почети / наставити / престати + да + Present-Tense Verb

Beginning Continuing and Stopping

Level 3Sounds Like početi; nastaviti; prestati + da

To express beginning, continuing, or stopping an action in Serbian, combine a phase verb (почети, наставити, престати) with да followed by a verb conjugated in the present tense. Crucially, the subordinate verb must always be in the imperfective aspect.

How It Works

In Serbian, phase verbs (фазни глаголи) allow you to pinpoint stages in an action's duration:

  • Почети / почињати: to start, to begin
  • Наставити / настављати: to continue
  • Престати / престајати: to stop, to cease

1. Clause Structure and Agreement
The most natural, everyday way to connect a phase verb to an activity in Serbian is using да + present tense. The complement verb must match the matrix subject in person and number:

  • Ја почињем да учим (1st singular – 1st singular)
  • Они су престали да се свађају (3rd plural – 3rd plural)

2. Why Imperfective Aspect is Mandatory
Learners frequently assume that if an intended activity has a completed outcome (e.g., reading an entire book), the complement verb should be perfective. In Serbian syntax, the phase verb itself marks the boundary of the phase (e.g., почео сам), so the action inside the phase remains an open process. Therefore, only imperfective verbs are permitted:

  • Почео сам да читам књигу (Correct)
  • *Почео сам да прочитам књигу (Incorrect)

3. Placement of Clitics
If the subordinated verb takes pronominal or reflexive clitics, they immediately attach to да:

  • Престао је да се смеје. (Not: *Престао је да смеје се)

4. Alternative with the Infinitive
Standard Serbian permits both да + present and the bare infinitive:

  • Почео је да ради. (Spontaneous everyday default)
  • Почео је радити. (Valid, slightly more formal/literary)

The infinitive complement is particularly useful to avoid repetitive stacking of да (avoiding дакање), for instance when a modal verb is also present: Мора да почне учити instead of Мора да почне да учи.

Examples (5)

  1. Почело је да грми и да пада киша.

    It started to thunder and rain.

    Word by Word: It-began is that thunders and that falls rain.

    Both dependent verbs ('грми' and 'пада') are in the imperfective present tense, agreeing with the impersonal subject.

  2. И поред великог умора, наставили су да трче.

    Despite great fatigue, they continued running.

    Word by Word: And besides great fatigue, continued they are that they-run.

    'Наставили су' is in the past tense, while the complement 'трче' stays in the present tense matching the 3rd person plural.

  3. Престани да вичеш, сви те чују!

    Stop yelling, everyone can hear you!

    Word by Word: Stop that you-yell, all you hear!

    The imperative 'престани' is paired with 'да' and the imperfective 2nd person singular present 'вичеш'.

  4. Сваког јутра почињем да радим у осам сати.

    Every morning I start working at eight o'clock.

    Word by Word: Every morning I-begin that I-work at eight hours.

    Shows 1st person agreement: both 'почињем' and 'радим' are in the 1st person singular present.

  5. После паузе смо наставили да разговарамо о проблему.

    After the break, we continued discussing the problem.

    Word by Word: After break are we-continued that we-talk about problem.

    The matrix verb is in the 1st person plural perfect, and 'разговарамо' is the imperfective 1st person plural present.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a perfective verb complement after the phase verb.

    Почео сам да прочитам нову књигу.
    Почео сам да читам нову књигу.

    Phase verbs require an ongoing process, which requires an imperfective complement. Even if you plan to finish the book, 'прочитати' (perfective) cannot follow 'почети'.

  • Using an infinitive immediately after 'да'.

    Престао је да пушити пре годину дана.
    Престао је да пуши пре годину дана.

    'Да' must introduce an inflected present tense verb ('да пуши'). Alternatively, use the bare infinitive without 'да' ('Престао је пушити'). Mixing them is ungrammatical.

  • Shifting the complement verb into the past tense when the phase verb is past.

    Они су почели да радили.
    Они су почели да раде.

    The complement clause after 'да' always remains in the present tense ('да раде'), regardless of what tense the main phase verb uses.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

почети / наставити / престати + да + Present-Tense VerbLevel 3Beginning Continuing and Stopping

Learn This First

To use phase verbs like 'почети' (start), 'наставити' (continue), and 'престати' (stop), learners need to know how to connect verbs using the 'да + present tense' construction, understand present tense conjugation, and recognize verbal aspect because the action being phased must be an imperfective verb.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

почетинаставитипрестатидада