Questions & Answers about Sada želim malo da se odmaram.
Why isn’t ja included? Does the sentence literally mean Now want a little to rest?
Serbian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb ending. Želim already means I want, so ja is not necessary.
You can add ja for emphasis or contrast:
- Ja sada želim malo da se odmaram. = I want to rest a bit now.
So the sentence is fully natural without ja.
Why does Serbian use da se odmaram after želim instead of an infinitive?
After verbs like želim (I want), Serbian very often uses da + present tense rather than an infinitive.
So:
- želim da se odmaram = I want to rest / be resting
This is one of the most important patterns in Serbian. An English speaker expects to rest, but Serbian usually prefers da plus a conjugated verb here.
Why is se there?
The verb is odmarati se, which means to rest. The se is part of the verb.
Without se, you do not get the normal meaning to rest oneself / to rest in this everyday sense. So you should learn it as a unit:
- odmarati se = to rest
- odmoriti se = to rest, to get some rest