Breakdown of Lekar misli da moram da pijem mnogo vode.
voda
water
piti
to drink
morati
must
misliti
to think
Questions & Answers about Lekar misli da moram da pijem mnogo vode.
Why are there two das in this sentence?
They are doing two different jobs.
- Lekar misli da... = The doctor thinks that...
- Here da introduces a content clause, like English that.
- moram da pijem = I have to drink
- Here da is part of a very common Serbian pattern: modal verb + da + present tense.
So the sentence is built like this:
- Lekar misli da = The doctor thinks that...
- moram da pijem mnogo vode = I have to drink a lot of water.
Why is it moram da pijem, and not just a form meaning to drink?
In Serbian, after verbs like morati (must / have to), it is very common to use:
- moram da pijem
- literally: I must that I drink
- naturally: I have to drink
This is one of the biggest differences from English. English uses the infinitive (to drink), but Serbian very often uses da + present tense instead.
So:
- moram da pijem = I have to drink
- not usually moram piti in everyday Serbian
You may sometimes see an infinitive in related languages or in more formal/literary usage, but da + present is the normal Serbian pattern.