The complex sentence in full: cause, purpose, time, concession — and the comma
Grown-up speech needs the full set of links. For cause: zato što in speech, jer on paper, and pošto for "since", which likes to go first. For example: “Пошто нам је отказан лет, остали смо још један дан” — Since our flight was cancelled, we stayed one more day. A rule from the Serbian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Grown-up speech needs the full set of links. For cause: zato što in speech, jer on paper, and pošto for "since", which likes to go first.
Purpose is da plus the present: Došao sam da pomognem. Time is kad, dok, čim, pre nego što. Concession is iako and mada, and those two swap freely.
Now the comma, which is the main thing here. It goes in when the half with the link comes first: Iako je hladno, šetamo. It stays out when that half follows: Šetamo iako je hladno.
Words like međutim, dakle and naime are not links and behave the other way round: they always take a comma. Međutim, on je stigao tek posle sastanka.
Table
| the group | the link | example | the comma | what to remember |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cause | zato što | ne idem, zato što kiša pada | before the link | zato alone means "so" |
| cause | jer | ne idem jer pada kiša | usually none | more bookish |
| cause | pošto | pošto pada kiša, ostajemo | after the clause | likes to go first |
| purpose | da | došao sam da pomognem | none | the present tense |
| purpose | kako bi | kako bi smanjili troškove | none | newspaper, with "would" |
| time | čim, dok, kad | čim stignem, zvaću te | if it comes first | the future stays present |
| concession | iako, mada | iako je hladno, šetamo | if it comes first | interchangeable |
| connective | međutim, dakle | međutim, on je zakasnio | always | the count starts from zero |
By example
- Пошто нам је отказан лет, остали смо још један данPošto nam je otkazan let, ostali smo još jedan danSince our flight was cancelled, we stayed one more day
- Влада мења закон како би смањила трошковеVlada menja zakon kako bi smanjila troškoveThe government is changing the law to cut costs
- Међутим, он је стигао тек после састанкаMeđutim, on je stigao tek posle sastankaHe, however, only arrived after the meeting
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The complex sentence in full: how does it work in Serbian?
Grown-up speech needs the full set of links. For cause: zato što in speech, jer on paper, and pošto for "since", which likes to go first.
What does it look like in an example sentence Serbian?
“Пошто нам је отказан лет, остали смо још један дан” (Pošto nam je otkazan let, ostali smo još jedan dan) — Since our flight was cancelled, we stayed one more day. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.