Impersonal constructions

Lesson opening

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Impersonal constructions: sentences with no subject

An ordinary Serbian sentence works as you expect: someone does something, the doer is in the nominative, and the verb agrees with it. But many of the most frequent phrases are built differently: they have no doer, and cannot have one. Grmi. Who or what is thundering? Hladno mi je. We know who is cold, but what is cold? Nema mesta. Once again, no subject in the nominative. Grammarians call these impersonal sentences (bezlične rečenice). English hides them behind an empty “it” or “there” (“it’s thundering”, “there’s no room”); Serbian needs no such cover.

You have already met several of these families one at a time: the weather verbs, states with the dative, fear and shame with the accusative, nema with the genitive, phrases with treba, and impersonal se in the previous lesson, “The se-constructions”; we point to the other lessons as we go. Here we gather them into one system: one agreement, one set of rules for the past, the future and negation, and a ban on an “empty” subject. Master the mechanism, and you can build an impersonal sentence even if you have never heard it.

One mechanism: 3rd person, neuter, no fillers

The mechanism is the same for every family. Present tense: the verb in the 3rd person singular: grmi, ima, treba. Past: je plus the l-participle (the form that builds the past, as in grmeo, grmela, grmelo) in the neuter; there is nothing to agree with, so the language takes its most neutral, “default” form. Future: the same 3rd person singular, which has no gender: grmeće, biće, moraće. Negation is the usual one (ne, nije, neće), but ima has its own negative, nema, fused from ne and ima.

Look at the middle form in each row: every time it is -lo or bilo: grmelo, moralo, pušilo. That neuter ending is the hallmark of an impersonal sentence. Forms with bi (“would”) behave the same way: Trebalo bi požuriti. We ought to hurry. Bilo bi lepo da dođeš. It would be nice if you came. And the main ban: Serbian never inserts an empty subject. No “ono grmi” for “it’s thundering”, no “to je hladno” for “it’s cold”: a pronoun here only spoils the sentence.

Weather and the time of day

The clearest family: a natural event happens by itself, and the verb describes it with no participants. English needs “it” and often a whole phrase (“it’s getting light”, “there was lightning”); Serbian needs one verb.

A second, even more frequent pattern is a word in -o plus je: Hladno je. It’s cold. Weather talk is built this way: toplo je, vruće je, vetrovito je, oblačno je, sunčano je, maglovito je, klizavo je (it’s warm, hot, windy, cloudy, sunny, foggy, slippery); in the past bilo je hladno, in the future biće hladno. Time works the same way: Kasno je. It’s late. Još je rano. It’s still early. Bilo je već kasno. It was already late.

Rain and snow work differently (the lesson “Weather & nature”). Pada kiša and Pada sneg (literally “rain falls”, “snow falls”) are sentences with a subject: kiša and sneg are in the nominative and govern the verb, so in the plural you get Padale su kiše celog maja. It rained all through May. In conversation the subject is often dropped, and people just say Pada. It’s raining. So weather grmi never has a subject at all, while pada kiša has one that is sometimes left out.

Cheat sheet

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Impersonal constructions: no subject

No subject in the nominative. Verb in the 3rd person singular; in the past and with bi (“would”) it is neuter; the future (biće) has no gender. No fillers (“ono grmi”, “to je hladno”).

With bi: Trebalo bi požuriti. Bilo bi lepo da dođeš.

Weather and time

• Grmi, seva, sviće, svanulo je, smrkava se, smrklo se, zahladilo je, otoplilo je, rosi, lije, napolju duva. = thunder, lightning, dawn, day broke, dusk, it got dark, colder, warmer, drizzle, pouring, windy.
• Word in -o + je: hladno je, toplo je, sparno je, vetrovito je, oblačno je, sunčano je, maglovito je, klizavo je; kasno je, još je rano.
• But Pada kiša / sneg has a subject: Padale su kiše. In speech just Pada.

A person’s state

• Dative, always with je: Hladno mi je. Vruće mi je. Zima mi je. Muka mi je. Dosadno mi je. Teško mi je. Žao mi je. Drago mi je. Svejedno mi je. (cold, hot, chilly, sick, bored, it’s hard, sorry, glad, I don’t mind). Past: Bilo mi je žao.
• Accusative, a few: Strah me je. Sramota me je. Stid me je. Briga me. Sram te bilo! (scared, ashamed, shy, I don’t care, shame on you: bilo without je = a wish).
• Boli me glava has a subject (glava): Bole me zubi.

Ima / nema: there is, there isn’t

• “There is” = ima, not je; frozen, + genitive: Ima mesta. Ima li slobodnih mesta? Ima mnogo ljudi. Ima li koga? Nema hleba. Nema vremena. Nema nikoga. Nominative for one counted item: Ima jedan problem.
• Past (neuter) and future from biti: Bilo je ljudi, Nije bilo struje, Biće posla, Neće biti problema.
• More formal postojati agrees: Postoji rešenje. Postoje dva rešenja.

Must, may, better

• Treba da odeš. Trebalo bi da se odmoriš. Valja napomenuti. Mora se čekati. Ne sme se ulaziti. Ne može se parkirati. Nije moguće promeniti kartu. Potrebno je poneti kartu. Zabranjeno je fotografisati. Bolje je poći ranije. Šteta je što ne možeš. Važno je da dođeš na vreme. Lako je reći. Moguće je da kasni. Bilo je teško naći stan.
• Infinitive = anyone (Treba raditi); da names the person (Treba da radim / radiš / rade); treba never agrees: Trebalo je da me pozoveš.

Removing the doer: 4 ways

• se + 3rd person singular: Ovde se ne puši. Ide se dalje.
• 3rd person plural (“they”): Kažu da će padati kiša. Ukrali su mi telefon. Otvaraju u osam.
• Generic “you”: Ne možeš svima ugoditi. You can’t please everyone.
• Neuter participle: O tome je već pisano. Rečeno je da počinjemo u devet.