Imperative

The imperative form of verbs is very often used in direct speech, when one wants to command, ask, request,
prohibit, etc. Because of its use, it appears in the 2nd p.sg., and the 1st and 2nd p.pl. The imperative is formed in
the following way

1) reduced present stem + 2) imperative suffixes

1) Imperative is formed from the reduced present stem by dropping the suffix (-u, -e, or -ju) from the 3rd p.pl.
in the present tense. (e.g. Oni do-u. Oni rad-e. Oni peva-ju.)
2) There are two siffixes in the imperative which are the most frequent. These suffixes depend on whether the
stem ends in a consonant (Type I) or in a vowel (Type II).

2. p. sg. 1. p. pl. 2. p. pl.

Type I -i -imo -ite
Type II -j -jmo -jte

A command or request may also be expressed for the third person, both in singular and plural. There is no
special imperative, but the verbal phrase is presented in the following way:
NEKA + the 3. p. sg. / pl. of the present tense

doi
sg. pl.
1. 1. Doimo!
2. Doi! 2. Doite!
3. (Neka doe!) 3. (Neka dou!)

raditi
sg. pl.
1. 1. Radimo!
2. Radi! 2. Radite!
3. (Neka radi!) 3. (Neka rade!)

pevati
sg. pl.
1. 1. Pevajmo!
2. Pevaj! 2. Pevajte!
3. (Neka peva!) 3. (Neka pevaju!)

Verbs that have a stem ending in K or G in front of the imperative suffixes -i, -imo and -ite have the alternations
K>C, G>Z in the root.
e.g. K>C Peku, seku > Peci! Seci!
G>Z Pomognu > Pomozi!

The negative form

The imperative is negated by adding NE in front of the verb.

pevati
sg. pl.
1. 1. Ne pevajmo!
2. Ne pevaj! 2. Ne pevajte!
3. (Neka ne peva!) 3. (Neka ne pevaju!)

1) By introducing NE, the negative form of the imperative can be formed only with imperfective verbs.
2) The imperative can also be negated by adding NEMOJ, NEMOJMO and NEMOJTE plus the infinitive,
or the two words construction DA + present tense. This type of imperative can be formed either with perfective
or imperfective verbs.

doi
sg. pl.
Nemojmo doi!
1. 1.
Nemojmo da doemo!
Nemoj doi! Nemojte doi!
2. 2.
Nemoj da doe! Nemojte da doete!

raditi
sg. pl.
Nemojmo raditi!
1. 1.
Nemojmo da radimo!
Nemoj raditi! Nemojte raditi!
2. 2.
Nemoj da radi! Nemojte da radite!

Reflexive verbs in imperative

The affirmative form :

etati se
sg. pl.
1. 1. etajmo se!
2. etaj se! 2. etajte se!
3. (Neka se eta!) 3. (Neka se etaju!)

1) The morpheme SE appears in the second position, after the main verb.
2) In the 3rd p. (both in singular and plural), the morpheme SE follows the particle NEKA.
The negative form :

etati se
 sg. pl.
1. 1. Ne etajmo se!
2. Ne etaj se! 2. Ne etajte se!
3. (Neka se ne eta!) 3. (Neka se ne etaju!)

1) The morpheme SE follows the negative form of the verb.

2) In the 3rd p. (both in the singular and the plural) the morpheme SE follows the particle NEKA, and precedes
the negation NE.

etati se
sg. pl.
Nemojmo se etati!
1. 1.
Nemojmo da se etamo!
Nemoj se etati! Nemojte se etati!
2. 2.
Nemoj da se eta! Nemojte da se etate!

1) The morpheme SE is placed in the second position, after the verbs NEMOJ, NEMOJMO, NEMOJTE.
2) If the construction DA + the present tense is used, the morpheme SE is placed after the conjunction DA. You
can try below what you have just lernt. Write your answer and press Enter

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate forms of the verbs given in brackets.
prozor! Nema vazduha. OTVORITI
Milice, meso. JESTI
Jovane, molim te, u spavau sobu i donesi mi naoare. II
Marina i Jovane, kod nas u goste. DOI
Pre nego to doete, me telefonom, da proverite da li sam kod kue. POZVATI

Put the verbs into the imperative.

Mi/pevati lepo. lepo!
Ti/sluati dobro. dobro!
Vi/uiti. !
On/gledati. Neka !
Oni/skrenuti levo. levo!
Vi/govoriti glasno. glasno!
Mi/pisati itko. itko!
Ona/jesti polako. polako!
Ti/popeti se. !
Vi/doi. !

Turn the following imperatives into the commands given to a third person.
Example: Otvori prozor! Neka otvori prozor!
Otvorite prozor! Neka otvore prozor!
itaj knjigu! Neka knjigu!
Vozi polako! polako!
Pozdravite Milana! Milana!
Odgovorite na pitanje! na pitanje!
Doi u sredu! u sredu!
Idi u prodavnicu! u prodavnicu!

Give an instruction to both a) a friend and b) and elderly woman

on how he or she can make "Turkish coffee". Make use of the given verbs and expressions.
Sipati vodu u dezvu. Staviti eera po potrebi. Kuvati dok ne prokljua. Dodati dve male kaike kafe.
Promeati. Kad pone da raste, sklonite sa poreta.
a)
vodu u dezvu!
po potrebi!
!
kaike kafe!
!
Kad pone da raste, !
b)
vodu u dezvu!
po potrebi!
!
kaike kafe!
!
Kad pone da raste, !

Negate the following imperative verb forms (use both ways, where possible).
Example: itaj!
Ne itaj!
Nemoj da ita!
Pii!

Doi!

Zatvori!
Gledaj!

Pij!

Jedi!

Prevedi!

Odgovori!