Pusti saigrača da igra.

Pusti is the 2nd person singular imperative of pustiti. In this sentence, it means let / allow.

So the speaker is giving a command to one person, informally:

• Pusti saigrača da igra. = Let the teammate play.

If you were speaking to more than one person, or using formal you, you would say:

• Pustite saigrača da igra.

Because saigrača is in the accusative singular.

The noun saigrač means teammate. Since it is a masculine animate noun, its accusative singular looks like the genitive singular:

• nominative: saigrač
• accusative: saigrača

It is accusative because it is the direct object of pusti:

• you are letting whom? → saigrača

Even though the teammate is the one who will do the playing, grammatically he is still the object of pusti.

Because Serbian very often uses da + present tense where English uses an infinitive.

So:

• English: Let him play
• Serbian: Pusti ga da igra

Literally, da igra may look like that he plays, but in modern Serbian this is a normal and very common structure. After verbs like want, can, must, let, and many others, da + present is often the natural choice.

So Pusti saigrača da igra is the normal Serbian way to say this.

The subject of igra is saigrač — the teammate.

So the structure is:

• Pusti = let
• saigrača = the teammate
• da igra = to play / that he play

In English, we often think of the teammate as the object of let and the subject of play at the same time:

• Let [the teammate] play

The same idea exists here in Serbian. The noun is in the accusative because of pusti, but it is also the understood doer of igra.

Because igra is part of the da-clause, not a separate command.

• igraj! = play! (imperative)
• da igra = to play / that he play

The actual command in the sentence is carried by pusti:

• Pusti saigrača da igra. = Let the teammate play.

So you are not directly telling the teammate Play!
You are telling someone else Let him play.

Because Serbian often leaves out possessive words when they are obvious from the situation.

In many contexts, saigrača naturally means your teammate or the teammate depending on context. Serbian does not always need to say your if everyone already knows whose teammate is meant.

If you want to make it explicit, you can say:

• Pusti svog saigrača da igra. = Let your teammate play.

So the original sentence is completely natural even without svog.

It can mean several related things, depending on context.

From pustiti, pusti can mean:

• let / allow
• release
• leave alone
• sometimes drop it / forget it

In this sentence, because it is followed by da igra, the meaning is clearly let / allow:

• Pusti saigrača da igra. = Let the teammate play.

So context tells you which meaning is intended.

This is about aspect.

• pustiti = perfective
• puštati = imperfective

The imperative pusti usually sounds like a single, complete action or decision:

• Let him play now.

The imperfective imperative puštaj would suggest something more like:

• keep letting him play
• be in the habit of letting him play
• or sometimes an ongoing/repeated action

In this sentence, pusti is the natural choice because the speaker is telling someone to make that decision now.

Serbian word order is fairly flexible, but Pusti saigrača da igra is the most neutral and natural order.

This order is easy to understand:

• command first: Pusti
• object next: saigrača
• then the da clause: da igra

You can change word order in Serbian for emphasis, but not every rearrangement sounds equally natural. For a learner, this version is the safest and most standard one to use.

The natural negative command is:

• Ne puštaj saigrača da igra. = Don’t let the teammate play.

Notice that Serbian often uses the imperfective in negative imperatives:

• puštaj rather than pusti

So:

• positive: Pusti saigrača da igra.
• negative: Ne puštaj saigrača da igra.

This is a very common aspect pattern in Serbian.