Serbian возити covers operating a vehicle and transporting someone or something, while возити се presents travel in or on a vehicle: “ride,” “be driven,” or “get around.” The contrast is constructional, not merely lexical. Возим аутобус means that I drive the bus; возим се аутобусом means that I travel by bus.
Principal forms
| Form | возити | возити се |
|---|---|---|
| present | возим, возиш, вози, возимо, возите, возе | возим се, возиш се, вози се, возимо се, возите се, возе се |
| l-participle | возио, возила, возило; возили, возиле, возила | возио се, возила се; возили се, возиле се |
| imperative | вози, возимо, возите | вози се, возимо се, возите се |
| future, 1st singular | возићу | возићу се |
This is an imperfective i-class verb: third-person plural is возе, not a form in -ају. The masculine l-participle is возио, and the feminine is возила.
Возим већ десет година, али избегавам центар у време највеће гужве.
I've been driving for ten years, but I avoid the city center during rush hour.
Док смо били студенти, свуда смо се возили аутобусом.
When we were students, we went everywhere by bus.
Возити: operate or transport
Without се, возити can be intransitive when the activity of driving is enough, or transitive with the vehicle, passenger, or load in the accusative.
Марија вози мали електрични ауто и пуни га преко ноћи.
Marija drives a small electric car and charges it overnight.
Комшија нас вози до станице кад пада јака киша.
Our neighbor drives us to the station when it rains heavily.
In the first sentence мали електрични ауто is the vehicle being operated. In the second, accusative clitic нас is the transported passenger. A destination such as до станице, у школу, or на аеродром keeps its own spatial preposition and case.
Камион сваког јутра вози свежу робу из магацина у продавнице.
Every morning the truck transports fresh goods from the warehouse to the shops.
For systematic or commercial transport, превозити is often more exact: Ова линија превози путнике између терминала. Ordinary возити remains natural when the driver, vehicle, or particular trip is prominent.
Возити се: travel by vehicle
Reflexive се removes a direct transported object and presents the subject as traveling. The vehicle is normally instrumental without a preposition.
На посао се возим трамвајем, а кући се често враћам пешке.
I take the tram to work, and I often walk home.
Деца су се цело поподне возила бициклима по парку.
The children rode their bicycles around the park all afternoon.
Возити се does not grammatically guarantee that the subject is a passenger; it backgrounds who controls the vehicle. When control matters, use plain возити: Ја возим, а ти гледај карту “I'll drive; you look at the map.”
Compare the object and means frames:
| Serbian | Role of vehicle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| возим аутобус | accusative direct object | I drive a bus |
| возим се аутобусом | instrumental means | I ride / travel by bus |
| идем аутобусом | instrumental means | I go / am going by bus |
The first two cannot be exchanged by simply adding or deleting се; the case of the vehicle changes too. See carrying and transport for the wider participant system.
Route, destination, and manner
Destinations follow ordinary motion grammar: у/на + accusative, до + genitive, or directional кући. A route can use кроз + accusative, преко + genitive, or по + locative.
Возили смо се кроз кањон све до малог села поред реке.
We drove through the canyon all the way to a small village by the river.
Немој да возиш брзо по мокром путу.
Don't drive fast on a wet road.
Speed can appear as a measure: возити осамдесет километара на сат. Manner adverbs such as полако, пажљиво, пребрзо modify the driving, not the destination.
There is no one neutral perfective
Core возити is imperfective. Serbian normally selects a path-specific perfective rather than a single verb meaning “complete driving.”
| Path | Imperfective | Perfective and diagnostic forms |
|---|---|---|
| bring by vehicle | довозити | довести: довезем, довезао/довезла, довези |
| take away/by vehicle | одвозити | одвести: одвезем, одвезао/одвезла, одвези |
| transport across/to another place | превозити | превести: превезем, превезао/превезла, превези |
| take for one ride | — | провозати / провозати се |
The infinitives довести, одвести, превести are also used in the водити “lead/accompany” family. Finite stems disambiguate them: vehicle одвезем, одвезао, одвези versus accompanying одведем, одвео, одведи.
Одвезла сам колегиницу кући јер је последњи аутобус већ отишао.
I drove my colleague home because the last bus had already left. (female speaker)
Добављач довози поврће уторком, а данас је довезао и две гајбе јабука.
The supplier delivers vegetables on Tuesdays, and today he also brought two crates of apples by vehicle.
The first uses one bounded removal/transport. The second contrasts repeated довози with one completed довезао.
Провозати се means take a ride or drive around for a while; it adds a bounded outing, not merely perfective aspect.
После ручка смо се провозали поред реке да испробамо нови ауто.
After lunch we went for a drive along the river to try out the new car.
Clitics and perfect-tense се
Passenger and object clitics follow normal second-position order.
Ако немаш превоз, могу да те одвезем до куће после смене.
If you don't have a ride, I can drive you home after the shift.
Марко ме је возио до сервиса, а затим је одвезао ауто механичару.
Marko drove me to the repair shop and then took the car to the mechanic.
With reflexive возити се, third-person singular auxiliary је is omitted beside се: Она се возила аутобусом or Возила се аутобусом, not возила се је. Other auxiliaries remain: Возили смо се, Возиле су се.
Commands and register
Imperfective вози gives an instruction about manner or continuing activity. Path-perfective одвези/довези requests one completed trip.
Вози пажљиво и јави се кад стигнеш.
Drive carefully and call when you arrive. (informal)
Одвезите госпођу до главног улаза, молим вас.
Please drive the lady to the main entrance. (plural or polite)
Conversational Вози! can also mean “Go!” or “Keep moving!” (informal), but learners should first master its literal driving meaning.
Micro-dialogue
„Како идеш на посао док ти је ауто у сервису?“ — „Возим се возом до центра, па ме колегиница вози до канцеларије.“ — „Значи, не мораш таксијем?“ — „Не, само петком.“
‘How are you getting to work while your car is at the repair shop?’ — ‘I take the train downtown, then a colleague drives me to the office.’ — ‘So you don't need a taxi?’ — ‘No, only on Fridays.’
The same speaker is the subject of возим се but the accusative passenger ме with transitive вози.
Practice Tasks
Task 1: Driver or traveler?
Translate: I drive the bus; I travel by bus; Ana drives us to work; We ride our bikes through the park. Choose accusative objects, instrumental means, and се explicitly.
Task 2: Choose the path family
Describe a supplier who repeatedly delivers goods by van, one completed delivery today, and a driver who takes the empty crates away. Use довозити, довести with stem довез-, and одвести with stem одвез-.
Common Mistakes
❌ Возим аутобусом до факултета.
Incorrect if you mean that you ride the bus — without се, this suggests driving, while means requires the reflexive travel frame.
✅ Возим се аутобусом до факултета.
I take the bus to the university.
❌ Возим се ауто до посла.
Incorrect — the vehicle as means must be instrumental: аутом/аутомобилом.
✅ Возим се аутом до посла.
I travel to work by car.
❌ Сутра ћу да те одвезим на аеродром колима.
Incorrect present stem — perfective vehicle одвести has одвезем, not regularized одвезим.
✅ Сутра ћу да те одвезем на аеродром колима.
Tomorrow I'll drive you to the airport.
❌ Возила се је трамвајем до центра.
Incorrect clitic cluster — third-person singular auxiliary је is omitted beside reflexive се.
✅ Возила се трамвајем до центра.
She took the tram downtown.
❌ Одвезио сам пакет у магацин.
Incorrect l-participle — the vehicle-transport form is одвезао.
✅ Одвезао сам пакет у магацин.
I transported the parcel to the warehouse. (male speaker)
Key Takeaways
- Возити means drive or transport and can take a vehicle, passenger, or load as an accusative object.
- Возити се presents travel; its vehicle is normally instrumental: возити се аутобусом.
- Destinations and routes retain ordinary spatial prepositions and cases.
- There is no one neutral perfective; довез-, одвез-, превез- encode different vehicle paths.
- Learn vehicle одвезем / одвезао / одвези separately from accompanying одведем / одвео / одведи.
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Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- Carrying and Bringing (nositi, voziti, voditi)B1 — Verbs of conveying people and things.
- Aspect, Prefixes, and Directional VerbsB2 — How prefixes build directional motion families and secondary imperfectives.
- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative as the default object of transitive verbs.
- Instrumental: Means and AccompanimentA2 — The 'by means of' and 'with someone' functions.
- ići (to go)A1 — Full reference for the basic motion verb 'to go'.