Danas ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona.

to work

Breakdown of Danas ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona.

• ne: not
• telefon: phone
• danas: today

Questions & Answers about Danas ne mogu da radim bez svog telefona.

Why is it ne mogu da radim and not just ne mogu radim?

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.

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Why is radim in the present tense if the whole sentence means I can’t work today?

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.

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What exactly does Danas mean here?

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.

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