Serbian cases of adjectives are much easier to memorize than cases of Serbian nouns. Here we have to remember that one adjective has a form in each gender – it means we will have to memorize endings of singular masculine, feminine, and neuter forms, and endings of plural masculine, feminine, and neuter forms.
If you don’t remember how to use each case, go to the lesson Introduction to Serbian cases, and open this page in the next tab.
Singular:
Jeftin (m), Jeftina (f), Jeftino (n) – Cheap
| Nominative | jeftin | jeftina | jeftino |
| Genitive | Jeftinog | jeftine | jeftinog |
| Dative | jeftinom | jeftinoj | jeftinom |
| Accusative | Jeftini/jeftinog* | jeftinu | jeftino |
| Instrumental | jeftinim | jeftinom | jeftinim |
| Locative | jeftinom | jeftinoj | jeftinom |
| Vocative | jeftini | jeftina | jeftino |
*- Adjectives in the accusative case referring to an inanimate object will be declined the same as in the nominative case; adjectives in the accusative case referring to an animate object will be declined the same as in the genitive case.
Plural:
Jeftini (m), Jeftine (f), Jeftina (n) – Cheap
| Nominative | jeftini | jeftine | jeftina |
| Genitive | Jeftinih | jeftinih | jeftinih |
| Dative | jeftinim | jeftinim | jeftinim |
| Accusative | Jeftine | jeftine | jeftina |
| Instrumental | jeftinim | jeftinim | jeftinim |
| Locative | jeftinim | jeftinim | jeftinim |
| Vocative | jeftini | jeftine | jeftina |
Now, let’s decline one more adjective:
Slobodan(m), Slobodna(f), Slobodno(n) – free (in meaning “free from something”), singular.
| Nominative | Slobodan | Slobodna | Slobodno |
| Genitive | Slobodnog | slobodne | slobodnog |
| Dative | Slobodnom | slobodnoj | slobodnom |
| Accusative | Slobodni/slobodnog | slobodnu | slobodno |
| Instrumental | slobodnim | slobodnom | slobodnim |
| Locative | slobodnom | slobodnoj | slobodnom |
| Vocative | slobodni | slobodna | slobodno |
Slobodni (m), Slobodne (f), Slobodna (n) – free, plural
| Nominative | Slobodni | Slobodne | Slobodna |
| Genitive | Slobodnih | slobodnih | slobodnih |
| Dative | Slobodnim | slobodnim | slobodnim |
| Accusative | Slobodne/slobodne | slobodne | slobodna |
| Instrumental | slobodnim | slobodnim | slobodnim |
| Locative | slobodnim | slobodnim | slobodnim |
| Vocative | slobodni | slobodne | slobodna |
As you can see, adjectives that have a masculine singular ending –AN will be declined like SLOBODNOG (genitive) instead of SLOBODANOG.
Also, adjectives like BEO (m), BELA (f), BELO (n)– white in masculine form (BEO) will be declined with stem BEL. E.g. BELOG in the genitive case instead of BEOG.
Decline about 50 adjectives on your own in order to be able to do it automatically in live speech.
Examples
Imao sam crvenu majicu – I had a red t-shirt (crveni – red, majica – T-shirt). Crvenu – accusative case,
Napiši to plavom olovkom – Write it by a blue pencil (plav – blue, olovka – pencil). Plavom – instrumental case, an instrument of the verb “napisati – to write”.
Koliko slobodnih sati imaš danas? – How many free hours do you have today? (sat – hour, danas – today). Slobodnih – genitive case, an indication of amount.
On je poklonio cvjeće lepoj ženi – he presented flowers to a beautiful woman (cvijet – flower, lep – beautiful, žena – woman). Lepoj – dative case, the indirect object of “pokloniti – to resent”.
Između tih velikih kuća ima mala staza – There is a small path between those big houses. Velikih – genitive, after the preposition “IZMEĐU – between”.
Mačka trči za malim psom – The cat runs after the dog. Psom – instrumental, after the preposition “ZA – after”.
Preduzetnik je rizikovao krupnom količinom novca – An entrepreneur risked a large amount of money. Krupnom količinom novca – instrumental, instrument of the verb “rizikovati – to risk”.
Pričaj mi o tvojem dugom putovanju – Tell me about your long trip. Dugom – locative, after the preposition “O – about”.
Šta je to na tvojoj glavi? – What is it on your head? Glavi – locative, after the preposition “NA – on”.
Vocabulary
| Mačka – cat Trčati – to run Novac – money Krupan – large Pokloniti – to present Preduzetnik – entrepreneur Rizikovati – to risk Putovanje – trip Glava – head | Velik – big Pas – dog Lep – beautiful Cvijet – flower Žena – woman Slobodan – free Dug – long Plav – blue Mali – small |
Exercises
Decline adjectives in the appropriate gender and case
- Da li ste provodili odmor u _______________ zemljama? (TOPAO – warm) – Did you vacation in warm countries?
- Prozor je zatvoren zbog __________________ sunca (SVETAO – bright) – The window is closed because of the bright sun
- Gde ste videli ove _________________ ljude? (MLAD – young) – Where did you see these young people?
- Ćemo plivati u ________________ jezeru (DUBOK – deep) – We will swim in the deep lake
- Da li si nekada bio u _______________ restoranu? (TURSKI – Turkish) – Have you ever been to a Turkish restaurant?
- Ovo jelo je vrlo _______________ (UKUSAN – tasty) – This dish is very tasty
- Upoznao sam mnogo stvarno _____________ ljudi (HRABAR – brave) – I met many really brave people
- Nikola je otišao u bar posle _________________ dana (RADNI – working) – Nikola went to a bar after the working day
- Moja prijatelica sakuplja mnoge _________________ stvari (NEOBIČAN – unusual) – My friend collects many unusual things
- Da bi smanjio stres, treba smanjiti količinu _________________ faktora (DOSADAN – annoying) – In order to reduce stress, one must reduce the amount of annoying factors
- Jovan radi sa ________________ klijentima (OZBILJAN – serious) – Jovan works with serious clients
- Posle _____________ pada, cena za akcije kompanije je počela da raste (DUG – long) – After the long fall, the price for stocks of the company began to rise
Answers
1: toplim; 2: svetlog; 3: mlade; 4: dubokom; 5: turskom; 6: ukusno; 7: hrabrih; 8: radnog; 9: neobični stvari; 10: dosadnih; 11: ozbilnjima; 12: dugog