Asking and Negating in the Present

Serbian present-tense questions and negatives do not need an extra verb like English do/does. You keep the finite Serbian verb, add не for most negatives, and form a question with да ли, verb + ли, a question word, or—in informal speech—question intonation.

Three very frequent negatives are fused and must be learned whole: нисам I am not, немам I do not have, and нећу I do not want / will not.

Regular Negation: не + Present

With most verbs, put не immediately before the finite present form and write it separately.

The verb ending still identifies the subject, so no pronoun is needed. English do not has no word-for-word Serbian equivalent: не радим contains one finite verb, радим.

Fused Negatives: нисам, немам, нећу

The present negatives of бити are нисам, ниси, није, нисмо, нисте, нису. The negative of имати is немам, немаш, нема, немамо, немате, немају. The negative forms нећу, нећеш, неће, нећемо, нећете, неће belong to хтети and also serve in the future.

Write each bold negative as one word. By contrast, ordinary не знам, не могу, не желим remain two words.

Neutral Yes–No Questions with да ли

The most broadly useful question frame is да ли + finite clause. It works with every person and in both speech and writing.

No equivalent of English do appears. The verbs радите and живи already carry person and number. In the third example, polite plural можете addresses one person respectfully or several people normally; context supplies the distinction.

Clitics follow the opening question unit and retain their normal internal order.

Here dative ти precedes reflexive се. Do not place either clitic arbitrarily at the end.

Finite Verb + ли

A second standard pattern places ли immediately after the finite verb. With бити, use a full form such as јеси or јесте in every person except the conventional third-person singular question је ли.

Да ли имате... and Имате ли... are both neutral standard Serbian. The verb-first pattern can sound compact and is especially common in set service questions. Third-person singular је ли is standard when је is the copula or auxiliary: Је ли Марко код куће?, Је ли стигао? The parallel Да ли је...? frame is also a straightforward neutral model for beginners.

Informal Intonation Questions

In (informal) conversation, a statement-shaped clause can become a question through rising intonation and context.

This pattern is natural among friends, but да ли or verb + ли is clearer in formal writing, a careful interview, or a context where the sentence could otherwise be mistaken for a statement.

Information Questions

Put the information being requested first: ко who, шта what, где where, када when, како how, зашто why. Serbian case forms matter. Кога? asks for an accusative person; коме? asks for a dative recipient.

English often uses prepositions at the end—Who are you sending these to? Serbian instead marks the question word itself: коме, dative singular.

If a clitic belongs in the question, it stays near the beginning.

The cluster ми се follows зашто; не stands directly before јављаш.

Questions after modal verbs can contain either да + present or an infinitive. Both constructions are standard Serbian; do not copy an English infinitive mechanically or reject the Serbian infinitive as universally wrong.

Aspect and Agreement Still Matter

Question formation does not erase aspect. An imperfective present can ask about an action in progress; a perfective present commonly asks about a future boundary in a subordinate clause.

Present пакујеш/спакујеш marks person but not gender. In a perfect-tense question, the l-participle does mark gender while the auxiliary forms the question unit with ли.

The auxiliary does not disappear: јеси ли is followed by потписала/потписао. These past examples clarify agreement and auxiliary position; the present itself has no masculine–feminine contrast.

Negative Words Require Negative Verbs

Serbian normally uses negative concord: нико, ништа, никада/никад, нигде occur with a negated verb. English standard usage generally chooses one negative; Serbian requires both parts.

This is not illogical double negation. The negative pronoun and не form one grammatical negative dependency. See Negative Pronouns and Double Negation for prepositional forms such as ни са ким.

Negative Questions and Answers

A negative question may check an assumption or express surprise. Зар не...? makes that expectation especially clear.

Short да and не answers can be pragmatically confusing after a negative question. At A1, answer with the verb as well: Да, радим Yes, I am or Не, не радим No, I’m not.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Make Two Questions

Turn Радите у центру into a да ли question and a verb + ли question.

Task 2: Give a Clear Negative Answer

Answer Долазите ли у понедељак? in the negative.

Common Mistakes

Copying English do

Joining an ordinary negative

Separating a fused negative

Omitting verbal negation after ништа

Starting a ли question with a clitic form of бити

Key Takeaways

• Put separate не before most present forms: не радим, не разумем.
• Learn fused нисам, немам, нећу as whole words.
• Ask neutral yes–no questions with да ли + clause or finite verb + ли.
• In informal speech, intonation alone can turn a statement-shaped clause into a question.
• Negative words require a negative verb: ништа не знам, никога не видим.
• Case-mark question words: кога for an accusative person and коме for a dative recipient.