The Passive Participle (trpni pridjev) | Serbian Grammar

The Serbian passive participle—Ekavian трпни глаголски придев, Ijekavian трпни глаголски придјев—is the form seen in написан (written), отворен (opened/open), and узет (taken). With бити, it builds a periphrastic passive; used on its own with a noun, it behaves like an adjective and often describes the state resulting from an action.

Its form agrees in gender, number, and—when attributive—case. Formation uses the suffixes -н, -ен/-јен, and -т, but stem alternations mean that learners should record the participle with each verb rather than manufacture it from the infinitive by one universal rule.

What the Form Looks Like

Formation pattern	Infinitive	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Neuter singular
-н	написати	написан	написана	написано
-ен	отворити	отворен	отворена	отворено
-јен with alternation	купити	купљен	купљена	купљено
-т	узети	узет	узета	узето

The table shows outputs, not a foolproof recipe. Compare послати — послат, дати — дат, платити — плаћен, видети — виђен, and донети — донет. Verb class, stem shape, and historical sound changes interact.

The form is productively associated above all with transitive verbs, because their affected object can become the passive subject. An intransitive verb such as стићи has no direct object to promote and therefore does not normally form a corresponding passive construction.

Техничар је поправио лифт, а лифт је поново пуштен у рад.

The technician repaired the elevator, and the elevator was put back into service.

Рукопис је написан, али још није послат издавачу.

The manuscript has been written, but it has not yet been sent to the publisher.

Улазница је купљена преко интернета.

The ticket was bought online.

💡

Learn a transitive verb with its participle: платити — плаћен, купити — купљен, узети — узет. The visible infinitive ending alone does not predict every alternation or the choice of suffix.

Jotation and the Inserted л

Before the participial suffix, consonants often change. These are regular Serbian sound patterns, but different verb classes expose them differently.

Infinitive	Participle	Visible change
платити	плаћен	т + ј → ћ
бацити	бачен	ц + ј → ч
носити	ношен	с + ј → ш
видети	виђен	д + ј → ђ
сломити	сломљен	м + ј → мљ
изгубити	изгубљен	б + ј → бљ

Labial consonants often show an inserted л in the resulting cluster: купљен, сломљен, изгубљен, остављен. The diacritics in плаћен, бачен, виђен are part of the spelling, not optional pronunciation marks.

Рачун је плаћен, а потврда је сачувана у телефону.

The bill has been paid, and the confirmation is saved on the phone.

Пакет је оштећен, а један део је сломљен.

The package is damaged, and one part is broken.

The jotation page gives the sound changes in their broader orthographic setting.

Agreement with the Subject

In the periphrastic passive, бити carries person and tense, while the passive participle agrees with the grammatical subject.

Subject type	Form of потписати	Example noun
masculine singular	потписан	уговор
feminine singular	потписана	изјава
neuter singular	потписано	решење
masculine/mixed plural	потписани	уговори
feminine plural	потписане	изјаве
neuter plural	потписана	решења

Све изјаве су потписане пре почетка седнице.

All the statements were signed before the session began.

Решења ће бити објављена следеће недеље.

The decisions will be published next week.

The second sentence shows future passive: future ће бити carries time, while neuter plural објављена agrees with решења. English participles do not show this gender-and-number agreement.

Attributive Use and Case

Before or after a noun inside a noun phrase, the participle declines like an adjective. Agreement now includes case.

Потписани уговор пошаљите правној служби.

Send the signed contract to the legal department. (formal instruction)

Без потписаног уговора не можемо почети радове.

Without a signed contract, we cannot begin the work.

Разговарали смо о изгубљеним документима.

We discussed the lost documents.

The forms потписани (nominative/accusative masculine animate distinction is irrelevant here because уговор is inanimate), потписаног (genitive), and изгубљеним (locative plural) show full adjectival declension. This is more than the nominative gender/number agreement of an l-participle inside a compound tense.

Passive Event or Resultant State?

Бити + passive participle can report an event or describe the resulting state. Time expressions, an agent, and discourse context usually distinguish them.

Главни улаз је затворен у девет сати због квара.

The main entrance was closed at nine because of a malfunction. (event)

Главни улаз је затворен; користите бочна врата.

The main entrance is closed; use the side door. (resultant state)

English often uses the same be + participle ambiguity. Serbian can avoid an event passive by using an active clause or a се construction, especially when the agent is unimportant. See periphrastic passive and се-passive and impersonal.

When an agent is expressed with од стране + genitive, the style is usually formal/administrative:

Предлог је одобрен од стране комисије.

The proposal was approved by the committee. (formal/administrative)

In ordinary prose, active Комисија је одобрила предлог is often clearer.

Aspect Still Matters

Both imperfective and perfective transitive verbs can form passive participles, but their event structure differs.

Овај роман је много читан током осамдесетих.

This novel was widely read during the 1980s. (repeated/process-focused)

Роман је прочитан за једно вече.

The novel was read through in one evening. (completed)

Imperfective читан presents repeated reading without a single endpoint. Perfective прочитан presents completion. The passive participle does not erase verbal aspect even when it develops an adjective-like resultant meaning.

Impersonal Neuter Forms

Neuter singular participles occur in agentless impersonal statements, common in reports, notices, and formal institutional language.

Одлучено је да се седница одложи.

It was decided that the session should be postponed. (formal)

У згради је забрањено пушење.

Smoking is prohibited in the building.

Речено је да ће резултати стићи до петка.

It was said that the results would arrive by Friday.

No overt neuter subject appears in the first and third examples. The fixed neuter singular form packages the event without naming an agent.

Affirmative, Negative, and Question

Захтев је одобрен.

The application has been approved.

Захтев није одобрен.

The application has not been approved.

Да ли је захтев одобрен?

Has the application been approved?

Negative није replaces је. In the question, да ли је forms the initial clitic frame; the participle remains masculine singular because it agrees with захтев.

💡

Identify the noun that has become the passive subject, then make the participle agree with that noun—not with the person who performed the action.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Make Agreement Visible

Turn one participle into forms agreeing with уговор, изјава, and решења.

Уговор је потписан, изјава је потписана, а решења су потписана.

The contract is signed, the statement is signed, and the decisions are signed. Answer: masculine singular -ан, feminine singular -ана, neuter plural -ана.

Task 2: Contrast Process and Completion

Describe a book that was often read and then one that was read through.

Књига је годинама читана у школама, а овај примерак је прочитан за два дана.

The book was read in schools for years, and this copy was read through in two days. Answer: imperfective читана for repeated process; perfective прочитан for completion.

Common Mistakes

Leaving the participle in masculine singular

❌ Порука је послат јутрос.

Incorrect—feminine порука requires послата.

✅ Порука је послата јутрос.

The message was sent this morning.

Missing the consonant change

❌ Карта је купена на станици.

Incorrect—the participle of купити is купљена, with -пљ-.

✅ Карта је купљена на станици.

The ticket was bought at the station.

Treating the attributive participle as indeclinable

❌ Разговарали смо о изгубљени кофер.

Incorrect—о governs the locative here, and both words must decline.

✅ Разговарали смо о изгубљеном коферу.

We talked about the lost suitcase.

Agreeing with the agent instead of the passive subject

❌ Одлука је донет од стране директора.

Incorrect—донет must agree with feminine subject одлука, not masculine директор.

✅ Одлука је донета од стране директора.

The decision was made by the director. (formal/administrative)

Confusing the active l-participle with the passive participle

❌ Ана је написана извештај.

Incorrect—Ана is the writer, so the active perfect needs написала; passive написан agrees with the thing written.

✅ Ана је написала извештај, а извештај је послат клијенту.

Ana wrote the report, and the report was sent to the client.

Key Takeaways

The passive participle uses -н/-ен/-јен or -т, often with stem alternations that must be learned.
It agrees with the passive subject in gender and number and declines for case when attributive.
With бити, it can report a passive event or describe a resultant state; context distinguishes them.
Imperfective читан can present repeated process, while perfective прочитан presents completion.
Neuter singular forms such as одлучено је and речено је support agentless impersonal statements.

Now practice Serbian

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Serbian →