Ti voliš kafu, ali ja volim čaj.

coffee

Breakdown of Ti voliš kafu, ali ja volim čaj.

• ja: I
• ti: you
• voleti: to like

Questions & Answers about Ti voliš kafu, ali ja volim čaj.

Why is it voliš with ti, but volim with ja?

Because Serbian verbs change depending on the subject.

The verb here is voleti = to love / to like. In the present tense:

• ja volim = I like
• ti voliš = you like
• on/ona/ono voli = he/she/it likes
• mi volimo = we like
• vi volite = you (plural/formal) like
• oni/one/ona vole = they like

So:

• ti voliš = you like
• ja volim = I like

This is similar to how English says I am but you are, except Serbian does this with many verbs.

Why is kafa changed to kafu, but čaj stays čaj?

Because Serbian uses cases, and direct objects usually go into the accusative case.

In this sentence, coffee and tea are the things being liked, so they are direct objects.

• kafa → kafu
• čaj → čaj

This difference happens because different nouns change in different ways.

kafa

This is a feminine noun, and its accusative singular is:

• kafa = nominative
• = accusative