English do leads a double life. It is a full verb — what are you doing? — and it is an auxiliary that carries questions, negation and emphasis: Do you know?, I don't know, I do know.
Serbian has the full verb and no auxiliary whatsoever. There is nothing to learn about do-support here because the whole apparatus is absent: questions are made with да ли or ли or bare intonation, negation with не attached to the verb itself, emphasis with word order or a particle. A great deal of English grammar simply evaporates.
The full verb comes in two:
радити — to do, and also to work. Шта радиш? asks both "what are you doing?" and "what do you do?" чинити — to do in a more abstract or moral sense: чинити добро (to do good), чинити грешке (to make mistakes). Also чини ми се (Lesson 8).
For physical making, Serbian uses правити (imperfective) and направити (perfective) — правим кафу, "I'm making coffee."
Key Takeaways
- No auxiliary do: questions use да ли / ли, negation uses не - радити = to do, to work; perfective урадити - чинити = to do (abstract, moral); perfective учинити - правити / направити = to make (physical objects) - Шта радиш? — the everyday question, both "what are you doing" and "what do you do" - Emphatic do is carried by particles: баш, стварно, ипак, or by fronting - "So do I" = и ја; "Neither do I" = ни ја
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15.1a Шта what радиш you-do 15.1b Šta (shta) what radiš (RA-deesh) you-do
15.2a Радим I-work у in школи school-LOC 15.2b Radim (RA-deem) I-work u (oo) in školi (SHKO-lee) school-LOC
15.3a Не not знам I-know шта what да to радим I-do 15.3b Ne (neh) not znam (znahm) I-know šta (shta) what da (dah) to radim (RA-deem) I-do
15.4a Да Q ли Q разумеш you-understand 15.4b Da (dah) Q li (lee) Q razumeš (ra-ZOO-mesh) you-understand
15.5a Урадио done-MASC сам I-am све everything што that сам I-am могао could-MASC 15.5b Uradio (oo-RA-dee-o) done-MASC sam (sahm) I-am sve (sveh) everything što (shto) that sam (sahm) I-am mogao (MO-gao) could-MASC
15.6a Он he чини does добро good другима to-others-DAT.PL 15.6b On (on) he čini (CHEE-nee) does dobro (DOB-ro) good drugima (DROO-gee-ma) to-others-DAT.PL
15.7a Правим I-make кафу coffee-ACC хоћеш you-want ли Q 15.7b Pravim (PRA-veem) I-make kafu (KA-foo) coffee-ACC — hoćeš (HO-chesh) you-want li (lee) Q
15.8a Шта what сте you-are радили done-PL јуче yesterday 15.8b Šta (shta) what ste (steh) you-are radili (RA-dee-lee) done-PL juče (YOO-che) yesterday
15.9a Ништа nothing нисмо we-are-not радили done-PL 15.9b Ništa (NEESH-ta) nothing nismo (NEES-mo) we-are-not radili (RA-dee-lee) done-PL
15.10a Учинио done-MASC ми to-me је is велику great-ACC услугу favour-ACC 15.10b Učinio (oo-CHEE-nee-o) done-MASC mi (mee) to-me je (yeh) is veliku (ve-LEE-koo) great-ACC uslugu (OOS-loo-goo) favour-ACC
15.11a Ја I баш really волим love овај this посао job 15.11b Ja (yah) I baš (bash) really volim (VO-leem) love ovaj (O-vye) this posao (PO-sao) job
15.12a Волим I-love кафу coffee-ACC И and ја I 15.12b Volim (VO-leem) I-love kafu (KA-foo) coffee-ACC — I (ee) and ja (yah) I
15.13a Машина machine не not ради works 15.13b Mašina (MA-shee-na) machine ne (neh) not radi (RA-dee) works
15.14a Немој do-not то that да to радиш you-do 15.14b Nemoj (NE-moy) do-not to (toh) that da (dah) to radiš (RA-deesh) you-do
15.15a Ко whoever добро well почне begins он he је is на at пола half радње work-GEN 15.15b Ko (koh) whoever dobro (DOB-ro) well počne (POCH-ne) begins on (on) he je (yeh) is na (nah) at pola (PO-la) half radnje (RAD-nye) work-GEN
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15.1 Шта радиш? "What are you doing?"
15.2 Радим у школи. "I work at a school."
15.3 Не знам шта да радим. "I don't know what to do."
15.4 Да ли разумеш? "Do you understand?"
15.5 Урадио сам све што сам могао. "I did everything I could."
15.6 Он чини добро другима. "He does good to others."
15.7 Правим кафу, хоћеш ли? "I'm making coffee — would you like some?"
15.8 Шта сте радили јуче? "What did you do yesterday?"
15.9 Ништа нисмо радили. "We didn't do anything."
15.10 Учинио ми је велику услугу. "He did me a great favour."
15.11 Ја баш волим овај посао. "I do love this job."
15.12 Волим кафу. — И ја. "I like coffee." — "So do I."
15.13 Машина не ради. "The machine doesn't work."
15.14 Немој то да радиш. "Don't do that."
15.15 Ко добро почне, он је на пола радње. "He who begins well is halfway through the work."
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15.1 Шта радиш?
15.2 Радим у школи.
15.3 Не знам шта да радим.
15.4 Да ли разумеш?
15.5 Урадио сам све што сам могао.
15.6 Он чини добро другима.
15.7 Правим кафу, хоћеш ли?
15.8 Шта сте радили јуче?
15.9 Ништа нисмо радили.
15.10 Учинио ми је велику услугу.
15.11 Ја баш волим овај посао.
15.12 Волим кафу. — И ја.
15.13 Машина не ради.
15.14 Немој то да радиш.
15.15 Ко добро почне, он је на пола радње.
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These are the rules for do.
1. There is no auxiliary. English needs do in three places where Serbian needs nothing:
Questions: Разумеш? or Да ли разумеш? or Разумеш ли? — never anything corresponding to do. Negation: Не разумем. The negative particle attaches directly to the verb. Emphasis: Ја баш разумем, Ипак разумем — a particle, or simply the pronoun, which as Lesson 8 explained is itself emphatic.
A learner translating "I don't know" word by word will look for something to render don't. There is nothing: не знам is two words, and не is the whole of it.
2. радити. Present радим, радиш, ради, радимо, радите, раде; past радио сам; perfective урадити (урадићу, урадио сам). It means both do and work, and also function: машина не ради ("the machine isn't working").
3. чинити. Present чиним, чиниш, чини; perfective учинити. Used for abstract or moral action: чинити добро, чинити зло, чинити грешке, чинити услугу. It also survives in impersonal чини ми се and in чини се да.
4. правити. For physical making: правим кафу, правим кућу, направио сам сто. Where English says make of an object and do of an activity, Serbian's split runs between правити (build, prepare) and радити (perform, be occupied with).
5. Answering with the verb. English answers a question with the auxiliary — Did you? I did. Serbian repeats the verb itself: Јеси ли урадио? — Јесам. This echo-answer pattern was met in Lesson 2 and applies everywhere.
6. So do I / neither do I. Serbian uses the pronoun with a particle: и ја ("me too, so do I"), ни ја ("nor I, neither do I"). The verb is not repeated. Ни ја requires no negated verb because there is no verb at all.
7. Шта радиш? is the standard greeting-question among friends, roughly "what are you up to?", and the standard answer is ништа посебно ("nothing special") or simply ево, "here I am." Asked with emphasis on the tense it also means "what do you do for a living," though Чиме се бавиш? is the more precise question.
Common Mistakes
Looking for a word to translate do in questions and negations. There is none.
Using радити where правити belongs: *радим кафу. Say правим кафу.
Using чинити for ordinary activity: *чиним домаћи. Say радим домаћи.
Answering with да where the echo is expected. Јеси ли завршио? — Да is correct but flat; Јесам is natural.
Trying to build emphatic do: *ја радим знам. The emphasis lives in баш, стварно, ипак, or in fronting the verb.
Forgetting that не is a separate word with verbs (не знам) but fused in немам, нећу, нисам, немој. Those four are the only fusions.
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Шта радиш? is not really a question about activity. It is the standard opening of a phone call or a chance meeting, and the expected reply is minimal: ништа, ево, ту сам. Answering with an actual account of one's activities is possible but marks the speaker as either very literal or genuinely eager to talk. The English "how are you?" works the same way, and neither expects data.
Посао covers job, work, task and business, and the greeting Како посао? ("how's work?") functions as small talk in the way weather does in Britain. Радња, from the same root as радити, means both a shop and — as in the proverb of 15.15 — an undertaking or piece of work.
Serbian distinguishes радити (to work, to be employed) from радити нешто (to do something) only by the presence of an object, which produces a useful ambiguity that speakers exploit: Ради он, ради… with a particular intonation means "oh, he's working all right," implying the opposite.
Ко добро почне, он је на пола радње is Vuk's version of a proverb attributed in antiquity to Hesiod and current across Europe — that a good beginning is half the work. Its Serbian form keeps the resumptive он, which the relative ко does not strictly require, for the rhythm of the spoken line.
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From Српске народне пословице, Вук Стефановић Караџић, 1836. Three proverbs about doing — beginning, hurrying, and rising early.
F-A: Interlinear Construed Text
F.1a Ко whoever добро well почне begins он he је is на at пола half радње work-GEN F.1b Ko (koh) whoever dobro (DOB-ro) well počne (POCH-ne) begins on (on) he je (yeh) is na (nah) at pola (PO-la) half radnje (RAD-nye) work-GEN
F.2a Ко whoever брзо quickly суди judges брзо quickly се REFL и also каје repents F.2b Ko (koh) whoever brzo (BR-zo) quickly sudi (SOO-dee) judges brzo (BR-zo) quickly se (seh) REFL i (ee) also kaje (KA-ye) repents
F.3a Ко whoever рано early рани rises две two среће fortunes-GEN граби seizes F.3b Ko (koh) whoever rano (RA-no) early rani (RA-nee) rises dve (dveh) two sreće (SRE-che) fortunes-GEN grabi (GRA-bee) seizes
F-B: Natural Text with Translation
Ко добро почне, он је на пола радње. Ко брзо суди, брзо се и каје. Ко рано рани, две среће граби.
"He who begins well is halfway through the work. He who judges quickly repents quickly too. He who rises early seizes two strokes of fortune."
F-C: Original Only
Ко добро почне, он је на пола радње. Ко брзо суди, брзо се и каје. Ко рано рани, две среће граби.
F-D: Grammar and Vocabulary Notes
All three use the bare ко of Lesson 13, and all three use the perfective or imperfective present gnomically, for a truth outside time. Serbian proverbs almost never use a past tense.
радње is the genitive of радња, from радити — the work, the undertaking, the piece of business. In modern Serbian the same word most often means a shop, and на пола радње would be misread by a beginner as "halfway to the shop." Proverbs preserve the older sense.
рано рани is a figura etymologica: the adverb and the verb come from the same root, a device the folk language loves. Ранити here is not "to wound" (a different verb, same spelling) but "to rise early," from рано.
две среће — the dual after две, identical to the genitive singular, as in два брата and три сина. Срећа means both luck and happiness, and the proverb promises two portions of it.
се и каје — the reflexive verb кајати се (to repent), with и in its particle sense of "also, too," from Lesson 3: he repents as well as judging.
суди is from судити, which governs the dative when it means judging a person — не суди другоме — and stands alone in this general sense. The related nouns суд (court, judgement) and судија (judge) share the root.
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Part A — Intralinear Construed Text
15.16a Чиме with-what-INST се REFL бавиш you-occupy 15.16b Čime (CHEE-me) with-what-INST se (seh) REFL baviš (BA-veesh) you-occupy
15.17a Радим I-work као as преводилац translator 15.17b Radim (RA-deem) I-work kao (KA-o) as prevodilac (pre-VO-dee-lats) translator
15.18a Да Q ли Q радиш you-work од from куће home-GEN 15.18b Da (dah) Q li (lee) Q radiš (RA-deesh) you-work od (od) from kuće (KOO-che) home-GEN
15.19a Углавном mostly да yes али but понекад sometimes идем I-go у to канцеларију office-ACC 15.19b Uglavnom (oo-GLAV-nom) mostly da (dah) yes ali (A-lee) but ponekad (PO-ne-kad) sometimes idem (EE-dem) I-go u (oo) to kancelariju (kan-tse-LA-ree-yoo) office-ACC
15.20a Шта what си you-are радио done-MASC пре before тога that-GEN 15.20b Šta (shta) what si (see) you-are radio (RA-dee-o) done-MASC pre (preh) before toga (TO-ga) that-GEN
15.21a Предавао taught-MASC сам I-am али but то that више any-more не not радим I-do 15.21b Predavao (pre-DA-vao) taught-MASC sam (sahm) I-am ali (A-lee) but to (toh) that više (VEE-she) any-more ne (neh) not radim (RA-deem) I-do
15.22a Зашто why си you-are престао stopped-MASC 15.22b Zašto (ZASH-to) why si (see) you-are prestao (PRES-tao) stopped-MASC
15.23a Хтео wanted-MASC сам I-am да to радим I-work нешто something своје own 15.23b Hteo (HTE-o) wanted-MASC sam (sahm) I-am da (dah) to radim (RA-deem) I-work nešto (NESH-to) something svoje (SVO-ye) own
15.24a И and да Q ли Q си you-are добро well урадио done-MASC 15.24b I (ee) and da (dah) Q li (lee) Q si (see) you-are dobro (DOB-ro) well uradio (oo-RA-dee-o) done-MASC
15.25a Јесам I-am-EMPH никад never се REFL нисам I-am-not покајао repented-MASC 15.25b Jesam (YE-sam) I-am-EMPH — nikad (NEE-kad) never se (seh) REFL nisam (NEE-sam) I-am-not pokajao (po-KA-yao) repented-MASC
15.26a А and шта what ти you радиш do 15.26b A (ah) and šta (shta) what ti (tee) you radiš (RA-deesh) do
15.27a Ништа nothing посебно special тражим I-seek посао job 15.27b Ništa (NEESH-ta) nothing posebno (PO-seb-no) special — tražim (TRA-zheem) I-seek posao (PO-sao) job
15.28a Ако if хоћеш you-want могу I-can да to питам I-ask код at нас us-GEN 15.28b Ako (A-ko) if hoćeš (HO-chesh) you-want mogu (MO-goo) I-can da (dah) to pitam (PEE-tam) I-ask kod (kod) at nas (nahs) us-GEN
15.29a Учинио done-MASC би would ми to-me велику great-ACC услугу favour-ACC 15.29b Učinio (oo-CHEE-nee-o) done-MASC bi (bee) would mi (mee) to-me veliku (ve-LEE-koo) great-ACC uslugu (OOS-loo-goo) favour-ACC
15.30a Ништа nothing то that је is најмање the-least што that могу I-can 15.30b Ništa (NEESH-ta) nothing — to (toh) that je (yeh) is najmanje (nigh-MA-nye) the-least što (shto) that mogu (MO-goo) I-can
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Part B — Natural Sentences
15.16 Чиме се бавиш? "What do you do?"
15.17 Радим као преводилац. "I work as a translator."
15.18 Да ли радиш од куће? "Do you work from home?"
15.19 Углавном да, али понекад идем у канцеларију. "Mostly, yes, but sometimes I go to the office."
15.20 Шта си радио пре тога? "What did you do before that?"
15.21 Предавао сам, али то више не радим. "I taught, but I don't do that any more."
15.22 Зашто си престао? "Why did you stop?"
15.23 Хтео сам да радим нешто своје. "I wanted to do something of my own."
15.24 И да ли си добро урадио? "And did you do the right thing?"
15.25 Јесам. Никад се нисам покајао. "I did. I've never regretted it."
15.26 А шта ти радиш? "And what do you do?"
15.27 Ништа посебно, тражим посао. "Nothing special — I'm looking for work."
15.28 Ако хоћеш, могу да питам код нас. "If you like, I can ask at our place."
15.29 Учинио би ми велику услугу. "You'd be doing me a great favour."
15.30 Ништа, то је најмање што могу. "Not at all — it's the least I can do."
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Part C — Target Language Only
15.16 Чиме се бавиш?
15.17 Радим као преводилац.
15.18 Да ли радиш од куће?
15.19 Углавном да, али понекад идем у канцеларију.
15.20 Шта си радио пре тога?
15.21 Предавао сам, али то више не радим.
15.22 Зашто си престао?
15.23 Хтео сам да радим нешто своје.
15.24 И да ли си добро урадио?
15.25 Јесам. Никад се нисам покајао.
15.26 А шта ти радиш?
15.27 Ништа посебно, тражим посао.
15.28 Ако хоћеш, могу да питам код нас.
15.29 Учинио би ми велику услугу.
15.30 Ништа, то је најмање што могу.
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Part D — Grammar Notes for the Dialogue
Чиме се бавиш? (15.16) — чиме is the instrumental of шта, and бавити се governs the instrumental: literally "with what do you occupy yourself." This is the precise way to ask about someone's profession, where шта радиш is looser.
као преводилац (15.17) — као takes the nominative when it means "in the capacity of." No article, as always.
Да ли радиш (15.18) and да ли си урадио (15.24) — two questions with no auxiliary anywhere. English needs do and did; Serbian needs only да ли.
радио (15.20) versus урадио (15.24) — the aspectual pair. The imperfective asks what activity occupied you; the perfective asks whether the thing got done, and done rightly. This is the single most important distinction in the Serbian verb, and it will have a lesson of its own.
то више не радим (15.21) — не attached directly to the verb, with више ("any more") reinforcing. No don't.
нешто своје (15.23) — the reflexive possessive of Lesson 9 used substantively: "something of one's own."
Јесам (15.25) — the echo answer of Section D §5, replying to a да ли question with the stressed form of бити.
никад се нисам покајао (15.25) — obligatory double negative, plus the reflexive clitic in second position after никад, before the negated auxiliary.
код нас (15.28) — код with the genitive from Lesson 5, here meaning "at our workplace" — the same construction that means "at our house" or "in our country," and context alone decides.
Учинио би ми (15.29) — conditional plus чинити in its abstract sense plus the dative of the person benefited. English "you'd be doing me a favour" maps onto it exactly, verb for verb.
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радим (radim): RA-deem. First-syllable stress through the whole present tense, including раде (RA-de).
урадио (uradio): oo-RA-dee-o. Four syllables. The perfective prefix у- is unstressed; the stress stays on the root.
чинити (činiti): CHEE-nee-tee. Hard ч. Contrast ћутати (CHOO-ta-tee, to be silent) with the soft ћ.
правим (pravim): PRA-veem. From правити; the perfective is направим.
чиме (čime): CHEE-me. Instrumental of шта. Compare ким (keem), instrumental of ко.
преводилац (prevodilac): pre-VO-dee-lats. Five syllables, ending in -ц as /ts/. The genitive drops the vowel: преводиоца.
канцеларију (kancelariju): kan-tse-LA-ree-yoo. Six syllables; both ц sounds are /ts/.
радње (radnje): RAD-nye. The cluster дњ is two sounds, д then the palatal њ, run together without a vowel.
Question intonation without an auxiliary: because Serbian can form a question by intonation alone, the contour does the work English gives to do. Разумеш. falls; Разумеш? rises sharply on the final syllable. This is the one place where Serbian question intonation rises at the end, and it is worth practising against the да ли pattern of Lesson 6, which peaks early instead.
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