Present tense of biti
In short
biti — present tense, two series
| Person | Short | Long |
|---|---|---|
| ja | sam | jesam |
| ti | si | jesi |
| on / ona / ono | je | jeste |
| mi | smo | jesmo |
| vi | ste | jeste |
| oni / one / ona | su | jesu |
Short = ordinary statements. Unstressed, and never the first word: Ja sam Ana / Ana sam, never Sam Ana.
Long = questions with li (Jesi li ti Ana?), short answers standing alone (Jesam.), and emphasis (Ja jesam Srbin.).
A1 · Lesson 4 · The verb biti in the present tense
The full explanation, from the lesson that teaches this rule
In English you can never drop am, is, are: "I student" is not a sentence. Serbian needs that word too, and the verb it comes from is biti, "to be". What is unusual about it is that its present tense comes in two complete sets of forms — a short set you will use almost every time you open your mouth, and a long set for the moments when the word itself carries weight.
The short form: your everyday forms
These six little words are the ones you need for ordinary statements. They are unstressed: in speech you do not say them on their own, you lean them onto the word in front of them, almost the way an ending leans on a stem.
| Person | Short form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ja | sam | Ja sam Ana. — I am Ana. |
| ti | si | Ti si student. — You are a student. |
| on / ona / ono | je | On je profesor. — He is a teacher. |
| mi | smo | Mi smo dobro, hvala. — We are well, thank you. |
| vi | ste | Vi ste doktor. — You are a doctor. |
| oni / one / ona | su | Oni su Amerikanci. — They are American. |
A short form can never be the first word of a sentence. It is too weak to stand at the front — some other word has to come before it and give it something to lean on. Sam Ana is impossible. Say Ja sam Ana, or put another word first: Ana sam.
That matters because of what you learned last lesson: ja, ti, on and the rest are usually left out. You can still leave them out here — but then a different word has to take the first place. Student sam. (I'm a student.) Ovde smo. (We're here.) What you cannot do is leave out ja and start with sam.
The long form: for when the word matters
The long forms are ordinary full words. They are stressed, they can open a sentence, and they can stand completely alone.
| Person | Long form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ja | jesam | Jesam, ja sam student. — Yes, I'm a student. |
| ti | jesi | Jesi li ti Ana? — Are you Ana? |
| on / ona / ono | jeste | Jeste, on je Nikola. — Yes, he's Nikola. |
| mi | jesmo | Jesmo, mi smo turisti. — Yes, we're tourists. |
| vi | jeste | Jeste li vi profesor? — Are you a teacher? |
| oni / one / ona | jesu | Jesu, oni su ovde. — Yes, they're here. |
Which one do I use?
The long form shows up in three places. Outside them — that is, nearly always — use the short form.
- In a yes-or-no question with li. The little word li makes a statement into a question, and it comes straight after the verb: Jesi li ti Srbin? (Are you a Serb?) Jeste li vi profesorka? (Are you a teacher?)
- As a short answer on its own. Serbian answers such a question by repeating the verb rather than saying "yes": — Jesi li ti student? — Jesam. A short form could never do this, because it cannot stand alone.
- For emphasis, when you insist that something really is so: Ja jesam Srbin. (I am a Serb.)
jeste does double duty: it is both "he/she/it is" and "you (plural or polite) are". The word on or vi in front of it, or simply the situation, tells you which one is meant. The short forms keep these apart — je against ste — so there is nothing to confuse there.
Serbian has no word for "a" or "the". Ja sam student is "I am a student", and there is nothing missing from it.
Check what you read
6 of the 19 questions this lesson asks in the app. Type the form or pick the answer.
Ja(biti) student.
Ti(biti) konobar.
Ona(biti) profesorka.
___ si Srpkinja.
Only one of these is possible Serbian. Which one?
Someone asks you "Jesi li ti student?" and you want to say yes. What do you answer?
Examples from the course
The marked word is where the rule applies. Press play to hear the sentence.
Ti si student.
You are a student.
Konobar sam ovde.
I am a waiter here.
On je profesor.
He is a teacher.
Ja sam Ana.
I am Ana.
Vi ste doktor.
You are a doctor.
Mi jesmo prijatelji.
We really are friends.
Mi smo prijatelji.
We are friends.
On jeste konobar.
He really is a waiter.
Zdravo, ovde smo!
Hello, we are here!
Milan je konobar.
Milan is a waiter.
Sentences in the course that use this rule: 377
Try it yourself
Translate a sentence that uses this rule. The check marks the word that went wrong and names the rule behind it, as in the app.
Sentences
Write it in Serbian
You are a student.
informal 'you' + 'to be' + profession noun