Verb Government: Which Case After Which Verb | Serbian Grammar

Verb government is the lexical requirement that a verb places on its complement: a particular case, a particular preposition plus case, or a clause of a particular shape. Serbian чекати некога, for example, uses the accusative even though English says wait for someone; помоћи некоме uses the dative even though English help someone looks like a direct object.

There is no universal shortcut from meaning to case. Semantic roles help, but the dependable unit to learn is a whole frame such as помоћи некоме or зависити од нечега.

Government Without a Preposition

These high-frequency frames show why the verb and its complement must be learned together.

Frame	Case	Meaning
чекати некога/нешто	accusative	wait for someone/something
слушати некога/нешто	accusative	listen to someone/something
тражити некога/нешто	accusative	look for someone/something
помоћи некоме	dative	help someone
веровати некоме	dative	believe someone
радовати се нечему	dative	look forward to / be glad about
сетити се некога/нечега	genitive	remember someone/something
бојати се некога/нечега	genitive	be afraid of someone/something
управљати нечим	instrumental	operate / manage something

Чекамо мајстора већ скоро сат времена.

We have been waiting for the repair technician for almost an hour.

Можеш ли да помогнеш новој колегиници око извештаја?

Can you help the new colleague with the report?

Одједном сам се сетио њеног савета.

I suddenly remembered her advice. (male speaker)

The endings expose the government: animate masculine мајстора is accusative; колегиници is dative; њеног савета is genitive. The English prepositions for, with, and of do not determine the Serbian case.

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Store a case question with each verb: чекати кога/шта, помоћи коме, сетити се кога/чега. That question predicts both noun endings and the correct pronoun series.

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When you change tense or aspect, carry the complement frame across unchanged unless your dictionary explicitly lists a different construction.

A Pronoun Test

Replacing a noun with a third-person pronoun makes government visible. Short pronouns are clitics; forms after prepositions are stressed full forms.

Noun phrase	Pronoun	Pattern
чекам Марка	чекам га	accusative
помажем Марку	помажем му	dative
сећам се Марка	сећам га се	genitive
разговарам с Марком	разговарам с њим	с + instrumental

Чекам га поред киоска на углу.

I am waiting for him beside the kiosk on the corner.

Помажем му кад год има проблем с програмом.

I help him whenever he has a problem with the software.

Често га се сетим кад прођем поред те куће.

I often remember him when I pass that house.

The genitive clitic га stands before reflexive се in га се сетим. After с, however, Serbian requires full њим, not a clitic. Government and clitic syntax are separate layers that must both be correct.

Verbs with Two Complements

Some verbs govern two cases at once. The cases identify roles more reliably than word order does.

Frame	Roles
дати некоме нешто	dative recipient + accusative thing
рећи некоме нешто	dative addressee + accusative content
питати некога нешто	accusative person + accusative information
захвалити некоме на нечему	dative person + на + locative reason
честитати некоме на нечему	dative person + на + locative occasion

Питала сам службеника тачну цену доставе.

I asked the clerk the exact delivery price. (female speaker)

Захвалили смо домаћинима на гостопримству.

We thanked our hosts for their hospitality.

English uses ask someone and thank someone, but Serbian does not give those two people the same case: службеника is accusative after питати, while домаћинима is dative after захвалити.

Preposition + Case Is One Lexical Choice

When a verb selects a preposition, learn the preposition and its case as part of the frame.

Коначна цена зависи од броја учесника.

The final price depends on the number of participants.

На састанку смо разговарали о новом распореду.

At the meeting we discussed the new schedule.

Не слажем се с тим закључком.

I do not agree with that conclusion.

The frames are зависити од + genitive, разговарати о + locative, and слагати се са/с + instrumental. A preposition does not carry one case universally: на takes locative in захвалити на помоћи, but accusative in рачунати на помоћ. The dedicated Verbs with Fixed Prepositions page develops these contrasts.

Tense and Aspect Do Not Cancel Government

Changing tense or aspect normally preserves a verb family’s complement frame. Compare imperfective помагати and perfective помоћи, both with a dative person.

Ана редовно помаже старијој комшиници.

Ana regularly helps her elderly neighbor.

Ана данас не помаже старијој комшиници.

Ana is not helping her elderly neighbor today.

Да ли Ана сутра помаже старијој комшиници?

Is Ana helping her elderly neighbor tomorrow?

Ана је јуче помогла старијој комшиници.

Ana helped her elderly neighbor yesterday.

The dative старијој комшиници survives affirmation, negation, question formation, and the aspect change. In the perfect, feminine помогла agrees with subject Ана; government still belongs to the verb, not to the participle’s gender.

Clitic Order with Governed Objects

Governed pronoun objects enter the normal second-position cluster. Auxiliary сам, си, смо, сте, су precede dative and accusative pronouns; third-person singular је normally follows them: сам му послала, but му је послала. Reflexive се follows accusative/genitive га.

Јуче сам му послала коначну верзију.

Yesterday I sent him the final version. (female speaker)

Нисам га се одмах сетила.

I did not remember him immediately. (female speaker)

The forms are not placed directly after their English equivalents. Serbian cluster order gives сам му, and the fused negative auxiliary нисам precedes га се.

Clause Complements Are Government Too

Some verbs select да + finite present, an infinitive, or both. Same-subject verbs such as морати allow both in standard Serbian; a finite да clause makes person explicit and is especially common in conversation.

Морамо да проверимо све податке пре објављивања.

We must check all the data before publication.

Морамо проверити све податке пре објављивања.

We must check all the data before publication.

Different-subject complements require a finite clause: Желим да они дођу has I as the wanter and they as the comers. English want them to come cannot be copied as a bare Serbian object plus infinitive.

Желим да они дођу мало раније.

I want them to come a little earlier.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Choose the Case

Replace the person with the correct pronoun after чекати, помоћи, and разговарати с.

Чекам га. — Помажем му. — Разговарам с њим.

I am waiting for him. — I am helping him. — I am talking with him. Answer: accusative clitic, dative clitic, then full instrumental after a preposition.

Task 2: Preserve Government Across Tense

Change a present statement with захвалити некоме на нечему into the perfect.

Захвалила сам колегама на брзом одговору.

I thanked my colleagues for the quick response. Answer: колегама remains dative and на одговору remains locative; захвалила agrees with a female speaker.

Common Mistakes

Copying English for after чекати

❌ Чекамо за курира испред магацина.

Incorrect—чекати takes a direct accusative object, with no preposition.

✅ Чекамо курира испред магацина.

We are waiting for the courier in front of the warehouse.

Giving помоћи an accusative person

❌ Можеш ли да помогнеш мене?

Incorrect—помоћи governs the dative, not the accusative.

✅ Можеш ли да ми помогнеш?

Can you help me?

Using a clitic after a preposition

❌ Разговарала сам с га после састанка.

Incorrect—a preposition requires a full stressed pronoun.

✅ Разговарала сам с њим после састанка.

I spoke with him after the meeting. (female speaker)

Treating all English believe complements alike

❌ Верујем у му кад каже да ће стићи.

Incorrect—believing a person takes the dative without у.

✅ Верујем му кад каже да ће стићи.

I believe him when he says he will arrive.

Omitting l-participle agreement

❌ Јуче сам питао службеницу за рок.

Incorrect for a female speaker—the l-participle must agree with ја.

✅ Јуче сам питала службеницу за рок.

Yesterday I asked the clerk about the deadline. (female speaker)

Key Takeaways

Government is lexical: learn the verb together with its case question or preposition + case.
English prepositions do not predict Serbian government: чекати некога, помоћи некоме, сетити се некога.
Clitics reveal cases but also obey their own cluster order.
Tense, negation, and aspect normally preserve the complement frame.
Clause type is part of government too; standard Serbian uses both the infinitive and да + present where the governing verb permits them.

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