pokazivati / pokazati (to show) | Serbian Grammar

Показивати — показати is the core pair for showing, demonstrating, pointing out, or revealing. The content shown is accusative, while the person who receives the demonstration is dative: показати некоме нешто. This two-object frame makes case endings and clitic order more important than English word order.

Principal forms and two stem changes

The imperfective infinitive has -ива-, but its present and imperative use -уј-: показивати — показујем — показуј. Perfective показати has ж in the present and imperative: покажем — покажи, but з in the infinitive and l-participle.

Form	Imperfective показивати	Perfective показати
present	показујем, показујеш, показује, показујемо, показујете, показују	покажем, покажеш, покаже, покажемо, покажете, покажу
l-participle	показивао, показивала, показивали	показао, показала, показали
imperative	показуј, показујмо, показујте	покажи, покажимо, покажите
Future I	показиваћу	показаћу

Водич нам је успут показивао старе фотографије града.

Along the way, the guide was showing us old photographs of the city.

На крају обиласка нам је показао оригинални рукопис.

At the end of the tour, he showed us the original manuscript.

Imperfective показивао opens a continuing series of demonstrations. Perfective показао presents one completed act of showing.

💡

Drill the stems in two chains: показивати — показујем — показивао and показати — покажем — показао.

The double-object frame

In показати некоме нешто, the recipient is dative and the content is accusative. Either object may be omitted if context supplies it.

Можете ли да покажете новом колеги план зграде?

Can you show the new colleague the building plan? (formal or plural addressee)

Показаћу ти фотографије кад се вратим с пута.

I’ll show you the photographs when I return from the trip.

English places the new colleague directly after show, but Serbian marks that person with dative новом колеги. The plan or photographs remain accusative. This follows the broader dative recipient pattern.

When both objects are pronouns, the dative clitic comes before the accusative clitic.

Ако нађеш рачун, покажи ми га пре него што платиш.

If you find the bill, show it to me before you pay.

Фотографије су већ биле на телефону, па сам му их одмах показала.

The photographs were already on my phone, so I showed them to him immediately. (female speaker)

The cluster сам му их contains the auxiliary, dative recipient, and accusative content in that order. When two third-person pronouns have unclear antecedents, speakers often retain one noun for clarity.

Showing how, where, and that

Instead of a noun denoting content, показати can introduce an embedded question with како, где, куда or a declarative да-clause.

Техничар ми је показао како да направим резервну копију.

The technician showed me how to make a backup.

Покажите нам где треба да потпишемо образац.

Show us where we need to sign the form. (formal or plural addressee)

Резултати су показали да нови поступак троши мање енергије.

The results showed that the new procedure uses less energy.

With an instruction, како да + present is natural. A да-clause after an inanimate subject often means “demonstrate that,” as in research, evidence, or results. Доказати means prove and is stronger: evidence can показати a tendency without conclusively доказати a claim.

Pointing something out

Use показати на + accusative for pointing toward a person, object, or place. The means can be instrumental: прстом, руком, курсором.

Сведок је прстом показао на врата кроз која је човек изашао.

The witness pointed to the door through which the man left.

Without на, a person in accusative is normally the content being shown, not the recipient: показати госта публици “show/present the guest to the audience.” For ordinary “show the guest something,” use dative госту.

Reflexive показати се

Показати се can mean prove or turn out to have a quality, appear, or show oneself. It is a separate reflexive lexeme, not the ordinary two-object construction.

Нови систем се показао као поуздан и лак за одржавање.

The new system proved to be reliable and easy to maintain.

Млада лекарка се показала одлично у хитној ситуацији.

The young doctor performed excellently in the emergency.

In third-person singular perfect forms with се, auxiliary је is omitted: систем се показао, лекарка се показала. Without се, retain it: лекарка је показала снимак.

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Compare показала је снимак “she showed the scan” with показала се одлично “she performed/proved herself excellent.” The clitic changes both the meaning and the perfect-tense cluster.

Commands and aspect

Perfective покажи/покажите requests one complete demonstration. Imperfective показуј/показујте suits continuing, repeated, or step-by-step showing.

Показуј ми сваки корак полако, немој да журиш.

Keep showing me every step slowly; don’t rush.

Micro-dialogue

— Можеш ли да ми покажеш где је сала за састанке? — Наравно, показаћу ти на плану.

— Can you show me where the meeting room is? — Of course, I’ll show you on the plan.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Mark both participants

Say that Ana showed the visitors the new laboratory.

Ана је посетиоцима показала нову лабораторију.

Ana showed the visitors the new laboratory.

Task 2: Replace both objects with clitics

Replace “to me” and “the document” after a perfect auxiliary.

Јуче си ми га показао.

You showed it to me yesterday. (male addressee)

Common Mistakes

Making the recipient accusative

❌ Покажи мене нову апликацију.

Incorrect—the person receiving the demonstration is dative: ми or мени.

✅ Покажи ми нову апликацију.

Show me the new app.

Keeping -ива- in the present

❌ Наставник нам показива како се решава задатак.

Incorrect—the present of показивати uses -уј-: показује.

✅ Наставник нам показује како се решава задатак.

The teacher is showing us how to solve the problem.

Inventing a regular perfective present

❌ Показаћу ти ако ми покажаш где је датотека.

Incorrect—the present of показати is покажем/покажеш, not покажам/покажаш.

✅ Показаћу ти ако ми покажеш где је датотека.

I’ll show you if you show me where the file is.

Misordering two object clitics

❌ Показао сам га им јуче.

Incorrect—the dative clitic им must precede the accusative clitic га.

✅ Показао сам им га јуче.

I showed it to them yesterday. (male speaker)

Key Takeaways

Learn показујем beside покажем and показивао beside показао.
The recipient is dative; the content shown is accusative.
In a two-pronoun cluster, dative precedes accusative: покажи ми га.
Показати се “prove/turn out” is a separate reflexive lexeme and omits third-person је beside се.

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