želeti / poželeti (to wish/desire)

Желети expresses a desire, wish, or preference. It can take a noun, a clause, or an infinitive, and it is also central to polite requests in желео/желела бих. Perfective пожелети is related but not merely a completed form: it usually presents the onset of a desire or one act of wishing someone something.

Principal parts and paradigms

The present belongs with i-class forms: желим and желе, not forms built directly by adding endings to the infinitive. In the masculine l-participle, -ео is written together: желео, пожелео. The present is the same in Ijekavian Serbian (желим, пожелим), but the infinitives and l-participles do reflect yat: Ijekavian has жељети, пожељети; желио / жељела, пожелио / пожељела. This guide uses Ekavian желети, пожелети; желео / желела, пожелео / пожелела as its productive baseline.

The first desire holds as a state. Одједном је пожелео presents the moment when a desire arose.

A desired thing takes the accusative

With a noun, the thing wanted is normally a direct object in the accusative.

The conditional softens a request. Bare желим кафу is grammatical, but in service situations it can sound like a direct statement of desire rather than a courteous order. Желео бих for a male speaker and желела бих for a female speaker are the normal polite choices.

Да + present and the infinitive

When the desired content is an action, conversational Serbian strongly favors желети да + present. The finite verb identifies who is supposed to perform the action.

In the first example, the subject of both verbs is the speaker. In the second, the understood subject of пошаљете is ви, not ми. English uses an object plus infinitive in we want you to send; Serbian normally encodes the second actor in the finite да-clause, not as an object of желети.

The infinitive is also standard when the subject remains the same. It is especially natural in concise written phrasing and is more frequent in western Serbian usage, while да + present is the productive everyday baseline in much of Serbia.

Do not combine the two constructions: choose желим да разговарам or желим разговарати, never желим да разговарати. The general choice is explained in da versus the infinitive.

Wishing something to someone: dative plus accusative

In formulas such as “wish you luck,” the recipient is dative and the wished thing is accusative. A pronoun recipient is normally a second-position clitic.

Ти and им identify the recipients. Много среће contains a quantified genitive phrase, while пријатан пут is a direct accusative object. With a named recipient, Serbian can use a full dative noun phrase: Желим Ани брз опоравак.

Here perfective пожелела је packages one conventional act of wishing. Imperfective желела је would more readily describe the director's sustained desire.

Желети and пожелети are not a mechanical pair

Желети is an imperfective state: the desire can hold over time, be habitual, or provide background. Пожелети commonly means begin to want, suddenly feel like, or utter one wish. The prefix по- therefore contributes an inchoative or bounded meaning, not simply “finish wanting.”

The last use is a conventional speech act. English often translates пожелети добродошлицу as “welcome,” not word-for-word as “wish welcome.” Other derived verbs belong to their own lexical network: зажелети can mean develop a desire for something, and зажелети се + genitive means miss or long for someone or something after an absence. They are not automatic substitutes for either core verb.

Желети versus хтети

Both verbs can translate want, but хтети often points toward intention, willingness, or a decision to act. Желети foregrounds desire and is also the more ceremonious or polite choice. Only хтети supplies the clitic future auxiliary ћу, ћеш, ће....

Хоћу кафу is direct and can sound blunt without supportive context; желео бих кафу is conventionally courteous. This is a register contrast, not a claim that хтети is inherently rude. With children, close friends, or emphatic refusal and insistence, direct хоћу/нећу is entirely ordinary. See the broader volition contrast between hteti and želeti.

Negation, questions, and commands

Negation is regular: не желим, нисам желео/желела, нећу желети. Unlike нећу, which is the fused negative of хоћу, не желим remains two words.

The present can form a neutral question; the conditional makes an offer gentler.

Bare imperative жели! is grammatically possible but pragmatically unusual: one cannot normally command a lasting desire. Perfective пожели is natural when prompting one act of choosing or wishing.

Reflexive forms and clitic placement

Ordinary желети is not reflexive. To say “wish something for oneself,” Serbian uses the stressed reflexive dative себи, not an empty се.

In желео бих да..., conditional auxiliary бих occupies the clitic position. In past clauses, dative recipient and auxiliary follow the normal ordering.

The cluster is му је, dative before auxiliary. The clitic cannot be postponed after лаку ноћ in neutral prose; a late contrastive phrase would require stressed њему.

Micro-dialogue

The dialogue contrasts a desired object, a polite clause with a different plural subject, and bounded пожели as one act of wishing.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Choose the complement

Translate “I want a quieter room,” “I want to speak to the manager,” and “I want you to call me tomorrow.” Use a direct object, a same-subject action, and a different-subject да-clause.

Task 2: Desire or one wish?

Complete two short contexts: a desire that lasted for several years with желети, and a sudden desire after seeing a photograph with пожелети. Then wish a friend good luck using a dative clitic.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Желети describes a sustained or open desire; пожелети often marks its onset or one act of wishing.
• A desired thing is accusative; an action usually appears in да + present, while a same-subject infinitive is also standard.
• In желим ти срећу, the recipient is dative and the thing wished is accusative or a quantified genitive phrase.
• Желео/желела бих is a conventional polite request; хтети more readily signals intention or willingness.
• Ordinary желети has no empty reflexive се; use stressed себи only when “for oneself” is genuinely meant.