Purposive & result da

Lesson opening

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Purpose and result with da: “what for?” and “with what outcome?”

You know da as “yes” (Da, hoću, “Yes, I want to”) and as the link after hoću, mogu, moram: hoću da radim, “I want to work” (the lesson “Basic da-clauses”). That lesson also gave a glimpse of another da: in Idem da kupim hleb, “I’m going to buy bread”, it answers not “what?” but “what for?”. This lesson is about that da and its neighbours.

There are three topics. Purpose answers “what for?”, from everyday da + the present to bookish kako bi. Result answers “and what came of it?”: tako… da, “so… that”. And da at the start of a sentence of its own makes a gentle suggestion or wish (Da probamo?, “Shall we try?”). The English speaker’s main trap: English expresses purpose with an infinitive, “I’m going to buy bread”, “I came to help”, while everyday Serbian uses da plus a present-tense verb that carries its own person: da kupim, literally “that I buy”.

Purpose with da + the present: after verbs of motion

The most everyday way to say “in order to” is to put da and a verb in the present tense. The classic case is purpose after verbs of motion: idem, “I’m going”, dolazim, “I’m coming”, svraćam, “I’m dropping in”, došao sam, “I came”. The motion verb says where you go; the da part answers the second question, what for:

The verb after da is a full personal form, conjugated for whoever does the action (the lesson “Basic da-clauses”). In Došao sam da ti pomognem I am the one who helps; in Došao sam da mi pomogneš, “I came so that you’d help me”, you are. Tell purpose apart by the question it answers: hoću da kupim is “I want to buy” (what do I want?), while idem da kupim is “I’m going to buy” (what am I going for?). English uses the same “to buy” for both, so the difference is easy to miss. A verb of motion in front is an almost sure sign of purpose.

Purpose with “would”: da bih, kako bih

Purpose can also be put with the helper bi: da bi or kako bi + the l-participle. It is the same helper you met in the lesson “Conditional I” (the Serbian “would”), and it changes for the person who is meant to act:

Cheat sheet

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Purpose and result with da: “what for?” and “with what outcome?”

Purpose (“what for?”) is a plan: da + present, or bookish da bi/kako bi + l-participle. Result (“what came of it?”) is a fact: tako/toliko… da, tako da “so”, any tense.

Everyday purpose: da + present

Classic after verbs of motion (idem, dolazim, svraćam, došao sam); the verb after da takes the doer’s person (da mi pomogneš “so you help me”). idem da kupim (what for?) vs hoću da kupim (what?). Idem kupiti hleb, without da, is correct but rarer in Serbia.

Purpose with the helper

Kako bi conjugates the same way (kako bismo, kako biste); the participle agrees in gender and number. About yourself, bih: Došao sam da bih ti pomogao. Style: Učim srpski da razumem komšije (everyday), Učim srpski da bih razumeo komšije (more bookish), kako bih razumeo (articles, documents).

Negative purpose: da ne / kako ne bi

ne right before the verb, a clitic right after da (da se ne prehladiš); bookish: ne before the helper (kako ne bi).

Result: tako, toliko… da, tako da

Before a noun: takav, toliki (tolika gužva). Past or future after tako da: result (tako da niko nije čuo); purpose takes only the present (tako da niko ne čuje).

Softened da, “let him” and “as long as”