The present verbal adverb (глаголски прилог садашњи) compresses a clause whose action is simultaneous with, or supplies the manner or cause of, the main action. Идући кући, слушала је подкаст means “While walking home, she listened to a podcast.” The person walking and the person listening must be the same.
Despite the English name “present,” this form has no tense of its own. Its time is interpreted relative to the finite verb: ходајући can accompany a past, present, future, or conditional event. It is an invariable non-finite form, not Serbian’s version of the English progressive.
Formation from the third-person plural present
The reliable learner-facing starting point is the third-person plural present: append -ћи to its visible form. Morphologically, the verbal adverb is analyzed from the present stem; the third-person-plural shortcut is useful because it exposes the correct surface stem without asking a learner to reconstruct that stem abstractly.
| Infinitive | 3rd plural present | Present verbal adverb |
|---|---|---|
| читати | читају | читајући |
| радити | раде | радећи |
| носити | носе | носећи |
| ићи | иду | идући |
| слушати | слушају | слушајући |
The form does not change for gender, number, or person. A man, a woman, and a group can all be described with читајући. Person and agreement appear only in the finite main clause.
Читајући поруку, схватила је да је погрешила адресу.
While reading the message, she realized that she had entered the wrong address.
Идући ка станици, срели смо старог комшију.
While walking toward the station, we ran into an old neighbor.
Деца су се вратила кући певајући навијачке песме.
The children came home singing football chants.
Why it normally uses imperfective verbs
The present verbal adverb presents an activity as unfolding alongside another event, so in contemporary standard Serbian it is productively formed from an imperfective verb. That aspect supplies the internal duration needed for simultaneity: разговарајући “while talking,” чекајући “while waiting,” живећи “while living.”
Чекајући резултате, проверавала је пошту сваких десет минута.
While waiting for the results, she checked her email every ten minutes.
Живећи у Новом Саду, често смо ишли бициклом на посао.
While living in Novi Sad, we often cycled to work.
A perfective verb packages an event as a bounded whole and therefore does not normally supply this simultaneous frame. To express a completed action that precedes the main one, Serbian uses the past verbal adverb: прочитавши поруку, позвала је... “having read the message, she called...”
Aspect can be lexically complicated, and a few forms have become adjectives, adverbs, or fixed expressions. Do not manufacture a present verbal adverb from every dictionary verb merely because the shape seems possible.
The same-subject constraint
The understood subject of the verbal adverb must control the finite predicate. In Улазећи у канцеларију, угледао сам Ану, the omitted subject of улазећи is “I,” and сам угледао also has “I” as subject.
Улазећи у канцеларију, угледао сам Ану поред прозора.
As I entered the office, I saw Ana by the window. (male speaker)
Разговарајући са клијенткињом, записивала сам све важне детаље.
While talking to the client, I wrote down every important detail. (female speaker)
English often tolerates loose or dangling -ing clauses, especially in hurried prose. Standard Serbian requires a clear shared subject. If the two actions have different subjects, use an explicit clause with док, када, пошто, јер, or another suitable conjunction.
Док сам улазио у зграду, зазвонио ми је телефон.
While I was entering the building, my phone rang.
Here the person enters, but the phone rings. A verbal-adverb version would wrongly make телефон the understood “enterer.”
Simultaneity, manner, and cause
The broad meaning is accompanying circumstance, but context refines the relation.
Simultaneous action
Седећи на тераси, читали су јутарње вести.
Sitting on the terrace, they read the morning news.
Manner
Насмешила се, одмахујући главом.
She smiled, shaking her head.
Cause or basis for a judgment
Познајући његов начин рада, нисам очекивала брз одговор.
Knowing how he works, I didn’t expect a quick reply. (female speaker)
The form itself does not encode “while,” “because,” or “by.” Listeners infer the relation from lexical meaning and discourse. If the intended logic could be misunderstood, a finite clause is clearer: Пошто познајем његов начин рада... explicitly means “Because I know how he works...”
Relative time, not present time
Compare the same verbal adverb with different finite verbs:
Враћајући се кући, обично купујем хлеб.
On my way home, I usually buy bread.
Враћајући се кући, купио сам хлеб и млеко.
On my way home, I bought bread and milk. (male speaker)
Враћајући се кући, свратићу до апотеке.
On my way home, I’ll stop by the pharmacy.
Враћајући се is identical in all three. The finite verbs купујем, купио сам, свратићу locate the whole situation in habitual present, past, or future time.
Negation, reflexive се, and complements
Negate the verbal adverb with separate не: не знајући, не гледајући, не чекајући. A reflexive verb retains се, normally immediately after the initial verbal adverb when the phrase opens the clause.
Не знајући нову шифру, нисмо могли да отворимо врата.
Not knowing the new code, we couldn’t open the door.
Не осврћући се, наставила је према излазу.
Without looking back, she continued toward the exit.
Смејући се сопственој грешци, поново је попунио образац.
Laughing at his own mistake, he filled out the form again.
The verbal adverb keeps its verb’s government. Смејати се takes се and dative грешци; разговарати са still takes instrumental. Changing to a non-finite form does not license an English preposition or remove a Serbian case requirement.
Affirmative, negative, and question contexts
Because the verbal adverb is non-finite, polarity and interrogation of the main clause remain on the finite predicate.
| Context | Example |
|---|---|
| affirmative | Слушајући музику, завршила је извештај. |
| negative | Слушајући музику, није чула телефон. |
| question | Да ли је, слушајући музику, завршила извештај? |
The form слушајући does not acquire person or tense endings in any row. Auxiliary and question clitics follow the finite clause’s normal syntax.
Register and punctuation
Present verbal adverbs are fully standard but denser in edited prose, journalism, academic writing, and narrative than in spontaneous conversation. (formal) uses can compress long stretches of information; conversation often prefers док + finite verb. When the phrase precedes the main clause, it is normally separated by a comma. A short tightly integrated phrase after the verb may be less detached, but clarity favors conventional comma placement when the phrase comments on the whole clause.
Practice Tasks
Task 1: Form the verbal adverb
Use the third-person plural present of носити and describe someone listening to music while carrying boxes.
Носећи кутије уз степенице, слушао је музику преко слушалица.
While carrying boxes upstairs, he listened to music through headphones.
Task 2: Repair a subject mismatch
Replace the dangling structure with док so that “I” enter and the lights go out.
Док сам улазила у подрум, угасила су се светла.
While I was entering the basement, the lights went out. (female speaker)
Common Mistakes
Giving the form gender agreement
❌ Читајућа поруку, Милица је застала.
Incorrect—the present verbal adverb is invariable; читајућа is an agreeing adjectival form, not the required adverb.
✅ Читајући поруку, Милица је застала.
While reading the message, Milica stopped.
Creating a dangling subject
❌ Возећи кроз тунел, радио је изгубио сигнал.
Incorrect—the grammar makes радио ‘the radio’ the driver; the intended driver needs an explicit clause.
✅ Док смо возили кроз тунел, радио је изгубио сигнал.
While we were driving through the tunnel, the radio lost its signal.
Using the form as an English progressive
❌ Она је читајући нови роман.
Incorrect—Serbian does not form a progressive tense with бити plus a present verbal adverb.
✅ Она чита нови роман.
She is reading a new novel.
Joining the negative particle
❌ Незнајући број стана, позвао је домаћина.
Incorrect—не is written separately from the verbal adverb.
✅ Не знајући број стана, позвао је домаћина.
Not knowing the apartment number, he called the host.
Key Takeaways
- Form the present verbal adverb from the third-person plural present plus -ћи.
- It is normally imperfective, invariable, and simultaneous with the finite event.
- Its understood subject must be the subject of the main finite predicate.
- It can express accompanying action, manner, or inferred cause; it has no tense of its own.
- Preserve negation, reflexive се, complement government, and ordinary finite-clause clitic syntax.
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Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- Past Verbal Adverb (glagolski prilog prošli)C1 — The -vši form meaning 'having done'.
- What the Imperfective MeansB1 — Process, repetition, duration, and general statements.
- Reducing Clauses with Verbal AdverbsC1 — Compressing 'while/having' clauses, and the dangling-converb trap.
- Using the Present TenseA2 — Habitual, ongoing, future, and historic present — and aspect's role.
- The Second-Position (Wackernagel) RuleB1 — Why clitics land right after the first element of the clause.