STUDY GUIDE

Learn Serbian. Have fun.

LESSON 20

GRAMMAR
VOCABULARY
PRACTICE
ANSWER KEY

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GRAMMAR
THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

In this lesson we are going to learn some new nouns and how to change singular
nouns into their plural form.
How do we say the word friend in Serbian? Prijatelj. It’s masculine and we know
this because it ends in a consonant.
In order to make most masculine nouns plural we simply add an i to the end of
the word. There are exceptions to this rule, but don’t worry about those
exceptions for now. Recall the “Rule of 90”, which means 90% of the time this
rule holds up.
To make the masculine noun prijatelj plural we simply have to add an i to the end
of the word. So, how would you say friends (masculine)? Prijatelji.
prijatelj (singular) – prijatelji (plural)
How do we say the word girlfriend in Serbian? Prijateljica. Now, we have to learn
how to make feminine nouns plural. To make feminine nouns plural, we
substitute the a ending with an e.
prijateljica (singular) – prijateljice (plural)

Stranac means foreigner or stranger, and it’s a masculine noun, and we know this
because it ends in a consonant. When we change the noun stranac into plural,
the word loses the last a and gains an i at the end.
stranac (singular) – stranci (plural)

Study Guide 2
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Strankinja means a woman stranger or foreigner (feminine), it’s a feminine noun
and we know that because it ends in a. In order to transition from singular form
to plural we replace the a ending with an e. So, how would we say foreigners
(feminine)? Strankinje.
strankinja (singular) – strankinje (plural)

Student means student, too, but in Serbian it refers to a university student. It

ends in a consonant and because of that we know it’s masculine. To make it a
plural noun, we simply add the i to the end of the noun.
student (singular) – studenti (plural)

Studentkinja means student (feminine). It has an a ending which indicates that it

is feminine. In order to make feminine words plural, we substitute the a ending
with an e, and we get studentkinje, which means students (feminine).
One more thing. We notice that the ending of the word studentkinja is -kinja.
This is one of the suffixes for building feminine words (i.e. student + kinja =
studentkinja).
studentkinja (singular) – studentkinje (plural)

Profesor means professor and it’s masculine. We know this because the noun
ends in a consonant. To make it plural, we simply add the i at the end of the
word.
profesor (singular) – profesori (plural)

Profesorka means professor (feminine). It ends in an a, and we know that it’s

feminine. In order to make feminine noun plural, we substitute the a ending with
an e, and we get profesorke, which means professors (feminine).
profesorka (singular) – profesorke (plural)

Study Guide 3
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Chart

Serbian English
Singular Plural

masculine feminine masculine feminine

prijatelj prijateljica prijatelji prijateljice friend/friends

stranac strankinja stranci strankinje foreigner/foreigners
student studentkinja studenti studentkinje student/students
profesor profesorka profesori profesorke professor/professors

Here are a few more useful words in Serbian:

Serbian gender English

dečko masculine boyfriend
devojka feminine girlfriend
muž masculine husband
žena feminine wife/woman

The word dečko means boyfriend. Even though dečko looks neuter since it has an o ending, it’s an
exception word, meaning it is still masculine.
The word devojka means girlfriend. It ends in an a, and it’s feminine.
Žena means wife or woman. It ends in an a, and it’s feminine.
Muž means husband. It ends in a consonant, and it’s masculine.

Study Guide 4
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THE POSSESIVE PRONOUN - MOJ (MY)

Let’s learn how to say my in Serbian. My in Serbian is moj/moja/moje. This is a

possessive pronoun or a possessive adjective how some grammar books like to
call it.
Pronouns in Serbian belong to the Open Class Words and they change depending
on the gender, number or case, just like nouns. They reflect gender so we will
have 3 forms for each gender: moj means my and it’s a masculine singular form;
moja means my and it’s a feminine singular form; moje means my and it’s a
neuter singular form. Moj ends with a consonant, so we know it’s masculine,
moja ends with an a, so we know it’s feminine, and moje ends with an e, so we
know it’s neuter.

Example: Ona je moja devojka - She is my girlfriend

We have the word agreement in the sentence in gender and number: devojka is
a feminine singular noun and it must be paired with the feminine singular
pronoun moja.

Example: On je moj dečko - He is my boyfriend

Even though dečko looks like a neuter noun because of the o ending, it’s a
masculine noun (remember this as an exception to our 90% Rule). We have the
Gender and Number Agreement: the masculine singular pronoun moj agrees
with the masculine singular noun dečko.

Study Guide 5
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 Example: Ona je moja profesorka - She is my professor
The Gender and Number Agreement: the feminine singular pronoun moja
agrees with the feminine singular noun profesorka.

Example: On je moj muž - He is my husband

The Gender and Number Agreement: the masculine singular pronoun moj
agrees with the masculine singular noun muž.

Example: Ovo je moje dete – This is my child

The Gender and Number Agreement: the neuter singular pronoun moje agrees
with the neuter singular noun dete.

Chart
Pronoun MOJ/MOJA/MOJE

Serbian Gender English

moj masculine my
moja feminine my
moje neuter my

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VOCABULARY
NOUNS AND POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Serbian English
prijatelj friend (masculine)
prijateljica friend (feminine)
prijatelji friends (masculine)
prijateljice friends (feminine)
stranac foreigner (masculine)
strankinja foreigner (feminine)
stranci foreigners (masculine)
strankinje foreigners (feminine)
student student (masculine)
studentkinja student (feminine)
studenti students (masculine)
studentkinje students (feminine)
profesor professor (masculine)
profesorka professor (feminine)
profesori professors (masculine)
profesorke professors (feminine)
dečko boyfriend (masculine)
devojka girlfriend (feminine)
muž husband (masculine)
žena wife or woman
(feminine)
moj my (masculine)
moja my (feminine)
moje my (neuter)

Study Guide 7
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LESSON EXAMPLES

Serbian English
prijatelj friend (masculine)
prijatelji friends (masculine)
prijateljica friend (feminine)
prijateljice friends (feminine)
muž husband (masculine)
žena wife (feminine)
On je moj prijatelj He is my friend
Ona je moja prijateljica She is my friend

PRACTICE
SENTENCES

# Serbian English Vocabulary

1. On je student He is a student student – student (masculine)
2. Ona je studentkinja She is a student studentkinja – female student
(feminine)
3. Oni su studenti They are students oni – they (masculine personal
pronoun)
4. One su studentkinje They are students one – they (feminine personal
pronoun)
5. On je moj student He is my student moj – my (masculine pronoun)
6. Ona je moja studentkinja She is my student moja – my (feminine pronoun)
7. On je moj dobar student He is my good student dobar – good (masculine
adjective)
8. On je moj vrlo dobar student He is my very good student vrlo – very (adverb)

Study Guide 8
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 # Serbian English Vocabulary
9. Ona je moja izeztno dobra She is a very good friend of izuzetno – extremly (adverb)
prijateljica mine (=extremely good
friend)

EXCERCISE #1
Write the following nouns in the plural form and identify their gender:

# Singular Plural Gender

1. prijatelj(example) prijatelji masculine

2. doktorka
3. zubar
4. studentkinja
5. stranac

EXERCISE #2
Choose the correct form:

1. Ona je__strankinja___(example) strankinja/stranci

2. On je ______________ profesorke/profesor
3. One su _____________ prijateljice/prijateljica
4. Oni su ______________ student/studenti
5. Maja je _____________ profesorke/profesorka

Study Guide 9
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EXCERCISE #3
Make plural for the following sentences:

# Singular Plural
1. On je student (example) Oni su studenti

2. Ona je studentkinja
3. On je doktor
4. Ona je slikarka

5. On je profesor

EXCERCISE #4

Choose the correct form:

Example Pronouns English
1. Ona je _moja_ devojka (example) moj/moja She is my girlfriend

2. Stiven je ________ muž moj/moja Steven is my husband

3. Maja je _________ profesorka moj/moja Maya is my professor
4. Kris je __________ dečko moj/moja Chris is my boyfriend
5. Kristina je _________ zubarka moj/moja Christina is my dentist

Study Guide 10
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ANSWER KEY
EXCERCISE #1

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Write the following nouns in the plural form and identify their gender:

# Singular Plural Gender

1. prijatelj (example) prijatelji masculine

2. doktorka doktorke feminine
3. zubar zubari masculine

4. studentkinja studentkinje feminine

5. stranac stranci masculine

EXCERCISE #2

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Choose the correct form:

# Example Nouns
1. Ona je __strankinja___(example) strankinja/stranci
2. On je __profesor_____ profesorke/profesor
3. One su __prijateljice___ prijateljice/prijateljica

4. Oni su __studenti______ student/studenti

5. Maja je __profesorka___ profesorke/profesorka

Study Guide 11
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EXCERCISE #3

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Make plural for the following sentences:

# Singular Plural
1. On je student (example) Oni su studenti

2. Ona je studentkinja One su studentkinje

3. On je doktor Oni su doktori
4. Ona je slikarka One su slikarke

5. On je profesor Oni su profesori

EXCERCISE #4
(The answer is in bold)

Choose the correct form of possessive pronouns:

Example Pronouns English
1. Ona je _moja_ devojka.(example) moj/moja She is my girlfriend
2. Stiven je __moj___ muž moj/moja Steven is my husband
3. Maja je ___moja__ profesorka moj/moja Maya is my professor
4. Kris je ___moj____dečko moj/moja Chris is my boyfriend
5. Kristina je __moja___ zubarka moj/moja Christina is my dentist

Great job!
Vidimo se! Ćao, drugari!

Study Guide 12
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