разумем / разумеш

Understanding in the Present

Level 1Sounds Like razumeti: razumem; razumeš

The verb разумети means 'to understand' or 'to comprehend'. In the present tense, its stem vowel is -е- (e.g., разумем, разумеш), ending in -ју for 'they' (разумеју). Negation is always written separately: не разумем.

How It Works

1. Meaning and Usage
The verb разумети denotes comprehension of facts, situations, words, or languages. Unlike знати (which means 'to know' information or know how to speak), разумети specifically denotes processing and understanding meaning (e.g., Разумем српски = 'I understand Serbian').

2. Conjugation Peculiarities
Many Serbian verbs with an infinitive in -ети belong to the -им class (such as видети → видим or живети → живим). However, разумети belongs to the -ем class (along with умети → умем). Notice especially the third-person plural form: они разумеју (not *они разуме).

3. Negation and Questions
• Negation requires the negative particle не, written strictly as a separate word: не разумем.
• Questions are most commonly formed using да ли (Да ли разумеш?) or by placing the verb before the enclitic ли (Разумеш ли?).

Examples (4)

  1. Разумем српски, али говорим само мало.

    I understand Serbian, but I only speak a little.

    Word by Word: I-understand Serbian, but I-speak only little.

    Here, 'разумем' shows comprehension of a language, paired with the direct object in the accusative.

  2. Не разумем добро, молим вас говорите спорије.

    I do not understand well, please speak slower.

    Word by Word: Not I-understand well, please you speak slower.

    Shows negation with 'не' written as an independent word directly before the verb.

  3. Да ли ме разумеш?

    Do you understand me?

    Word by Word: Whether [question-particle] me you-understand?

    Shows a yes/no question using 'да ли' with an accusative short pronoun 'ме'.

  4. Они добро разумеју ситуацију.

    They understand the situation well.

    Word by Word: They well understand situation.

    Demonstrates the 3rd-person plural ending '-еју' (разумеју).

Common Mistakes

  • Writing 'не' together with the verb as one word.

    Ја неразумем шта кажеш.
    Ја не разумем шта кажеш.

    Standard Serbian writes 'не' separately from verbs, except in four specific verbs: нећу, немам, немој, and нисам.

  • Using '-е' or '-у' instead of '-еју' for the 3rd-person plural.

    Они разуме све.
    Они разумеју све.

    Because 'разумети' belongs to the vowel-stem -e- class, the 3rd-person plural takes '-ју' directly on the stem: 'разумеју'.

  • Confusing 'разумети' (to understand) with 'знати' (to know / speak).

    Разумем да пливам.
    Знам да пливам.

    Use 'знати' for learned skills or facts. 'Разумети' is strictly for comprehension and understanding.

How It Connects

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

разумем / разумешLevel 1Understanding in the Present

Learn This First

To use 'разумети' (to understand) in present tense dialogues, learners need to know how regular present tense verb endings work, how to negate verbs ('не разумем'), and how to ask basic yes/no questions ('да ли разумеш?').

Words in This Pattern

разумети