pitati / upitati (to ask a question) | Serbian Grammar

English ask combines two actions that Serbian normally separates. Use питати / упитати when you seek information: ask a person a question. Use молити / замолити when you request an action, favor, or object. With питати, the person asked is accusative—not dative—and the content may be an interrogative clause, да ли clause, noun phrase, or prepositional topic.

Present and Principal Forms

Питати is imperfective and regular: the present keeps пита-. Its prefixed perfective упитати has the same endings. Ordinary spelling does not show lexical accent.

Person	питати	упитати
ја	питам	упитам
ти	питаш	упиташ
он / она / оно	пита	упита
ми	питамо	упитамо
ви	питате	упитате
они / оне / она	питају	упитају

Form	питати	упитати
l-participle	питао / питала / питали	упитао / упитала / упитали
2nd singular imperative	питај	упитај
2nd plural / formal imperative	питајте	упитајте
1st singular future	питаћу	упитаћу
conditional, feminine speaker	питала бих	упитала бих

Питај возача да ли овај аутобус стаје код болнице.

Ask the driver whether this bus stops by the hospital.

Упитаћу рецепционерку до када се служи доручак.

I'll ask the receptionist until what time breakfast is served.

The masculine animate object возача and feminine object рецепционерку show that the person asked is accusative.

Aspect and Register

Питати presents asking as a process, habit, repeated activity, or unbounded act. In neutral contemporary speech, it can also refer to one question when no aspectual contrast matters. Упитати packages the question as one bounded event. It is standard, but everyday speech often prefers plain питати; упитати is especially useful in written or narrative sequencing.

На крају сваког часа ученици питају професорку како да реше последњи задатак.

At the end of every class, the students ask the professor how to solve the last problem.

Зауставио се, упитао пролазника за пут и наставио ка центру.

He stopped, asked a passerby for directions, and continued toward the city center.

In the second sentence, the perfective verb advances a sequence of completed events. Do not assume, however, that one question always requires упитати: Питао сам је где живи is the ordinary conversational way to report a single question.

💡

Use питати as the safe neutral verb. Choose упитати when the bounded asking event itself matters, especially in a sequence or narrative.

The Person Asked Is Accusative

The core frame is питати некога. This differs from communication verbs such as рећи некоме and одговорити некоме, which take a dative addressee.

Питала сам новог колегу где је сала за састанке.

I asked the new colleague where the meeting room was.

Кога можемо да питамо за повраћај новца?

Who can we ask about getting a refund?

Here новог колегу and кога are accusative. The government belongs to the Serbian verb and cannot be predicted from English ask someone.

The broader contrast between plain objects and lexically selected cases is mapped on Verb Government: Overview.

If the person is already known, use an accusative clitic: ме, те, га, је, нас, вас, их.

Јутрос ме је шеф питао зашто извештај још није готов.

This morning the boss asked me why the report still wasn't ready.

The cluster is ме је: object clitic before the exceptional third-person auxiliary је. Full мене would be contrastive: Мене је питао, не тебе.

Four Ways to Express the Question Content

Interrogative clause

Use ко, шта, где, куда, када, како, зашто, колико or another interrogative word. Serbian does not add an equivalent of English if when an interrogative word already introduces the embedded question.

Питали су ме колико дуго радим у овој фирми.

They asked me how long I had been working at this company.

да ли clause

For a yes/no question, use да ли.

Питао ју је да ли жели место поред прозора.

He asked her whether she wanted a seat by the window.

The feminine accusative is ју before auxiliary је, giving ју је. The embedded present жели is natural Serbian; reported questions do not mechanically backshift tense as English often does.

за + accusative

Use питати за некога/нешто to ask about someone, seek information about something, or ask at a place for a person or service.

Позови амбуланту и питај за први слободан термин.

Call the clinic and ask about the first available appointment.

With a person, context matters: питати за Марка may mean ask how Marko is or ask to speak to/find him.

о + locative

Питати некога о нечему frames a topic, especially in interviews, examinations, surveys, and more deliberate questioning.

Новинарка је министра питала о новом предлогу закона.

The journalist asked the minister about the new bill.

This sentence has two dependents: accusative министра is the person questioned; о новом предлогу is the topic.

Double Accusative and нешто

Traditional descriptions summarize the pattern as питати некога нешто: both the person and the information sought can be accusative. It is clearest with pronouns or a short content noun.

Смем ли да вас питам нешто лично?

May I ask you something personal?

Вас and нешто are both accusative, but they fill different roles. For a detailed topic, modern Serbian often prefers за + accusative, о + locative, or an embedded question rather than stacking two heavy noun phrases.

Reflexive питати се Means “Wonder”

With се, the construction normally means “wonder / ask oneself,” not “ask another person.” The content is usually a question clause.

Питам се како су успели да заврше све за један дан.

I wonder how they managed to finish everything in one day.

Here се belongs to the lexical construction and follows the normal clitic rules. The clause has no accusative addressee because the thought stays with the experiencer.

Asking for Information versus Requesting Action

Compare these two frames:

Питао ме је да ли могу да останем дуже.

He asked whether I was able to stay longer. (a question about ability)

Замолио ме је да останем дуже.

He asked me to stay longer. (a request for action)

The difference is not cosmetic. Да ли marks a yes/no information question. Замолити + accusative person + да-clause asks that person to carry out the action. English uses ask in both sentences; Serbian normally changes verbs.

💡

Before translating English ask, decide what response is expected: an answer selects питати; an action or favor selects замолити.

Micro-dialogue

„Извините, могу ли нешто да вас питам?“ — „Наравно.“ — „Да ли воз за Ниш полази са другог перона?“ — „Питајте ипак службеника код улаза; он има најновији распоред.“

‘Excuse me, may I ask you something?’ — ‘Of course.’ — ‘Does the train to Niš leave from platform two?’ — ‘Ask the employee by the entrance anyway; he has the latest schedule.’

The polite opener contains double accusative вас ... нешто. The final imperative again uses an accusative person, службеника.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting the person asked in the dative.

❌ Питала сам конобару када се кухиња затвара.

Incorrect — питати governs an accusative person, not a dative recipient.

✅ Питала сам конобара када се кухиња затвара.

I asked the waiter when the kitchen closes.

2. Using nominative for an animate masculine object.

❌ Питај нови лекар да ли треба да дођеш сутра.

Incorrect — the animate masculine direct object requires accusative новог лекара.

✅ Питај новог лекара да ли треба да дођеш сутра.

Ask the new doctor whether you need to come tomorrow.

3. Copying English clitic position.

❌ Јуче питао ме је директор за рок.

Incorrect — the object and auxiliary clitics belong after the first prosodic unit.

✅ Јуче ме је директор питао за рок.

Yesterday the director asked me about the deadline.

4. Leaving a topic noun in the accusative after о.

❌ Новинарка га је питала о нови уговор.

Incorrect — topic о governs the locative, so нови уговор must become новом уговору.

✅ Новинарка га је питала о новом уговору.

The journalist asked him about the new contract.

Practice 1: Choose the Complement Frame

Use an interrogative clause for unknown information, да ли for a yes/no question, and о + locative for a topic.

Анкетар ме је питао о навикама у јавном превозу.

The survey interviewer asked me about my public-transport habits. Answer: topic frame о + locative.

Питај их где можемо да оставимо кофере.

Ask them where we can leave the suitcases. Answer: accusative addressee их plus interrogative clause.

Practice 2: Information or Request?

Choose питати if the speaker wants an answer and замолити if the speaker wants an action.

Питао сам колегиницу када почиње презентација.

I asked my colleague when the presentation starts. Answer: information.

Замолио сам колегиницу да укључи пројектор.

I asked my colleague to turn on the projector. Answer: requested action.

Key Takeaways

Питати некога takes an accusative person; одговорити некоме will take dative.
Use an interrogative clause or да ли for the information sought.
За + accusative seeks information about a referent; о + locative frames a topic.
Питати се means “wonder.”
Упитати presents one bounded question, but neutral conversation often uses питати even for a single event.
English ask someone to do something normally requires Serbian замолити некога да....

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