Bibliotekar će završiti razduženje tek kada korisnik vrati primerak.

will

Breakdown of Bibliotekar će završiti razduženje tek kada korisnik vrati primerak.

• vratiti: to return
• završiti: to finish
• bibliotekar: a librarian

Questions & Answers about Bibliotekar će završiti razduženje tek kada korisnik vrati primerak.

How is the future expressed in će završiti?

Serbian commonly forms the future with:

• a present-tense form of hteti (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će)
• plus the infinitive

So:

• će završiti = will finish / will complete

Here, će is the 3rd person singular form, matching bibliotekar.

A few examples:

• Ja ću doći. = I will come.
• Ona će čekati. = She will wait.
• Bibliotekar će završiti... = The librarian will finish...

Why is it vrati, not će vratiti, after kada?

After time words like kada (when), Serbian often uses the present tense where English uses a future form.

So:

• kada korisnik vrati primerak literally looks like when the user returns the copy
• but in meaning it refers to the future: when the user has returned / when the user returns

This is very normal in Serbian.

Compare:

• Doći ću kada završim. = I will come when I finish.
• Pozvaću te kada stignem. = I’ll call you when I arrive.

So vrati is not a mistake or a present-time action here; it is the standard form in this kind of clause.

Why is it vrati and not vraća?