Zdravo — Maja here. I teach this language for a living, and the imperative is the one grammar topic students are secretly relieved to reach, because they've been swimming in it for weeks without a name for it. Every Izvolite? from a waiter, every Dođite! from a market seller, every Reci! when a friend answers the phone — those are all imperatives. You've been hearing commands since day one. Let's just make them yours.
You already know a pile of these
Before any rules, meet the ones you'll say and hear constantly. Learn these as whole words first; the grammar underneath them can wait an hour.
| Serbian / Montenegrin | Say it | Meaning |
|---|
| Izvoli / Izvolite | IZ-vo-li / iz-VO-li-te | here you go / go ahead / how can I help |
| Dođi / Dođite | DO-dji / DO-dji-te | come (here) |
| Čekaj / Čekajte | CHE-kai / CHE-kai-te | wait |
| Reci / Recite | RE-tsi / RE-tsi-te | say (it) / go on, tell me |
| Idemo! | EE-de-mo | let's go |
| Hajde / Hajdemo | HAI-de / HAI-de-mo | come on / let's (go) |
That -te on the end is worth clocking now: it's the same ending that turns a friendly "you" into a polite or plural one. Dođi to your friend, dođite to your friend's grandmother. More on that below — it's the single most useful thing on this page.
The one rule that builds them all
Here's the trick, and it's genuinely one step. Take the present tense they-form (the oni form), knock off the final -u or -e, and you've got your base. Then:
- for one person (ti): add -i — unless the base already ends in -j, in which case add nothing;
- for a group or a polite "you" (vi): add -te the same way.
| Verb | They-form | You (ti) | You (vi / plural) |
|---|
| raditi — to work | rade | radi! | radite! |
| pisati — to write | pišu | piši! | pišite! |
| čitati — to read | čitaju | čitaj! | čitajte! |
| doći — to come | dođu | dođi! | dođite! |
| gledati — to look/watch | gledaju | gledaj! | gledajte! |
See čitaj and gledaj? Their bases end in -j already (čitaj-u, gledaj-u), so nothing gets added for the ti form — you just stop after the j. Everything else takes the -i. Because the imperative grows out of the present tense, it pays to have that present-tense they-form solid first; get that and the command falls out for free. It's one of the tidier corners of the grammar — if you're mapping the whole thing, the Serbian roadmap lays out a sensible order to take it in.
Two small twists worth knowing
First, a sound change. When a base ends in k or g, it softens before the -i: k becomes c, g becomes z. So peći (to bake) → peku → peci! (bake!), and pomoći (to help) → pomognu → pomozi! (help!). You don't need to memorise the rule as a rule; just recognise peci and pomozi when they come.
Second, a few high-frequency verbs are simply irregular and have to be learned whole:
| Verb | You (ti) | You (vi) | Meaning |
|---|
| biti | budi | budite | be |
| ići | idi | idite | go |
| jesti | jedi | jedite | eat |
| dati | daj | dajte | give |
Budi dobar! — "be good!" — is one you'll say to a child or a friend within your first month, so it's a fine one to bank early.
"Let's…" — the we-form
To rope yourself into the action — let's go, let's see — add -mo instead of -te: idemo (let's go), gledajmo (let's watch), vidimo (let's see). In real speech people most often just say hajde ("come on") or hajde da… plus the present tense: Hajde da idemo, hajde da probamo (let's try). Hajde is the little word that makes you sound like you actually live here.
How to say "don't"
This is where a lot of learners overthink it, so here's the clean version. The friendliest, safest negative command is nemoj (to one person) or nemojte (to several, or politely), followed by the infinitive:
Nemoj brinuti. — Don't worry. (NE-moi bri-NU-ti)
Nemojte žuriti. — Don't rush. (to a group or politely)
Nemoj da brineš. — Same thing, with da + present. Equally natural.
There's a stricter form — a bare ne in front of the command (ne brini, "don't worry") — but it only works comfortably with imperfective (ongoing-action) verbs, and it can land a touch sharper. If you're not sure, default to nemoj and you'll always be right and polite. Whether a verb is perfective or imperfective is the same distinction that runs through the whole verb system; if it's still fuzzy, verbal aspect explained is the piece that makes it click.
The politeness dial: ti vs vi
Because the imperative has that built-in ti/vi split, it's quietly a politeness tool. Sedi to a mate; sedite to a stranger, a client, an older neighbour. Soften either one with molim te / molim vas ("please") and even a blunt verb turns courteous: Sačekajte, molim vas — "wait a moment, please." Get the ti/vi choice wrong and nobody will be offended, but getting it right is the difference between sounding like a phrasebook and sounding like someone raised on the manners. The ti and vi guide goes deeper on when to switch.
A quick Montenegrin aside: everything here works identically across the region. You'll just hear the odd ijekavian vowel — sjedni in Montenegro where much of Serbia says sedni. The command itself is built the same way. If the vowel patterns are new to you, Montenegrin pronunciation lays them out.
Quick questions
How do I make a command from a verb I only know in the infinitive? Go via the present tense they-form, not the infinitive. Kupovati (to buy) → kupuju → kupuj / kupujte. The infinitive can hide sound changes the present tense reveals.
Is hajde an imperative? In effect, yes — it's a fixed little "come on / let's," and you can bolt da + present onto it (hajde da počnemo, let's begin). Treat it as vocabulary rather than a rule.
Do I really need the vi form early on? More than almost anything. As a visitor or newcomer you'll address strangers and shopkeepers far more than close friends, so the -te forms — izvolite, recite, sačekajte — are the ones your mouth should reach for by default.
The imperative is one of the fastest wins in the language: one ending, a couple of twists, and suddenly you can ask for things, offer things, and keep a conversation moving instead of just answering questions. The way to lock it in isn't a table — it's saying dođi, reci, nemoj brinuti out loud until they're reflexes. That's exactly the drilling Gora's fox is built for: it'll bark small commands at you and make you fire them back, in ti and in vi, until you stop translating. Search Gora Academy in the App Store or on Google Play, or open it in your browser at app.gora.academy — then try a verb on it today. Hajde, go on.
Practise commands out loud — free →