Noun gender & the seven cases
Serbian nouns have a gender, and they change their ending depending on their role in the sentence. That role is called case. It's why a word from your deck can turn up with a different ending in an example sentence.
How to tell a noun's gender
You can usually read a noun's gender straight off its ending.
| Ends in… | Usually | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a consonant | Masculine | прозор, град, брат, хлеб |
| -а | Feminine | жена, мајка, кафа, вода |
| -о or -е | Neuter | место, млеко, вино, вече |
A few exceptions are worth knowing. Some consonant-ending nouns are feminine (ноћ "night", ствар "thing", со "salt"), and a handful of -а nouns that name men are masculine (деда "grandpa").
What the seven cases do
Each case marks a different role. You don't need to produce them yet, only recognise which one you're looking at.
| Case | Answers | What it marks | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative номинатив | who? what? | The dictionary form, used for the subject of the sentence. | Кафа је топла. The coffee is hot. |
| Genitive генитив | of whom? of what? | Possession and the sense of 'of'; after без, од, до, из, код, and with quantities. | шоља кафе, без воде a cup of coffee, without water |
| Dative датив | to whom? | The indirect object: who you give or say something to. Follows према. | Дао сам књигу сестри. I gave the book to my sister. |
| Accusative акузатив | whom? what? | The direct object; after у/на when there is motion (into, onto). | Волим кафу. Идем у град. I like coffee. I'm going into town. |
| Vocative вокатив | hey! | Calling or addressing someone directly. | Хвала, мајко! Thank you, mum! |
| Instrumental инструментал | with whom? with what? | Company ('with') or the means or tool; after с(а). | с братом, с водом with my brother, with water |
| Locative локатив | about whom? where? | Location (in, on, at) with no motion; only ever after a preposition. | у граду, на месту in the city, in place |
One noun in every case
This is the regular singular pattern: one noun of each gender taken through all seven cases. жена means "woman", прозор "window", and место "place".
| Case | Feminine | Masculine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | жена | прозор | место |
| Genitive | жене | прозора | места |
| Dative | жени | прозору | месту |
| Accusative | жену | прозор | место |
| Vocative | жено | прозоре | место |
| Instrumental | женом | прозором | местом |
| Locative | жени | прозору | месту |
The table leaves a couple of things out. The plural has its own set of seven endings. And for a masculine noun that names a person or animal, the accusative copies the genitive rather than the nominative: Видим брата "I see my brother" (not брат), while an inanimate thing stays put, as in Видим прозор. Common nouns also carry small twists, such as the consonant shift in мајка → мајци, but the endings above are the regular pattern.