Subordinate clauses overview

Lesson opening

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

Subordinate clauses: a map of the complex sentence

You have been building complex sentences since your first da lessons, perhaps without noticing: Hoću da radim, “I want to work”; Mislim da je kasno, “I think it’s late”. Each has two parts. Hoću and Mislim are the main clause, and da radim and da je kasno are a subordinate clause: a dependent part with its own verb, which answers the main clause’s question “what?”, “which one?”, “when?”, “why?” or “what for?”.

Serbian usually unfolds a dependent thought into a clause with a personal verb, a verb form that shows who acts and when. English likes shortcuts instead: the infinitive (“I want you to go”, “I’m off to buy bread”) and the -ing form (“before leaving”, “the man working here”). In Serbian these are Hoću da odeš, Idem da kupim hleb, pre nego što odem (literally “before I leave”) and čovek koji radi ovde (“the man who works here”). Even “I want to leave” usually takes a personal verb in Serbia: Hoću da odem (when the infinitive works too is the subject of the lesson “da-clause vs infinitive”).

This lesson is a map: the types of subordinate clause, the words that open them, the Serbian logic of the comma (close to careful English usage) and where clitics sit inside a clause. Each type has a lesson of its own.

The map of subordinate clauses: five big types

Subordinate clauses are easiest to sort by the question they answer for the main clause. Here is the whole map at once, with the signal words and the lesson where each type is taken apart:

The first type is home ground already: it is da after “know”, “think”, “say” (Znam da dolaziš, “I know you’re coming”). English “that” is da; English “what”, a question inside the sentence, is šta: Ne znam šta radiš, “I don’t know what you’re doing”. After “glad”, “sorry” and “thank you”, Serbian often uses što, and where English says “thanks for coming”, Serbian again builds a clause: Drago mi je što si došao, “I’m glad you came”; Hvala ti što si došao, “Thanks for coming”. After drago mi je you also hear da: Drago mi je da te vidim, “Nice to see you”. A question inside the sentence opens with da li, “whether, if”, or a question word: Pitam se da li dolaziš, “I wonder if you’re coming”; Ne znam gde je, “I don’t know where he is”. These go to the lesson “Indirect questions”.

Conjunctions and relative words: what is the difference

The signal words come in two kinds. A conjunction (da, ako, jer, kad, dok) only links: it plays no part inside the clause and never changes its form. A relative word (koji, što, ko, gde) links too, but it also does a job inside the clause, as its subject, its object or its place. That is why koji changes its ending, while što and gde never change. English shows a faint trace of the same thing in who and whom: “the man who works” but “the man whom I saw”. Serbian koji does it every time:

You have already met relative koji in the lesson “Relative pronouns”. It agrees in gender and number with its noun, but it takes its case from its own role inside the clause: koji as the subject, koju as the direct object (the accusative, the case of the thing acted on). The lesson “Relative clauses” lays out the finer points.

Cheat sheet

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

Subordinate clauses: a map of the complex sentence

Complex sentence = main clause + subordinate clause (zavisna rečenica): a dependent part with its own verb, opened by a signal word. Where English uses to… or -ing, Serbian builds a clause: Hoću da odeš “I want you to go”, pre nego što odem “before leaving”, čovek koji radi ovde “the man working here”.

Five types of subordinate clause

Meanings: kad when, dok while, čim as soon as, pošto after / since, pre nego što before, jer/zato što because, ako/ukoliko if, iako/mada although, tako… da so… that. “That” = da; “what” = šta (Ne znam šta radiš.); after “glad, thanks”, often što (Drago mi je što si došao.).

Conjunction or relative word

• Conjunction (da, ako, jer, kad, dok): only links, never changes.
• Relative word (koji, što, ko, gde): also has a job in the clause; koji declines: gender and number from its noun, case from its role (compare who/whom).

Clitics: right after the signal word

Kažem da sam umoran., Hoću da mi pomogneš., Čovek koji te čeka je ovde., Javi mi kad se vratiš. Each part has its own second place: Kad si došao, spavao sam. Dative before accusative: da mi ga daš.

The comma follows meaning (as in careful English)

One example per type

Order of the parts

• After, before or inside the main clause: Knjiga koju si mi dao je odlična.
• Clause first = comma; after = usually none (Javi mi kad dođeš.). jer usually after; da “that” almost always after its verb (Znam da…).