Coordinating conjunctions

You already know how to hang one clause under another — with jer, kad, da, ako. This lesson does something simpler: it puts two full statements side by side, as equals. Each half could stand alone as a sentence; the little word in the middle only says how they relate.

There are six of these little words — the five in the title plus pa — and five of them are easy. The sixth pair — a against ali — is the reason the lesson exists, because English says but for both.

i and pa — simply adding

i is and. It adds a second statement to the first, with no further meaning: On je pametan i vredan. — He is clever and hard-working.

pa is also and, but it says and then — the second thing follows the first in time or as its result. Zovem ga, pa ćemo se dogovoriti. — I'll call him, and then we'll arrange it. Where English would say so or and then, Serbian often says pa.

a — two things side by side

a sets two parallel statements against each other. Nothing is being objected to; the two halves are simply different, and the sentence is built to show the difference. Usually the same slot in both halves changes: two people, two times, two places.

Ja sam strpljiv, a on je nervozan. — I am patient, and he is nervous. Ana je tiha, a Marko je glasan. — Ana is quiet, and Marko is loud.

Notice that English can render a as and, as but, or as while — none of them exactly. The Serbian test is: are you contrasting two things, or objecting to one? If you could say whereas, it is a.

ali — objecting

ali is the real but. The first clause raises an expectation, and the second cancels it. Umoran sam, ali idem. — I'm tired, but I'm going. (Being tired says you would stay in; you are not.) Strog je, ali pravedan. — He is strict, but fair.

With ali, both halves are usually about the same subject, and the second half is a surprise. With a, the halves are about different subjects, and neither is a surprise.

If you are unsure, ask yourself whether the first clause made you expect the opposite of the second. Yes → ali. No, the two are just different → a.

ili — a choice

ili is or. Je li on stidljiv ili samo ćutljiv? — Is he shy or just quiet? Doći ću danas ili sutra. — I'll come today or tomorrow.

nego — correcting a negative

You met nego in comparisons: Viši je nego ja. Here it does a related job — it replaces something that has just been denied. The first clause must be negative, and nego supplies the right answer instead.

Nije star, nego mlad. — He isn't old, but young. Ona nije ljuta, nego tužna. — She isn't angry, but sad. Ne radim danas, nego sutra. — I'm not working today, but tomorrow.

nego needs a negative in front of it. If the first clause is positive, you cannot use nego — use ali. Nije lenj, nego umoran. (negative first) against Lenj je, ali radi. (positive first)

The comma

The punctuation is regular and worth learning once: a comma goes before a, ali, pa and nego, and no comma goes before i or ili.

• On je pametan i vredan. — no comma before i
• Dolaziš danas ili sutra? — no comma before ili
• Ja sam veseo, a on je ozbiljan. — comma before a
• Ozbiljan je, ali je veseo s nama. — comma before ali
• Bio je ljubazan, pa su ga svi zavoleli. — comma before pa
• Nije ozbiljan, nego samo tih. — comma before nego

What comes right after the conjunction

A clitic — je, su, sam, ću, ga, mu, se — can never open a clause, and that A1 rule still applies to the second half. But the six conjunctions do not all behave the same way.

After i, a and ili the second half must start with a stressed word, so the clitic comes after it: Ja sam strpljiv, a on je nervozan — never a je on nervozan.

After ali, pa and nego the clitic may follow the conjunction directly, and usually does: Ozbiljan je, ali je veseo s nama. Deca su bila umorna, pa smo otišli kući. Neću čekati, nego ću ga odmah pozvati.