Questions & Answers about Nemam kartu za voz, pa danas ne mogu da putujem.
Why is there no ja in this sentence?
Serbian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- nemam = I don’t have
- ne mogu = I can’t
So ja is unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast:
- Ja nemam kartu, a on ima. = I don’t have a ticket, but he does.
In the given sentence, leaving out ja sounds completely natural.
Why is it nemam but ne mogu? Why is one written together and the other separately?
This is a very common learner question.
In Serbian, negation with ne is usually written separately from the verb:
- ne mogu
- ne znam
- ne idem
But a few verbs have special negative forms that are written together. Imati is one of them in everyday use:
- imam → nemam
- imaš → nemaš
- ima → nema
So:
- nemam kartu = I don’t have a ticket
- ne mogu da putujem = I can’t travel
You mostly just have to learn these spelling patterns as part of the verb.