Serbian почињати / почети means “begin” or “start.” Imperfective почињати presents an onset as developing, scheduled, or repeated; perfective почети presents one onset as a bounded event. As a phase verb, either member normally introduces an imperfective activity: почети да пише, not почети да напише for “begin writing.”
The verb has three important constructional frames: an activity clause or infinitive, an event as grammatical subject, and a noun complement. Its stem changes across the infinitive, present, and l-participle, so memorizing only почети is not enough.
The aspectual pair has two layers
The phase verb and the activity it introduces make separate aspect choices.
Јован је почео да ради у новој лабораторији прошлог понедељка.
Jovan started working in the new laboratory last Monday.
Perfective почео marks one bounded start. Imperfective ради names the activity entered; it does not claim that the work reached a final result.
Током лета Јован почиње да ради у седам уместо у осам.
During the summer Jovan starts work at seven instead of eight.
Imperfective почиње presents the recurring schedule, while ради remains imperfective. English starts to work does not show either Serbian distinction.
Небо је постепено тамнело и почела је да пада ситна киша.
The sky gradually darkened, and a light rain began to fall.
The onset почела је is bounded; пада supplies the continuing process that begins.
Complete present paradigms
The imperfective stem is почињ-, with Serbian њ. The perfective present uses почн- and has почну in the third-person plural.
| Person | почињати (imperfective) | почети (perfective) |
|---|---|---|
| ја | почињем | почнем |
| ти | почињеш | почнеш |
| он / она / оно | почиње | почне |
| ми | почињемо | почнемо |
| ви | почињете | почнете |
| они / оне / она | почињу | почну |
Imperfective present works for an onset happening now and for schedules:
Предавање управо почиње, па искључите звук на телефонима.
The lecture is starting right now, so silence your phones.
Последња пројекција почиње у пола десет.
The final screening starts at half past nine.
The second example can refer to one scheduled screening; imperfective present does not always mean repetition. Perfective present normally needs a licensing frame such as кад, чим, ако, да or a modal:
Чим почне расправа, водићу детаљне белешке.
As soon as the discussion begins, I will take detailed notes.
Perfective почне marks the future boundary after чим, although its form is present.
The alternations почети — почнем — почео and почињати — почињем — почињао must be learned as principal forms. Ordinary Serbian spelling does not show lexical pitch accent or vowel length, and this reference does not add prosodic marks to normal words.
L-participles, future, conditional, and imperative
| Form | почињати | почети |
|---|---|---|
| l-participle, m./f./n. singular | почињао / почињала / почињало | почео / почела / почело |
| l-participle, m./f./n. plural | почињали / почињале / почињала | почели / почеле / почела |
| Future I, 1st singular | почињаћу | почећу |
| conditional, 1st singular masc./fem. | почињао бих / почињала бих | почео бих / почела бих |
| imperative, 2nd sg. / 1st pl. / 2nd pl. | почињи / почињимо / почињите | почни / почнимо / почните |
The l-participle agrees with the subject:
Радионица је почела у девет, а предавања су почела пола сата касније.
The workshop began at nine, and the lectures began half an hour later.
Feminine singular радионица and neuter plural предавања happen to select the same written form почела; agreement, not invariability, explains the match.
Perfective imperative почни / почните is the ordinary choice for initiating one action:
Почните без мене ако закасним више од десет минута.
Start without me if I am more than ten minutes late.
Imperfective почињи is used when repeated or deliberately gradual starting is relevant, but it is less frequent because a command usually targets one onset.
Verbal complements: да + present and the infinitive
When the person who begins also performs the activity, both да + present and an infinitive are standard.
Милица је почела да чита записник наглас.
Milica began reading the minutes aloud.
Милица је почела читати записник наглас.
Milica began reading the minutes aloud.
The да construction is especially frequent in everyday Serbian; the infinitive remains standard. Both use imperfective чита / читати because beginning selects the internal activity, not its completion.
The subject is normally shared. To name a different actor, give the embedded activity its own finite subject rather than copying an English object-plus-infinitive construction.
Директор је одлучио да запослени почну да користе нови систем у априлу.
The director decided that the employees should start using the new system in April.
Запослени is the subject of почну; the same employees use the system. The clitic or noun inside the complement remains inside its clause:
Почела је да му га објашњава корак по корак.
She began explaining it to him step by step.
After да, dative му precedes accusative га, followed by finite објашњава. The auxiliary је belongs to the matrix perfect and occupies the matrix clause's normal second-position slot after initial почела.
Why the activity complement is imperfective
A phase verb needs an event with internal duration so that its beginning can be selected. Perfective написати packages writing together with its endpoint, while imperfective писати exposes the process into which the subject can enter.
Почели смо да сређујемо архиву, али смо после сат времена направили паузу.
We started organizing the archive, but took a break after an hour.
No claim is made that the archive was fully organized. A result can be stated separately:
Почели смо да сређујемо архиву у понедељак, а завршили смо је тек у петак.
We began organizing the archive on Monday and did not finish it until Friday.
The phase construction uses imperfective сређујемо; perfective завршили supplies the later completion. This complement rule is explained comparatively on the phase verbs page.
Event subjects and impersonal se
An event itself can be the subject. No reflexive particle is required.
Седница је почела без два члана одбора.
The session began without two board members.
Гласање почиње после кратке расправе.
Voting begins after a short discussion.
The verb agrees with седница or гласање. This is intransitive use, not a hidden passive.
Serbian can also use impersonal се when the agent is left unspecified:
С радом се почело у раним јутарњим сатима.
Work began in the early morning hours. (impersonal/formal)
This construction is (formal) and common in administrative or report-like prose. Here се marks an impersonal construction; почети се is not the dictionary form learners should attach to every use.
Noun complements and their government
With an agent subject, почети can take an accusative noun naming the event or undertaking initiated.
Председавајућа је почела седницу кратким обавештењем.
The chair began the session with a brief announcement.
Accusative седницу is the direct object. The means or opening element appears as instrumental кратким обавештењем.
С(а) + instrumental often presents the activity or item one begins with, while од + genitive identifies a starting point in an ordered sequence.
Почнимо с најхитнијим питањем, а детаље ћемо оставити за крај.
Let us start with the most urgent question and leave the details until the end.
Курс почиње од основа и постепено уводи стручну терминологију.
The course starts from the basics and gradually introduces technical terminology.
Do not collapse these frames: почети седницу directly initiates the session; почети са седницом presents the session as the activity undertaken or, in context, as the first item; почети од прве тачке unambiguously identifies the point from which an ordered progression begins.
Micro-dialogue
— Кад почиње филм? — У осам, али су већ почели да пуштају рекламе.
— When does the film start? — At eight, but they have already started showing advertisements.
Scheduled imperfective почиње asks for the published start time. Perfective почели су reports an onset already reached; imperfective пуштају names the ongoing/repeated activity.
Common Mistakes
Regularizing the perfective present
❌ Чим почејем да говорим, укључи штоперицу.
Incorrect — the perfective present is ‘почнем’, not ‘почејем’.
✅ Чим почнем да говорим, укључи штоперицу.
As soon as I begin speaking, start the stopwatch.
Putting a perfective result inside the phase frame
❌ Почела је да прочита рукопис, али је стала после две стране.
Incorrect for beginning the reading activity — use imperfective ‘чита’.
✅ Почела је да чита рукопис, али је стала после две стране.
She began reading the manuscript but stopped after two pages.
Treating се as part of every form
❌ Кад се концерт почне, угасите телефоне.
Incorrect — an event subject uses intransitive ‘почети’ without the reflexive particle ‘се’.
✅ Кад концерт почне, угасите телефоне.
When the concert begins, silence your phones.
Confusing direct object and starting point
❌ Почели смо прву лекцију и наставили редом.
Incorrect for the intended meaning ‘We started from the first lesson’ — the bare accusative says that we initiated lesson one.
✅ Почели смо од прве лекције и наставили редом.
We started from the first lesson and continued in order.
Practice
Task 1: Build the principal forms
Give the first-person singular, third-person plural, feminine l-participle, Future I first-person singular, and second-person singular imperative of почињати and почети. Use почнем in a future-oriented clause without changing it into Future I.
Task 2: Choose the constructional frame
Write four sentences: почети да + imperfective present, почети + imperfective infinitive, почети + accusative event noun, and почети од + genitive starting point. In one sentence, add two object clitics inside the да clause in the correct order.
Key Takeaways
- Почињати presents a developing, scheduled, or repeated onset; почети presents one bounded onset.
- Memorize почињем / почињу and почнем / почну, plus почињао / почео and почињи / почни.
- A verbal phase complement is normally imperfective, whether expressed by да + present or an infinitive.
- The verb can be intransitive with an event subject, transitive with an accusative event noun, or impersonal with се in formal reporting.
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Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- Phase Verbs: početi, prestati, nastavitiB2 — Begin, stop, continue — and their aspect/complement rules.
- da + present vs the InfinitiveB1 — When to use the infinitive and when da + present.
- The InfinitiveA1 — The -ti/-ci citation form and its uses.
- What the Imperfective MeansB1 — Process, repetition, duration, and general statements.
- What the Perfective MeansB1 — Completion, result, single bounded events, and the no-present rule.
- Clitics in da-ClausesB1 — A focused guide to clitics in da-clauses in Serbian.