Simultaneous Actions With a Verbal Adverb

Level 4Sounds Like glagolski prilog sadašn̂i

The present verbal adverb (глаголски прилог садашњи) expresses an action taking place at the exact same time as the main verb. It is invariable (does not decline for gender, number, or case) and corresponds to the English adverbial "-ing" (e.g., "walking down the street, he noticed..."). It attaches exclusively to the 3rd-person plural present stem of imperfective verbs: читати → читају → читајући.

How It Works

1. How to Form the Verbal Adverb
To form the глаголски прилог садашњи, take the 3rd-person plural (они) form of the present tense of an imperfective verb and add the suffix -ћи:

  • шетати → они шетају → шетајући (walking)
  • говорити → они говоре → говорећи (speaking)
  • пећи → они пеку → пекући (baking)
  • плакати → они плачу → плачући (weeping)
  • писати → они пишу → пишући (writing)

With reflexive verbs (повратни глаголи), the clitic се follows the adverb: смејати се → они се смеју → смејући се (laughing).

2. Relative Time, Not Absolute Tense
Although called "present" (садашњи), this form has no fixed grammatical tense of its own. It conveys simultaneity relative to the governing verb. It can modify a past, present, or future action:

  • perfekat: Шетао је слушајући музику. (He walked while listening to music.)
  • prezent: Шета слушајући музику. (He walks while listening to music.)
  • futur: Шетаће слушајући музику. (He will walk while listening to music.)

3. Semantic Roles
In a clause, the verbal adverb acts as an adverbial modifier denoting:

  • Manner: Дошао је певајући. (He arrived singing.)
  • Time: Улазећи у собу, угледао је пријатеља. (Entering the room, he spotted his friend.)
  • Reason/Cause: Не желећи свађу, отишао је. (Not wanting an argument, he left.)

4. Spelling Negation
As a general rule, the negative particle не is written separately from verbal adverbs: не знајући (not knowing), не желећи (not wanting). However, there is one obligatory standard exception: немајући (from немати), which is always written as a single word. In addition, lexicalized adverbs such as нехотећи (inadvertently) and adjectivized participles like неважећи (invalid) or неодговарајући (inappropriate) are also written fused with не-.

5. Register and Everyday Usage
This construction is typical of formal, journalistic, and literary registers. In everyday spoken Serbian, speakers generally prefer finite subordinate clauses with док (while) or кад (when). However, a handful of high-frequency manner adverbs are extremely common in daily conversation: седећи (while sitting / seated), стојећи (while standing), лежећи (while lying / in a reclined position), and ћутећи (silently).

Examples (4)

  1. Шетајући парком, слушао је своју омиљену музику.

    Walking through the park, he listened to his favorite music.

    Word by Word: Walking through-park, listened he-was his favorite music.

    Both actions occur simultaneously in the past. The covert subject of шетајући is 'он' (he), matching the main verb слушао је.

  2. Не желећи да направи проблем, одмах је напустио састанак.

    Not wanting to cause a problem, he immediately left the meeting.

    Word by Word: Not wanting that he-causes problem, immediately AUX he-left meeting.

    Shows the causal usage of the verbal adverb. Note that negative 'не' is written as a separate word.

  3. Слушајући професора, студенти су вредно хватали белешке.

    Listening to the professor, the students diligently took notes.

    Word by Word: Listening professor, students AUX diligently were-taking notes.

    The subject 'студенти' performs both the listening (слушајући) and note-taking actions simultaneously.

  4. Пио је кафу седећи крај прозора.

    He drank coffee sitting by the window.

    Word by Word: Drank he-was coffee sitting by window.

    Shows the manner role of the verbal adverb. 'Седећи' is one of the few forms frequently used in everyday spoken registers.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a verbal adverb when the subjects of the two clauses are different (dangling participle).

    Шетајући улицом, пао ми је шешир.
    Док сам шетао улицом, пао ми је шешир.

    The incorrect sentence literally states that the hat (шешир) was the one walking down the street. When subjects differ, use a finite clause with 'док' instead.

  • Forming the verbal adverb from a perfective verb.

    Прочитајући писмо, заплакао је.
    Прочитавши писмо, заплакао је.

    The suffix -ћи only attaches to imperfective verbs. For completed actions prior to the main clause, use the past verbal adverb in -вши (прочитавши).

  • Writing the negative particle 'не' together with the verbal adverb.

    Незнајући шта да ради, седео је у тишини.
    Не знајући шта да ради, седео је у тишини.

    Unlike adjectives, verbal adverbs require the negative particle 'не' to be written separately: 'не знајући', 'не желећи'.

How It Connects

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Simultaneous Actions With a Verbal AdverbLevel 4

Learn This First

To form and correctly use the present verbal adverb (глаголски прилог садашњи), learners need to know how to form the 3rd person plural present tense of imperfective verbs (adding the suffix -ћи), and understand how simultaneous actions function relative to a main clause.

Words in This Pattern

-ећи-ући