читати
“читати” (čitati) — to read in Serbian. Verb, level A1, topic — verbs. A perfectly regular present: čitam, čitaš, čita. Pročitati is to read through to the end. In a live sentence: “Волим да читам пред спавање” — I love to read before bed. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ч, и, т, а, т, и. One of 23 words in the set “verbs” in the Serbian course.
In short
| Written in Serbian | читати |
| Read in Latin letters | čitati |
| Translation | to read |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- читатиčitatito read
Why it looks that way
A perfectly regular present: čitam, čitaš, čita. Pročitati is to read through to the end.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Волим да читам пред спавањеVolim da čitam pred spavanjeI love to read before bed
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. Twenty verbs cover more everyday sentences than two hundred nouns.
- хоћуhoćuI wantFollowed by da and a present tense: hocu da jedem — "I want to eat". Serbian does not put an infinitive after "want" the way English does.
- волимvolimI loveWorks for coffee and for people alike: volim kafu, volim te. One verb covers "like", "love" and "be fond of".
- ићиićito goOn foot or by transport — one verb. The present looks nothing like the infinitive: idem, ideš, ide.
- јестиjestito eatAbout food only. "There is" in the sense of "exists" is a different word entirely — ima.
- питиpitito drinkThe present grows a j: pijem, piješ, pije. Popiti is "to drink up" — finish the glass.
- говоритиgovoritito speakAbout languages with no preposition: govorim srpski — "I speak Serbian". The chatty synonym is pričati.
- радитиraditito workIts second job is "to do": šta radiš? — literally "what do you do?" — the everyday "how are you doing?".
- живетиživetito liveBosnia and Montenegro: živjeti. And Živeli! — the Serbian toast — is literally "may we live!".
- иматиimatito haveSerbian has no "I have got" — just imam: imam dvoje dece — "I have two children". The possessor is the subject.
- имаimathere isImpersonal "there is, there are": ima vode? — "is there any water?" The negative is nema. Do not cross it with jesti — eating is another verb.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to read” in Serbian?
A perfectly regular present: čitam, čitaš, čita. Pročitati is to read through to the end.
- How do you say “to work” in Serbian?
Its second job is "to do": šta radiš? — literally "what do you do?" — the everyday "how are you doing?".
- How do you say “to go” in Serbian?
On foot or by transport — one verb. The present looks nothing like the infinitive: idem, ideš, ide.
- How do you say “there is” in Serbian?
Impersonal "there is, there are": ima vode? — "is there any water?" The negative is nema. Do not cross it with jesti — eating is another verb.
- How do you say “to speak” in Serbian?
About languages with no preposition: govorim srpski — "I speak Serbian". The chatty synonym is pričati.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to read” in Serbian?
«читати», read “čitati”. In a live sentence: “Волим да читам пред спавање” — I love to read before bed. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1, from the set “verbs”; written with the characters ч, и, т, а, т, и.
How is “читати” written in Latin letters?
čitati. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A perfectly regular present: čitam, čitaš, čita. Pročitati is to read through to the end. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.