Word
Čim završim posao, odmah ću te pozvati.
Meaning
As soon as I finish work, I will call you immediately.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Čim završim posao, odmah ću te pozvati.
What does čim mean here?
Čim means as soon as.
It introduces a time clause:
- Čim završim posao = as soon as I finish work / the job
It usually suggests that the second action happens immediately after the first one.
Why is it završim and not završavam or završiću?
Because Serbian uses the present tense of a perfective verb after time words like čim when talking about the future.
- završim = 1st person singular present of završiti, a perfective verb
- perfective = the action is seen as completed
So:
- Čim završim posao... literally looks like As soon as I finish the job...
- but it refers to a future completed action
Why not the others?
- završavam is imperfective, so it focuses more on the process or repeated action
- završiću is future tense, but after čim Serbian normally does not use future here
So Čim završim posao is the natural pattern.
Why isn’t ja included?