Exercise with Impersonal SE in Serbian
Video Lesson - Serbian 301
Saying what is done without saying who does it
The impersonal se lets you talk about an action with no named agent. Ovde se govori srpski — Serbian is spoken here. Kako se to piše? — how is that written? Radi se od osam do četiri — one works from eight to four. English needs a passive or the vague you; Serbian just adds se and puts the verb in the third person.
Watch the agreement: if there is a grammatical subject, the verb follows it — Ovde se prodaju karte, plural, because karte is plural. And remember that se is a clitic, so it cannot start the sentence and sits in second position: Kako se kaže, never Se kaže kako.
The impersonal se at work
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Ovde se ne puši. | Овде се не пуши. | Smoking is not allowed here. |
| Kako se stiže do stanice? | Како се стиже до станице? | How does one get to the station? |
| U ovoj pekari se prodaje odličan burek. | У овој пекари се продаје одличан бурек. | Excellent burek is sold in this bakery. |
| Na času se govori samo srpski. | На часу се говори само српски. | Only Serbian is spoken in class. |
| Vrata se otvaraju automatski. | Врата се отварају аутоматски. | The doors open automatically. |
Turn a personal sentence impersonal
Take five ordinary sentences with a subject — Ljudi ovde jedu kasno — and rewrite each one with se: Ovde se jede kasno. Doing the conversion yourself, in both directions, is what makes you notice where se lands in the sentence.
Make it impersonal
Turn each English sentence into an impersonal Serbian one with se, and check where the se landed. Both alphabets.
- Serbian is spoken here.
- How is this word written?
- Tickets are sold at the entrance.
- One works until four.
- Coffee is drunk slowly here.
Answers for the impersonal se
| English | Latinica | Ћирилица |
|---|---|---|
| Serbian is spoken here. | Ovde se govori srpski. | Овде се говори српски. |
| How is this word written? | Kako se piše ova reč? | Како се пише ова реч? |
| Tickets are sold at the entrance. | Karte se prodaju na ulazu. | Карте се продају на улазу. |
| One works until four. | Radi se do četiri. | Ради се до четири. |
| Coffee is drunk slowly here. | Ovde se kafa pije polako. | Овде се кафа пије полако. |