After using the Locative case to say where you are, you can now describe movement towards a person or place. This lesson introduces ići ka with the Dative case and practises the commands idi and idite.
Dative case with movement towards a destination
The basic pattern is ići + ka + Dative:
- Idem ka gradu. = I am going towards the city.
- Idi ka stanici. = Go towards the station. (informal singular)
- Idite ka muzeju. = Go towards the museum. (formal or plural)
The preposition ka usually describes direction towards a destination; it does not necessarily mean that the destination is reached.
You should now feel more confident using the Locative case to say where you are:
Last time you practised the Locative with the verbs:
- govoriti = to speak
- živeti = to live
In this fourth pre-intermediate Serbian lesson, you will discover that the Dative case, used after ka to describe movement towards someone or something, generally has the same noun and adjective forms as the Locative. They are still different cases because they have different functions and follow different prepositions.
Before we do this fun exercise (in my classes my students and I play this language game), let me remind you of the conjugations for the new verb, which we'll need in this lesson:
- ići = to go
We'll need the imperative form "go", which can be used :
- formally: "idite ka" ("go towards" with Vi)
- informally: "idi ka" ("go towards" with ti)