Serbian 301 — sixteen everyday verbs, and the case they all drag along behind them.
Every verb below takes a direct object, and in Serbian a direct object means the accusative. What the case actually does to the noun depends entirely on what kind of noun it is:
| Type | Nominative | Accusative |
|---|---|---|
| feminine -a | knjiga, muzika | knjigu, muziku |
| masculine, thing | film, ključ | film, ključ — unchanged |
| masculine, living | profesor, brat | profesora, brata |
| neuter | pismo, more | pismo, more — unchanged |
| feminine, consonant | ljubav, noć | ljubav, noć — unchanged |
That third row is the one worth slowing down for. If the masculine noun is alive — a person, an animal — its accusative borrows the genitive ending: vidim brata, pitam profesora. If it isn't alive, nothing happens at all: vidim most.
Three verbs in the list come with a preposition — ići u/na, otići u/na, verovati u — and there the accusative marks movement towards: idem u školu (I'm going to school) against u školi sam (I'm at school, locative).
1. to listen →
2. to watch →
3. to read →
4. to take →
5. to write →
6. to feel →
7. to forget →
8. to ask →
9. to go to → (+ u / na)
10. to drive →
11. to keep →
12. to visit →
13. to throw →
14. to send →
15. to go away, to set off → (+ u / na)
16. to believe in → (+ u)
Some of these change, some don't. Ask yourself first: feminine, masculine, alive?
1. Slušam . (muzika)
2. Gledam . (film)
3. Čitam . (knjiga)
4. Pišem . (pismo)
5. Pitam . (profesor)
6. Posetiću . (baka)
7. Vozim . (auto)
8. Bacio je . (lopta)
9. Poslala sam . (poruka)
10. Držim . (ključ)
11. Idem u . (škola)
12. Verujem u . (ljubav)
SR (lat): U drugom bloku upiši imenicu u akuzativu — ponekad se ne menja. Nije osetljivo na velika/mala slova, i može latinicom ili ćirilicom; dijakritici su opcioni.
СР (ћир): У другом блоку упиши именицу у акузативу — понекад се не мења. Није осетљиво на велика/мала слова, и може латиницом или ћирилицом; дијакритици су опциони.
EN: In block 2 give the noun in the accusative — sometimes it doesn't change. Not case-sensitive; Latin or Cyrillic both fine, diacritics optional.
The instrumental next — the case a handful of verbs simply insist on.
Next: Instrumental bez Predloga →