Serbian 401 — two words you use constantly, and the fact that both of them decline.
English keeps someone and something unchanged wherever they land. Serbian doesn’t: neko declines exactly like ko, and nešto exactly like šta. Learn the question words and you have these for free.
| Padež | ko → neko | šta → nešto |
|---|---|---|
| nominativ | neko | nešto |
| genitiv | nekoga · od nekoga | nečega · od nečega |
| dativ | nekome | nečemu |
| akuzativ | nekoga · za nekoga | nešto · za nešto |
| instrumental | s nekim | s nečim |
| lokativ | o nekome | o nečemu |
The row worth staring at is the accusative. Nekoga looks like the genitive because neko refers to a person, and Serbian marks animate masculines by borrowing the genitive form. Nešto refers to a thing, so it stays exactly as it is — the same split you met with vidim brata against vidim sto.
Shorter variants exist and are perfectly ordinary in speech: nekom, nečem, o nekom. The exercise accepts both.
One spelling note: the preposition is s or sa — s nekim and sa nekim are both correct, and sa becomes obligatory only before words starting with s, š, z or ž.
English on the left, the Serbian form with its preposition on the right.
1. someone (subject)
2. something
3. for someone
4. for something
5. from someone
6. from something
7. to someone
8. to something
9. with someone
10. with something
11. about someone
12. about something
SR (lat): Upisuje se cela fraza, zajedno sa predlogom. Latinicom ili ćirilicom; dijakritici su opcioni.
СР (ћир): Уписује се цела фраза, заједно са предлогом. Латиницом или ћирилицом; дијакритици су опциони.
EN: Type the whole phrase, preposition included. Latin or Cyrillic, diacritics optional.
Imenice na suglasnik i ono -šću koje se pojavi niotkuda.
Instrumental ženskog roda →