Serbian nouns and adjective: gender and plural

There are 3 grammatical genders in Serbian language: masculine, feminine, and neuter. All Serbian nouns and adjectives belong to one of them.

Genders of Serbian nouns

Masculine Serbian nouns end in consonants:

Vojnik – soldier, Prodavac – seller, Učitelj – teacher, Bicikl – bicycle, Grad – city, Automobil – car, Prijatelj – friend.

Feminine Serbian nouns end in –A:

Prijatelica – friend (woman), Pekara – bakery, Stolica – chair, Lampa – lamp, Kuća – house, Žena – woman/wife, Država – country/state.

Neuter Serbian nouns end in –O or –E:

Drvo – tree, Dete – child, Vreme – time, Vreme – weather, More – sea, Putovanje – trip/journey/travel, Pivo – beer, Pozorište – theater.

Genders of Serbian adjectives

One adjective, unlike nouns, can belong to each of three genders depending on the noun that this adjective describes.

Lep – beautiful (masculine)

Lepa – beautiful (feminine)

Lepo – beautiful (neuter)

Zauzet – busy (m), zauzeta (f), zauzeto (n)

Beo – white (m), bele (f), belo (n)

And masculine adjectives ending in –an have feminine endings –na, and neuter ending –no.

Slobodan – free (m), slobodna (f), slobodno (n)

Besplatan – free (in sense of money) (m), besplatna (f), besplatno (n)

Also, adjectives in neuter gender can be used as ADVERBS.

For example:

Slobodno – freely, brzo – quickly,  Sporo – slowly.

Plural of Serbian nouns

Masculine Serbian nouns in plural form end in –I:

Avion – airplane, Avioni – airplanes

Čajnik – teapot, Čajnici – teapots. Notice, that K always changes by C, and H by S  in masculine plural endings.

Monah – monk, Monasi – monks

And, -AK changes by –CI, -AC by –CI:

Sastanak – meeting, Sastanci – meetings,

Muškarac –man, Muškarci – men.

However, masculine nouns ending in -G, -D, -L, -T, -Z will have ending –OVI:

Grad – city, Gradovi – cities

Tekst – text, Tekstovi – texts

And nouns ending in –Ž end in –EVI in plural:

Nož – knife, Noževi – knives

Feminine Serbian nouns in plural form end in –E:

Mačka – cat , Mačke – cats

Ograda – fence, Ograde – fences

Žena – woman/wife, Žene – women/wives

Neuter Serbian nouns in plural form end in –A:

Polje – field, Polja – fields

Pismo – letter, Pisma – letters

Plural of Serbian adjectives

Serbian adjectives have plural endings:

-I in masculine form

Zgodani muškarci  – handsome men

Brzi automobili – fast cars

-E in feminine form

Bele mačke – white cats

Visoke zgrade – high buildings

-A in neuter form

Topla leta – warm summers

Žuta polja – yellow fields

Examples

Gde su bile tvoje stvari? – Where were your things?

Zašto frižider nije hladan? – Why the refrigerator is not cold?

Ovo je dobra muzika – This is good music

Njihova nova kuća je velika – Their new house is large

Vozovi su komforni – Trains are comfortable

Ovo je veoma težak posao – This is very difficult work

Koliko koštaju ovi kompjuteri? – How much are these computers?

Svi putevi vode u Beograd – All roads lead to Belgrade

Da li imate jeftine tarife? – do you have cheap tariffs?

Vocabulary