treba

Treba is a predicative form derived from the Slavic verb meaning “to need” (trebati) and is used in several South Slavic languages, including Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Macedonian. In modern usage it expresses necessity, obligation, or a basic need and is typically employed in impersonal constructions.

In everyday speech, treba carries a sense of “it is necessary” or “one must.” The thing that is needed is usually expressed with a dative pronoun or noun: for example, Treba mi voda means “I need water.” Šta ti treba? means “What do you need?” Treba da idem can be rendered as “I should go” or “It is necessary that I go,” with da introducing a subordinate infinitive clause to state the needed action.

Tense and agreement: treba is generally invariant with respect to person in the present. There are also past forms built from the same root, most commonly in neuter singular as trebalo, and in masculine/feminine/plural forms as trebao, trebala, trebali, trebale, used with auxiliary verbs to mark past necessity or obligation, for example Trebalo mi je vremena (“It took me time” or “I needed time”), or Trebao sam ostati kod kuće (“I should have stayed home”).

Cross-linguistically, similar constructions exist in Macedonian (treba) and other South Slavic languages, often parallel to the concept of “must” or “need” in English. The term is not a standalone noun or place; it functions as a grammatical marker of necessity attached to other elements in a sentence.