Film počinje u sedam sati, ali se završava kasno.

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Breakdown of Film počinje u sedam sati, ali se završava kasno.

• kasno: late
• počinjati: to start
• u: at

Questions & Answers about Film počinje u sedam sati, ali se završava kasno.

Why is there no word for the before film?

Serbian does not have articles like the or a/an.

So film can mean the film, a film, or just film, depending on context. In this sentence, context tells you it means the film.

• Film počinje... = The film starts...

Why are počinje and završava in the present tense if the sentence talks about a later time?

Because Serbian often uses the present tense for scheduled events, just like English does.

Compare English:

• The film starts at seven.
• The train leaves at six.

Serbian does the same:

• Film počinje u sedam sati.

So this is a normal way to talk about a timetable or fixed schedule.

What verb is počinje from, and could I say počne instead?

Počinje is the present-tense form of the imperfective verb počinjati / počinjati se? No—here the relevant basic pair is:

• počinjati = to be starting / to start (imperfective)
• početi = to start, to begin (perfective)

In everyday Serbian, počinje is the natural form in a sentence like this because it describes a scheduled event.