piti (to drink) | Serbian Grammar

Пити means “drink” and is an imperfective verb: it readily describes drinking in progress, a habit, or drinking as an activity. Its present stem is пиј-, which the short infinitive does not reveal. For one bounded drink or a consumed amount, the central perfective verb is попити.

Principal Forms and the Core Aspect Pair

Form	пити (imperfective)	попити (perfective)
present	пијем, пијеш, пије, пијемо, пијете, пију	попијем, попијеш, попије, попијемо, попијете, попију
l-participle (m./f./n. sg.; m./f./n. pl.)	пио, пила, пило; пили, пиле, пила	попио, попила, попило; попили, попиле, попила
imperative	пиј, пијмо, пијте	попиј, попијмо, попијте
Future I, 1st singular	пићу	попићу

The crucial set is пити — пијем — пију — пио/пила. Do not invent пим from the infinitive or пијео from the present. Prefixing по- preserves the пиј- present stem but gives a bounded verb: попити — попијем.

The present belongs with the patterns compared on the e-class present page, despite the infinitive ending in -ити.

Пијем чај док чекам да почне састанак.

I’m drinking tea while I wait for the meeting to start.

Попићу чај до краја, па можемо да кренемо.

I’ll finish my tea, and then we can leave.

The first speaker is inside the activity. The second promises that the drink will be consumed as a bounded whole. English often uses drink in both cases; Serbian aspect makes the viewpoint explicit.

💡

Choose пити for activity, habit, or an amount with no asserted endpoint. Choose попити when one drink or quantity is taken and completed.

What Is Drunk: Accusative Without a Preposition

The beverage is normally a direct accusative object: пити воду, кафу, чај, сок. Serbian needs no equivalent of English of after the verb.

Ујутру пијемо јаку кафу, а после ручка обично наручимо чај.

In the morning we drink strong coffee, and after lunch we usually order tea.

Дете већ само пије воду из мале чаше.

The child already drinks water from a small glass by itself.

A measure phrase can become the direct object, with the beverage in the genitive: попити чашу воде, шољу чаја, гутљај сока. Grammatically, the consumed quantity is foregrounded.

Попила је две чаше воде чим је завршила тренинг.

She drank two glasses of water as soon as she finished training.

The container or source uses из + genitive: из чаше, из флаше, са чесме. На сламку means “through a straw.” These phrases describe how or where the liquid comes from; they do not replace the accusative beverage.

Не пиј воду из те флаше; стоји отворена од јуче.

Don’t drink water from that bottle; it has been open since yesterday.

Habit, Current Activity, and One Completed Drink

Imperfective пити is natural with сваког дана, обично, тренутно, сатима. Perfective попити appears with a completed quantity, one occasion, or a future boundary after words such as кад and ако.

На послу обично пијем воду, а кафу остављам за паузу.

At work I usually drink water and save coffee for my break.

Кад попијеш лек, одмори се бар пола сата.

When you take the medicine, rest for at least half an hour.

Serbian commonly says попити лек for taking medicine by mouth, even when the medicine is a tablet. The construction presents one prescribed dose as taken; it does not require a liquid object.

Да ли си попио јутарњу таблету или је још на столу?

Did you take your morning tablet, or is it still on the table? (addressed to a man)

Perfective present попијеш is future-oriented after кад. It does not describe drinking underway at speech time. For the ongoing event, use пијеш.

Alcohol Meanings and Register

With an explicit object, the meaning is literal: пити пиво, вино, ракију. Without an object, пити can mean “drink alcohol habitually,” depending on context.

Не пијем, али ћу вечерас наздравити чашом сока.

I don’t drink alcohol, but tonight I’ll make a toast with a glass of juice.

Напити се is a separate perfective reflexive verb. Without a beverage phrase it often means “get drunk”; with genitive, it can mean drink one’s fill: напити се воде. Do not attach се to ordinary пити mechanically.

На слави је попио једну чашу вина, али се није напио.

At the family celebration he drank one glass of wine but did not get drunk.

Very casual Serbian has numerous slang verbs for drinking alcohol. They are not neutral synonyms for пити and should be treated as (informal) or (vulgar) according to the individual word, not blended into standard usage.

In овде се пије кафа, се forms an impersonal or passive-like construction: “people drink coffee here / coffee is drunk here.” It does not turn пити into a reflexive action.

После ручка се код нас пије кафа и дуго разговара.

At our place, people drink coffee and talk for a long time after lunch.

The singular verb is natural with an uncounted or singular object such as кафа. The construction suppresses the drinkers because the custom matters more than who follows it.

Object Clitics and Word Order

An already known beverage can be replaced by an accusative clitic. Its gender and number follow the omitted noun: кафа → је, сок → га, лекови → их.

Кафа се охладила, али сам је ипак попила.

The coffee got cold, but I drank it anyway. (female speaker)

Ове капи су горке, па их дете пије са мало сока.

These drops are bitter, so the child takes them with a little juice.

In сам је попила, auxiliary сам precedes accusative је in the early clitic cluster. The participle попила agrees with the female subject, not with feminine кафа by coincidence; a male speaker would say попио сам је.

Prefixes add lexical meaning, not merely completion:

Verb	Useful meaning
попити	drink one bounded drink or amount
испити	drink up/drain completely; often emphatic or (literary)
напити се	drink one’s fill; commonly get drunk without a complement
пропити се	take to habitual heavy drinking; strongly negative

These are a lexical network, not four interchangeable perfectives. For an ordinary coffee, glass of water, or medicine dose, попити is the safe bounded partner.

Micro-dialogue

„Шта пијеш?“ — „Лимунаду без шећера.“ — „Хоћеш ли попити и кафу пре поласка?“ — „Нећу, већ сам попила две данас.“

‘What are you drinking?’ — ‘Sugar-free lemonade.’ — ‘Will you have a coffee before we leave too?’ — ‘No, I’ve already had two today.’ (female speaker in the final answer)

The dialogue contrasts an activity underway (пијеш) with one proposed bounded drink (попити) and a counted completed total (попила).

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Activity or completed quantity?

Choose пити or попити for a daily water habit, a coffee being consumed now, one tablet after lunch, and two completed glasses of juice. State what endpoint the perfective examples assert.

Task 2: Build the whole frame

Give the first-person and third-person plural present, masculine and feminine l-participles, and singular imperative of пити. Then replace кафу with its accusative clitic in a perfect sentence.

Common Mistakes

❌ У паузи пим минералну воду.

Incorrect — пити has the present stem пиј-, so the first-person form is пијем.

✅ У паузи пијем минералну воду са лимуном.

During my break, I drink sparkling water with lemon.

❌ Јуче сам пијео чај од ђумбира.

Incorrect — the masculine l-participle is пио, not пијео.

✅ Јуче сам пио чај од ђумбира јер ме је болело грло.

Yesterday I drank ginger tea because my throat hurt. (male speaker)

❌ Сачекај тренутак, сада попијем кафу.

Incorrect for an event currently in progress — use imperfective пијем.

✅ Сачекај тренутак, сада пијем кафу.

Wait a moment; I’m drinking coffee now.

❌ Сваког јутра пијем од велике плаве шоље.

Incorrect source frame — a container takes из + genitive, not од.

✅ Сваког јутра пијем из велике плаве шоље.

Every morning I drink from a large blue mug.

Key Takeaways

Learn пити — пијем — пију — пио/пила, not just the infinitive.
Пити presents activity or habit; попити presents one consumed drink, dose, or quantity.
The beverage is normally accusative; its source or container uses из + genitive.
Bare пити can imply alcohol in context, while reflexive напити се often means “get drunk.”
Object clitics retain normal second-position order: сам је попила, пијем га.

Now practice Serbian

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Serbian →