Rekoh, dođe, šta bi: the aorist, the past of books and of exclamations
In this unit a person opens a Serbian book for the first time and on the first page meets rekoh, dođe, videše — forms the course has not taught. This is the aorist, the simple past. English keeps one past for everything ("he said"); Serbian keeps two systems: the everyday two-word past, and this one-word past that lives in narration and in short outbursts. For example: “Уђе у собу, седе за сто и отвори књигу” — He…
How it works
In this unit a person opens a Serbian book for the first time and on the first page meets rekoh, dođe, videše — forms the course has not taught. This is the aorist, the simple past. English keeps one past for everything ("he said"); Serbian keeps two systems: the everyday two-word past, and this one-word past that lives in narration and in short outbursts.
How it is built. Take the stem without -ti and add the endings -h, (nothing), (nothing), -smo, -ste, -še: rekoh, reče, reče, rekosmo, rekoste, rekoše. The snags are the second and third persons singular: they coincide and take NO ending at all — on dođe looks like the present but means "he arrived".
Where it lives in the book. The aorist drives the story along: one action after another, each complete. Uđe, sede, pogleda oko sebe i ćutke izvadi pismo — He came in, sat down, looked around and wordlessly pulled out the letter. The everyday past in the same place would sound slower and heavier. So the reading rule: a run of short verbs in a row is almost certainly aorist, not present.
Where it lives in speech. In short phrases about what just happened. Odoh! — I'm off. Dođoh da pitam. Šta bi? — what happened? Bi mi drago. — that would please me. Izgubismo! — we lost! You hear this on the street every day, and English renders it with the plain past.
A familiar form in disguise. The conditional bih, bi, bismo, biste, bi from an earlier unit IS the aorist of the verb biti — to be. From there also ne bih hteo. So you already conjugate one aorist, simply under another name.
Its neighbor, the imperfect, is almost dead. The forms bejah, imađah, govoraše turn up in old texts, in folk song, in a joke. You do not need to learn them: recognize the tails -ah, -aše and know that this is past — that is enough.
Table
| person | reći | doći | biti | in English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ja | rekoh | dođoh | bih | I said, came, was |
| ti | reče | dođe | bi | you said, came, were |
| on, ona | reče | dođe | bi | he said, came, was |
| mi | rekosmo | dođosmo | bismo | we said, came, were |
| vi | rekoste | dođoste | biste | you said, came, were |
| oni | rekoše | dođoše | biše | they said, came, were |
| in books | uđe, sede, pogleda | — | — | came in, sat down, looked |
| in speech | odoh, šta bi | — | — | I am off, what happened |
By example
- Уђе у собу, седе за сто и отвори књигуUđe u sobu, sede za sto i otvori knjiguHe came into the room, sat down at the table and opened a book
- Одох ја, видимо се сутраOdoh ja, vidimo se sutraRight, I am off — see you tomorrow
- Шта би с оном представом? Отказаше је у последњи часŠta bi s onom predstavom? Otkazaše je u poslednji časWhat happened with that play? They cancelled it at the last minute
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
Rekoh, dođe, šta bi: how does it work in Serbian?
In this unit a person opens a Serbian book for the first time and on the first page meets rekoh, dođe, videše — forms the course has not taught. This is the aorist, the simple past. English keeps one past for everything ("he said"); Serbian keeps two systems: the everyday two-word past, and this…
What does it look like in an example sentence Serbian?
“Уђе у собу, седе за сто и отвори књигу” (Uđe u sobu, sede za sto i otvori knjigu) — He came into the room, sat down at the table and opened a book. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.