Live in SerbiaAbout the Serbian language
Serbian cases: table and examples
Serbian has seven grammatical cases. A case changes the ending of nouns, adjectives and pronouns depending on their role in the sentence. It sounds daunting, but you can start speaking with just two or three of them.
Serbian case table with examples
| Case | Questions | žena (f.) | grad (m.) | selo (n.) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ko? šta? (who? what?) | žena | grad | selo | Grad je lep. — The city is nice. |
| Genitive | koga? čega? (of whom? of what?) | žene | grada | sela | Idem iz grada. — I am leaving the city. |
| Dative | kome? čemu? (to whom?) | ženi | gradu | selu | Dajem knjigu ženi. — I give the book to the woman. |
| Accusative | koga? šta? (whom? what?) | ženu | grad | selo | Vidim ženu. — I see the woman. |
| Vocative | addressing someone | ženo | grade | selo | Ivane, dođi! — Ivan, come! |
| Instrumental | s kim? čim? (with whom?) | ženom | gradom | selom | Idem sa ženom. — I go with my wife. |
| Locative | o kome? o čemu? gde? (about / where?) | ženi | gradu | selu | Živim u gradu. — I live in the city. |
Where to start
- Accusative — the most common case after the nominative: Vidim ženu, Imam stan, Pijem kafu.
- Locative answers “where?” after u and na: u gradu, na poslu, u prodavnici.
- Genitive follows iz, od, do, bez and quantities: iz Srbije, bez šećera, malo vode.
- Vocative is used to address people: Gospodine!, Marko!, Ivane!
Common mistakes
- Mixing up locative and accusative after u: Živim u gradu (where?) but Idem u grad (where to?).
- Forgetting the -a ending of the masculine genitive: od brata, do grada.
- Addressing people in the nominative: say Ivane!, not Ivan!
The table helps, but cases stick best through real phrases. In practice you build sentences from words, and the right endings gradually become automatic.