Dative and locative plural of nouns

At A1 you learned two cases that sound different in the singular: the dative for the person you give or say something to (Dajem bratu knjigu, Pišem sestri) and the locative for where something is, after u, na and o (u gradu, na ulici, o poslu). In the singular each gender and each case had its own ending to remember. In the plural the language does you a favour: the dative plural and the locative plural are the same form, and the whole system comes down to two endings.

Two endings for two cases and three genders

• -ima — masculine nouns, neuter nouns, and the feminine nouns that end in a consonant (the stvar / noć group)
• -ama — feminine nouns that end in -a

So the same word gradovima means both "to the cities" (dative) and "in the cities" after u (locative); devojkama is both "to the girls" and "about the girls" after o. You never have to decide which case you are in to pick the ending — only which gender the noun is, and whether a feminine ends in -a or in a consonant.

Start from the nominative plural, not the singular

The ending goes onto the same stem as the nominative plural. You already know that short masculine nouns insert -ov- or -ev- in the plural (grad → gradovi, most → mostovi, muzej → muzeji without it). That inserted syllable stays: gradovima, mostovima, trgovima. The same goes for a consonant change: kupac → kupci → kupcima, učenik → učenici → učenicima. Rule of thumb: take the nominative plural, drop its final vowel, add -ima or -ama.

Both jobs, same form

As the dative, it names the people you give, send, tell or show something to: Konobar donosi kafu gostima (to the guests), Pišem prijateljima (to my friends), Dajem karte devojkama (to the girls). As the locative after u, na and o, it says where several things are or what you are talking about: u parkovima, na ulicama, u školama, o stvarima, u selima, o mestima.

The one place the "feminine = -ama" story breaks: feminine nouns that end in a consonant (stvar, noć, reč, vest, bolest) take -ima, like the masculines. Their plural is stvari, noći, vesti, and the dative/locative is stvarima, noćima, vestima — never stvarama. If the feminine has no -a in its dictionary form, it has no -ama in the plural either.

You will meet these very same endings once more in the next lesson, with a third case. For now, treat -ima / -ama as the plural answer to "to whom?" and to "where?" / "about what?" after u, na and o.