pokušavati / pokušati (to try/attempt) | Serbian Grammar

Покушавати / покушати describes making an attempt; it says nothing by itself about whether the attempt succeeds. That lack of an entailed result is the verb's central meaning and distinguishes it from успети “manage, succeed.” Serbian also divides English try among different verbs, so покушати cannot replace English try in every context.

Repeated effort and one attempt

Imperfective покушавати presents sustained or repeated attempts. Perfective покушати presents one bounded attempt.

Већ пола сата покушавам да добијем корисничку подршку.

I've been trying to reach customer support for half an hour.

Покушао сам да поново покренем рутер, али веза и даље не ради.

I tried restarting the router, but the connection still doesn't work.

The first speaker is inside a continuing series of efforts. The second packages restarting the router as one attempt; али makes explicit that it did not solve the problem.

💡

Покушати reports an attempt, not a successful completion. Add и успети if the result matters: Покушала је и успела “She tried and succeeded.”

Forms

Both verbs are regular but use different present stems, покушава- and покуша-.

Person	покушавати (impf.)	покушати (pf.)
ја	покушавам	покушам
ти	покушаваш	покушаш
он / она / оно	покушава	покуша
ми	покушавамо	покушамо
ви	покушавате	покушате
они / оне / она	покушавају	покушају

The complete l-participles are покушавао, покушавала, покушавало; покушавали, покушавале, покушавала and покушао, покушала, покушало; покушали, покушале, покушала. The imperatives are покушавај, покушавајмо, покушавајте and very common покушај, покушајмо, покушајте. Future I is покушаваћу, покушаваћеш, покушаваће, покушаваћемо, покушаваћете, покушаваће and покушаћу, покушаћеш, покушаће, покушаћемо, покушаћете, покушаће.

Покушај да окренеш кључ док благо повлачиш врата ка себи.

Try turning the key while gently pulling the door toward you.

Ако поново покушају да наплате исту услугу, позваћемо банку.

If they try to charge for the same service again, we will call the bank.

Perfective present покушају is normal in an ако clause with future reference. An attempt in progress takes покушавају.

The main complement: да + present

Everyday Serbian most often uses покушати да + present. The embedded verb agrees with the person understood to perform it.

Покушаћемо да вам одговоримо до краја радног дана.

We will try to reply to you by the end of the business day.

Object and dative clitics licensed by the embedded verb remain after да:

Можеш ли да покушаш да ми га објасниш без стручних израза?

Can you try to explain it to me without technical terms?

The inner cluster ми га belongs to објасниш. It does not move next to покушаш.

A same-subject infinitive is also grammatical standard Serbian and appears especially in concise prose:

Покушали су решити проблем без прекида производње.

They tried to solve the problem without stopping production.

Many Ekavian speakers would more readily say покушали су да реше in ordinary conversation. Do not “correct” either construction out of the language; learn their distribution through да and infinitive complements.

Trying a method: са + instrumental

When someone suggests an alternative method, tool, or option, покушати са + instrumental can stand without a full action clause.

Ако лозинка не ради, покушај са адресом коју користиш за пријаву.

If the password doesn't work, try the address you use to sign in.

This means “make an attempt using X.” It is different from bare instrumental means and from a direct object naming an attempted action.

Direct accusative objects occur in a limited set of collocations, such as покушати немогуће “attempt the impossible.” The related noun is покушај “attempt.” The verb is not generally transitive with foods, clothes, or products.

English “try” is not always покушати

For sampling food or seeing whether you like something, use пробати. For testing a device, feature, or method through use, пробати or испробати is usually natural.

Пробај супу пре него што додаш још соли.

Try the soup before you add more salt.

На сајму смо испробали нови електрични бицикл.

At the fair, we tried out the new electric bicycle.

Покушати супу would mean attempting the soup as a task and sounds wrong in the ordinary tasting sense. English makes these meanings look like one verb; Serbian lexicalizes them separately.

Negation and success

Negating покушати denies the attempt itself; negating успети says the attempt did not reach the result.

Нисам ни покушала да померим ормар сама јер је претежак.

I didn't even try to move the wardrobe by myself because it is too heavy.

Покушали смо да померимо ормар, али нисмо успели.

We tried to move the wardrobe, but we didn't manage to.

This contrast is essential when translating English couldn't: нисам могао gives inability or impossibility, нисам успео gives failure to attain a result, and нисам покушао says no attempt was made.

💡

Keep the event chain explicit: покушати starts an attempt, while успети evaluates its outcome. Either can be true without the other.

Micro-dialogue

— Јеси ли покушала да закажеш преглед преко апликације? — Јесам, али нисам успела, па ћу покушати телефоном.

— Did you try booking the appointment through the app? — I did, but I didn't manage to, so I'll try by phone.

The dialogue separates attempt, failed result, and a new method. Final телефоном is instrumental means with an understood action, not the са + instrumental alternative frame.

Common Mistakes

Using покушати for tasting

❌ Покушај овај колач док је још топао.

Incorrect in the tasting sense — use пробати for sampling food.

✅ Пробај овај колач док је још топао.

Try this cake while it is still warm.

Treating one attempt as an ongoing process

❌ Једном сам покушавао да променим гуму, па сам позвао помоћ.

Mismatched viewpoint — једном and the bounded sequence call for perfective покушао.

✅ Једном сам покушао да променим гуму, па сам позвао помоћ.

I once tried to change a tire, then I called for help.

Adding reflexive се

❌ Покушаћу се да стигнем пре почетка филма.

Incorrect — покушати is not reflexive in the meaning ‘try’.

✅ Покушаћу да стигнем пре почетка филма.

I'll try to arrive before the movie starts.

Assuming an attempt guarantees success

❌ Пошто је покушала, сигурно је завршила задатак.

Incorrect inference — покушала confirms an attempt, not completion.

✅ Покушала је, али још не знамо да ли је завршила задатак.

She tried, but we still don't know whether she finished the task.

Practice

Task 1: Attempt or result?

Write a three-sentence sequence containing покушавати for repeated effort, покушати for one attempt, and успети for its outcome. Then negate the outcome without negating the attempt.

Task 2: Translate three kinds of “try”

Translate: “try to call again,” “try the soup,” and “try out the new feature.” Choose among покушати, пробати, and испробати, and explain the semantic difference.

Key Takeaways

Покушавати presents repeated or ongoing attempts; покушати presents one bounded attempt.
The main complement is да + present; a same-subject infinitive is also standard.
An attempt does not entail success. Use успети to state that the result was attained.
Food sampling and product testing normally use пробати / испробати, not покушати.

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