Adjectives governing the instrumental
In short
feeling adjective + bare instrumental (no sa!)
| adjective | + instrumental |
|---|---|
| zadovoljan / nezadovoljan | izveštajem, radom, platom |
| ponosan | sinom, ćerkom |
| oduševljen | hranom, koncertom |
| razočaran | rezultatom, odlukom |
| zauzet, opsednut | projektom, telefonom |
| iznenađen, uvređen, očaran... | komentarom, gradom |
Ins. sg: m/n -om (soft consonant, -e neuters -em: izveštajem, morem), f -om; word in front -im / -om.
The adjective agrees with the person: Ponosna sam svojom ćerkom.
B2 · Lesson 49 · Adjectives with an instrumental complement (zadovoljan, ponosan)
The full explanation, from the lesson that teaches this rule
In English you are pleased with something, proud of someone, disappointed in a result: each adjective picks its own little word. Serbian does something simpler for a whole family of these feeling adjectives: no little word at all. The thing the feeling is about simply goes into the instrumental case, the case you already know from sa (with).
Šef je zadovoljan tvojim izveštajem. — The boss is pleased with your report. There is no sa, no od: izveštaj becomes izveštajem, and that ending alone carries "with your report". This bare instrumental is called the adjective's complement: the word that completes its meaning.
The adjectives that work this way
The adjective itself agrees with the person who has the feeling — a man, a woman, a group — exactly like any adjective after biti. Only the THING the feeling is about goes into the instrumental.
| adjective | he / she / they | English | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| zadovoljan | zadovoljan / zadovoljna / zadovoljni | pleased, satisfied with | zadovoljan izveštajem |
| nezadovoljan | nezadovoljan / nezadovoljna / nezadovoljni | unhappy with, dissatisfied with | nezadovoljan platom |
| ponosan | ponosan / ponosna / ponosni | proud of | ponosna ćerkom |
| oduševljen | oduševljen / oduševljena / oduševljeni | thrilled with, delighted with | oduševljeni hranom |
| razočaran | razočaran / razočarana / razočarani | disappointed with/by | razočarani rezultatom |
| zauzet | zauzet / zauzeta / zauzeti | busy with | zauzet projektom |
| opsednut | opsednut / opsednuta / opsednuti | obsessed with | opsednut telefonom |
Many other adjectives describing how something made you feel work the same way: iznenađen (surprised by), očaran (enchanted by), fasciniran (fascinated by), uvređen (offended by), zgrožen (appalled by), ogorčen (fed up with, bitter about), zaokupljen (preoccupied with), zatečen (taken aback by). If English says "with" or "by" after a feeling, try the bare instrumental first.
The instrumental singular, as a reminder
Nothing new here — these are the instrumental endings you already use after sa. The only thing that is new is that the adjective, not a preposition, calls for them.
| noun type | dictionary form | instrumental | with a word in front |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | rezultat, rad, izveštaj | rezultatom, radom, izveštajem | tim rezultatom, tvojim radom, tvojim izveštajem |
| masculine (people) | sin, unuk | sinom, unukom | svojim sinom, svojim unukom |
| feminine | ćerka, odluka, plata | ćerkom, odlukom, platom | svojom ćerkom, tom odlukom |
| neuter | putovanje, more | putovanjem, morem | našim putovanjem |
- After a soft consonant (j, š, č, ć, đ, lj, nj...) and in neuters on -e, the masculine/neuter ending is -em: izveštajem, putovanjem, morem. Otherwise -om: rezultatom, koncertom.
- Feminine nouns on -a always take -om: hranom, odlukom, knjigom.
- Remember the nouns that change their stem: projekat → projektom, vreme → vremenom.
- A word in front (adjective, possessive, taj) ends in -im (masculine, neuter) or -om (feminine): novim ugovorom, svojom ćerkom.
Who feels, and about what
Ponosna sam svojom ćerkom. — I'm proud of my daughter (a woman speaking). Ponosna is feminine because the speaker is a woman; ćerkom is instrumental because it is what she is proud of. Keep the two jobs apart: the adjective looks at the person, the ending looks at the thing.
The same works in every tense and with ne: Nisam zadovoljan uslugom. — I'm not satisfied with the service. Publika je bila oduševljena njenim nastupom. — The audience was delighted with her performance.
Do not translate the English preposition. zadovoljan sa izveštajem and ponosan od sina are the classic learner mistakes. Drop the little word and put the noun in the instrumental: zadovoljan izveštajem, ponosan sinom.
You will also hear ponosan na + accusative (ponosan na sina) and razočaran u + accusative (razočaran u njega), especially about people. Both are correct Serbian. In this lesson's drills, use the bare instrumental — it works for every adjective here, so it is the one pattern worth making automatic.
Check what you read
6 of the 15 questions this lesson asks in the app. Type the form or pick the answer.
Učiteljica je zadovoljna(rad) svojih učenika.
Deda je veoma ponosan(unuk).
Bili smo oduševljeni(koncert).
Zadovoljan sam ___.
Baka je ponosna ___.
Publika je bila razočarana ___.
Examples from the course
The marked word is where the rule applies. Press play to hear the sentence.
Navijači su razočarani rezultatom.
The fans are disappointed with the result.
Ponosna sam svojom ćerkom.
I'm proud of my daughter. (woman speaking)
Gosti su oduševljeni hranom.
The guests are thrilled with the food.
Učenici su bili fascinirani eksperimentom.
The pupils were fascinated by the experiment.
Svi smo razočarani odlukom sudije.
We're all disappointed with the referee's decision.
Šef je zadovoljan tvojim izveštajem.
The boss is pleased with your report. (male boss)
Nisam zadovoljan uslugom u ovom restoranu.
I'm not satisfied with the service in this restaurant. (man speaking)
Kritičar nije bio oduševljen režijom premijere.
The critic wasn't thrilled with the directing of the premiere. (male critic)
Bila sam prijatno iznenađena njegovim izvinjenjem.
I was pleasantly surprised by his apology. (woman speaking)
Stanari su ogorčeni bukom sa gradilišta.
The tenants are fed up with the noise from the building site.
Sentences in the course that use this rule: 29
Try it yourself
Translate a sentence that uses this rule. The check marks the word that went wrong and names the rule behind it, as in the app.
Sentences
Write it in Serbian
I'm proud of my daughter. (woman speaking)
Woman speaking. Use the instrumental here, not na + accusative.