Trčeći, vežbajući: the adverbial participle without which motion cannot be told
This unit is all about movement, and movement almost always rides on top of another action: ran and watched, talked while stretching. English attaches -ing to a main clause — "running along the river, I listen to a podcast"; Serbian has the same tool, only built differently and liking different spots. For example: “Трчећи поред реке, слушам подкаст о спорту” — Running along the river, I listen to a sports podcast. A…
How it works
This unit is all about movement, and movement almost always rides on top of another action: ran and watched, talked while stretching. English attaches -ing to a main clause — "running along the river, I listen to a podcast"; Serbian has the same tool, only built differently and liking different spots.
The present form: the they-form plus -ći. Trče → trčeći, vežbaju → vežbajući, nose → noseći, idu → idući, pišu → pišući. One form for every person and both numbers; it never declines and never changes for gender. It is the simplest formation rule in the whole of Serbian grammar.
The past form: -vši. Uraditi → uradivši, doći → došavši, videti → videvši. It is bookish: in speech you will almost never hear it — instead people say kad sam uradio or pošto sam došao. In the newspaper and the novel — as much as you like.
A hard condition shared with English: one subject over both actions. Trčeći, slušam muziku — I am the one running and the one listening. A sentence like "approaching the house, the rain started" is as wrong in Serbian as in English — the classic dangling participle.
The negation goes in front of the form: ne gledajući, ne pitajući nikoga. And it is a frequent pattern, equal to English "without + -ing": otišao je ne rekavši ništa — he left without saying anything.
Three forms that grew out of it into separate words. Budući da — "given that, seeing that", a link of cause: budući da pada kiša, ostajemo kod kuće. Idući and sledeći — "next", already adjectives: iduće nedelje — next week. And hteo ne hteo — "like it or not" — where the forms froze solid.
What Serbian does NOT do: it dislikes a long chain of these forms, the beloved ornament of officialese elsewhere. Two in a row is already heavy; three almost always get rewritten with kad or dok.
Table
| the verb | they-form | the -ći form | in English |
|---|---|---|---|
| trčati | trče | trčeći | running |
| vežbati | vežbaju | vežbajući | training |
| nositi | nose | noseći | carrying |
| ići | idu | idući | going |
| gledati | gledaju | gledajući | looking |
| doći | — | došavši | having come |
| uraditi | — | uradivši | having done |
| reći | — | rekavši | having said |
By example
- Трчећи поред реке, слушам подкаст о спортуTrčeći pored reke, slušam podkast o sportuRunning along the river, I listen to a sports podcast
- Вежбајући сваки дан, брзо је вратио издржљивостVežbajući svaki dan, brzo je vratio izdržljivostTraining every day, he quickly got his stamina back
- Отишао је из сале не рекавши ништа тренеруOtišao je iz sale ne rekavši ništa treneruHe left the gym without saying anything to the coach
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
Trčeći vs rekavši?
This unit is all about movement, and movement almost always rides on top of another action: ran and watched, talked while stretching. English attaches -ing to a main clause — "running along the river, I listen to a podcast"; Serbian has the same tool, only built differently and liking different…
-ći or -vši: which Serbian participle?
The present form: the they-form plus -ći. Trče → trčeći, vežbaju → vežbajući, nose → noseći, idu → idući, pišu → pišući. One form for every person and both numbers; it never declines and never changes for gender. It is the simplest formation rule in the whole of Serbian grammar.
How to say running and having said in Serbian?
The past form: -vši. Uraditi → uradivši, doći → došavši, videti → videvši. It is bookish: in speech you will almost never hear it — instead people say kad sam uradio or pošto sam došao. In the newspaper and the novel — as much as you like.
What budući da means?
A hard condition shared with English: one subject over both actions. Trčeći, slušam muziku — I am the one running and the one listening. A sentence like "approaching the house, the rain started" is as wrong in Serbian as in English — the classic dangling participle.
How to say he left without saying anything in Serbian?
The negation goes in front of the form: ne gledajući, ne pitajući nikoga. And it is a frequent pattern, equal to English "without + -ing": otišao je ne rekavši ništa — he left without saying anything.
What does it look like in an example sentence Serbian?
“Трчећи поред реке, слушам подкаст о спорту” (Trčeći pored reke, slušam podkast o sportu) — Running along the river, I listen to a sports podcast. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.