Serbian 301 — going to work, being at work, coming back from work. One noun, three forms, and a small crowd of verbs.
English keeps saying "work" and lets the preposition carry the meaning. Serbian changes the noun itself, and the choice depends on one question: are you moving towards it, sitting in it, or coming from it?
| Question | Serbian | Case |
|---|---|---|
| kuda? — where to | idem na posao | akuzativ |
| gde? — where at | ja sam na poslu | lokativ |
| odakle? — where from | vraćam se sa posla | genitiv |
Notice what happens to the word itself. Posao keeps that final -o only in the dictionary form; everywhere else it turns back into an l: posl-a, posl-u. The o was never really there — it's an l that softened at the end of the word.
The verbs come in pairs, and the pairing is aspect. Stizati / stići, dolaziti / doći, odlaziti / otići, vraćati se / vratiti se — the first of each is what you do regularly, the second is the single completed arrival or departure. Stižem na posao u 8 is my routine; stići ću prvi is tomorrow, once.
1. Idemo na . we are going to work
2. Mi smo na . we are at work
3. Odlazim sa u 5. I'm leaving work at 5
4. Stižem na u 8. I arrive at work at 8
5. Vraćam se sa u ponoć. I come back from work at midnight
6. Vratiću se na posle vikenda. I'll come back to work after the weekend
7. Moj šef je otišao sa prvi. my boss left work first
8. Moje kolege su se vratile na . my colleagues came back to work
The bracket gives the infinitive, the person and the tense.
1. na posao prvi. (stići, ja — futur)
2. Kada na posao? (ići, ti — futur)
3. sa posla poslednji. (otići, ja — futur)
4. Moj šef sa posla prvi. (otići, on — prošlo)
5. Kada na posao? (stići, ti ž. — prošlo)
6. Kada na posao? (stići, ti m. — prošlo)
7. na posao. (stizati, mi — sadašnje)
8. Kada na posao? (ići, ti — sadašnje)
9. Kada sa posla? (otići, ti — futur)
10. Kada na posao? (stići, ti — futur)
11. sa posla. (odlaziti, mi — sadašnje)
12. na posao u 7. (dolaziti, ja — sadašnje)
13. na posao posle vikenda. (vratiti se, ja — futur)
14. Moja šefica na posao poslednja. (doći, ona — prošlo)
15. Moje kolege na posao. (vratiti se, one — prošlo)
Left: what you do every day. Right: the one time it actually happens.
1. stizati →
2. dolaziti →
3. odlaziti →
4. vraćati se →
SR (lat): Upiši ceo glagolski oblik, sa pomoćnim glagolom i SE gde ih ima. Nije osetljivo na velika/mala slova, i može latinicom ili ćirilicom; dijakritici su opcioni.
СР (ћир): Упиши цео глаголски облик, са помоћним глаголом и СЕ где их има. Није осетљиво на велика/мала слова, и може латиницом или ћирилицом; дијакритици су опциони.
EN: Type the whole verb form, auxiliary and SE included. Not case-sensitive; Latin or Cyrillic both fine, diacritics optional.
You've got to work and back. Now find somewhere to live — and learn why namešten and opremljen are not the same thing.
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