Serbian отићи / одлазити presents departure from a place or reference point. Perfective отићи marks one departure as achieved; imperfective одлазити presents the leaving as ongoing, repeated, or characteristic. English leave also has a transitive meaning, but Serbian uses a different verb—usually напустити or оставити—when a person, place, or object is a direct object.
Principal forms
| Form | одлазити (imperfective) | отићи (perfective) |
|---|---|---|
| present | одлазим, одлазиш, одлази, одлазимо, одлазите, одлазе | одем, одеш, оде, одемо, одете, оду |
| l-participle | одлазио, одлазила, одлазило; одлазили, одлазиле, одлазила | отишао, отишла, отишло; отишли, отишле, отишла |
| imperative | одлази, одлазимо, одлазите | отиди / отиђи, отидимо / отиђимо, отидите / отиђите |
| future, 1st singular | одлазићу | отићи ћу |
| conditional, 1st singular | одлазио / одлазила бих | отишао / отишла бих |
The perfective paradigm is strongly suppletive: отићи — одем — отишао / отишла. In contemporary standard Serbian, отиди and отиђи are both recorded imperatives; the отиди set is the conservative normative recommendation, while отиђи is also widespread. In ordinary commands speakers often choose the simpler imperative of ићи, иди, when no aspectual contrast needs to be foregrounded.
The forms are written without pitch-accent or length marks, exactly as in ordinary Serbian text. Specialist notation and the spoken accent system belong to the accent-paradigm guide; the irregular stem changes shown here must be learned even though accent is not displayed.
Гости већ одлазе, па ћу их испратити до врата.
The guests are already leaving, so I'll see them to the door.
Ана је отишла пре краја састанка јер јој није било добро.
Ana left before the end of the meeting because she wasn't feeling well.
Departure in progress or one completed departure
Use одлазити for a repeated departure, for someone in the process of leaving, or for a general pattern. Use отићи once crossing the departure boundary is the event that matters.
Сваког јутра одлазим на посао пре него што се деца пробуде.
Every morning I leave for work before the children wake up.
Док су гости одлазили, домаћин им је делио храну која је остала.
As the guests were leaving, the host gave them the food that was left.
Милош је отишао у Панчево и вратиће се после ручка.
Miloš went to Pančevo and will return after lunch.
Perfective present одем usually has future or repeated-sequence value. It is not the neutral way to say that departure is unfolding now.
Кад одем у пензију, више ћу времена проводити у башти.
When I retire, I'll spend more time in the garden.
The retirement use shows that “departure” need not be physical. The bounded transition out of working life licenses perfective одем.
Source and destination
Because отићи / одлазити is intransitive and not ordinarily reflexive, the person leaving is the subject. The source is a prepositional phrase; an optional destination follows ordinary directional government. Serbian does not add се to imitate English take oneself away.
| Frame | Typical use |
|---|---|
| отићи из + genitive | leave an interior, city, or institution: из стана, из Ниша |
| отићи са + genitive | leave an event, activity, or surface: са часа, с посла |
| отићи од + genitive | leave a person, professional, or reference point: од баке, од лекара |
| отићи у/на + accusative | go to a destination: у град, на концерт |
| отићи код + genitive / кући | go to a person or home: код брата, кући |
Отишла је из канцеларије право на железничку станицу.
She left the office and went straight to the railway station.
После прегледа смо отишли од лекара на кафу.
After the examination, we left the doctor's office and went for coffee.
The source and destination can appear together because they play different roles. С посла identifies the activity departed from; код сестре identifies the new endpoint.
Вечерас одлазимо с посла право код сестре на славу.
Tonight we're leaving work and going straight to my sister's for her family patron-saint celebration.
Кући is directional “home,” while код куће is static “at home.” The motion-preposition guide compares the full source system.
Future, perfect, and clitics
The future of an -ћи infinitive is written separately: отићи ћу, отићи ћеш, отићи ће. Imperfective одлазити loses final -ти and fuses: одлазићу, одлазићеш. In the perfect, the auxiliary occupies second position and the l-participle agrees with gender and number.
После представе ћемо отићи на касну вечеру.
After the performance, we'll go out for a late dinner.
Моје колегинице су већ отишле, али ја још чекам такси.
My female colleagues have already left, but I'm still waiting for a taxi.
Dative clitics can identify someone affected by a departure, but this is not a neutral English-style direct object. Отишао ми је најбољи радник means that my best worker left on me/from my situation and often carries emotional or practical involvement.
На крају сезоне нам је отишао најискуснији тренер.
At the end of the season, our most experienced coach left us.
The cluster нам је follows the first constituent and keeps the normal dative-before-auxiliary order. The verb remains intransitive: тренер is nominative and controls masculine singular отишао.
Отићи, изаћи, кренути, and transitive leave
Отићи means depart or go away from a reference point. Изаћи means exit or emerge from an interior. Кренути highlights setting off. The events can coincide, but the verbs select different boundaries.
Изашли смо из позоришта, али нисмо одмах отишли јер смо чекали пријатеље.
We came out of the theater, but we didn't leave right away because we were waiting for friends.
Transitive English leave needs another Serbian structure. Напустити + accusative means leave or abandon a place, organization, or person; оставити + accusative means leave something behind or cause it to remain.
Напустио је фирму, али је оставио број телефона бившим колегама.
He left the company, but he left his phone number with his former colleagues.
Using отићи фирму is impossible because отићи does not license a direct object.
Commands and their real-world alternatives
The standard imperatives отиди / отиђи request one departure. Since the variants compete and can sound more marked than ordinary иди, conversation often uses иди, иди кући, or немој још да идеш, depending on the intended polarity and aspect.
Отиди до рецепције и питај да ли је стигао пакет.
Go to reception and ask whether the package has arrived. (informal singular)
Немојте још да одлазите; директор стиже за минут.
Please don't leave yet; the director will be here in a minute. (plural or polite)
Negative imperatives naturally favor imperfective одлазити or ићи because the speaker blocks the action rather than asking for its completion. This is a tendency, not a ban on every perfective negative command.
Idiomatic extensions
Отићи предалеко can describe literal distance or figurative excess. Bare отишао је / отишла је may, in a sufficiently clear context, be a gentle euphemism for dying; that use is (euphemistic) and should not be assumed without context.
Критика је била оправдана, али си у последњој поруци отишао предалеко.
The criticism was justified, but you went too far in your last message. (male addressee)
Одлазак is the corresponding noun “departure/leaving” and is common from everyday notices to (formal) announcements.
Због одласка главне уреднице, редакција ће следећег месеца изабрати ново руководство.
Because of the editor-in-chief's departure, the editorial team will choose new leadership next month. (formal)
Micro-dialogue
„Зар већ одлазиш?“ — „Морам; последњи аутобус креће за двадесет минута.“ — „Онда иди, јави ми кад стигнеш кући.“
‘Are you leaving already?’ — ‘I have to; the last bus leaves in twenty minutes.’ — ‘Then go, and let me know when you get home.’
Imperfective одлазиш views the departure as unfolding. The reply uses everyday иди for an immediate command, then perfective стигнеш for achieved arrival.
Practice Tasks
Task 1: Choose the boundary
Describe someone who leaves work at five every day, is walking out now, and departed early yesterday. Use одлазити for the repeated/process views and отићи for the completed departure.
Task 2: Build source and destination
Translate: She left the apartment for work; We left the doctor and went home; Don't leave yet; He left the company but left his laptop in the office. Select among из, са, од, отићи, напустити, and оставити.
Common Mistakes
❌ Кад отиђем с посла, позваћу те.
Incorrect present form — standard Serbian uses одем; accepted отиђи is an imperative, not the present stem.
✅ Кад одем с посла, позваћу те.
When I leave work, I'll call you.
❌ Следеће недеље отићићу у Крушевац.
Incorrect spelling — the future auxiliary stays separate after an infinitive ending in -ћи.
✅ Следеће недеље ћу отићи у Крушевац.
Next week I'll go to Kruševac.
❌ Отишао је канцеларију без поздрава.
Incorrect — intransitive отићи cannot take канцеларију as a direct object or source.
✅ Отишао је из канцеларије без поздрава.
He left the office without saying goodbye.
❌ Отишла је код куће пре поноћи.
Incorrect for destination — код куће means static ‘at home.’
✅ Отишла је кући пре поноћи.
She went home before midnight.
❌ Отишао сам кључеве на столу.
Incorrect lexical frame — to leave an object behind, use оставити with an accusative object.
✅ Оставио сам кључеве на столу.
I left the keys on the table. (male speaker)
Key Takeaways
- Одлазити profiles repeated or ongoing departure; отићи profiles one achieved departure.
- Memorize отићи — одем — отишао / отишла. Standard imperatives include conservative отиди and also accepted отиђи.
- Sources use из/са/од + genitive; destinations use у/на + accusative, код + genitive, or кући.
- Write отићи ћу separately but одлазићу as one word.
- Use напустити or оставити for transitive English leave; отићи itself has no accusative direct object.
Now practice Serbian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- doći / dolaziti (to come / arrive)A1 — The come pair and second-position clitics.
- ići (to go)A1 — Full reference for the basic motion verb 'to go'.
- Basic Verbs of Motion (ići, doći, hodati)A1 — Going, coming, and walking — and why Serbian is simpler than Russian here.
- Prefixed Directional Motion VerbsB1 — doci, otici, uci, izaci and their direction-encoding prefixes.
- Suppletive and Unrelated-Stem Aspect PairsB2 — Aspectual partners that cannot be predicted by adding a prefix or suffix.
- Motion Prepositions: kroz, niz, uz, prema, kA2 — Direction and path prepositions.