Serbian verb aspect shows whether an action is viewed as a process, a repeated activity or a completed event. English often expresses these distinctions through tense forms, while Serbian frequently builds them into the choice of verb itself. Compare odmarao se (he was resting) with odmorio se (he had a rest and completed the action).

Imperfective and perfective verbs in Serbian

I hope you enjoyed revising the past tense in Serbian. You may have wondered why the previous lesson seemed so easy for an intermediate learner. It provides the foundation for one of the more challenging features of Serbian: verb aspect.

While in the English language there's an elaborate system of tenses (level of syntax) in order to express whether an action took place, was talking place or has been talking place, in the Serbian language, these distinctions are inferred mainly from the verb, at the lexical level. For example:
That's why I prepared quite a lot video lessons about Jeremija and Spomenka, and the follow-up exercises, hoping that it'll help you clarify the aspect in Serbian. Let me start with this  difficult one, but if it's too easy, check this one out :)














  • PROBUDITI = to wake up (perfective)
  • BUDITI = to wake up (imperfective)
  • RAZBUDITI = to wake up (perfective)
Kada se obično budiš ? = When do you usually wake up ?
Koliko ti treba vremena da se probudiš ? = How much time does it take for you to wake up ?
Kada si se jutros probudio? = When did you wake up this morning?
Jutros sam se probudio u pola šest (5.30) = This morning I woke up at 5.30

In the "she-version", Jeremija made a few mistakes. Here're the correct text:

Juče sam se probudila u pet ujutru. Ja inače nisam neka spavalica. Obično se budim u šest. Trebalo mi je sat vremena da se razbudim i ustanem. 

Now, can you answer my questions in the comment: 
  • Kada se obično budiš ?
  • Kada si se juče probudio/la ?
  • Koliko ti obično treba vremena da se razbudiš ?
  • Koliko ti je juče trebalo vremena da se razbudiš ?