прво / онда / после / на крају

Telling a Short Story

Level 2Sounds Like prvo; onda; posle; na kraǰu

Use прво (first), онда (then), после (afterwards), and на крају (in the end) to tell a chronological story or recount past events step by step.

How It Works

Narrating a sequence of events in Serbian commonly relies on a set of core temporal connectives:

  • прво: 'first' or 'at first' — introduces the beginning of an action sequence.
  • онда: 'then' or 'next' — indicates the immediate subsequent step in the timeline. The formal connector затим ('subsequently', 'after that') is frequently used alongside or in place of онда to avoid repetition.
  • после (or после тога): 'afterwards' or 'after that'. When used alone without a noun complement (e.g., После смо отишли кући), после functions as a temporal adverb meaning 'afterwards'. When preceding a noun, после functions as a preposition requiring the genitive case (e.g., после ручка).
  • на крају: 'in the end' or 'finally' — introduces the concluding event or resolution.

Verbal Aspect Nuance:
To move a story forward sequentially, use perfective verbs (e.g., попио сам, изашао је). An imperfective verb after these markers signifies an ongoing background action or extended duration rather than a completed step.

Clitic Placement:
Under standard Serbian clitic ordering, if an adverb opens the clause without a pause, enclitics like auxiliary forms (сам, си, је...) and reflexive се must immediately take second position: Прво сам отишао... (never *Прво ја сам отишао).

Examples (3)

  1. Прво сам попио кафу, онда сам отишао на посао, а после сам се видео са пријатељима.

    First I drank coffee, then I went to work, and afterwards I met with friends.

    Word by Word: First AUX-1st drank coffee, then AUX-1st went to work, and afterwards AUX-1st REFL saw with friends.

    Shows a three-step narrative using perfective past verbs with clitics immediately following each introductory adverb.

  2. Марко је прво завршио домаћи, онда је изашао напоље, а на крају је отишао код баке.

    Marko first finished his homework, then went outside, and in the end went to his grandmother's.

    Word by Word: Marko AUX-3rd first finished homework, then AUX-3rd went outside, and on end AUX-3rd went at grandmother.

    Illustrates 'на крају' marking the final resolution of a daily routine.

  3. Прво смо дуго тражили кључеве, онда смо позвали комшију, и на крају смо их нашли у колима.

    First we searched for the keys for a long time, then we called the neighbour, and finally we found them in the car.

    Word by Word: First AUX-1st-pl long searched keys, then AUX-1st-pl called neighbour, and on end AUX-1st-pl them found in car.

    Note how 'дуго тражили' uses an imperfective verb for an extended action, followed by perfective verbs 'позвали' and 'нашли' to advance the plot.

Common Mistakes

  • Trapping auxiliary or reflexive clitics behind the subject pronoun when opening with an adverb.

    Онда ја сам отишао кући.
    Онда сам отишао кући.

    In Serbian, clitics must stay in the second syntactic slot. When 'онда' starts the clause, the auxiliary 'сам' attaches directly to it. Pronoun subjects ('ја') are normally omitted unless specifically contrasted.

  • Using 'тада' instead of 'онда' to advance a sequence.

    Прво смо ручали, тада смо изашли.
    Прво смо ручали, онда смо изашли.

    'Онда' means 'then / next' in a sequence of events. 'Тада' means 'at that specific time / back then' and refers to a fixed point in time, not a narrative next step.

  • Using imperfective verbs when each step was finished.

    Different MeaningПрво сам кувао вечеру, онда сам јео, после сам гледао филм.
    Прво сам скувао вечеру, онда сам појео вечеру, после сам одгледао филм.

    Imperfective verbs are fine for a routine or for what you were doing: 'Прво сам кувао вечеру, онда сам јео...' describes the activities. They do not say the step was finished. To say each step was completed before the next began, use perfective verbs (скувао, појео, одгледао).

How It Connects

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

прво / онда / после / на крајуLevel 2Telling a Short Story

Learn This First

Constructing a coherent sequential narrative using chronological adverbs (first, then, after, in the end) requires knowing how to formulate actions in the past tense, choosing the correct verbal aspect for consecutive actions, and positioning enclitics properly after sentence-initial connectors.

Words in This Pattern

првоондапосленакрај