Today’s lesson is about verbal nouns.
I don’t think this lesson is going to be particularly difficult or long, so all of you could listen to it, although it is an advanced grammar lesson.
Let’s take a look.
Verbal nouns – Glagolske imenice
Verbal nouns are derived from verbs, and they usually describe a process, that’s why they are mostly formed from imperfective and transitive verbs.
Now, we can make verbal nouns out of intransitive verbs as well, just not out of all of them. Some of them just don’t exist, even though they are perfectly normal in English. For example ‘eating’ or ‘doing’ doesn’t exist in Serbian.
Verbal nouns are very similar to the -ing form in English, to gerunds, and that is how we usually translate them. They are not identical though and we don’t always translate them as gerunds. It depends. Sometimes it sounds better if you just use the infinitive:
Plivanje je zabavno. = Swimming is fun.
Idem na spavanje kasno. = I go to sleep late.
Napišite datum rođenja. = Write your date of birth.
Umoran sam od učenja. = I’m tired of studying.
Ovo je ogromno sniženje. = This is a huge sale.
Don’t worry if these constructions confuse you.
These are just examples to show you that it’s not always the same in Serbian and English. Keep watching the video though and you will understand these constructions and learn many verbal nouns.
Typical verbal nouns are formed from transitive verbs.
Reminder – transitive verbs are the ones that require an object.
Most commonly, the -ti ending is omitted and suffix -nje is applied:
to read – čitati
reading – čitanje
Reading is fun. = Čitanje je zabavno.
The adjective that describes a verbal noun is always neuter singular.
Also, it is a verbal noun, but it is a noun nonetheless, so it can be declined through all the cases.
nominativ – čitanje
genitiv – čitanja
dativ – čitanju
akuzativ – čitanje
vokativ – /
instrumental – čitanjem
lokativ – čitanju
to sleep – spavati
sleeping – spavanje
Sleeping is my favorite sport. = Spavanje je moj omiljen sport.
to swim – plivati
swimming – plivanje
I don’t like swimming. = Ne volim plivanje.
to run – trčati
running – trčanje
I’m going running. = Idem na trčanje.
This creation model is very productive as you can make a verbal noun out of any imperfective verb. It is also by far the most common pattern. Although, there are some subcategories:
The -ati verbs have the suffix -nje
to watch – gledati
watching – gledanje
The -iti verbs have the suffix -enje.
to study – učiti
studying – učenje
Studying is sometimes boring. = Učenje je ponekad dosadno.
to build – graditi
building, construction – građenje
to smoke – pušiti
smoking – pušenje
Some gerunds have specific meanings and are no longer felt connected to the verbs. These ones derived from imperfective verbs:
to think – misliti
opinion – mišljenje
What is your opinion? = Kakvo je tvoje mišljenje?
to mean – značiti
meaning – značenje
Does this word have a meaning = Da li ova reč ima značenje?
to ask – pitati
question – pitanje
to travel – putovati
travel (noun) – putovanje
to know – znati
knowledge – znanje
Verbal nouns with specific meaning from perfective verbs:
to surprise – iznenaditi
a surprise – iznenađenje
to explain – objasniti
explanation – objašnjenje
to refresh – osvežiti
refreshment – osveženje
That one kind of sounds cool. We usually refer to drinks, right?
You must be thirsty, do you want a refreshment? =
Sigurno si žedan/žedna, želiš li osveženje?
to warn – upozoriti
warning – upozorenje
to lower, reduce – sniziti
a sale, a reduction – sniženje
to free, liberate – osloboditi
liberation – oslobođenje
to promise – obećati
a promise – obećanje
to give birth – roditi
to be born – roditi se
birth – rođenje
There are many more. This also happened in English – the gerund took a different, specific meaning. For example ‘to paint’ and ‘a painting’.
A vast majority of these verbs would have the -nje ending, but we also have a small number of -će ending verbal nouns.
The verbs that end in -uti have the -uće ending.
to resurrect – vaskrsnuti
resurrection – vaskrsnuće
to dawn – svanuti
dawn (noun) – svanuće
to achieve – postignuti
achievement – postignuće
Some -iti verbs have the suffix -iće.
to discover – otkriti
discovery – otkriće
to be – biti
a being – biće
Is he a human being? = Da li je on ljudsko biće?
When we have an object after a verbal noun – it is in genitiv case.
Watching the movie is fun. = Gledanje filma je zabavno.
The liberation of Belgrade was hard. = Oslobođenje Beograda je bilo teško.
The birth of my first child. = Rođenje mog prvog deteta.
When we have the construction ‘go + gerund’ we say
‘idem + na + verbal noun’ = ‘I go on’:
I go camping every year. = Idem na kampovanje svake godine.
I go running often. = Često idem na trčanje.
I don’t go swimming. = Ne idem na plivanje.
For a few verbal nouns, and very common ones I might add, we use ‘u’:
I go shopping. = Idem u kupovinu.
I go for a walk. = Idem u šetnju.
Now we can move on to less common patterns:
-nja suffix
to make (someone) angry – ljutiti
to get angry – ljutiti se
anger – ljutnja
to hate – mrzeti
hatred – mržnja
to suffer – patiti
suffering – patnja
to be careful – paziti
attention – pažnja
to threaten – pretiti
a threat – pretnja
to stroll – šetati
a stroll – šetnja
to drive – voziti
a ride – vožnja
to save money – štedeti
savings – štednja
We already had this verb in the -enje category, but it forms two different verbal nouns:
to build – graditi
building, construction – građenje
building, construction – gradnja
-aja suffix
to sell – prodavati
I sell – prodajem
sale – prodaja
We also had the word ‘sale’ before, we translated it as ‘sniženje’ – which means lowering, loweration if you will, something that has a lower price.
And here, the word ‘prodaja’ just means that something is being sold. It’s just available and on the market, it doesn’t mean that the price is lowered.
to get married (female) – udavati se
getting married (noun) – udaja
-ak suffix
to come – dolaziti
arrival, the coming of – dolazak
to leave, depart – odlaziti
departure – odlazak
to begin – početi
beginning – početak
to separate – rastati se
farewell, parting – rastanak
to meet – sastati se
meeting – sastanak
-ba suffix
to fight – boriti se
a fight – borba
to exhibit – izložiti
an exhibition – izložba
to pick (fruit and veggies) – brati
I pick – berem
harvest – berba
– no suffix – nouns that look just like verbs with -iti or -ati omitted:
to hunt – loviti
hunt (noun) – lov
I go hunting. = Idem u lov.
to import – uvoziti
import (noun) – uvoz
to export – izvoziti
export (noun) – izvoz
to enlist, register – upisati
enrollment, registration – upis
-va suffix
to pray – moliti se
prayer – molitva
And the last one.
-aj suffix
to inhale – udisati
inhale (noun) – udisaj
If you have your gerund explaining the purpose of the noun:
reading glasses – naočare za čitanje
baking paper – papir za pečenje
goggles – naočare za plivanje
running shoes – patike za trčanje
If you want to describe a certain function of the noun:
working computer – kompjuter koji radi
singing cat – mačka koja peva
crying baby – beba koja plače
bleeding wound – rana koja krvari
When you use verbal nouns as a location, you’re ‘in’ or ‘on’ something:
Deka je u lovu. = Grandpa is hunting.
Moja sestra je u šetnji. = My sister is taking a walk.
Dokument je na prevodu. = The document is being translated.
Borko je na trčanju. = Borko is on a run.
Some more examples of verbal nouns:
to fall – padati
fall (noun) – pad
to contribute – doprinositi
contribution – doprinos
to exam – ispitati
exam (noun) – ispit
to sign – potpisati
signature – potpis
to have pain – boleti
pain – bol
to look, to appear – izgledati
appearance – izgled
to work – raditi
work (noun) – rad
That is hard work. = To je težak rad.
to worry – brinuti
concern, worry – briga
to need – trebati
need (noun) – potreba
to wish – želeti
wish (noun) – želja
to intend – nameravati
intention – namera
to buy – kupovati
shopping – kupovina