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B1 — intermediateAdverbs

Modal & sentence adverbs

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

Adverbs of judgement and certainty: možda, naravno, nažalost

In the lessons “Adverb formation” and “Manner & degree adverbs”, adverbs answered questions about the action itself: how it happens (brzo, “quickly”) and how strongly (vrlo, “very”). The adverbs of this lesson say nothing about the action; they speak about the speaker: how sure you are of what you say, how you feel about it, how you know it. Say Dolazi and you simply report “he’s coming”; add možda (“maybe”) or sigurno (“definitely”) and your own stance enters the same sentence.

Such words are called sentence adverbs (or modal adverbs). English works the same way with maybe, of course, unfortunately, apparently. But the Serbian set has its own fine points: some words get confused over how sure they are, others over what they mean, and a few have habits of their own with the comma and with word order.

The certainty scale: from sigurno to možda

The most frequent job of these adverbs is to show how sure the speaker is. They line up neatly on a scale, from full certainty down to doubt:

Look at the example with možda: it is about tomorrow, yet the verb is in the present tense (dođe). It is a light, tentative way of talking about a possible future, close to English “he might drop by”; the future is correct too (Možda će doći). Verovatno, sigurno and teško da, on the other hand, usually take the future tense for the future (će doći).

Do not confuse these adverbs with the modal verbs from “Core modal verbs”. A verb changes with the person (mogu, moram) and says whether something can or must be done: Mogu da dođem sutra “I can come tomorrow”. An adverb never changes and says how sure you are: Možda dođem sutra “Maybe I’ll come tomorrow”. The two words look alike, so keep them apart: “Maybe tomorrow” is Možda sutra, while Može sutra means “tomorrow works” (Može!, “OK, fine”). Treba da dođe u pet is “He’s supposed to come at five” (that is the arrangement), whereas Verovatno će doći u pet is your guess. A guess can also be made with a verb, just as English uses must: Mora da spava “He must be asleep”, much like Sigurno spava; the lesson “Epistemic modality” covers such phrases.

Certainty in negatives and questions

Because these adverbs colour the whole sentence, they sit just as easily on a negative or a question. In a negative sentence they show how sure the speaker is that something will not happen:

In a question možda softens the tone, adding a touch of “by any chance”: Hoće li, možda, i Ana doći? (“Is Ana coming too, by any chance?”) sounds gentler and more polite than the bare Hoće li Ana doći? It is also how you politely ask a stranger: Da li možda znate gde je pošta? (“Do you happen to know where the post office is?”). One adverb changes not the facts but the tone of the question.

Cheat sheet

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Adverbs of judgement and certainty: možda, naravno, nažalost

A sentence adverb (rečenični prilog) belongs to the whole sentence, not the verb, and gives the speaker’s stance. Test: it moves to the front with a pause and the event stays the same. Serbian grammars also call these words particles (rečce).

The certainty scale

Možda + present for the future (Možda dođe; the future works too); verovatno, sigurno + future (će doći).

Not a modal verb: Mogu da dođem “I can come”, but Možda dođem “maybe I’ll come”. “Maybe tomorrow” = Možda sutra; Može sutra = “tomorrow works”. Treba da dođe u pet: the arrangement; a guess with a verb: Mora da spava “he must be asleep”.

Negatives and questions

In a question možda changes the tone, not the facts: softer, more polite (Da li možda znate gde je pošta?).

Three groups

Position and comma

  • Mobile, usually first: Možda ću ti pomoći / Pomoći ću ti, možda.
  • First → the clitic (a short unstressed word) comes right after it: Verovatno će doći, Verovatno je kod kuće.
  • After a pause, the clitic takes second place in the rest: Srećom, stigli smo na vreme.
  • Comma where you pause: Nažalost, ne mogu; short ones in one breath without: Možda dođe.

One word, two jobs

About my certainty → sentence adverb; about how it is done → manner. Inače: “otherwise” (Požuri, inače ćeš zakasniti) and “normally” (Inače ne pijem kafu). Uglavnom: “mostly” (Uglavnom radim od kuće) and, after a pause, “anyway” (Uglavnom, vidimo se sutra).