Carrying and Bringing (nositi, voziti, voditi) | Serbian Grammar

English bring, take, and carry hide distinctions that Serbian makes in the verb. Use носити when an object is physically carried or worn, водити when a person or animal is led or accompanied, and возити when someone or something is transported or driven in a vehicle. Prefixes then add direction: донети / однети for a carried thing and довести / одвести for leading or vehicle transport. The last two infinitives hide two different paradigms, explained below.

Choosing well therefore requires two decisions: what kind of participant is being conveyed, and whether the sentence presents an ongoing/repeated activity or a bounded trip. English deixis—“bring it here” versus “take it there”—helps with до- versus од-, but it does not choose among carrying, leading, and vehicle transport.

The basic three-way contrast

Verb	Core scene	Typical direct object
носити	carry; wear	торбу, кутију, капут
водити	lead or accompany	дете, госта, пса
возити	drive; transport by vehicle	ауто, путника, робу

Носим лаптоп у ранцу јер после посла идем на курс.

I’m carrying my laptop in my backpack because I’m going to a class after work.

Сваког јутра водимо дете у вртић пешке.

Every morning we walk our child to kindergarten.

Комшиница нас вози до станице кад пада киша.

Our neighbor drives us to the station when it rains.

The direct object is accusative. Masculine animate nouns show animacy: водим госта, возим путника, not nominative гост, путник. Destinations take their usual motion cases: у вртић, на станицу with accusative; the broader pattern is explained under motion prepositions.

Compact present paradigms

All three are imperfective i-class verbs with related endings but different stems.

Person	носити	водити	возити
ја	носим	водим	возим
ти	носиш	водиш	возиш
он / она / оно	носи	води	вози
ми	носимо	водимо	возимо
ви	носите	водите	возите
они / оне / она	носе	воде	возе

Да ли возиш кола сваки дан или идеш аутобусом?

Do you drive every day, or do you take the bus?

Не носим готовину; плаћам картицом.

I don’t carry cash; I pay by card.

Водите ли пса са собом на одмор?

Are you taking your dog with you on vacation?

Носити also means “wear” as a state or habit: Носи наочаре “She wears glasses.” Context distinguishes carrying from wearing; Serbian does not require a different verb.

Directional prefixes with carried things

For a bounded transfer of an object, the most important perfective verbs are донети “bring” and однети “take away.” Their imperfective partners доносити and односити describe repeated, habitual, or unfolding transfers.

Direction	Perfective	Imperfective
toward destination / bring	донети	доносити
away / take	однети	односити
into	унети	уносити
out	изнети	износити
across / transfer	пренети	преносити

Донеси ми, молим те, пуњач из дневне собе.

Please bring me the charger from the living room.

Курир сваког понедељка доноси пошту пре девет.

The courier brings the mail before nine every Monday.

Однела је старе књиге у библиотеку и вратила се пешке.

She took the old books to the library and walked back.

Радници су уносили намештај док смо мерили ходник.

The workers were carrying the furniture in while we measured the hallway.

Perfective донети, однети, унети packages one transfer as bounded. Secondary imperfectives доносити, односити, уносити reopen the event for repetition or internal duration. They are a derivational network, not tense forms of one English verb. See aspect and verbs of motion for the system beyond these transport verbs.

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Choose direction and aspect together: донела је пакет reports one completed arrival; доносила је пакете presents repeated or ongoing deliveries. A past tense does not force perfective aspect.

Leading or accompanying people and animals

Use водити when the mover accompanies or guides an animate participant. Perfective довести brings that participant to a destination; одвести takes the participant away or to another destination. Repeated/process partners are доводити and одводити.

Водим баку код лекара јер не познаје овај део града.

I’m taking Grandma to the doctor because she doesn’t know this part of town.

Довели су нову колегиницу у нашу канцеларију да нас упознају с њом.

They brought the new colleague to our office to introduce us to her.

После приредбе ћу одвести децу кући.

After the performance, I’ll take the children home.

Тренер је одводио играче на припреме сваког лета.

The coach used to take the players to training camp every summer.

Код лекара takes genitive after код; у канцеларију takes accusative for destination. The motion verb does not change those prepositional case rules.

Vehicle transport and возити

Возити can be intransitive “drive” or transitive “drive/transport someone or something.” Превозити emphasizes transport from place to place, often commercially or repeatedly. Довозити / одвозити explicitly profile arrival or removal by vehicle.

The perfective infinitives are a major trap: the водити and возити families are written alike in the infinitive but have different present and l-participle stems.

Meaning	Imperfective	Perfective and diagnostic forms
lead / accompany toward	доводити	довести: доведем, довео / довела
lead / accompany away	одводити	одвести: одведем, одвео / одвела
bring by vehicle	довозити	довести: довезем, довезао / довезла
take away by vehicle	одвозити	одвести: одвезем, одвезао / одвезла

Возим сестру на аеродром у шест ујутру.

I’m driving my sister to the airport at six in the morning.

Ова линија превози путнике између два терминала.

This line transports passengers between the two terminals.

Камиони довозе материјал два пута недељно.

Trucks deliver materials twice a week.

Оштећена возила су одвезли у сервис.

They transported the damaged vehicles to the repair shop.

The form in the sentence above, одвезли, unmistakably belongs to the vehicle paradigm. With an infinitive such as одвести, only context identifies the family; a finite or past form makes the contrast overt. Превести / превозити likewise foreground transport across or from one place to another.

Bring, take, fetch, and take along

English bring is destination-oriented; Serbian до- similarly signals arrival toward the relevant goal. Од- signals removal or movement away. Понети means take/carry along when setting off, not simply “take away.”

Понеси кишобран; најавили су пљусак поподне.

Take an umbrella with you; they’re forecasting a downpour this afternoon.

Можеш ли да однесеш ова документа у рачуноводство?

Can you take these documents to accounting?

Свратићу до пекаре и донећу доручак.

I’ll stop by the bakery and bring breakfast.

English get/fetch may require a round-trip context: Отићи ћу по ауто и довести га испред зграде “I’ll go get the car and bring it in front of the building.” No single Serbian verb automatically includes every stage of that trip.

Clitics, tense, and agreement

Object pronouns retain natural cluster order. Past l-participles agree with the subject, not with the carried object.

Донела сам ти га јутрос, али те није било код куће.

I brought it to you this morning, but you weren’t home. (female speaker)

Сутра ћу их одвести на тренинг после школе.

Tomorrow I’ll take them to practice after school.

Да ли би нам превезли кутије до новог стана?

Would you transport the boxes to our new apartment for us?

In донела сам ти га, auxiliary сам precedes dative ти and accusative га. In Future I, ћу precedes accusative их. English object position does not override Serbian clitic order.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Choose by participant and vehicle

Say that you are carrying a suitcase, walking a child to school, and driving a colleague to the station.

Носим кофер, водим дете у школу, а колегу возим до станице.

I’m carrying a suitcase, walking a child to school, and driving a colleague to the station.

Task 2: Contrast one delivery with a routine

Курир је јутрос донео један пакет, а иначе доноси пошту сваког дана.

The courier brought one package this morning, and normally delivers the mail every day.

Common Mistakes

Using носити for accompanying a person

❌ Сутра носим клијента у општину.

Incorrect for accompanying or driving a client—носити suggests physically carrying the person.

✅ Сутра водим клијента у општину.

Tomorrow I’m taking the client to the municipal office.

Using водити for an object

❌ Водићу ти резервни капут вечерас.

Incorrect—a coat is carried, not led; use донети or носити according to viewpoint.

✅ Донећу ти резервни капут вечерас.

I’ll bring you a spare coat tonight.

Ignoring animacy in the direct object

❌ Возим нови колега до хотела.

Incorrect—masculine animate колега requires accusative новог колегу.

✅ Возим новог колегу до хотела.

I’m driving the new colleague to the hotel.

Using a repeated-process verb for one bounded delivery

❌ Курир је доносио пакет у девет и тада га предао мени.

Incorrect for one completed arrival and handover—доносио presents a process or repetition; use донео.

✅ Курир је донео пакет у девет и предао ми га.

The courier brought the package at nine and handed it to me.

Key Takeaways

Носити carries things or means “wear,” водити leads/accompanies animate participants, and возити uses a vehicle.
Direct objects are accusative, including animacy-marked госта, путника, колегу.
Prefixes encode direction: до- toward a goal, од- away, у- in, из- out, пре- across.
Perfective донети / однети / довести / одвести presents a bounded transfer; secondary imperfectives present process or repetition.
Distinguish the homographic perfectives by their stems: доведем / довео from водити, but довезем / довезао from возити.
Keep destination cases, l-participle agreement, and object-clitic order independent of the English verb chosen in translation.

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