Aspect in Serbian - Odmoriti or Odmarati?

Do you know the difference between odmoriti and odmArAti (to have a rest)? Which one shows a finished action (perfective aspect), which one shows an action in progress (imperfective aspect)?

If you know the word trAjAti, which means to lAst, it will help you connect the form with double A with the action in progress, which shows that odmArAti is obviously used to show that you are or were "having a  rest / resting".

On the other hand, the form with odmORIti, shows that you have had a rest and that's it, the result is more important than duration, so this form shows the perfective aspect.

Their various forms and differences in present and past tenses are so subtle, so I created a set of exercises for you to learn more about this weird odmoriti-odmarati duo by actually using them:) Before you see all the forms below, try to do this Micromatch exercise:




How much time did you need? Guess it wasn't that hard, once you were able to see the possible answers. For some more difficult tests, you might need all the verb forms in one place! Now, let me reveal them to you:

Present tense

- odmoriti se: odmorim - odmoriš - odmori // odmorimo - odmorite - odmore
- odmArAti se : odmaram - odmaraš - odmara // odmaramo - odmarate -odmaraju

Past tense

- odmorio - odmorila - odmorilo // odmorili - odmorile - odmorila
- odmarao - odmarala - odmaralo // odmarali - odmarale - odmarala

Have fun!