The concept of aspect

Lesson opening

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The concept of aspect: process or result

Pisati “to write” and napisati “to write (and finish)”, čitati “to read” and pročitati “to read through”. In each pair the first verb shows the action as a process that stretches out, the second as a single finished fact: čitati goes on, pročitati puts a full stop. This difference is called aspect (glagolski vid): pisati and čitati are imperfective verbs, napisati and pročitati are perfective. Aspect is not tense and not mood. It tells you not when the action happened but how we look at it. Nearly every Serbian verb belongs to one of the two aspects; a few serve both, as you will see below.

English has no pair of verbs for this, but the idea is not a stranger to you. You feel the difference between I was writing a letter and I’ve written the letter, between she was eating and she ate it up. English marks that difference with tense forms and little particles; Serbian builds it into the verb itself, so most actions come as two verbs, one for the process and one for the result. The fit with English is only partial, and this lesson shows where the English tense misleads. Here we lay down the concept itself; how aspect pairs are formed is the job of a separate lesson, “Aspect pair formation”.

Two questions to ask an action

To get a feel for aspect, ask an action two questions: does it stretch out? and is a limit reached? The imperfective answers “it stretches out, the limit is not in focus”; the perfective answers “taken as a whole, the limit is reached”. The difference lies not in the action itself but in the camera angle: the same event can be shown from inside, as a process unfolding, or from outside, as a single point on the timeline. Compare the pairs; the meaning is shared, the aspect differs:

For the right-hand verb English often needs a helper (up, through, get done); Serbian simply has a second verb. Do not judge the aspect by length, though: in pisati – napisati the longer verb is the perfective, but in kupovati – kupiti it is the longer kupovati that is imperfective.

What the imperfective does

The imperfective shows the action as “open”, without its end. It expresses three closely related things:

English splits this ground between two forms, I’m writing for the process and the plain I read, do you speak for habits and facts; Serbian covers all three with one aspect. Add to these the actions that run in the background of another event: Dok sam kuvao, slušao sam muziku “While I was cooking, I was listening to music”. A background by its nature stretches out, so it is imperfective too. Kuvao sam and slušao sam are past forms built like Radio sam “I worked” in “biti in the present” (a woman says kuvala sam); “The perfect (perfekat)” covers them in full. Wherever English says was …-ing or used to, Serbian almost always wants the imperfective.

What the perfective does

The perfective shows the action as “closed”: as one whole, together with its end.

A result, a single occurrence, a clear boundary: these are the marks of the perfective. It cannot “stretch out”, so an activity that lasts is beyond it: “I read every evening” is Svako veče čitam, not “pročitam”. One exception: a short completed step repeated as a routine is often named by the present of a perfective verb, even in a main clause with no conjunction: Obično ustanem u sedam. I usually get up at seven. All the more so a chain of completed steps: Svako veče napiše pismo i legne. “Every evening he writes a letter and goes to bed.” English uses the same simple past for both kinds of action, so the English tense will not tell you the aspect; the question “is a result or a boundary in view?” will.

Cheat sheet

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The concept of aspect: process or result

Aspect (glagolski vid) belongs to the verb; it is not tense. Imperfective (nesvršeni vid): process, repetition, general fact. Perfective (svršeni vid): one whole with its limit reached. Ask: does it stretch? is a limit reached?

Aspect pairs

Length deceives: the longer kupovati is imperfective.

What each aspect does

A routine step can be perfective, with no conjunction: Obično ustanem u sedam. A general fact is imperfective: Da li si čitao ovu knjigu? Have you read this book? (do you know it?) against Da li si pročitao knjigu? Have you finished the book? Also Ko je pravio ovu tortu? Who made this cake? (the maker)

The perfective present

The perfective present (napišem, uradim, dođem) means neither “now” nor “I’ll write”: it comes after kad, čim, ako, da.

Aspect and tense: two axes

• Tense is “when”, aspect is “how”: čitam, čitao sam, čitaću (process) and pročitao sam, pročitaću (result). The perfective has no present meaning “now”.
• Past: Juče sam radio ceo dan. process; Juče sam uradio zadatak. result; Pisala je pismo kad sam ušao. background. Future: radiću “I'll be working”, uradiću “I'll get it done”.
• Without tense too: Moram da napišem izveštaj. perfective; Volim da pišem pisma. imperfective; after “start, continue, stop” imperfective only: Počeo je da radi. Imperative: Uradi to! one-off; Radi polako. process.
• Signs: prefix na-, po-, pro-, u- usually perfective; suffix -va-/-ava-/-iva- imperfective (dati → davati); -nu- one-off verbs perfective (viknuti; brinuti is imperfective). Hints, not laws.
• Bi-aspectual, one form for both: videti, čuti, ručati, telefonirati.