Lesson 146. Aorist: where you meet it
Telling about something that just happened
Uđe on u sobu, reče zdravo i sedne. (Уђе он у собу, рече здраво и седне.)
— He came into the room, said hello, and sat down.
Fairy tales
Jednom davno, beše car i carica. (Једном давно, беше цар и царица.)
— Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen.
Emotion, exclamation
Ode voz! (Оде воз!)
— The train left!
Stiže majka! (Стиже мајка!)
— Mom arrived!
In modern spoken Serbian in Serbia, the aorist is almost never needed. But it is useful to recognize — you will meet it all the time in books, songs, and folk stories.