# Serbian:''to go'' - conjugation



## knowledge123

Hi. I would like to know, how to say in Serbian (ekavian) :

1.)He goes
2.)They go
3.)I went
4.)They went
5.)We went

Thank You


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## Serdja

1) иде
2) иду
3) ишао сам- male ишла сам female
4) ишли су-m   ишле су-f    ишла су-n
5) ишли смо-m ишле смо f


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## Милан

1. On ide.
2. Oni/one/ona idu.  male/female/neuter plural
3. Išao sam. or Ja sam išao. -male     Išla sam. or Ja sam išla. -female
4. Išli/išle/išla su. m/f/n plural or Oni su išli, one su išle, ona su išla.  m/f/n plural
5. Išli/išle smo. m/f plural or Mi smo išli/išle. m/f plural


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## bibax

Only for completeness:

3. Išlo sam. - for neuter gender
5. Išla smo. -  -"-


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## Милан

bibax said:


> Only for completeness:
> 
> 3. Išlo sam. - for neuter gender
> 5. Išla smo. -  -"-



Not in standard Serbian, in theory maybe.


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## More od Solzi

_Prase je išlo 
Prasad je išla_

sound fine,
but _Išlo sam_ sounds weird since neutral gender animals and things cannot talk.
A child is neutral, but they wouldn't say,_ išlo sam_.
In plural, it's possible:_  Mi deca smo išla_,
but _Mi deca smo išli _is far more probable.


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## bibax

More od Solzi said:


> ... sound fine, but _Išlo sam_ sounds weird since neutral gender animals and things cannot talk.


In our country the animals and things of neuter gender ordinarily talk. 

- Prasátka, kam *jste šla*?
- *Šla jsme* na výlet. - *Išla smo* na izlet. - odpověděla prasátka.

- Kůzlátko, *zavřelo jsi* vrátka? - ptala se koza.
- Ano, *zavřelo jsem* vrátka - Da, *zatvorilo sam* vrata. - lhalo neposlušné kůzlátko.

A baby goat, whose mother tongue is Czech, will never say "zavřel jsem" (zatvorio sam) or "zavřela jsem" (zatvorila sam), "zavřelo jsem" (zatvorilo sam) is the only possibility.

Perhaps you will revise your opinion regarding Serbian?


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## More od Solzi

In Serbocroatian  *Išlo sam* is not possible*,
*even in cartoons, animals would pick masculine or feminine, as matter of personification.


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## bibax

And what about an inanimate thing of neuter gender?

You can hold a dialogue with things either inwardly or in a literary text. For example with slunce (sunce) or zrcadlo (ogledalo). Or even with Rakousko (Austria, which is neuter in Czech). In Czech, using the neuter form of the l-participle in such cases is quite natural, we know it from the fairy tales.

I think it is only question of habit. There is no grammatical reason for such restriction.


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## Vanja

In Serbian you have to decide which gender you belong to  Nothing in between. Personified object would be He or She.


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## Ben Jamin

Vanja said:


> In Serbian you have to decide which gender you belong to  Nothing in between. Personified object would be He or She.


The same holds for Polish. Neuter is never used in first person singular, and anybody who would try to speak so would feel it weird and unnatural. In plural the forms of neuter er identical with feminine, so there is no problem.


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## bibax

Well, the problem of the forms _byłom, byłoś,_ etc. (= bilo sam, bilo si) is discussed here (in Polish).


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## Ben Jamin

bibax said:


> Well, the problem of the forms _byłom, byłoś,_ etc. (= bilo sam, bilo si) is discussed here (in Polish).


Yes, and it confirms my description of the situation. There is also one aspect that lacks in that article, it ignores the usage as a criterium, which is rather typical for the Polish grammarian approach.


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## marco_2

Ben Jamin said:


> The same holds for Polish. Neuter is never used in first person singular, and anybody who would try to speak so would feel it weird and unnatural.



I once met such a form in a fairy tale when the sun (which is neuter in Polish - _słońce_) used to say: _Wstałom wcześnie ... _etc. but of course in real life neuter in first person singular is useless for obvious reasons.


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