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Questions & Answers about Kupujem litar ulja.
What tense is kupujem, and does it mean I buy or I am buying?
Kupujem is the 1st person singular present tense of the imperfective verb kupovati / kupujem.
It can mean both:
- I buy
- I am buying
Which one is meant depends on context. Serbian present tense often covers both the simple present and the present continuous in English.
So Kupujem litar ulja can mean:
- I’m buying a liter of oil
or - I buy a liter of oil (for example, habitually)
In most everyday situations, learners will often understand it as I’m buying a liter of oil.
Why is litar unchanged? Shouldn’t the object have a different ending?
Litar is the direct object of the sentence, so it is in the accusative case.
But litar is a masculine inanimate noun, and for many masculine inanimate nouns in Serbian, the accusative singular looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.
So:
- nominative: litar
- accusative: litar
That is why the form does not change.
Why is it ulja and not ulje?
Because after a word of measure like litar (), Serbian normally puts the following noun in the .