Aspect in the imperative

Lesson opening

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

Aspect in the imperative: “get it done” aims at the end, “do it” at the doing

You can already build the imperative: the present stem plus -i or -j, with -te for “you” (plural or polite) and -mo for “let’s” (lesson “The imperative”). But almost every command has an aspect twin: uradi! “do it, get it done!” against radi! “work, keep at it!”, napiši! against piši!. The form of the command is built the same way, yet one twin points at a finished result and the other at the process. This lesson teaches you to choose the aspect of a command, and then takes apart the trickiest spot of all: the negative command.

English gives you little to lean on here: “close” and “don’t open” have one verb form each, and English never decides whether a command is about the result or the activity. Serbian decides every time, and in a prohibition it sorts the aspects in a way that surprises most learners: “don’t do it (on purpose)” and “mind you don’t do it (by accident)” are two different jobs, and the language marks them with two different aspects.

The positive command: the perfective aims at a result

When you tell someone to do one specific thing, once and completely, take the perfective. This is a command with its eye on the outcome:

Every one of these orders is about a single completed act: close the window (and it is closed), bring some water (and here it is).

The imperfective command: process, habit, invitation

An imperfective command does not ask for an outcome; it asks for the action itself, as a process or a repetition, or it simply sounds warmer and gentler:

Napiši! “write it!” is an order aimed at a finished text; Piši! “write!” urges the activity, closer to “go on, get writing”. Uči svaki dan “study every day” is imperfective: studying day after day is an activity with no single end point. At the table the imperfective is everywhere: Jedi! “eat!”, Pij! “drink!”, Uzimaj! “help yourself!”. The host is not handing out a task but urging you on: eat, drink, have more. Yet the perfective is just as friendly when it offers one helping: Uzmi još malo! “Have a bit more!”, Probaj ovo! “Try this!”.

A polite invitation does not need the imperfective either. The polite work is done by the Vi form in -te and by izvolite: a host greets you with Izvolite, uđite “Do come in”, the perfective of ući “to go in”, and it is perfectly warm. “Please take a seat” is Izvolite, sedite: sedite comes from sedeti “to be sitting”, so literally “be seated”; you will also hear Sednite “sit down”, from sesti “to sit down”. Izvoli!, Izvolite! “here you are, please” is a ready-made formula, like the wishes Ne daj Bože “God forbid” and Živeli! “cheers!”: nobody chooses an aspect in them.

Cheat sheet

The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.

Aspect in the imperative

The command is built the same way, but it pulls differently: the perfective asks for a result (once, to the end), the imperfective for the process or a repetition, and in an invitation it urges you on. A prohibition takes the imperfective.

Positive commands

Urging at the table is imperfective: Jedi!, Pij!, Uzimaj! “help yourself”; one helping offered with the perfective is just as friendly: Uzmi još malo!, Probaj ovo! Polite: Izvolite, uđite “do come in”; Izvolite, sedite “take a seat” (from sedeti; Sednite is heard too). Directions: Idite pravo (imperfective), skrenite levo, prođite pored crkve (perfective: one step each).

Two commands from one pair

Negative commands: prohibition and warning

To forbid, take the imperfective partner: zatvori → ne zatvaraj, pozovi → ne zovi, požuri → ne žuri, reci → ne govori. A warning is often Nemoj da padneš, Pazi da ne padneš.

Prohibition with nemoj: aspect is free

nemoj (ti) / nemojte (plural, polite) + da + present, or an infinitive:

After phase verbs: imperfective only

• Počni da radiš! get to work, Nastavi da čitaš. keep reading, Prestani da vičeš! stop shouting (≈ Ne viči!).
• A modal leaves aspect free: Moraš da završiš! “You have to finish!”
• Fixed formulas, take them whole: Ne daj Bože (perfective), Živeli (imperfective).