Advanced da-clauses

Lesson opening

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

Advanced da: fact, question and tense

“Basic da-clauses” gave you the core pattern: hoću da radim, moram da idem, da plus the present after a verb. Then “da-clause vs infinitive” and “Purposive & result da” showed when an infinitive can replace it and how da expresses purpose. But a da clause does not only follow verbs: it also follows nouns (činjenica da… “the fact that…”) and adjectives (spreman da… “ready to…”), it turns into a question (da li… “whether…”), and it gives way to što when the speaker reacts to something that has already happened (Drago mi je što… “I’m glad that…”).

This lesson covers the hard parts that are left: when da needs the prop to, when što takes its place, what a negation or a doubt in the first part of the sentence changes, and, most practical of all, which tenses may stand after da.

A clause after a noun: činjenica da, nada da

English says “the fact that he came”, but “the hope of winning”, “the decision to close”. Serbian, in the simple case, uses a bare da for all of these, attached to the noun directly.

A whole group of nouns works this way: činjenica, mogućnost, šansa, prilika, nada, strah, želja, potreba, odluka, ideja, pravo, razlog, dokaz, utisak, obećanje, sumnja, opasnost, navika, zadatak, cilj, vest. So does vreme “time” in Nemam vremena da čitam. I have no time to read. (the lesson “da-clause vs infinitive”).

The noun itself tells you which da you have. A decision, a wish, a chance, time or an idea to do something is English “to”, and only the present follows da, as in odluku da zatvore in the table or in Svidela mi se ideja da krenemo ranije “I liked the idea of leaving earlier”. A fact, a piece of news or an impression is English “that”, and any tense can follow: Imam utisak da me ne slušaš “I have the feeling you’re not listening to me”.

The trouble starts when the word needs a preposition or a particular case. A clause like da je došao cannot take a case ending. So Serbian puts the pronoun to “that, it” in front of the clause, in the case required, and to takes the preposition.

A clause after an adjective: spreman da, srećan što

Adjectives fall into three groups, and the group decides the word. The first is readiness, ability, obligation: the action still lies ahead, the present follows da, the doer is usually the same in both parts, and English uses “to”.

The second group is certainty: siguran, uveren, ubeđen, svestan “sure, convinced, persuaded, aware”. Same da, but what follows is a statement, not a task, and its tense is free: Siguran sam da će uspeti. I’m sure he’ll succeed. These words can take the prop too, especially in careful style: siguran, uveren and ubeđen with u to (“sure of”, “convinced of”), svestan with toga (“aware of”): Uveren sam u to da greše. I’m convinced they’re wrong. A bare clause is fine too: Svestan sam da grešim. I’m aware that I’m wrong.

The third group is feelings and evaluations. When the feeling is about something that has already happened or is happening now, it usually takes što: the speaker is not giving news but reacting to a known fact.

The same split runs through the impersonal phrases with a dative (the lesson “Impersonal constructions”): a feeling takes što (Drago mi je što ste došli. I’m glad you came.), while an estimate of probability takes da: Moguće je da smo pogrešili. We may have made a mistake.

što or da: has it happened?

Here is a simple test: put a negation into the first part. If the event is still a fact afterwards, the word is about something that is simply there, and it takes što. If the fact disappears along with the negation, you have an opinion, a guess or a wish, and they take da.

Cheat sheet

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

Advanced da: fact, question, tense

Three words: da, all-purpose “that / to”; što, what has happened, after a feeling; da li (or the verb + li), “whether”.

After a noun or an adjective

• Directly: činjenica da, mogućnost da, nada da, odluka da, razlog da, opasnost da, pravo da, šansa da; Nemam vremena da čitam.
• A decision, wish, time to do something (“to”): present only, odluku da zatvore; a fact or an impression (“that”): any tense, Imam utisak da me ne slušaš.
• Readiness, duty: spreman sam da pomognem, sposoban da vodi, dužni ste da prijavite.
• Certainty: siguran sam da će uspeti; uveren u to da, svestan toga da.
• Feeling → što: srećan sam što, ponosan sam što, ljut je što, drago mi je što, hvala što, izvinite što.

The prop to (preposition or case)

što or da

Test: negate the first part; the fact survives → što. Nije mi žao što je otišao (he left) versus Ne mislim da je otišao (unknown).

Dobro je što si došao “good that you came”, Dobro je da dođeš “it would be good if you came”. Also: Drago mi je da te vidim. Perception: Video sam da je ušao (a fact), Video sam kako ulazi (a scene); “what exactly” is šta.

Indirect question

• “whether” → da li, first in the clause: Ne znam da li je stigao. Or the verb + li: Pitam se hoće li doći. Never ako.
• “that” → da: Znam da je stigao. Question word, no li: Ne znam ko je zvao.
• Speech: je l', dal'.

Negation or doubt up front

• “i-” words: Ne verujem da je iko primetio. Sumnjam da će iko doći. On the verb itself: Niko nije ništa primetio.
• Nije da ne želim, ali nemam vremena. It’s not that I don’t want to, I just don’t have time.
• Fact: Nisam znao da si bolestan. Question: Ne znam da li je bolestan.
• Bojim se da ne zakasnimo “I’m afraid we might be late” (ne negates nothing), but Bojim se da neću stići “I’m afraid I won’t make it”.

Tense after da

• No backshift: Rekao je da dolazi sutra. He said he was coming tomorrow.
• “To” (wish, request, need) → present only: Hoću da dođeš. Treba da odeš.
• “That” → any tense: Znam da je došao / da dolazi / da će doći.
• Past → the main verb: Trebalo je da dođeš. Hteo sam da ti kažem.
• Mostly perfective (da dođeš); imperfective for repeats (da dolaziš svaki dan).
• Rekao je da dolazi “he said he was coming”, Rekao je da dođem “he told me to come”.