According to the case suffixes, nouns in Serbian can be grouped into three or four declensions (the order and number hasn't been established yet). I'll list the three most commonly presented ones, starting from the most complex one, which is often subdivided, depending on the noun gender and its stem ending:
1. Declension:
Masculine nouns ending in a consonant
Neuter nouns ending in -o or -e
*Note that Masc. nouns in Sg. Acc. is the same as the Genetive if the noun denotes an 'animate concept', like human being or an animal, while the 'inanimate' ones are objects, but also plants and groups of people or animals (like 'a people'= 'narod' or pack (of wolves)= 'čopor')
** All Neuter nouns have the same form for Nominative, Accusative and Vocative, which is really great :o)
*** With Masc. nouns ending in palatal 'j, lj, nj, č, dž, đ, ć, š, ž'
a/ in Sg. Instrumental case it will end in 'em', instead of 'om'
b/ in Sg. Vocative case it will end in 'u' instead of 'e'
****The pattern for Plural being the same for all the forms:
*****Elongated Plural can be seen in the majority of one syllable and a good part of two syllable nouns. In the plural they get 'OV' or with palatal ones 'EV':
******* Sometimes, if the noun ends in -c, -s, -z or -t, there is an ending in -ev (e.g. vicevi (jokes), nosevi (noses) , putevi (roads) )
Well, as you can see, this is just the beginning of the story about Noun Declensions. If you are learning Serbian, I'd like to ask you if you find it easier to learn the language in this 'grammar oriented' fashion, or simply 'by ear'?
1. Declension:
Masculine nouns ending in a consonant
Neuter nouns ending in -o or -e
*Note that Masc. nouns in Sg. Acc. is the same as the Genetive if the noun denotes an 'animate concept', like human being or an animal, while the 'inanimate' ones are objects, but also plants and groups of people or animals (like 'a people'= 'narod' or pack (of wolves)= 'čopor')
** All Neuter nouns have the same form for Nominative, Accusative and Vocative, which is really great :o)
*** With Masc. nouns ending in palatal 'j, lj, nj, č, dž, đ, ć, š, ž'
a/ in Sg. Instrumental case it will end in 'em', instead of 'om'
b/ in Sg. Vocative case it will end in 'u' instead of 'e'
ANIMATE | ANIMATE | non-ANIMATE | non-ANIMATE | |
Sing. | ||||
non-palatal ending | palatal | non-palatal | palatal ending | |
Nom | DOKTOR | PRIJATELJ | BROD | ČEKIĆ |
Gen | DOKTOR-A | PRIJATELJ-A | BROD-A | ČEKIĆ-A |
Dative | DOKTOR-U | PRIJATELJ-U | BROD-U | ČEKIĆ-U |
Acc | DOKTOR-E | PRIJATELJ-A | BROD | ČEKIĆ |
Voc | DOKTOR-E | PRIJATELJ-U | BROD-E | ČEKIĆ-U |
Inst | DOKTOR-OM | PRIJATELJ-EM | BROD-OM | ČEKIĆ-EM |
Loc | DOKTOR-U | PRIJATELJ-U | BROD-U | ČEKIĆ-U |
****The pattern for Plural being the same for all the forms:
Nom | DOKTOR-I |
Gen | DOKTOR-A |
Dative | DOKTOR-IMA |
Acc | DOKTOR-E |
Voc | DOKTOR-I |
Inst | DOKTOR-IMA |
Loc | DOKTOR-IMA |
*****Elongated Plural can be seen in the majority of one syllable and a good part of two syllable nouns. In the plural they get 'OV' or with palatal ones 'EV':
Elongated' = longer form | |
Nom | STAN-ov-I |
Gen | STAN-ov-A |
Dative | STAN-ov-IMA |
Acc | STAN-ov-E |
Voc | STAN-ov-I |
Inst | STAN-ov-IMA |
Loc | STAN-ov-IMA |
******* Sometimes, if the noun ends in -c, -s, -z or -t, there is an ending in -ev (e.g. vicevi (jokes), nosevi (noses) , putevi (roads) )
Well, as you can see, this is just the beginning of the story about Noun Declensions. If you are learning Serbian, I'd like to ask you if you find it easier to learn the language in this 'grammar oriented' fashion, or simply 'by ear'?