can't answer the phone right now.

Донела сам ти кључеве које си јуче заборавио код нас.

I brought you the keys you left at our place yesterday. (female speaker)

Носити profiles carrying, not arrival

The carried item is a direct accusative object. Носити can describe an action in progress, repeated carrying, or a characteristic way of transporting something.

Радници носе кутије из подрума у комби.

The workers are carrying boxes from the basement to the van.

Сваког петка носим чисту постељину баки у дом.

Every Friday I take clean bed linen to my grandmother at the care home.

The destination phrase does not turn носити into a perfective arrival verb. In the first sentence, we see the carrying along its route; the sentence does not by itself assert that every box has reached the van. In the second, the repeated schedule favors imperfective aspect.

Humans can be objects of носити only when they are physically carried, not simply accompanied.

Отац је носио успавано дете до кревета.

The father carried the sleeping child to bed.

For a walking person use водити; for vehicle transport use возити. Водим дете у школу means accompany the child, while носим дете means the child is in someone's arms or otherwise physically supported.

Донети asserts arrival with the item

The prefix до- points toward the relevant goal. Perfective донети packages one successful arrival; imperfective доносити presents repeated delivery or the transfer in progress.

Курир доноси пошту сваког радног дана око поднева.

The courier brings the mail every workday around noon.

Курир је данас донео и пакет који смо чекали две недеље.

Today the courier also brought the parcel we'd been waiting for for two weeks.

The relevant goal need not be the speaker's physical location. It may be the addressee's office, a room central to the conversation, or another established endpoint.

Кад стигнеш у болницу, донеси документа на пријемни шалтер.

When you reach the hospital, bring the documents to the admissions desk.

English may say take the documents to the desk. Serbian донети is natural when the desk is construed as the goal at which the documents should arrive. The dedicated bringing-and-removing reference develops до- versus од- directionality.

💡

Use носити to show the item being carried; use донети only when the arrival-with-item boundary is part of the message.

The larger carrying network

Unprefixed носити has no single neutral perfective meaning “finish carrying.” Different prefixes create different events.

Verb	Core event	Imperfective path partner
понети	take/carry along when setting out	— / context-dependent
донети	bring to the relevant goal	доносити
однети	carry away	односити
унети	carry in	уносити
изнети	carry out	износити
пренети	carry across/transfer	преносити

Понеси личну карту; тражиће је на улазу.

Take your ID card with you; they'll ask for it at the entrance.

Унесите столице унутра, а празне кутије изнесите у ходник.

Carry the chairs inside and take the empty boxes out into the hallway. (plural or polite)

Понети focuses on departure with the item; донети focuses on arrival. A natural route can therefore use both.

Понела је колач од куће и донела га право у канцеларију.

She took a cake from home and brought it straight to the office.

This lexical network is why equating носити : донети with English “carry : carried” is misleading. Prefixes contribute path meanings, not only perfectivity.

Wearing and bearing

Носити also means wear clothing, footwear, jewelry, glasses, or a hairstyle as an ongoing state or habit.

Зими обично носим дебео капут и водоотпорне чизме.

In winter I usually wear a thick coat and waterproof boots.

Она носи наочаре само док чита или ради за рачунаром.

She wears glasses only while reading or working at a computer.

The bounded action “put on” is обући for clothes and shoes or ставити for many accessories. Донети is not the perfective of this wearing sense.

Abstract носити име means bear a name; носити одговорност means bear responsibility and is common in (formal) discussion.

Нова библиотека носи име познате српске научнице.

The new library bears the name of a well-known Serbian woman scientist. (formal)

Objects, recipients, and clitics

The carried or brought item is accusative. A recipient or beneficiary can be dative, and the dative clitic precedes the accusative clitic.

Тражио си пуњач, па ти га носим на посао.

You asked for the charger, so I'm bringing it with me to work for you.

Заборавила је извештај, али јој га је колега донео пре састанка.

She forgot the report, but her colleague brought it to her before the meeting.

In јој га је, јој is the dative recipient, га the accusative item, and је the auxiliary. The prefixes and aspect—not the clitics—tell us whether the transfer arrived.

Reflexive носити се is a separate lexical construction

Ordinary carrying and wearing are not reflexive: носим торбу, носим капут. Носити се са + instrumental is a separate verb meaning cope or deal with.

Добро се носи са притиском, али јој дуге смене тешко падају.

She copes well with pressure, but long shifts are hard on her.

This се cannot be added to a physical carrying sentence. The instrumental са притиском belongs to the lexical coping frame.

Ekavian and Ijekavian

This page uses Ekavian донети, донео, донела. Standard Ijekavian Serbian has донијети, донио, донијела. Носити itself is unchanged. Keep one reflex consistent within an example or text.

Micro-dialogue

„Зашто носиш све те фасцикле?“ — „Доносим их правној служби.“ — „Хоћеш да ти понесем две?“ — „Хвала, однеси ове плаве у њихову канцеларију.“

‘Why are you carrying all those folders?’ — ‘I'm bringing them to the legal department.’ — ‘Do you want me to carry two for you?’ — ‘Thanks; take these blue ones to their office.’

The dialogue moves from visible carrying to destination-oriented bringing, taking along, and carrying away.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Manner or arrival?

Describe workers carrying furniture toward a flat while the action is in progress, then report that they brought one sofa into the flat. Use носити for the route and донети for the attained delivery.

Task 2: Build the participant frame

Translate: She is carrying the baby; She is accompanying the child to school; She is driving the children home; She brought me the documents. Choose носити, водити, возити, and донети, then identify each accusative object and dative recipient.

Common Mistakes

❌ Сада донесем лаптоп у канцеларију.

Incorrect for carrying in progress now — perfective донесем presents the arrival boundary.

✅ Сада носим лаптоп у канцеларију.

I'm carrying the laptop to the office now.

❌ Мајка је носила дете у школу, а дете је ходало поред ње.

Incorrect participant choice — if the child walked beside her, it was accompanied, not physically carried.

✅ Мајка је водила дете у школу, а дете је ходало поред ње.

The mother walked the child to school, and the child walked beside her.

❌ Донеси јакну на себи јер је напољу хладно.

Incorrect lexical choice — wearing the jacket requires носити, while putting it on requires обући.

✅ Обуци јакну и носи је док си напољу.

Put on a jacket and wear it while you're outside.

❌ Донео сам њему га у канцеларију.

Incorrect neutral clitic pattern — use the second-position sequence му га.

✅ Донео сам му га у канцеларију.

I brought it to him at the office. (male speaker)

❌ Носим се тешку торбу до аутобуса.

Incorrect — physical carrying is transitive and has no reflexive се.

✅ Носим тешку торбу до аутобуса.

I'm carrying a heavy bag to the bus.

Key Takeaways

Носити profiles carrying or wearing; its direct object is accusative.
Донети presents one arrival with the item; its actual imperfective partner is доносити.
Prefixes choose path events: понети, донети, однети, унети, изнети, пренети are not interchangeable perfectives.
Physically carry a person with носити, accompany with водити, and transport by vehicle with возити.
Reflexive носити се са + instrumental “cope with” is a separate lexical construction.

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