odgovarati / odgovoriti (to answer)

The answer verb teaches two important pieces of Serbian government at once. The person receiving the answer is dative—одговорити некоме—while the question, message, or challenge answered normally follows на + accusative—одговорити на питање. The aspect pair is одговарати (imperfective) and одговорити (perfective), but одговарати also has several common meanings that do not pair with perfective одговорити.

Present and Principal Forms

The imperfective has the regular -ам paradigm. Perfective одговорити has -им in the first-person singular and -е in the third-person plural. Ordinary spelling does not mark accent.

The perfective imperative одговорите asks for one completed response. Imperfective не одговарај prohibits the activity or habit of responding in that situation.

Aspect: Process versus Completed Response

Use одговарати for repeated answering, an ongoing response activity, or a general tendency. Use одговорити when the response is delivered as a bounded event.

The second sentence presents a completed reply. Serbian can use the perfective present in a future or subordinate environment—кад одговоре, ако одговори—but not as a neutral report of an event happening right now.

The Addressee Is Dative

The person who receives the response is a dative indirect object: Ани, директору, клијенткињи or the clitics ми, ти, му, јој, нам, вам, им.

English answer someone has no visible to, but Serbian still uses dative студенту, ми. This contrasts directly with accusative питати студента / питати ме.

For the recipient role and the full pronoun inventory, see Dative: The Indirect Object.

The addressee may be omitted when context supplies it: Још није одговорила “She still hasn't replied.” That omission does not change the verb's government.

The Stimulus Uses на + Accusative

Questions, emails, invitations, complaints, accusations, calls, and challenges commonly follow на.

The на phrase is not the addressee. In одговорити колегиници на поруку, колегиници is dative “to the colleague,” while на поруку identifies the message that prompted the answer.

Content can also be a да-clause or direct quotation. The clause states what the answer was rather than what prompted it.

It is possible to combine roles: Одговорила ми је на питање да ће... is structurally heavy and often awkward. In natural prose, use either одговорила ми је да... for the content or одговорила ми је на питање for the stimulus, adding both only when both are genuinely needed.

Clitic Order

A dative clitic occupies the regular second-position cluster. In a third-person singular perfect clause, dative ми/ти/му/јој... precedes auxiliary је.

The sequences are нам је and сам му. Serbian does not place the clitic directly after the lexical verb merely because English places the object there. Full dative forms express contrast: Мени је одговорио, а њој није.

Three Other Meanings of одговарати

The imperfective form is polysemous. Its common non-answer senses are not aspectually completed by одговорити.

“Suit / be convenient” + dative

The suitable option is the subject; the person whose needs it suits is dative. Термин ми одговори cannot mean “the appointment worked for me.”

“Be responsible / liable” + за + accusative

This is a continuing responsibility, not an act of replying. In legal contexts, одговарати за can also mean “be held liable for.”

“Correspond to” + dative

This usage is common in formal and neutral prose. Again, одговорити does not provide its perfective counterpart.

There is a narrower (formal) construction одговорити захтевима / очекивањима “meet requirements / expectations.” It is lexicalized and should not be generalized to the “suit a person” or “correspond to reality” senses.

Micro-dialogue

The dialogue contrasts accusative Ивану after питати with dative clitics ми, јој, ти in the response and transfer frames.

Common Mistakes

1. Marking the addressee accusative.

2. Omitting на before the question or message.

3. Using perfective одговорити for “suit.”

4. Leaving the dative clitic after the lexical verb.

Practice 1: Identify Addressee and Stimulus

Supply dative for the person and на + accusative for what prompted the reply.

Practice 2: Select Aspect or Lexical Meaning

Choose одговарати for a habit/process or “suit,” and одговорити for one completed reply.

Key Takeaways

• The recipient is dative: одговорити некоме.
• The question, message, or challenge answered uses на + accusative.
• Одговарати / одговорити contrasts process or repetition with a completed reply.
• Одговарати also means “suit,” “be responsible,” and “correspond”; these normally remain imperfective. Formal одговорити захтевима “meet requirements” is a separate lexicalized use.
• Dative clitics follow normal second-position order: нам је одговорила, сам му одговорио.