Grammar
One rule, explained
The lesson opens with the theory and checks it with a quiz. Here is the beginning, and 3 of its 16 questions.
B1 · Imenice ženskog roda na suglasnik (i-deklinacija)
At A1 you learned that a noun ending in a consonant is usually masculine. That is true most of the time — but Serbian has a large group of feminine nouns that end in a consonant, and many of them are among the most common words in the language: stvar (thing), noć (night), ljubav (love), reč (word), smrt (death), pomoć (help), and almost every noun ending in -ost: radost (joy), mladost (youth), mogućnost (possibility).
You can see they are feminine from the words around them: velika radost, ova stvar, moja ljubav, duga noć. Adjectives, demonstratives and possessives take exactly the same feminine endings you already know — nothing new there. What is new is the noun itself: it has its own set of endings, and it is a very simple one.
One ending does almost everything: -i
Add -i to the consonant and you have the genitive, dative and locative singular, and the whole plural apart from the dative-locative-instrumental. Only two cases stand out: the accusative singular (no ending at all) and the dative, locative and instrumental plural (-ima, like the masculines).
| Case | Ending | stvar (thing) | noć (night) | ljubav (love) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative sg | — | stvar | noć | ljubav |
| Genitive sg | -i | stvari | noći | ljubavi |
| Dative / Locative sg | -i | stvari | noći | ljubavi |
| Accusative sg | — (= nominative) | stvar | noć | ljubav |
| Instrumental sg | -i or -ju | stvari / stvarju | noći | ljubavi / ljubavlju |
| Nominative / Accusative pl | -i | stvari | noći | ljubavi |
| Genitive pl | -i | stvari | noći | ljubavi |
| Dative / Locative / Instrumental pl | -ima | stvarima | noćima | ljubavima |
- Ljubav je važna stvar. — Love is an important thing. (nominative)
- Ne razumem tu reč. — I don't understand that word. (accusative)
- Bez ljubavi nema sreće. — There is no happiness without love. (genitive)
- U mladosti je mnogo putovao. — He travelled a lot in his youth. (locative)
- Uvek radi s ljubavlju. — She always works with love. (instrumental)
- Ove stvari nisu moje. — These things are not mine. (nominative plural)
- Već šest noći ne spavam dobro. — I haven't been sleeping well for six nights now. (genitive plural after a number)
- Često mislimo o tim stvarima. — We often think about those things. (locative plural)
The accusative looks like the nominative
Quick check · 3 / 16
Posle te(noć) sve se promenilo.
Kuća je puna(ljubav).
Njegova ___ prema njoj nikad nije prestala.
