po, o and pri with the locative

You already use u and na with the locative to say where something is: u gradu, na plaži. Three more prepositions take exactly the same locative endings: o, po and pri. Nothing new happens to the noun — o gradu, po gradu, pri kraju use the endings you already know. What you need to learn is what each preposition MEANS.

o — what you talk, read or think about

This is the one you will use every day. English says talk about, a book about, think about; Serbian says o + locative. It works with any verb of speaking, writing, reading or thinking: pričati o, razgovarati o, pisati o, čitati o, razmišljati o, and with nouns like knjiga o, film o.

The topic after o is ALWAYS in the locative. Do not leave the noun in the accusative just because it follows a verb: say pričamo o filmu, never pričamo o film. A pronoun takes its stressed locative form: o meni, o tebi, o njemu, o njoj, o nama.

o has a second, physical meaning: something hanging from or attached to something else — a bag from a shoulder, a key from a hook. This is less common, and it is always something that is already hanging (it describes a state, not a movement): Torba joj visi o ramenu — Her bag hangs from her shoulder.

po — all over, around, per

po + locative has two meanings you need here. The first is movement or spreading across a surface or an area: wandering around a town, travelling around a country, things scattered all over a room. English uses around, all over, through.

The second is the rate: the unit a price, an amount or a schedule is counted in. English says per or a: ten euros a person, thirty euros a night. This is how prices in hotels, markets and tours are quoted.

You have met po once before with the ACCUSATIVE: idem po hleb — I'm going to get bread. That is a different meaning (going to fetch something). When po means around or per, the noun is in the locative: po gradu, po osobi.

po before a number — each

po can also stand directly in front of a number to say that EACH person got that many: Dobili smo po jednu kartu — We each got one ticket. Here po changes nothing: the number and the noun stay exactly as they would be without it (jednu kartu, dve čokolade, dvadeset evra). Learn it as a chunk: po + number = each / apiece.

pri — near, at, during

pri is rarer and a little formal. It means near / at something or in a certain state. You will mostly meet it in a few fixed expressions, and it is worth recognising them:

In everyday speech Serbs usually say blizu or kod + genitive for near. Use pri in the set expressions above, and simply recognise it in signs and written texts.