da-clause vs infinitive

Lesson opening

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

da or the infinitive: one thought, two correct roads

The lesson “Basic da-clauses” showed you the main Serbian habit. Where English says “I want to work”, with an infinitive, Serbian more often uses the particle da plus the present tense: hoću da radim, literally “I want that I work”. That lesson also promised that a separate lesson would sort out which version sounds more natural where. This is it. In “Core modal verbs” and “Phase verbs”, too, both versions turned up after moram, “I must”, and počinjem, “I’m starting”, with the details put off until later. Here is the whole picture.

First, the good news. Both versions are correct Serbian. Hoću da radim and hoću raditi are both grammatical, and you will meet both in books and hear both in the street. The infinitive, which does the job of English “to work”, is normal Serbian too (Mogu doći, Moram ići, Volim čitati); in everyday speech in Serbia you simply hear da more often. So the question is not “which is right?” but “which fits here?”. Four things decide that: who does the action (one person or two), where (Serbia, or the west: Croatia, Bosnia), which style (everyday speech or writing) and which construction (some constructions do not let the infinitive in). We will take them one at a time.

The firm rule: one doer or two

First, the part that is not a shade of meaning but a law. The lesson “Basic da-clauses” already stated it. It all hangs on one question: do both verbs have the same doer, or different ones?

If the doer is the same (“I want”, “I work”), both versions work, and they mean the same. That goes for hteti, “to want”, želeti, “to wish”, moći, “can”, morati, “must”, umeti and znati, “to know how to”, voleti, “to like”, and, among the phase verbs, početi, nastaviti and prestati, “to start, keep on, stop”.

The verb after da picks its aspect by meaning, just as the infinitive does. Serbian verbs come in pairs, one for an activity, one for an action carried through to its end: Moram da učim, “I have to study” (the activity), against Moram da uradim ovo danas, “I have to get this done today” (to the end). Uradim is the present tense of a “whole-action” verb. It never means “I am doing it now”, and after da it is not a future either: Moram da uradim = Moram uraditi, “I have to do it”. More on aspect after da comes in “Aspect with future & modals”.

If the doer is different (“I want”, but you work), there is no choice. A Serbian infinitive cannot show who is acting: it has no person and no number. So “I want you to work” can be said only with da and a verb that carries a personal ending:

Hoću raditi can only mean “I want to work (myself)”: the infinitive only when the doer is shared.

Cheat sheet

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

da or the infinitive: two correct roads

Both are correct Serbian: hoću da radim and hoću raditi. The question is not “which is right” but “which fits”. Four things decide: who acts, where, style, construction.

1. Who acts: the firm rule

Both work after hteti, želeti, moći, morati, umeti, znati, voleti, početi, nastaviti, prestati. The infinitive cannot name another doer: hoću raditi = only “I want to work (myself)”. Aspect after da follows the meaning; a whole-action verb is no future here: Moram da uradim ovo danas. “I have to get this done today.”

2. Where and 3. style

The Croatian standard prefers the infinitive (and “Trebam ići” for Treba da idem); the Serbian one admits both. A difference of standards, not a mistake. In small talk volim spavati sounds bookish; volim da spavam is usual.

4. The future

radiću = ja ću raditi = ja ću da radim. An infinitive in -ti before ću drops -ti and fuses (Croatian “radit ću” is their standard). Verbs in -ći never fuse: doći ću, ići ću, reći ću. Verb first: only the infinitive, Radiću sutra.

Where the infinitive still lives

A specific doer needs a personal form: Treba da radiš. You need to work.

Only (or almost only) da