Serbian 201, Exercise 9 — the group where the infinitive stops being a reliable witness.
In the -am group you could read the infinitive and know the whole verb. Here you can't. Piti gives pijem, jesti gives jedem, prati gives perem, ići gives idem. The stem shifts, and there's no rule that will save you — you learn the ja form along with the infinitive, as a pair.
The good news is that once you have that first form, everything else is automatic:
| ja | pijem | mi | pijemo |
| ti | piješ | vi | pijete |
| on / ona | pije | oni / one | piju |
Watch that last cell. The "they" form is -u, not -eju: piju, jedu, idu, peru. It's the one ending in this group that catches people out.
One friendly sub-pattern does exist: verbs ending in -ovati swap it for -ujem — putovati → putujem, doručkovati → doručkujem.
1. you get up →
2. you drink →
3. you eat →
4. you go →
5. you have breakfast →
6. you understand →
7. you are called →
8. you cross →
9. you wash →
10. you arrive →
11. you travel →
12. you hear →
This is the pair worth memorising. The rest of the verb follows from the right-hand side.
1. piti → ja
2. jesti → ja
3. ići → ja
4. prati → ja
5. zvati se → ja se
6. putovati → ja
7. čuti → ja
8. preći → ja
1. Ja doručak.
2. Ti sendvič.
3. Ona supu.
4. Mi zajedno.
5. Vi u restoranu.
6. Oni u sedam.
SR (lat): Kod povratnih glagola upiši i SE (zoveš se). Nije osetljivo na velika/mala slova, i može latinicom ili ćirilicom; dijakritici su opcioni.
СР (ћир): Код повратних глагола упиши и СЕ (зовеш се). Није осетљиво на велика/мала слова, и може латиницом или ћирилицом; дијакритици су опциони.
EN: For reflexive verbs, include SE (zoveš se). Not case-sensitive; Latin or Cyrillic both fine, diacritics optional.
Igra, pa upotreba
Ista gramatika, drugo raspoloženje — Verb Run: -AM / -EM / -IM.
The -im group closes the set — and gathers all three plural endings in one place.
Next: Konjugacije na -IM →