Level: A2 to B2 (beginner to intermediate);

Where is the confusion with doneti and dovesti from?

If you look at this example: Da li sam ja doneo ili doveo svoju  kucu sa sobom? In English this would be like: Did I bring or bring my puppy with me?

So, there are cases, as this one, where Serbian makes some distinctions that English does not.

Is doneti conneceted with objects and dovesti with living beings?

The short answer would be – yes! We generally use doneti with objects and dovesti with living beings when they are used in the meaning to bring sth/smb to some place, which is common for both of them. Let’s make this simple with the examples:

Ex. Doneo nam je kolače za rođendan. (He brought us cookies for birthday.)

Doveo je svog psa u park. (He brought his dog into the park.)

Ona je donela knjige u biblioteku. (She brought books to the library.)

Gde si dovela goste iz inostranstva? (Where did you bring your guests from abroad?)

Donela sam vam slike iz Amerike! (I brought you photos from U.S.)

Ona nam uvek donosi mnogo poklona sa putovanja. (She always brings us many presents from the trips.)

Gde god da ide, ona dovede svog psa. (Wherever she goes, she takes her dog with her.)

Dovodila je uvek i svog sina na naša druženja. (She would always bring her son to our gatherings)

Note: We can have some additional meanings of those verbs which we are not going to discuss in this post.

While the statement above holds true for the majority of cases, it is not entirely accurate. Let’s see how this simple distinction becomes interesting.

There must be some exceptions, right?

Example: Ona je donela svoju kucu na Trg.

This was one of the examples that I found particularly intriguing during a recent discussion with my student. Thank you, April!

However, since my student was the cat owner and enthusiast, I aimed to draw examples relevant to her situation and I came to the new conclusions: If you can walk with an animal, guiding it, allowing it to move freely to some extent, we will use dovesti, dovedem. However, if you transport the animal in a carrier, backpack or a similar container, our beloved Serbian language will categorize it as an object, and, accordingly, doneti, donesem should be used.

But, when we talk about humans, we are going to use dovesti anyway:

Ex. Ona je dovela svoju jednomesečnu bebu u kafić. (We know the one-month old can’t walk.)

Ex. Svako je doveo svoje dete na plivanje. (We know that those kids are able to walk since they are swimming.)

What is the difference between doneti and odneti or dovesti and odvesti?

When we talk about the differences in these words, we can say that that they are true opposites in this meaning: Odneti is used for taking something away from some place and odvesti is used for taking someone away from some place, with the additional distinction which is the same as in previous examples.

Beside this distinction, everything else is used the same as with doneti and dovesti.

Examples:

Naš pas je opet negde odneo moje papuče! (Our dog took away my slippers again!)

Svaki dan poštar odnosi poštu iz svoje pošte. (The postman takes the mail from his post office.)

Naše želje nas obično odvode iz ove zemlje. (Our wishes take us away from this country often.)

The forms in infinitive, the present tense and participle active of the verbs: doneti, donositi, odneti, odnositi, dovesti, dovoditi, odvesti, odvoditi:

the infinitive	the present tense	active participle	the translation to English
doneti	donesem	doneo, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To bring (an object)
donositi	donosim	donosio, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To be bringing
odneti	odnesem	odneo, -la, -o, -li, -le, la	To take away (an object)
odnositi	odnosim	odnosio, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To be taking away
dovesti	dovedem	doveo, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To bring (a person/animal)
dovoditi	dovodim	dovodio, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To be bringing (person)
odvesti	odvedem	odveo, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To take away (person/animal)
odvoditi	odvodim	odvodio, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la	To be taking away (person)

Free exercise:

Zadatak: Upotrebite doneti/donositi ili dovesti/dovoditi u pravom obliku u sledećim rečenicama:

1. On uvek __________ mnogo prijatelja u kuću.
2. Ko nam je ____________ ove kolače?
3. Ona je ________________ dete kod nas juče i još nije došla da ga uzme.
4. Naši rođaci uvek ____________ mnogo poklona iz inostranstva.
5. _____________ sam nam nešto!
6. Nisam često _______________ decu kod babe i dede.
7. Kad je mi _____________ ovde, uvek je mnogo mirna.
8. Jeste li kod kuće? ______________ vam nešto divno!

Upotrebite odneti/odnositi ili odvesti/odvoditi u pravom obliku u sledećim rečenicama:

1. Kada si im ___________ ona dokumenta?
2. Svako jutro ___________svoju ćerku u vrtić.
3. Sav otpad ____________ u centar za reciklažu.
4. __________ sam juče psa kod veterinara.
5. Ako je ne _____________ danas kod drugarice, naljutiće se.
6. Lako ću ih ____________ u park da se igraju, to je bar ispred zgrade.
7. Sledeće nedelje ću __________ sve stvari koje mi više ne trebaju.
8. On joj uvek _____________ lep buket ruža za rođendan.

Answers: dovodi, doneo, dovela/doveo, donose, donela/doneo, dovodila, dovedemo, donela/doneo, odneo/odnela, odovodim/-iš, -i…, odnosim/-i i sl., odveo/odvela,  odvedem, odvesti, odneti, odnosi; Try without looking firstly!