Danas ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona.

In standard Serbian, after modal verbs like moći (can / be able to), you usually use:

• da + present tense

So:

• mogu da radim = I can work
• ne mogu da radim = I can’t work

Using ne mogu radim is not grammatical standard Serbian.

You may also sometimes see an infinitive after modal verbs in related varieties or in more formal/literary style, but in everyday Serbian, da + present is the normal pattern.

Because after da, Serbian normally uses a present-tense verb form:

• da radim

Even though English might think of this as to work, Serbian does not use a separate infinitive here in the usual everyday structure. So da radim functions like to work in this sentence.

Danas means today.

In this sentence, it sets the time frame for the whole statement:

• Danas ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona.
• Today I can’t work without my phone.

It often appears at the beginning of a sentence, but Serbian word order is flexible, so you could also move it for emphasis.

Because Serbian often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

Here, mogu means I can (or they can, depending on context), but because of the rest of the sentence and normal usage, I is understood.

So Serbian often says:

• Ne mogu da radim. = I can’t work.

Instead of:

• Ja ne mogu da radim.

The pronoun ja is added only when you want emphasis or contrast:

• Ja ne mogu da radim, ali on može.
• I can’t work, but he can.

Because the preposition bez (without) requires the genitive case.

So the noun after bez must change form:

• telefon → telefona

And the possessive word must also match that case:

• svoj → svog

That is why you get:

• bez svog telefona = without my own phone

Not:

• bez svoj telefon ❌

Svoj is a reflexive possessive word, and it usually means one’s own.

Serbian prefers svoj when the possessor is the same as the subject of the sentence.

Here the subject is understood as I, and the phone belongs to that same person, so:

• bez svog telefona = without my own phone

This is more natural than bez mog telefona in this context.

Compare:

• Radim bez svog telefona. = I work without my own phone.
• Radim bez mog telefona. can sound marked, contrastive, or less natural unless there is a special reason to stress my.

So as a general rule:

• use svoj when the owner = the subject
• use moj / tvoj / njegov... when the owner is different, or when you specifically want to emphasize it

Svog is the genitive singular masculine/neuter form of svoj.

Since telefon is a masculine noun, and since bez requires genitive, we get:

• bez svog telefona

You can think of it like this:

• base form: svoj telefon
• after bez: bez svog telefona

Both the possessive and the noun change to fit the case.

Because it is in the genitive singular.

The noun telefon is masculine, and one common genitive singular ending for masculine nouns is -a:

• telefon → telefona
• pas → psa
• grad → grada

Since bez requires genitive, you must say:

• bez telefona = without a phone / without the phone

And here specifically:

• bez svog telefona = without my own phone

Yes.

• bez telefona = without a phone / without the phone
• bez svog telefona = without my own phone

Adding svog makes it more specific and personal. It emphasizes that it is your own phone that you need.

So both are grammatical, but they do not feel exactly the same.

In Serbian, the negative particle ne is usually written separately from the verb:

• ne mogu = I cannot / I can’t
• ne radim = I do not work / I’m not working

So:

• ne mogu da radim is correct
• nemogu da radim is incorrect

This is a very common spelling point for learners.

Yes. Serbian word order is fairly flexible, because case endings and verb forms carry a lot of grammatical information.

The neutral version is:

• Danas ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona.

But you could also say:

• Ne mogu danas da radim bez svog telefona.
• Bez svog telefona danas ne mogu da radim.
• Danas bez svog telefona ne mogu da radim.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly:

• Danas first = focus on today
• Bez svog telefona first = focus on without my phone
• Ne mogu first = focus on I can’t

In Serbian, the present tense can often cover both ideas, depending on context.

So radim can mean:

• I work
• I am working

In this sentence, because of ne mogu da... and danas, the meaning is best understood as:

• I can’t work today
• or Today I’m unable to work

English chooses between work and be working more explicitly, but Serbian often leaves that to context.

Radim is the 1st person singular present tense of raditi:

• ja radim = I work / I am working

After da, Serbian still uses a present-tense form, so:

• da radim = to work in this structure

That is why the sentence uses radim, not the dictionary form raditi.

Usually danas means today, literally.

In some contexts, it can also mean something like nowadays / these days, but that depends on the sentence.

Here, with ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona, the most natural reading is the literal one:

• Today I can’t work without my phone.

If the speaker meant these days, the context would usually make that clearer.