Serbian веровати covers believe, trust, and have faith, but its complement changes with the intended relationship. Веровати некоме/нечему takes dative for a credible person, source, or claim; веровати у некога/нешто takes у + accusative for faith or confidence; веровати да... introduces a proposition. A limited accusative content pattern also appears in expressions such as веровати некоме сваку реч.
Principal forms and aspect
| Form | веровати (imperfective) | поверовати (perfective) |
|---|---|---|
| present | верујем, верујеш, верује, верујемо, верујете, верују | поверујем, поверујеш, поверује, поверујемо, поверујете, поверују |
| l-participle | веровао / веровала | поверовао / поверовала |
| imperative | веруј, верујмо, верујте | поверуј, поверујмо, поверујте |
| future, 1st singular | вероваћу | повероваћу |
The infinitive веровати has the present stem веруј-. The third-person plural is верују, and the masculine l-participle is веровао. Ijekavian Serbian has вјеровати — вјерујем; this page uses the Ekavian baseline consistently.
Верујем ти јер си ми увек говорила истину.
I believe you because you have always told me the truth. (female addressee)
У почетку нисам поверовао његовом објашњењу.
At first I didn't believe his explanation. (male speaker)
Imperfective веровати presents a belief or trust as holding, recurring, or backgrounded. Perfective поверовати marks entering the belief or accepting something as true on one occasion. It does not merely mean “finish believing.”
Dative: believe or trust a source
A person, institution, testimony, story, or signal treated as credible commonly appears in the dative.
Не верујем том огласу јер не наводи адресу фирме.
I don't trust that advertisement because it gives no company address.
Судија није поверовао сведокињи без додатних доказа.
The judge did not believe the female witness without further evidence.
With pronouns, use dative clitics ми, ти, му, јој, нам, вам, им in neutral position.
Веруј ми, овај пут сам пажљиво проверио све бројеве.
Believe me, this time I carefully checked all the figures. (male speaker)
English believe him looks like a direct object, but Serbian says веровати му. A full form such as њему adds contrast: Њему верујем, а његовом брату не.
This government belongs to the verb rather than to a broad rule about people; compare other patterns in verbs that govern particular cases.
У + accusative: faith or confidence
Веровати у presents a person, ability, institution, value, or existence as the object of faith or confidence. The preposition requires accusative.
Верујем у тебе и знам да можеш да завршиш овај пројекат.
I believe in you, and I know you can finish this project.
Она верује у снагу мирног разговора.
She believes in the power of calm conversation.
The contrast with bare dative is meaningful:
Верујем Ани, али још не верујем у њен план.
I believe Ana, but I don't yet have faith in her plan.
Ани says Ana is a credible source. У њен план says the speaker lacks confidence in the plan's value or success. With personal pronouns, compare верујем му “I believe/trust him” and верујем у њега “I believe in him.”
The reflexive equivalent of “believe in yourself” is веровати у себе, with the full accusative reflexive after у.
Мораш више да верујеш у себе кад говориш пред публиком.
You need to believe in yourself more when speaking in public.
Да + finite clause: believe that something is true
A proposition normally follows да with a finite verb. Serbian has no special subjunctive form here.
Верујем да ће резултати бити објављени до петка.
I believe that the results will be published by Friday.
Не верујемо да је квар настао због корисничке грешке.
We don't believe that the fault was caused by user error.
English can say I believe him to be honest. Serbian normally restructures this as верујем да је поштен or, if the evidence leads to a considered judgment, сматрам га поштеним. Do not put an accusative person directly before a Serbian infinitive.
Верујем да је Марко искрен, иако се не слажем с њим.
I believe Marko is sincere, although I disagree with him.
In negative clauses, не верујем да... is natural where English says “I don't believe...” The embedded clause remains finite and does not change mood mechanically.
Accusative content: сваку реч, ни реч
Serbian also permits a bare accusative for a bounded piece or quantity of content, especially сваку реч, ниједну реч, ни реч. A dative source may occur beside it.
Верујем ти сваку реч, али не знам како ћемо то доказати.
I believe every word you say, but I don't know how we'll prove it.
Here ти is the dative source, while сваку реч is the accusative content believed. This pattern does not turn the person into an accusative: верујем тебе remains wrong for neutral “I believe you.” With a story or report as source, dative is productive: верујем тој причи, не верујем извештају.
Aspectual meaning and derived relatives
Use веровати for a sustained worldview, continuing trust, or repeated acceptance. Use поверовати when someone comes to believe or accepts a claim at a relevant moment.
Као дете је веровала да се све неправде брзо исправе.
As a child she believed that every injustice was quickly put right.
Поверовао је лажној поруци и отворио сумњиви линк.
He believed the fake message and opened a suspicious link.
Уверити некога means convince someone; reflexive уверити се у + accusative or уверити се да... means ascertain or become convinced through checking. These are related but have a different participant structure.
Пре уплате сам се уверила да је број рачуна тачан.
Before paying, I made sure that the account number was correct. (female speaker)
Do not replace every поверовати with уверити се: the latter foregrounds confirmation or evidence, while поверовати can occur even when the belief is mistaken.
Clitics and impersonal верује се
In the perfect, dative clitics follow normal cluster order: сам му веровала, but ми је поверовао.
Нисам јој веровао док ми није показала оригинални документ.
I didn't believe her until she showed me the original document. (male speaker)
На крају ми је поверовао и повукао приговор.
In the end he believed me and withdrew the objection.
Reflexive себи is a stressed dative in “trust oneself”; ordinary personal веровати has no empty се. By contrast, верује се да... is a genuine impersonal construction meaning “it is believed that,” frequent in formal, academic, and journalistic prose.
Верује се да је рукопис настао почетком осамнаестог века.
The manuscript is believed to have originated at the beginning of the eighteenth century. (formal/academic)
There is no expressed believer in this construction. This се cannot simply be added to ја верујем.
Micro-dialogue
„Верујеш ли Милошу?“ — „Верујем му да је послао пријаву, али не верујем у његов план за финансирање.“ — „Ја му нисам поверовала ни реч.“
‘Do you believe Miloš?’ — ‘I believe that he submitted the application, but I don't have faith in his funding plan.’ — ‘I didn't believe a word he said.’ (female speaker in the last turn)
The dialogue contrasts dative source Милошу/му, propositional content, у + accusative confidence, and accusative quantity ни реч.
Practice Tasks
Task 1: Choose the frame
Translate “I believe Ana,” “I believe in Ana,” and “I believe that Ana is ready.” Use dative, у + accusative, and a да-clause, then explain the meaning shift.
Task 2: Change aspect and clitics
Describe trusting a colleague for years with веровати, then accepting one surprising claim with поверовати. Replace the colleague with the correct dative clitic in both sentences.
Common Mistakes
❌ Не верујем њега кад обећава брзу зараду.
Incorrect — a person treated as a source takes dative, not accusative.
✅ Не верујем му кад обећава брзу зараду.
I don't believe him when he promises quick profits.
❌ Верујем у њему и његов рад.
Incorrect — у in the confidence frame governs accusative њега.
✅ Верујем у њега и његов рад.
I believe in him and his work.
❌ Верујем њега да ће одржати обећање.
Incorrect — English object + infinitive does not transfer; use a finite да-clause.
✅ Верујем да ће одржати обећање.
I believe he will keep his promise.
❌ Она је ми поверовала тек после разговора.
Incorrect clitic order — dative ми precedes third-person auxiliary је.
✅ Она ми је поверовала тек после разговора.
She believed me only after the conversation.
❌ Годинама сам му поверовао без иједне сумње.
Incorrect for a sustained state over years — use imperfective веровао.
✅ Годинама сам му веровао без иједне сумње.
For years I trusted him without a single doubt. (male speaker)
Key Takeaways
- Learn веровати — верујем — верују — веровао/веровала — веруј.
- Dative marks a credible person or source: веровати некоме/нечему.
- У + accusative expresses faith or confidence: веровати у некога/нешто.
- A belief proposition uses да + finite verb; limited accusative content appears in phrases such as веровати некоме сваку реч.
- Поверовати marks coming to believe or accepting something once; верује се да is an impersonal formal construction.
Now practice Serbian
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Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- Dative with Verbs and AdjectivesB1 — Verbs and adjectives that govern the dative.
- Verbs with Fixed PrepositionsB1 — Verb + preposition combinations and their cases.
- Subordinate Clauses: OverviewB1 — The da/koji/što/kad clause types and their punctuation.
- Aspectual Pairs versus Related VerbsB1 — A focused guide to aspectual pairs versus related verbs in Serbian.
- Clitic vs Full Pronoun FormsA2 — The short unstressed and long stressed object pronouns.