imati and Expressing Existence (ima/nema) | Serbian Grammar

Serbian имати has two central uses. As an ordinary personal verb, it means “have”: Имам карту “I have a ticket.” As invariant third-person singular има and negative нема, it can assert existence: У близини има неколико апотека “There are several pharmacies nearby,” Нема слободних места “There are no available seats.”

The two patterns differ in argument structure. Possessive имати agrees with a possessor and normally takes an accusative object. Existential има/нема has no possessor, never agrees with the thing that exists, and very commonly presents that content in the genitive. English have versus there is/are helps with meaning, but Serbian case and agreement must be learned separately.

Personal имати: a complete present paradigm

Person	Affirmative	Negative
ја	имам	немам
ти	имаш	немаш
он / она / оно	има	нема
ми	имамо	немамо
ви	имате	немате
они / оне / она	имају	немају

The negative forms are fused words. The possessor is nominative, often omitted when the ending identifies it; the possessed object is normally accusative.

Имам заказан преглед у пола три.

I have a medical appointment at two thirty.

Милица има нову картицу за превоз.

Milica has a new transit card.

Немамо вашу тренутну адресу.

We don’t have your current address.

Feminine картицу, адресу visibly show accusative. With masculine animate nouns, animacy matters: Имам брата “I have a brother,” with accusative equal to genitive. Negative possession does not automatically force every object into genitive; Немамо вашу адресу remains a specific accusative object. Partitive genitive is nevertheless natural with substances and indefinite amounts: Немам новца “I have no money.”

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Ask whether someone is the possessor. If yes, conjugate имати for that person: имам, имаш, имамо, имају. Do not use invariant existential има in place of a personal form.

Existential има and нема

Existential има means that something is present or available; нема denies that existence or availability. The construction is impersonal, so the verb remains third-person singular even when the existential content is plural.

У овом крају има добрих пекара.

There are some good bakeries in this neighborhood.

У фрижидеру има млека и свежег поврћа.

There is milk and fresh produce in the refrigerator.

На паркингу нема слободних места.

There are no free spaces in the parking lot.

После осам нема аутобуса за село.

After eight, there are no buses to the village.

The genitives пекара, млека, поврћа, места, аутобуса present an indefinite quantity or set. This is the high-frequency core of the existential pattern. The same genitive logic appears after quantity expressions; see partitive and quantity genitive.

Do not change има to имају because English says there are. The noun phrase is not a nominative subject controlling the verb in this construction.

A countable singular and presentational има

With a single countable entity, Serbian offers more than one natural framing. Presentational Има један проблем is standard and extremely common: it introduces a new topic with један проблем in the nominative singular. A quantifier such as један or неки licenses this pattern; a bare affirmative singular count noun does not normally have the same presentational reading.

Има један слободан сто поред прозора.

There is one free table next to the window.

Постоји један проблем који морамо одмах да решимо.

There is one problem that we must solve immediately.

На крају ходника је слободна канцеларија.

There is an available office at the end of the corridor.

At A1, build reliable productive sentences with genitive има/нема for masses, quantities, and indefinite plurals. Use nominative singular after један / неки in the presentational pattern, and use постоји / постоје or бити when you want the individuated noun to behave transparently as the agreeing subject. Do not mix case endings inside one noun phrase.

Present existence versus definite location

Existential има introduces or quantifies something. If a definite, already identified object is being located, use бити or налазити се instead.

На полици има старих часописа.

There are some old magazines on the shelf. (indefinite existence)

Твоји часописи су на горњој полици.

Your magazines are on the top shelf. (location of identified items)

Главни улаз се налази иза зграде.

The main entrance is behind the building.

English uses there is both to introduce entities and, in some varieties, to point out a known item. Serbian distinguishes the discourse jobs more strongly: има introduces availability or presence, while је/су locates a definite subject.

Past and future existence use бити

Neutral standard Serbian normally changes the impersonal existential frame to било је in the past and биће in the future. Past било is neuter singular and future биће is third-person singular; masses, quantities, and indefinite plurals remain genitive.

Time	Affirmative	Negative
present	има времена	нема времена
past	било је времена	није било времена
future	биће времена	неће бити времена

На отварању је било много посетилаца.

There were many visitors at the opening.

Јутрос није било топле воде у згради.

There was no hot water in the building this morning.

Следеће недеље ће бити више слободних термина.

There will be more available appointments next week.

The plural English nouns visitors and appointments do not trigger plural били су / биће они. In the impersonal pattern, било је is neuter singular and биће is third-person singular.

A countable singular can instead be introduced as a nominative subject, with agreement where it is visible: Јуче је био један проблем са сервером “There was one problem with the server yesterday.” This is the past counterpart of presentational има један проблем, not an exception that turns a genitive plural into a nominative plural.

Personal possession uses ordinary tense forms of имати instead: Имао сам карту “I had a ticket,” Имаћу више времена “I will have more time.”

Прошле године смо имали мањи стан, а следеће године ћемо имати више простора.

Last year we had a smaller apartment, and next year we’ll have more space.

Questions: possession or existence?

The question form reveals which construction you need.

Meaning	Question	Short answer
possession, 2nd person	Имаш ли оловку?	Имам. / Немам.
possession, polite/plural	Да ли имате резервацију?	Имамо. / Немамо.
existence	Има ли места?	Има. / Нема.
past existence	Да ли је било проблема?	Јесте. / Није.

Има ли у близини банкомата?

Is there an ATM nearby?

Да ли имате нешто ситније?

Do you have anything smaller? (for example, a smaller banknote)

Existential има ли remains singular. Personal имате agrees with the polite or plural addressee.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Contrast possession and existence

Say that the hotel has a garage, then say there are free spaces in it.

Хотел има гаражу, а у гаражи има слободних места.

The hotel has a garage, and there are free spaces in the garage.

Task 2: Move existence into the past

Change У сали има довољно столица to past negative.

У сали није било довољно столица.

There weren’t enough chairs in the hall.

Common Mistakes

Using invariant има for a first-person possessor

❌ Ја има карту за вечерашњу представу.

Incorrect—personal possession must agree with first-person singular ја: имам.

✅ Имам карту за вечерашњу представу.

I have a ticket for tonight’s performance.

Making existential има plural

❌ У центру имају добрих ресторана.

Incorrect—existential има is invariant third-person singular; there is no plural possessor subject.

✅ У центру има добрих ресторана.

There are some good restaurants downtown.

Using nominative after negative existential нема

❌ У аутобусу нема слободна седишта.

Incorrect—existential нема requires genitive content here: слободних седишта.

✅ У аутобусу нема слободних седишта.

There are no free seats on the bus.

Keeping present има in a past frame

❌ Синоћ у хотелу има много гостију.

Incorrect for neutral past existence—use impersonal било је.

✅ Синоћ је у хотелу било много гостију.

There were many guests at the hotel last night.

Key Takeaways

Personal имати agrees with its possessor and normally takes an accusative object.
Existential има/нема is impersonal and does not agree with plural existential content.
Genitive is central after existential има/нема, especially for masses, quantities, and indefinite plurals.
Use било је / није било for past existence and биће / неће бити for future existence.
Use је/су or налазити се to locate a definite known entity rather than merely introducing its existence.

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