misliti / smatrati / držati (to think / consider) | Serbian Grammar

English think and consider cover several Serbian constructions. Мислити is the everyday verb for an opinion or a thought; сматрати presents a considered judgment and has a distinctive accusative-plus-instrumental frame; држати да expresses a held view in formal or literary style. Their complements—not just their dictionary glosses—determine the natural choice.

Principal forms

Verb	Present	l-participle	Imperative	Core aspect
мислити	мислим, мислиш, мисли; мислимо, мислите, мисле	мислио / мислила	мисли, мислимо, мислите	imperfective
сматрати	сматрам, сматраш, сматра; сматрамо, сматрате, сматрају	сматрао / сматрала	сматрај, сматрајмо, сматрајте	imperfective
држати	држим, држиш, држи; држимо, држите, држе	држао / држала	држи, држимо, држите	imperfective

The opinion meaning of држати uses the same irregular present држим as physical “hold.” Context and complementation distinguish them.

Мислим да ће воз стићи на време.

I think the train will arrive on time.

Сматрам да предлог заслужује озбиљну расправу.

I consider the proposal worthy of serious discussion.

Држим да би таква одлука била преурањена.

I hold that such a decision would be premature. (formal/literary)

All three take a finite да-clause, but their register and stance differ.

Мислити да: an everyday opinion

Use мислити да + finite clause to state what you believe. Negation remains in the main clause when you deny holding the view.

Не мислим да је цена превисока, али желим да упоредим понуде.

I don't think the price is too high, but I want to compare the offers.

Шта мислиш, да ли ће прихватити наш услов?

What do you think—will they accept our condition?

Serbian does not require an English-style do auxiliary. Nor does negative не мислим mechanically change the embedded verb into a special subjunctive form.

Мислити о versus мислити на

О + locative means think about, reflect on, or hold an opinion about a topic. На + accusative keeps a person or thing in mind.

Шта мислите о новом распореду аутобуса?

What do you think about the new bus timetable? (plural or polite)

Кад год пролазим поред старе куће, мислим на баку.

Whenever I pass the old house, I think of my grandmother.

After a preposition, Serbian uses a full pronoun: о њему, на њу, not object clitics га, је.

Размишљам о њој, али не знам шта она мисли о мени.

I'm thinking about her, but I don't know what she thinks of me.

Размишљати foregrounds active reflection and is not merely a longer form of мислити.

Сматрати + object + instrumental

When English means “consider X to be Y,” Serbian places X in the accusative and the predicate label or quality in the instrumental.

Сматрамо овај документ коначном верзијом.

We consider this document the final version.

Колеге га сматрају поузданим стручњаком.

His colleagues consider him a reliable expert.

In the second sentence, accusative clitic га is the person judged; instrumental поузданим стручњаком is the judgment. English word order does not reveal those cases.

Reflexive сматрати се + instrumental removes the explicit evaluator and means “be considered.”

Тај поступак се сматра озбиљном повредом правила.

That action is considered a serious violation of the rules.

This is a productive passive-like reflexive construction. The phrase сматрати за + accusative also occurs, especially in speech, but сматрати некога нечим is the compact standard frame learners should master first.

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Map the roles before choosing case: evaluator + сматрати + evaluated entity (accusative) + assigned category (instrumental).

Држати as an opinion verb

Држати да means “hold that, maintain that” and belongs mainly to formal, essayistic, or literary prose. In ordinary conversation, мислити да is usually more natural.

Аутор држи да се закон мора тумачити у ширем контексту.

The author maintains that the law must be interpreted in a broader context. (formal/academic)

Another established construction is држати до + genitive, “value, care about.” This is not a direct synonym of think.

Она много држи до мишљења својих сарадника.

She places great value on her colleagues' opinions.

Држати некога за + accusative can mean regard someone as something and is more marked than the сматрати + instrumental frame.

Дуго су га држали за искусног дипломату.

For a long time they took him to be an experienced diplomat. (formal/marked)

Aspectual networks change the kind of thought

Core мислити is imperfective. Its prefixed relatives are separate lexical choices: помислити “have a thought/think momentarily,” размислити “think over,” and смислити “devise.”

Помислила сам да је састанак отказан.

For a moment I thought the meeting had been canceled. (female speaker)

Размисли о понуди пре него што одговориш.

Think the offer over before you answer.

Смислили су једноставније решење за пријаву.

They came up with a simpler solution for the application process.

These are not freely interchangeable perfective forms of one opinion verb. Each prefix changes the lexical event.

Neither opinion сматрати nor држати да has a neutral one-word perfective counterpart. For a bounded conclusion, Serbian instead chooses a different lexical event, such as закључити да “conclude that” or оценити X као Y “assess X as Y,” rather than mechanically prefixing the opinion verb.

This is a good example of why an aspectual family should not be treated as one English verb with interchangeable prefixes; the broader contrast is developed in aspect pairs that are not exact synonyms.

Clitics and word order

Object clitics occur with сматрати and marked држати за, while prepositional complements require full forms.

Сматрају га способним, али му још нису понудили посао.

They consider him capable, but they haven't offered him the job yet.

The accusative га precedes dative му only when they share one cluster; here they belong to separate clauses. Do not move га after the instrumental predicate.

Micro-dialogue

Шта мислиш о Ивановом предлогу? — Сматрам га практичним, али држим да рок није реалан. — Онда ћемо тражити још недељу дана.

What do you think of Ivan's proposal? — I consider it practical, but I believe the deadline isn't realistic. — Then we'll ask for another week.

The dialogue moves from neutral conversational мислити о, through object-predicate сматрати, to deliberately formal држати да.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Choose the complement

Translate “I think that she is right,” “I am thinking about the problem,” and “I am thinking of you.” Choose да, о + locative, or на + accusative.

Task 2: Assign the cases

Translate “They consider Ana an excellent manager.” Mark Ana as accusative and the assigned category as instrumental. Then recast the sentence with reflexive сматрати се.

Common Mistakes

❌ Мислим о да променимо план.

Incorrect — opinion content takes мислити да; о requires a noun phrase in the locative.

✅ Мислим да треба да променимо план.

I think we should change the plan.

❌ Често мислим о тебе.

Incorrect — о governs locative теби; мислити на takes accusative тебе with a different nuance.

✅ Често мислим на тебе.

I often think of you.

❌ Сматрам га поуздан стручњак.

Incorrect — the assigned category after сматрати takes instrumental.

✅ Сматрам га поузданим стручњаком.

I consider him a reliable expert.

❌ Држим о новом предлогу да је добра идеја.

Incorrect — opinion држати introduces its content directly with да; it does not take о before that clause.

✅ Држим да је нови предлог добра идеја.

I hold that the new proposal is a good idea. (formal/literary)

❌ Помислити, размислити и смислити су исти свршени облик глагола мислити.

Incorrect — each prefix creates a distinct lexical meaning.

✅ Помислио сам на проблем, а затим сам размислио и смислио решење.

I thought of the problem, then considered it and devised a solution. (male speaker)

Key Takeaways

Мислити да gives an everyday opinion; мислити о + locative treats a topic; мислити на + accusative keeps something in mind.
Сматрати X (accusative) Y (instrumental) assigns a judgment or category.
Opinion држати да is formal/literary; држати до + genitive means value.
Помислити, размислити, and смислити form a lexical network, not one interchangeable perfective partner.

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