Serbian 101 · Grammar
The case you've been using all along, without anyone calling it a case.
Serbian has seven cases, and every one of them changes the ending of a noun. The nominative is the starting shape — the form in the dictionary, the form on a label, the form you learned when you learned the word. Grad. Muzika. Selo. Nothing has been done to them yet.
It has one job in a sentence: it marks the subject — whoever or whatever is doing the verb. Ask Ko? (who?) or Šta? (what?) about the verb, and the answer comes back in the nominative.
That's the whole rule. The reason it's worth a lesson of its own is that every other case is measured against this one. When you later learn that u banku becomes u banci, the thing that changed is the nominative banka. Get comfortable with the starting shape and the six that follow are all just departures from it.
Kako izgleda nominativ
You've met these three genders in the colours and in moj / moja / moje. Here they are on the nouns themselves.
| Rod | Jednina | Množina | Ending |
|---|---|---|---|
| muški | grad град | gradovi градови | consonant → -i |
| muški | kolač колач | kolači колачи | consonant → -i |
| ženski | muzika музика | muzike музике | -a → -e |
| ženski | planina планина | planine планине | -a → -e |
| srednji | selo село | sela села | -o / -e → -a |
| srednji | more море | mora мора | -o / -e → -a |
One trap worth naming early: neuter plural ends in -a, which looks exactly like a feminine singular. Sela is villages, not a village. Serbian children mix this up too, so you're in good company — the verb usually tells you which it is.
In each sentence the underlined part is in the nominative. Everything else has been bent into some other case — which is exactly what you'll spend the next levels learning.
Beograd je glavni grad Srbije. — Belgrade is the capital of Serbia
Srbija je u Evropi. — Serbia is in Europe
Evropa je velika. — Europe is big
Moja baka pravi ukusne kolače. — my grandma makes delicious cakes
Ukusni kolači koštaju puno. — delicious cakes cost a lot
Look at the last two together, because Marina put them side by side on purpose. The same three words appear twice: ukusne kolače in one, ukusni kolači in the other. In the fourth sentence the cakes are being made — they're the object, so they take the accusative. In the fifth the cakes are doing the costing — subject, nominative. Same cakes, different job, different ending. And notice the adjective moved with the noun: ukusne → ukusni. In Serbian they always travel together.
The first sentence hides a second lesson. Beograd je glavni grad — both sides of je are nominative, because je doesn't do anything to the word after it, it just puts an equals sign between the two. Only Srbije is bent, into the genitive, because it means of Serbia.
Govorna vežba
The single most useful phrase at this level, and the one that surprises every English speaker.
Sviđa mi se Beograd. — I like Belgrade
Sviđa mi se Evropa. — I like Europe
Ne sviđaju mi se ukusni kolači. — I don't like delicious cakes
Sviđaju mi se ove planine. — I like these mountains
Ne sviđa mi se ova muzika. — I don't like this music
In English I am the subject and the thing I like is the object. Serbian turns it around: the thing is pleasing to me. So the thing is the subject and stays in the nominative, and I shrink to mi — a dative, meaning to me.
Which is why the verb changes and not the noun. One thing → sviđa. More than one → sviđaju. Sviđa mi se muzika, but sviđaju mi se planine. Say it wrong and you'll still be understood; say it right and you sound like you've been here a while.
Negation is one word in front, nothing else moves: ne sviđa mi se, ne sviđaju mi se. And to swap the person, swap only the little word: sviđa ti se (you), sviđa mu se (he), sviđa joj se (she), sviđa nam se (we).
Serbian has borrowed thousands of international words, and they arrive with their meaning intact — muzika, telefon, restoran, hotel, banka, doktor, sport, park, kamera. They're free vocabulary, and they're the easiest place to practise spotting gender, because the ending tells you everything.
Ends in a consonant, it's masculine: telefon, restoran, hotel, sport, park, internet. Ends in -a, it's feminine: muzika, banka, kamera, pica, limunada. That's most of them, and the rule holds.
Two to watch. Auto ends in -o but is masculine, not neuter — moj auto, and in the plural automobili. And taksi, meni, radio are masculine too, whatever their last letter suggests. Rare enough to just learn as they come.
Play it
International nouns first — the meaning is free, so all your attention goes on the gender.
Easy words — Wordwall round
Ista gramatika, brži tempo
Snowball: MOJ / TVOJ runs on exactly these nouns — international words and animals, sorted by gender as they fall.
Print it
Four PDFs on the international words — the friendliest nouns to meet a case with.
The nominative plural is the first step away from the dictionary form — one exercise, all three genders.
Plural of Nouns, Exercise 2 →Serbian 101
Possessives that agree with the thing owned, not the owner.
GrammarThe verb that puts an equals sign between two nominatives.
VocabularyAdjectives that travel with the noun, in colour.
VocabularyWhere the nominative starts bending — banka → u banci.
BasicsThirty letters, thirty sounds, and not a single silent one.
A1The whole beginner level on one page, in order.