Giving and Taking (dati, uzeti) | Serbian Grammar

Serbian дати give and узети take are perfective verbs with irregular-looking present stems. Their argument structure is just as important as their forms: what is transferred is normally accusative, while the recipient of дати is dative.

English often hides these roles behind word order—give Ana the key. Serbian marks them morphologically: дати Ани кључ, literally give Ana-dative key-accusative. This remains true when nouns become clitics.

Core Forms

Person	дати	узети
ја	дам	узмем
ти	даш	узмеш
он / она / оно	да	узме
ми	дамо	узмемо
ви	дате	узмете
они / оне / она	дају	узму

Do not derive these forms by simply removing -ти. Learn the principal sets дати — дам — дају and узети — узмем — узму. The imperatives are дај, дајмо, дајте and узми, узмимо, узмите.

Дај ми, молим те, рачун кад завршиш.

Give me the receipt, please, when you finish.

Узмите слободно још једно парче пите.

Please feel free to take another piece of pie.

The politeness in the second example comes from слободно and context; plural узмите can address several people or one person formally.

The Transfer Pattern: Dative + Accusative

With дати, the recipient is dative and the thing given is accusative.

Role	Question	Example
giver	ко?	Марко
recipient	коме?	сестри
thing	шта?	резервни кључ

Марко је дао сестри резервни кључ од стана.

Marko gave his sister a spare key to the apartment.

Можеш ли да даш конобару нашу поруџбину?

Can you give the waiter our order?

English allows give the order to the waiter as an alternative. Serbian can make the recipient explicit with дати нешто некоме; it does not insert a preposition equivalent to English to before an ordinary dative recipient.

For the full declensional and semantic pattern, see The Dative as Indirect Object.

Personal pronouns make the case relation especially visible: ми, ти, му, јој, нам, вам, им are dative clitics; га, је/ју, их are accusative clitics.

Дајем му га сутра, чим потпише потврду.

I’m giving it to him tomorrow, as soon as he signs the receipt.

In му га, dative precedes accusative. Both clitics occupy the early cluster; they do not remain where English places to him and it.

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Ask two separate questions: коме? identifies the dative recipient; шта? identifies the accusative thing. Then place clitics in the order dative + accusative: му га, not га му.

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Do not translate English word order before identifying roles. First mark recipient and thing; then choose dative and accusative and place any clitics in Serbian order.

Taking: Source Is Not a Recipient

Узети takes the thing in the accusative. A neutral human source is commonly introduced by од + genitive; a physical surface or location may use са + genitive or из + genitive.

Узео сам књигу од колеге и вратићу је у петак.

I took the book from a colleague, and I’ll return it on Friday. (male speaker)

Узела је чашу са полице и сипала воду.

She took a glass from the shelf and poured some water.

A bare dative with узети often marks an affected person and can suggest deprivation: узети некоме телефон take someone’s phone away. That is not the neutral mirror image of giving.

Неко ми је узео кишобран из ходника.

Someone took my umbrella from the hallway.

Here ми means from me / affecting me, while кишобран is the accusative thing. To state a neutral source explicitly, use од мене.

Aspect: One Transfer or an Ongoing Pattern

Дати and узети are perfective: they present a transfer as one bounded whole. Their imperfective partners are давати and узимати, used when repetition, habit, process, or the absence of an endpoint is in focus.

Perfective	Imperfective	Typical contrast
дати	давати	give as a bounded whole / give repeatedly or be giving
узети	узимати	take as a bounded whole / take repeatedly or be taking

Сваког месеца дајемо део прихода у добротворне сврхе.

Every month we give part of our income to charity.

Кад дам коначну сагласност, послаћу вам копију уговора.

When I give final approval, I will send you a copy of the contract.

Imperfective дајемо is the neutral choice when the repetition itself is in focus. Perfective дам is morphologically present but can refer to a future boundary after кад; it can also occur in a habitual statement when each repeated transfer is viewed as one complete event, as in Сваког петка дам деци џепарац. It normally does not mean that a transfer is unfolding at speech time.

The same contrast applies to taking:

Обично узимам лек после доручка, али сам данас заборавио да га узмем.

I usually take the medicine after breakfast, but today I forgot to take it. (male speaker)

Ако узмеш последњу таблету, купи ново паковање.

If you take the last tablet, buy a new package.

Tense, Agreement, and Complement Choice

The l-participles are дао/дала and узео/узела in the singular. They agree with the subject, not with the object or recipient. The perfect auxiliary and pronoun clitics form their normal early cluster.

Јуче сам му дала све потребне документе.

Yesterday I gave him all the necessary documents. (female speaker)

Јеси ли му га дао пре састанка?

Did you give it to him before the meeting? (addressed to a man)

In сам му дала, auxiliary сам precedes dative му. In the question, full јеси combines with ли, and му га follows in dative–accusative order.

After a modal, both да + present and the infinitive are standard Serbian:

Морамо да дамо одговор до краја дана.

We must give an answer by the end of the day.

Морамо дати одговор до краја дана.

We must give an answer by the end of the day.

The future forms даћу and узећу are written as one word. This spelling belongs to future I, not to the present paradigm.

Affirmative, Negative, and Question

Даћу јој примерак извештаја после ручка.

I will give her a copy of the report after lunch.

Нећу јој дати оригинал без потписа.

I will not give her the original without a signature.

Хоћеш ли јој дати мој број телефона?

Will you give her my phone number?

The dative јој stays close to the finite auxiliary or question unit. Negation does not change the recipient’s case.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Replace Both Nouns with Clitics

Replace Петру and кључ in a present sentence.

Дајем му га после посла.

I am giving it to him after work. Answer: Петру becomes dative му, кључ becomes accusative га, and dative precedes accusative.

Task 2: Choose the Aspect

Express a monthly habit, then one completed future transfer.

Сваког месеца дајем прилог. — Кад дам прилог, сачуваћу потврду.

Every month I make a donation. — When I make the donation, I’ll keep the receipt. Answer: imperfective дајем for the habit; perfective дам for the bounded future event.

Common Mistakes

Using a preposition before the recipient

❌ Дао сам кључ за Ану.

Incorrect for a recipient—за Ану means ‘for Ana,’ not ‘to Ana’; ordinary giving uses the dative.

✅ Дао сам Ани кључ.

I gave Ana the key. (male speaker)

Reversing the clitic order

❌ Дајем га му сутра.

Incorrect clitic order—the dative must precede the accusative.

✅ Дајем му га сутра.

I am giving it to him tomorrow.

Using perfective дати for an action unfolding now

❌ Управо дам деци џепарац.

Incorrect for ‘I am giving the children pocket money right now’—perfective дам cannot present an action unfolding at speech time.

✅ Управо дајем деци џепарац.

I am giving the children pocket money right now.

Omitting l-participle agreement

❌ Јуче сам дао сестри карту.

Incorrect for a female speaker—the l-participle must be дала.

✅ Јуче сам дала сестри карту.

Yesterday I gave my sister a ticket. (female speaker)

Translating English take a bus with узети

❌ Обично узимам аутобус до центра.

Unnatural calque—Serbian normally says that one goes or travels by bus.

✅ Обично идем аутобусом до центра.

I usually take the bus downtown.

Key Takeaways

Learn дати — дам — дају and узети — узмем — узму as principal-form sets.
With дати, the recipient is dative and the thing is accusative: дати некоме нешто.
Dative clitics precede accusative clitics: му га.
Perfective дати/узети present one bounded transfer; давати/узимати express process or repetition.
The l-participle agrees with the subject: дао/дала, узео/узела.

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