prodavati / prodati (to sell) | Serbian Grammar

Продавати — продати is the central Serbian pair for selling goods, property, services, or rights. Imperfective продавати presents an ongoing business, repeated sales, or a sale in progress; perfective продати presents one transaction as completed. A usable sentence also tracks what is sold in the accusative, who buys it in the dative, and the price with за + accusative or a price expression with по.

Principal forms

Form	продавати (imperfective)	продати (perfective)
present	продајем, продајеш, продаје, продајемо, продајете, продају	продам, продаш, прода, продамо, продате, продају
l-participle	продавао / продавала	продао / продала
imperative	продаји, продајимо, продајите	продај, продајмо, продајте
future, 1st singular	продаваћу	продаћу

The pair is less transparent than its spelling suggests. The imperfective present is продајем, but the perfective is продам. Both have written third-person plural продају, but their standard imperatives differ: imperfective продаји, продајимо, продајите versus perfective продај, продајмо, продајте. Do not build nonstandard продавај from the infinitive. In ordinary requests for one completed sale, the perfective продај is the usual choice. In a prohibition, немој да продајеш marks an ongoing or general practice, while немој да продаш warns against one bounded sale.

Моји родитељи већ двадесет година продају мед на градској пијаци.

My parents have been selling honey at the city market for twenty years.

Продала сам стари бицикл за два дана и купила половни скутер.

I sold the old bicycle in two days and bought a second-hand scooter. (female speaker)

The item sold is accusative

The goods, property, or rights transferred are a direct accusative object: продати ауто, кућу, карту, производ, удео. Masculine animate nouns follow the animate accusative when a person is treated as the object, although literal sales of people belong mainly to historical or criminal contexts.

Власници продају стан са намештајем, али задржавају уметничке слике.

The owners are selling the flat furnished, but they are keeping the paintings.

Компанија је продала свој мањински удео страном инвеститору.

The company sold its minority stake to a foreign investor.

In the second example, свој мањински удео is accusative and страном инвеститору is the dative buyer.

Buyer in the dative, price with за

A named buyer normally appears in the dative: продати нешто некоме. The agreed amount is commonly за + accusative. English uses to and for; Serbian marks the participant and the price differently.

Комшији смо продали косилицу за сто педесет евра.

We sold the lawn mower to our neighbor for one hundred and fifty euros.

Нећу ти продати лаптоп по тој цени, али можемо да се договоримо.

I won't sell you the laptop at that price, but we can negotiate.

По тој цени evaluates the price level or terms; за сто педесет евра states the transaction amount. Од + genitive may specify a price measure in formal noun phrases: по цени од сто педесет евра means at a price of 150 euros.

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Store the whole transfer frame: неко продаје нешто некоме за одређену суму. Subject = seller, accusative = item, dative = buyer, за-phrase = price.

The buyer construction follows the general recipient-dative pattern, even though the recipient pays rather than receives a gift.

Aspect: business, process, or completed transaction

Use продавати for what a shop carries, what a person does professionally, repeated transactions, or an attempted sale viewed as a process. Use продати when the change of ownership is achieved.

Ова књижара продаје и половне уџбенике, али их не откупљује током лета.

This bookshop also sells used textbooks, but it doesn't buy them from customers during the summer.

Месецима је продавао кућу, али је на крају одустао од продаје.

He spent months trying to sell the house, but eventually gave up on the sale.

The imperfective does not guarantee success. The sentence can describe an extended attempt without a completed transaction. Perfective продати asserts that the sale boundary was reached.

Кад продамо последња два примерка, затворићемо штанд.

When we sell the last two copies, we'll close the stand.

Perfective present продамо is future-oriented after кад. It does not describe a sale unfolding right now.

Продавати се: for sale, market performance, and passive focus

With се, the product becomes the grammatical subject and the seller can remain unmentioned. This is especially common in advertisements and statements about market performance.

Кућа се продаје директно од власника, без посредничке провизије.

The house is for sale directly from the owner, with no agent's commission.

Ново издање се одлично продаје и већ се припрема други тираж.

The new edition is selling very well, and a second print run is already being prepared.

Кућа се продаје can mean that the house is being offered for sale, not that a transaction is occurring at this instant. In издање се продаје, the construction describes commercial performance. The subject controls agreement: књиге се продају, not књиге се продаје.

Reflexive продати се can also mean compromise one's principles for gain. This is negative and usually (informal) or journalistic, so it should not be confused with an ordinary passive advertisement.

Критичари су га оптужили да се продао за привилегије.

Critics accused him of selling out for privileges. (informal/journalistic)

Clitics and information structure

The buyer uses a dative clitic and the item an accusative clitic. Dative comes before accusative inside the second-position cluster.

Марко је тражио мој фото-апарат, али му га нисам продала.

Marko wanted my camera, but I didn't sell it to him. (female speaker)

In му га нисам, му is the buyer and га the camera. A full stressed buyer can be contrasted: Њему га нисам продала, него његовој сестри.

The imperfective and perfective futures fuse because both infinitives end in -ти: продаваћу, продаћу.

Распродавати — распродати means sell off or sell out an entire stock. Препродавати — препродати means resell, often at a profit. Откупљивати — откупити views the transaction from an organized buyer who purchases from holders or producers.

Организатори су распродали све карте за мање од сат времена.

The organizers sold out all the tickets in less than an hour.

These prefixes add lexical meaning; they do not merely create alternative perfective forms of продавати.

English sell someone on an idea also needs care. Neutral Serbian normally says убедити некога у нешто. Продати некоме причу is (informal) and often skeptical: persuade someone to believe a dubious story.

Commands and a micro-dialogue

Bare perfective продај/продајте normally directs one completed sale. The less frequent imperfective imperative is formally distinct: продаји/продајите. A немој да clause makes the contrast especially natural: imperfective немој да продајеш can prohibit an activity or repeated practice; perfective немој да продаш warns against one particular sale.

Немој да продаш грамофон пре него што проверимо колико заиста вреди.

Don't sell the record player before we check what it's really worth.

„Да ли још продајете онај радни сто?“ — „Да, али га не продајемо испод сто евра.“ — „У реду, купићу га ако можете да га доставите.“

‘Are you still selling that desk?’ — ‘Yes, but we're not selling it for less than one hundred euros.’ — ‘All right, I'll buy it if you can deliver it.’

The dialogue keeps seller, item, and price distinct; repeated га refers to masculine сто.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Build the transaction frame

Translate Mila sold her old phone to a colleague for eighty euros. Mark the item accusative, the buyer dative, and the price with за + accusative. Then replace both buyer and item with clitics.

Task 2: Change aspect and voice

Describe a gallery that regularly sells prints with продавати, one print that it sold yesterday with продати, and a print currently advertised for sale with продавати се.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ова радња продава локалне сиреве.

Incorrect present formation — imperfective продавати has продаје, not продава.

✅ Ова радња продаје локалне сиреве.

This shop sells local cheeses.

❌ Продали смо стари ауто новог возача.

Incorrect buyer case — the buyer must be dative, not accusative.

✅ Продали смо стари ауто новом возачу.

We sold the old car to a new driver.

❌ Продао је кућу за купцу.

Incorrect transfer frame — the buyer is dative without за; за introduces the price.

✅ Продао је кућу купцу за договорену суму.

He sold the house to the buyer for the agreed amount.

❌ Те књиге се добро продаје на сајму.

Incorrect agreement — plural књиге requires продају.

✅ Те књиге се добро продају на сајму.

Those books sell well at the fair.

❌ Јуче сам продавао бицикл за сат времена и одмах предао кључ.

Wrong viewpoint for one completed sale — use perfective продао.

✅ Јуче сам продао бицикл за сат времена и одмах предао кључ.

Yesterday I sold the bicycle within an hour and immediately handed over the key. (male speaker)

Key Takeaways

Memorize продавати — продајем — продаји and продати — продам — продај — продао/продала; продавај is not the standard imperative.
The item is accusative, the buyer dative, and the transaction amount normally за + accusative.
Imperfective продавати can describe an attempt without guaranteeing a sale; продати asserts completed transfer.
Кућа се продаје advertises availability, while књига се добро продаје describes market performance.
Related распродати, препродати, and откупити add lexical meaning rather than simply replacing the basic pair.

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