kroz, niz and uz with the accusative
In short
| meaning | + accusative | |
|---|---|---|
| kroz | through (space) | kroz park, kroz šumu |
| kroz | in (time from now) | kroz pet minuta (= za pet minuta) |
| niz | down along | niz ulicu, niz brdo, niz reku |
| uz | up along | uz brdo, uz stepenice |
| uz | beside / with | uz kafu, uz ogradu, uz muziku |
Always the accusative — no switching.
B1 · Lesson 19 · Predlozi kroz, niz, uz s akuzativom
The full explanation, from the lesson that teaches this rule
When you describe a walk through a town, you rarely name only where you end up. You say through the park, down the street, up the hill. Serbian has three short prepositions for exactly this kind of path: kroz (through), niz (down along) and uz (up along, and also beside or with).
Good news: always the accusative
In the last two lessons the case depended on the meaning: nad, pod, pred take the instrumental for a position and the accusative for movement into it, and po switches between the locative and the accusative. kroz, niz and uz never switch. Whatever they mean, the noun after them stands in the accusative — the same form you already use for a direct object: park stays park, ulica becomes ulicu, brdo stays brdo, and in the plural ulice, stepenice.
| Preposition | Meaning | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| kroz | through a space | kroz park, kroz grad, kroz prozor | through the park, the town, the window |
| kroz | in (after) a stretch of time | kroz pet minuta, kroz sat vremena | in five minutes, in an hour |
| niz | down along a slope or a flow | niz ulicu, niz brdo, niz stepenice, niz reku | down the street, the hill, the stairs, the river |
| uz | up along a slope or a flow | uz brdo, uz stepenice, uz ulicu | up the hill, the stairs, the street |
| uz | beside, along, together with | uz kafu, uz muziku, uz ogradu, uz reku | with coffee, to music, by the fence, along the river |
kroz: through a space, and through time
kroz means passing from one side of something to the other: Prošli smo kroz park (We went through the park). With a time expression it tells you when something will happen, counted from now: Voz polazi kroz pola sata (The train leaves in half an hour).
You already know za + accusative for the same idea: za sat vremena, za nedelju dana. Both are normal Serbian — kroz pet minuta and za pet minuta both mean 'in five minutes'. Use whichever you hear around you; neither is wrong.
niz and uz: down and up
niz and uz are a pair. niz is movement down along something — a street, a slope, stairs, or a river with its current: Silazimo niz ulicu (We're going down the street). uz is the opposite, up along it or against the current: Penjemo se uz brdo (We're climbing up the hill).
Do not use u or na for 'up the hill' or 'down the stairs'. Na brdo means onto the hill, as a destination. If the hill or the stairs are the path you move along, use uz going up and niz going down.
uz: beside and together with
uz has a second, very common meaning: right next to something, or together with it. Uz doručak pijem čaj (I drink tea with breakfast). Ostavi bicikl uz ogradu (Leave the bike by the fence). Uz muziku is 'to music, with music playing'. The case is still the accusative.
The plural works the same way: kroz uske ulice (through narrow streets), niz stepenice, uz stepenice.
Check what you read
3 of the 13 questions this lesson asks in the app. Type the form or pick the answer.
Pas je skočio ___ prozor u dvorište.
Which sentence is correct?
Which sentence is correct?
Examples from the course
The marked word is where the rule applies. Press play to hear the sentence.
Silazimo niz ulicu.
We're going down the street.
Prošli smo kroz park.
We went through the park. (mixed group)
Uz doručak pijem čaj.
I drink tea with breakfast.
Penjemo se uz brdo.
We're climbing up the hill.
Ostavi bicikl uz ogradu.
Leave the bike by the fence.
Voz polazi kroz pola sata.
The train leaves in half an hour.
Gurao je bicikl uz strmu ulicu.
He pushed the bike up the steep street.
Čamci plove niz reku do mosta.
The boats are sailing down the river to the bridge.
Polako silazi niz stepenice, ima poledice.
Go down the stairs slowly, there's ice. (to one person)
Mačka je ušla kroz otvoreni prozor.
The cat came in through the open window.
Sentences in the course that use this rule: 42
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're going down the street.