Biram svežu ribu.

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Breakdown of Biram svežu ribu.

• riba: fish
• birati: to choose

Questions & Answers about Biram svežu ribu.

What does biram mean, exactly?

Biram is the 1st person singular present tense form of birati, which means to choose / to select.

So biram = I choose or I am choosing, depending on context.

Serbian present tense often covers both:

• I choose
• I’m choosing

Why is it biram and not something else for I choose?

Because Serbian verbs change their endings depending on the subject.

For birati in the present tense:

• ja biram = I choose
• ti biraš = you choose
• on/ona/ono bira = he/she/it chooses
• mi biramo = we choose
• vi birate = you choose
• oni/one/ona biraju = they choose

So the ending -am tells you the subject is I.

Why is riba changed to ribu?

Because ribu is in the accusative case, which is used for the direct object of the verb.

Here, the thing being chosen is the fish, so riba has to become ribu.

• riba = nominative singular
• ribu = accusative singular

This is very common in Serbian:

• Vidim ženu. = I see the woman.
• Kupujem knjigu. = I’m buying a book.
• Biram ribu. = I’m choosing fish.