Dative singular as the indirect object
In short
Dative singular — the person who receives
| Gender | Nominative | Dative |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | brat, prijatelj | bratu, prijatelju |
| feminine | sestra, majka | sestri, majci |
| neuter | dete, selo | detetu, selu |
Masculine and neuter: -u. Feminine -a: -i.
Stem k, g usually softens: majka → majci, knjiga → knjizi — but not in baka → baki, lutka → lutki.
Kupujem sestri poklon. — I am buying my sister a present.
Same form as the locative. Locative always follows u / na / o; the dative stands bare.
A1 · Lesson 28 · Giving to someone: the dative
The full explanation, from the lesson that teaches this rule
You can already say what you buy: Kupujem poklon. — "I am buying a present." But a present is normally bought for somebody. Serbian answers the question "to whom?" with a special form of the person's name — a fourth case, the dative.
Kupujem poklon bratu. — "I am buying my brother a present." Nothing is added in front of the word; the ending itself does the work of English to or for.
So a sentence like this has three parts: the person who acts, the thing that is handed over (accusative, which you know), and the person who gets it (dative, which is new).
The endings
| Gender | Nominative | Dative singular | Ending |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | brat | bratu | -u |
| masculine | prijatelj | prijatelju | -u |
| feminine | sestra | sestri | -i |
| feminine | majka | majci | -i |
| neuter | dete | detetu | -u |
| neuter | selo | selu | -u |
Two endings, and gender decides which: masculine and neuter both take -u, feminine nouns in -a swap that -a for -i. The pattern works for any noun you meet: sin → sinu, gost → gostu, profesor → profesoru, koleginica → koleginici, domaćica → domaćici, unuče → unučetu.
A feminine noun whose stem ends in k or g usually softens that consonant before -i: majka → majci, knjiga → knjizi, devojka → devojci. It is the same softening you already saw in the locative — one rule, not two.
It does not happen everywhere, though. Affectionate family words, and nouns ending in -tka, keep the k: baka → baki, seka → seki, lutka → lutki, čestitka → čestitki. When you are not sure, leaving the consonant alone is the safer guess.
Where it goes in the sentence
There is no fixed slot. Poklanjam sestri knjigu. and Poklanjam knjigu sestri. are both normal — the case endings say who gets what, so the order is free. Serbian most often puts the person first when the person is already known and the thing is the news.
Careful: dative and locative look the same
You met u kući, na poslu in the last lesson — and those are exactly the forms you have just learned. That is a gift, not a trap: for nouns, the dative and the locative singular are the same. What tells them apart is what stands in front.
| Preposition? | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Pišem sestri. / Kupujem bratu poklon. | dative: none, the word stands bare | to whom / for whom |
| Sedim u kući. / Ana je na poslu. | locative: always after u, na, o | where |
If you see u, na or o in front of the word, it is a locative and answers where. If the word stands bare after a verb like davati, pisati, kupovati, poklanjati, it is a dative and answers to whom.
The verbs that take a dative person are the ones you would expect: davati (give), poklanjati (give as a present), kupovati (buy), pisati (write), slati (send), čestitati (congratulate).
Check what you read
6 of the 15 questions this lesson asks in the app. Type the form or pick the answer.
Kupujem poklon(brat).
Pišem(sestra) čestitku.
Poklanjamo(dete) tortu.
___ kupujemo cveće za rođendan.
Nosim ___ knjigu.
Dajemo ___ balon.
Examples from the course
The marked word is where the rule applies. Press play to hear the sentence.
Devojčici poklanjamo lutku.
We are giving the little girl a doll.
Profesoru poklanjamo cveće.
We are giving the teacher flowers.
Šaljem prijatelju čestitku.
I am sending my friend a card.
Kupujemo detetu tortu.
We are buying the child a cake.
Kupujem poklon bratu.
I am buying my brother a present.
Poklanjam sestri knjigu.
I am giving my sister a book as a present.
Ovaj poklon nosim prijatelju.
I am taking this present to my friend.
Zašto ne pišeš ocu?
Why don't you write to your father?
Sinu spremamo veliko iznenađenje.
We are preparing a big surprise for our son.
Gost poklanja domaćici cveće.
The guest gives the hostess flowers.
Sentences in the course that use this rule: 64
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
We are giving the little girl a doll.
The girl receives — dative devojčici.