The Imperative: Forms | Serbian Grammar

The Serbian imperative directly tells or invites someone to act: читај “read,” пиши “write,” дођите “come.” It has only three ordinary personal forms—second-person singular, first-person plural, and second-person plural—and they are built from the present stem, not simply by removing -ти from the infinitive.

The three-person paradigm

Use the singular form for one person addressed as ти. The -мо form includes the speaker, like English “let’s.” The -те form addresses several people or one person respectfully as Ви.

Person	читати	писати	радити
ти	читај	пиши	ради
ми	читајмо	пишимо	радимо
ви / Ви	читајте	пишите	радите

Прочитај поруку до краја пре него што одговориш.

Read the message to the end before you reply.

Пожуримо, последњи аутобус полази за десет минута.

Let's hurry; the last bus leaves in ten minutes.

Уђите и оставите капуте на вешалици.

Come in and leave your coats on the coat rack. (plural or polite)

There is no first-person singular imperative and no direct third-person imperative. Serbian uses нека + present for “let him/her/them,” while хајде да + present and the first-person plural imperative express proposals. Those constructions are covered on Negative Commands and “Let's / Let Him”.

Find the stem from the third-person plural present

The most reliable practical starting point is the third-person plural present—the “they” form. It reveals consonants that the infinitive may hide.

Forms in -ј, -јмо, -јте

When the third-person plural ends in -ју, remove the final -у; the resulting form in -ј is the second-person singular imperative: читају → читај, чекају → чекај, пију → пиј.

Чекај ме испред биоскопа; стижем за пет минута.

Wait for me in front of the cinema; I'll be there in five minutes.

Попиј воду пре него што наставимо пут.

Drink some water before we continue the journey.

The plural forms add -мо or -те after ј: чекајмо, чекајте; пијмо, пијте. Do not insert an extra и.

Forms in -и, -имо, -ите

When the third-person plural ends in -е or in -у not preceded by ј, remove that ending and add -и, -имо, -ите: пишу → пиш-и, раде → рад-и, носе → нос-и.

Пиши ми чим стигнеш у хотел.

Write to me as soon as you reach the hotel.

Носите удобне ципеле јер ћемо много ходати.

Wear comfortable shoes because we will walk a lot. (plural or polite)

The present stem matters. Писати does not give писај because its present plural is пишу; the imperative preserves ш: пиши. English has no comparable stem alternation because its command is normally identical to the infinitive.

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Learn a new verb with its first-person singular and third-person plural present. From пишем, пишу, the imperative пиши is predictable; the infinitive писати alone is not enough.

Stem alternations and high-frequency forms

Some verbs undergo regular Serbian sound changes; others have a stem that must be learned. These forms are common enough to memorize early:

Infinitive	3rd plural present	ти	ми	ви / Ви
доћи	дођу	дођи	дођимо	дођите
рећи	кажу	реци	рецимо	реците
ићи	иду	иди	идимо	идите
јести	једу	једи	једимо	једите
бити	буду	буди	будимо	будите
узети	узму	узми	узмимо	узмите

Дођи код мене после посла па ћемо заједно вечерати.

Come over after work and we'll have dinner together.

Реците ми ако вам термин не одговара.

Tell me if the appointment does not suit you. (polite or plural)

Verbs such as пећи, сећи, вући show к → ц before imperative и: пеци, сеци, вуци. This is not the Latin letter c; Cyrillic ц represents /ts/.

Исеци хлеб на танке кришке и стави га на сто.

Slice the bread thinly and put it on the table.

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The ми imperative may look identical to first-person plural present—радимо, носимо—but context and intonation distinguish “we work/carry” from “let's work/carry.” With -ј verbs, the difference is visible: present читамо, imperative читајмо.

What the imperative means

The imperative is a mood, not a tense. It presents an action as wanted, requested, advised, permitted, or ordered by the speaker. Context and intonation decide whether седите is an invitation, an instruction, or a command.

Verbal aspect remains active. A perfective imperative often requests one bounded result: напиши адресу “write down the address.” An imperfective imperative can invite an activity or keep it going: пиши ми редовно “write to me regularly.” This is a tendency, not a formula equating perfective with commands and imperfective with requests.

Напиши адресу на полеђини рачуна.

Write the address on the back of the receipt. (one completed result)

Пиши ми редовно док будеш у иностранству.

Write to me regularly while you are abroad. (repeated activity)

Objects, complements, and clitics

An imperative keeps the verb's normal government. Помоћи takes a dative recipient; чекати takes an accusative object; разговарати commonly takes са + instrumental. Mood does not change these cases.

Помози комшиници да унесе колица у лифт.

Help the neighbour bring the pushchair into the lift.

Object and reflexive clitics normally follow a positive imperative because the stressed verb provides their host: дај ми, донеси га, сети се. In a cluster, regular clitic order still applies.

Дај ми га на минут да проверим серијски број.

Give it to me for a minute so I can check the serial number.

Да + present can follow an imperative verb as its complement: покушај да отвориш. An infinitive is also standard with many controlling verbs: покушај отворити, though да + present is especially common in the everyday Ekavian baseline.

Affirmative, negative, and question contrasts

The imperative itself is affirmative or negative, but it is not an interrogative form. A question can perform the same social action without becoming an “interrogative imperative.”

Затвори прозор пре него што изађеш.

Close the window before you leave. (imperative)

Не затварај прозор, још је загушљиво.

Don't close the window; it is still stuffy. (negative imperative)

Хоћеш ли да затвориш прозор пре него што изађеш?

Will you close the window before you leave? (question functioning as a request)

Negative formation has additional choices with немој, so it belongs on the next page rather than being inferred mechanically from the affirmative paradigm.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Work from the present plural

Use читају, пишу, раде, дођу to form the ти, ми, and ви/Ви imperatives. State whether each series uses -ј or -и, and identify the irregular form.

Task 2: Add the correct object

Turn “Help the colleague,” “Wait for Ana,” and “Give it to me” into commands. Check the dative after помоћи, the accusative after чекати, and clitic order after дати.

Common Mistakes

❌ Писај ми кад стигнеш.

Incorrect — писати has the present stem пиш-, so its imperative is пиши.

✅ Пиши ми кад стигнеш.

Write to me when you arrive.

❌ Читаји упутство пажљиво.

Incorrect — читају gives the imperative читај, without an extra и.

✅ Читај упутство пажљиво.

Read the instructions carefully.

❌ Доћи код нас после вечере!

Incorrect as a direct personal command — the infinitive does not replace the imperative in conversation.

✅ Дођи код нас после вечере!

Come to our place after dinner!

❌ Дај га ми на минут.

Incorrect clitic order — dative ми precedes accusative га.

✅ Дај ми га на минут.

Give it to me for a minute.

❌ Помози комшиницу да унесе торбе.

Incorrect — помоћи takes a dative recipient, комшиници.

✅ Помози комшиници да унесе торбе.

Help the neighbour bring in the bags.

Key Takeaways

Serbian has direct imperative forms for ти, ми, and ви/Ви.
Use the third-person plural present to reveal the stem: читају → читај, пишу → пиши.
High-frequency forms such as дођи, реци, иди, буди, and узми deserve direct memorization.
Aspect, case government, and clitic order continue to operate inside commands.

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