The partitive genitive object

You already know how to say what you have: imam knjigu, I have a book. The book is a whole countable thing, and it stands in the accusative, like every direct object.

But some things do not come as countable wholes. Water, bread, money, time, patience — you never have one of them, you have some of them. Serbian marks that difference in the ending. When the object is a quantity of something rather than a whole thing, it goes into the genitive — the same case you already use after ima and nema.

• Imam knjigu. — I have a book. (one whole book: accusative)
• Imam vremena. — I have (some) time. (a quantity: genitive)

The same verb, two cases

Nothing changes about the verb. imati governs both — the case tells you whether you mean the whole thing or some of it. So the choice is about meaning, not about grammar mechanics.

Note that for masculine and neuter nouns the accusative looks exactly like the dictionary form, so the genitive is the ending that actually does the work: hleba, novca, mleka, vremena.

Substances you can measure

Anything you would pour, weigh or cut a piece off behaves this way: vode, mleka, hleba, sira, šećera, soli, ulja, benzina. And novac — money — counts as a substance in Serbian too.

• Imamo šećera i brašna. — We have sugar and flour.
• Imaš li soka? — Do you have any juice?
• Moj brat uvek ima novca. — My brother always has money.

Things you cannot touch at all

Abstract nouns work the same way, and this is where the construction is most common in everyday speech: vremena (time), strpljenja (patience), snage (strength), sreće (luck), posla (work), iskustva (experience).

• Danas imam vremena. — I have time today.
• Ona ima sreće. — She is lucky. (literally: she has luck)
• Imam posla do pet sati. — I have work until five.

With negation it is almost obligatory

When you say you do not have any of something, the genitive is what a Serbian speaker will use every time. nemam is the fused negative of imati you already know, and the object after it behaves exactly as it does after nema.

• Nemam novca. — I have no money.
• Nemamo hleba. — We have no bread.
• Nisam imao vremena. — I had no time. (man speaking)

Do not read the genitive as a plural. vremena, mleka and sira here are singular — the genitive singular of vreme, mleko and sir. The ending only looks plural if you think of Serbian in English terms.

imam vodu is not wrong — it means you have the water, a specific glass or bottle of it. imam vode means you have some water available. If in doubt about a substance or an abstract quantity, the genitive is the safer choice.