Vidim policajca.

Because policajca is in the accusative singular, which is the case used for the direct object of the verb videti/vidjeti (to see).

• Dictionary form: policajac = police officer
• In this sentence, the police officer is the person being seen, so Serbian changes the noun:
  • policajac = nominative singular
  • policajca = accusative singular

This happens because policajac is a masculine animate noun. In Serbian, masculine animate nouns usually have:

• nominative singular: policajac
• accusative singular: policajca

So:

• Policajac je ovde. = The police officer is here.
• Vidim policajca. = I see the police officer / a police officer.

Vidim means I see.

It is the 1st person singular present tense form of videti (Ekavian) or vidjeti (Ijekavian), meaning to see.

So:

• vidim = I see
• vidiš = you see
• vidi = he/she/it sees

In this sentence, vidim already tells you the subject is I, so Serbian does not need a separate word for I unless you want emphasis.

Because Serbian verbs usually show the subject clearly through their endings.

The ending in vidim already means I:

• vidim = I see

So Ja vidim policajca. is possible, but ja is often omitted because it is already understood.

Compare:

• Vidim policajca. = I see a/the police officer.
• Ja vidim policajca. = I see a/the police officer with extra emphasis on I

English usually requires the subject pronoun, but Serbian often does not.

Because Serbian has no articles.

That means Serbian does not have separate words corresponding directly to English a/an and the.

So policajca can mean:

• a police officer
• the police officer

The exact meaning depends on context.

For example:

• Vidim policajca. could mean I see a police officer if one is being introduced for the first time.
• It could also mean I see the police officer if both speakers already know which one is meant.

Yes. This is a very normal and neutral word order.

A good way to think about it is:

• (Ja) vidim policajca.
• I see the police officer.

Serbian word order is more flexible than English because case endings show grammatical roles. That means you can move words around for emphasis.

For example:

• Vidim policajca. = neutral
• Policajca vidim. = emphasis on the police officer
• Ja vidim policajca. = emphasis on I

So the sentence you have is a standard, natural version.

The dictionary form is policajac.

When you look nouns up in a dictionary, you usually find them in the nominative singular form. In the sentence, however, the noun appears in the form required by grammar.

So:

• Dictionary form: policajac
• Form used here: policajca

This is very common in Serbian. The form you see in a sentence is often not the dictionary form because Serbian nouns change according to case and number.

Good question. In Serbian, an ending like -a does not automatically mean the noun is feminine.

Here, policajca is still a masculine noun. The -a appears because of its case ending, not because the noun has changed gender.

So:

• policajac is masculine
• policajca is still masculine, just in the accusative singular

English speakers often notice -a and assume feminine, but in Serbian you always have to look at:

• the dictionary form
• the noun’s gender
• the case being used

Yes, vidim is present tense.

In English, you often distinguish between:

• I see
• I am seeing

In Serbian, the present tense often covers what English expresses with either the simple present or present progressive, depending on context.

So Vidim policajca most naturally means:

• I see a/the police officer
• or in context, I’m seeing a/the police officer

Usually, in a simple sentence like this, the natural English translation is I see a/the police officer.

It would be:

Видим полицајца.

Serbian uses both:

• Latin script: Vidim policajca.
• Cyrillic script: Видим полицајца.

They are equally Serbian; the meaning and grammar are exactly the same.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Vidim ≈ VEE-deem
• policajca ≈ po-lee-TSAI-tsa

A few useful notes:

• c in Serbian is pronounced like ts
• j is pronounced like English y
• aj sounds roughly like the vowel in eye

So policajca has the sound sequence po-li-caj-ca, with caj sounding roughly like tsai.

Yes, often it would.

The special ending here is connected to the fact that policajac is masculine animate. For masculine nouns in the singular:

• animate nouns usually have accusative = genitive
• inanimate nouns usually have accusative = nominative

For example:

• Vidim policajca. = animate → policajca
• Vidim sto. = inanimate → sto

So one important rule in Serbian is that masculine singular nouns behave differently in the accusative depending on whether they are animate or inanimate.