Verbs governing the genitive

In English you say I fear the dark but I'm afraid of the dark, I remember the summer but I think of the summer. Which little word follows the verb is something you simply learn with the verb. Serbian has the same kind of fact, only it is carried by a case instead of a preposition: a small group of verbs does not take its object in the accusative, as most verbs do, but in the genitive — the same form you already use after bez, od and iz.

So Vidim mrak (I see the dark) has the accusative, but Bojim se mraka (I'm afraid of the dark) has the genitive. Nothing about the noun changed — the verb chose the case.

The verbs, grouped by meaning

Almost all of them are reflexive verbs with se, and they fall into three families. Learn each verb together with its case, the way you learn afraid of together with of.

sećati se and setiti se are an aspect pair: sećam se is a state (I remember it, I have it in my memory), setio sam se is the moment it comes back (I remembered it, it came to me). Both take the genitive.

Singular or plural — the genitive either way

The object uses the genitive endings you already know: singular -a for masculine and neuter nouns, -e for feminine nouns in -a, and plural mostly -a (with -i for some feminines). Any adjective, possessive or demonstrative goes into the genitive with it.

Watch out: zmija and cigareta look the same in the nominative singular and the genitive plural. Plašim se zmija means I'm scared of snakes, not of one snake — of that snake is te zmije.

People as the object: the full pronoun forms

When the object is a person referred to by a pronoun, use the full (stressed) genitive forms from A2. They are the same forms you use after a preposition: kod mene, bez tebe.

The classic mistake is to reach for the accusative, because the English verb takes a direct object: Bojim se mrak and Sećam se to leto are wrong. After these verbs, ask yourself of what? — and answer in the genitive: mraka, tog leta.

The se is part of the verb and follows the ordinary clitic rules: it stands in second position (Moja ćerka se plaši pasa, Da li se bojiš visine?) and does not change with the person.