GRAMMAR TIME The verb 'to be' is the essential verb in every grammar. In Serbian, it is also used as an auxiliary verb for building the past tense and passive forms. The full form of the verb is: JESAM. Its infinitive form has several meanings depending on context, it means "I exist" and "I am".

FORMS IN PRESENT There are two forms of the verb JESAM in present tense: the full one JESAM and the short one I will call "SAM". In conversation, the shorter version is mostly used but JESAM is sometimes necessary for emphasis and some other uses. Let's look at the way JESAM changes through faces (conjugates).

So.. let's see how JESAM looks:

1. Ja JESAM.

2. Ti JESI.

3. On, ona, ono JESTE.

Plural:

1. Mi JESMO

2. Vi JESTE

3. Oni JESU

Let's look at the forms used for short version of to be:

1. Ja SAM

2. Ti SI

3. On, ona, ono JE

Plural:

1. Mi SMO

2. Vi STE

3. Oni SU

Now let's combine the long and short:

1. Ja (JE)SAM

2. Ti (JE)SI

3. On,ona,ono JE(STE) *exemption for 3rd person: here, you do not "cut out" the JE-, but the -STE in order to create the short form

Plural:

1. Mi (JE)SMO

2.Vi (JE)STE

3. ONi (JE)SU

Ja sam Aleksandra.

Ti si Erik.

Ja nisam Erik.

Ti nisi Aleksandra.

INTERROGATIVE FORMS:

Just like in English, you add certain words (auxiliary verbs) to help you build questions in English. The auxiliary word in Serbian is LI, and there are two ways it can be used to form questions.

+ Ja pričam Engleski. = I speak English.

#1 Da li ja pričam Engleski? (Do I speak English?)

#2 Pričam li ja Engleski? (Speak I English?)

Both versions of asking questions are acceptable; using "da li" is easy because it just goes before the affirmative sentence, whereas using only "li" requires you to shift the word order in a sentence like this:

JA PRIČAM ENGLESKI.

Sujbect + Verb + Object (SVO)

PRIČAM LI JA ENGLESKI?

Verb + Aux + Subj + Object (V(A)SO) T

his works with most of the verbs, however, JESAM is a bitch when it comes to that and has special ways of forming interrogative and negative forms. Let's do this!

QUESTIONS WITH JESAM (both with long and short verb forms)

1. Jesam li? / Da li sam?

2. Jesi li? / Da li si?

3. Je li / Da li je?

Plural:

1. Jesmo li? / Da li smo?

2. Jeste li? / Da li ste?

3. Jesu li? / Da li su?

NEGATIVE FORM OF JESAM is... unusually simply built, by adding NI- in front of the short version.

Therefore it's:

1. Nisam.

2. Nisi.

3. Nije.

Plural:

1. Nismo.

2. Niste.

3. Nisu.