Bare-case time adverbials
In short
Bare-case time adverbials — no preposition, no agreement.
| Noun | Time word | Frozen case |
|---|---|---|
| zima | zimi | locative sg |
| leto | leti | locative sg |
| noć | noću | instrumental sg |
| dan | danju | instrumental sg |
| jutro | jutrom | instrumental sg |
leti and danju are older endings: the ordinary forms letu and danom are not time words.
Spring and autumn take a preposition: u proleće, u jesen / na jesen. Evening: uveče.
danju = by day (vs. svaki dan = every day).
A2 · Lesson 45 · Saying when without a preposition: zimi, leti, noću
The full explanation, from the lesson that teaches this rule
You already have several ways of saying when: svaki dan (every day) with a bare accusative, svake nedelje (every week) with a bare genitive, posle ručka (after lunch) with a preposition. Now a small, fixed group of time words: they name a season or a part of the day, and they take no preposition at all.
Five frozen forms
These are ordinary nouns that got stuck in one case and turned into time words. You do not build them — you learn them as items.
| Noun | Time word | Frozen in | Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| zima — winter | zimi | locative sg | in winter |
| leto — summer | leti | locative sg | in summer |
| noć — night | noću | instrumental sg | at night |
| dan — day | danju | instrumental sg | in the daytime, by day |
| jutro — morning | jutrom | instrumental sg | in the mornings |
Zimi, noću and jutrom are exactly the case forms you would expect: zimi is the locative of zima, noću the instrumental of noć, jutrom the instrumental of jutro. Leti and danju are not: the ordinary locative of leto is letu and the ordinary instrumental of dan is danom. In the time meaning only, these two keep an older ending.
- Zimi mnogo sneži. — It snows a lot in winter.
- Leti idemo na more. — In summer we go to the seaside.
- Noću grad spava. — At night the city sleeps.
- Danju radim, a noću spavam. — By day I work, and at night I sleep.
- Jutrom pijem čaj. — In the mornings I drink tea.
They behave like adverbs, not like nouns: nothing agrees with them and nothing can stand in front of them. "In a cold winter" is not hladnoj zimi — as soon as you want a modifier you are back to an ordinary noun phrase, such as the bare genitive time phrase you already know: prošle zime — last winter.
Spring and autumn do not join in
The other two seasons have no bare form. They use a preposition plus the accusative, which you already know:
- u proleće — in spring
- u jesen or na jesen — in autumn
So a sentence listing all four mixes the two patterns: Zimi skijamo, u proleće šetamo, leti plivamo, a u jesen beremo jabuke.
Which one do you need?
| You want to say | Serbian | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| at night (when it is dark) | noću | bare instrumental — this lesson |
| every night | svake noći | bare genitive with svaki |
| during the night | tokom noći | preposition + genitive |
| by day, in daylight | danju | bare instrumental — this lesson |
| every day | svaki dan | bare accusative |
| in the mornings | jutrom | bare instrumental — this lesson |
| in the evening(s) | uveče | a fixed adverb, no case left in it |
Do not swap danju and svaki dan. Svaki dan answers how often — every single day. Danju answers when in the day — while it is light, as opposed to noću. "Svaki dan radim" means I work every day; "Danju radim" means I work in the daytime.
Like other time words, these usually stand first in the sentence, and then the clitics follow them: Leti se kupamo u moru. — In summer we swim in the sea.
Check what you read
6 of the 14 questions this lesson asks in the app. Type the form or pick the answer.
"___ idemo na more." — In summer we go to the seaside. Which word goes in the gap, and why?
"___ radim, a noću spavam." — By day I work, and at night I sleep. Which word goes in the gap, and why?
(zima) mnogo sneži u planinama.
(noć) ne volim da vozim.
(jutro) pijem čaj i čitam novine.
U proleće šetamo, a ___ skijamo.
Examples from the course
The marked word is where the rule applies. Press play to hear the sentence.
Zimi mnogo sneži.
It snows a lot in winter.
Jutrom pijem čaj.
In the mornings I drink tea.
Noću grad spava.
At night the city sleeps.
Zimi rano pada mrak.
In winter it gets dark early.
Jutrom trčim u parku.
In the mornings I run in the park.
Leti idemo na more.
In summer we go to the seaside.
Jutrom je saobraćaj najgori.
In the mornings the traffic is worst.
Noću ne volim da vozim.
At night I don't like to drive.
Zimi mi je uvek hladno.
In winter I am always cold.
Noću se čuje samo kiša.
At night you can hear only the rain.
Sentences in the course that use this rule: 63
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
It snows a lot in winter.