The system of personal pronouns in the Serbian language is rich and you might need to add new

categories to the way you think about the pronouns in your language.

jednina singular množina plural

ja I mi we
ti you singular vi you all
Vi you formal
on he oni they m.
ona she one they f.
ono it ona they n.

If you're a Spanish speaker, it's safe to rely on your knowledge of the Castilian Spanish pronouns,
since the pronoun system is quite different in many Spanish dialects.

 Ti is used when referring to one person directly, like your friend or a family member.
 If we're addressing directly to two or more people, we'll use vi.
 If we're addressing to one person directly, but we want to be formal and polite, we'll also
use vi. In writing, we'll often write capital V: Vi.
 The pronouns of the third person singular (on, ona, ono) and plural (oni, one, ona) are
reserved for talking about someone else, indirectly – just like in English.

jednina singular množina plural

Srpski English Castilian Spanish Srpski English Castilian Spanish
ja I yo mi we nosotros
ti you tu vi you all vosotros
Vi you sir Usted
on he el oni they m. ellos
ona she ella one they f. ellas
ono it ello, lo ona they n. -

Pay attention: the word for she, ona, looks exactly like word for they neutral: ona. We always rely
on the context to tell us which „ona“ is mentioned: If it's about she, the verb will be in singular, and
if it's about them, it'll be in plural from.

Pažnja (attention)! When talking about them in plural, masculine is the general gender, like in
many languages. So oni is used for two or more men (they masculine), but also for a man and a
woman, or a group of men and women.

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Other forms of the personal pronouns

The pronouns are declined, like in many languages, and they have other forms. Compare for
example how I becomes me, or how the Spanish yo becomes me and mi.

 Other forms of ja appearing in this course: meni, mi, me

 Other forms of ti used in this course: tebe, te
 Another form of vi mentioned: vas
For now, just try to remember that ja, ti, vi, mi are subject pronouns, and that me, te, vas, nas are
object pronouns.

We have also used some words similar to the personal pronouns (moj, tvoj, vaš). These are different
type of words called the possessive pronouns, that we use to talk about belonging:

 moj means my or mine

 tvoj means your or yours
 vaš means your or yours in plural, when something belongs to more than one person, and
we use it when speaking formally to one person.

Exercise 1: Write the right pronoun under every picture. / Napiši odgovarajuću zamenicu ispod svake
slike
on ona ono oni one ona

_______ ________ ________

_______ ________ ________

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Exercise 2: Write the right pronoun under every picture. / Napiši odgovarajuću zamenicu ispod svake
slike
ja ti mi vi Vi

_______ ________

_______ ________ ________

Let's review verb to be in singular and add its plural forms. Learn these together with pronouns, but
pay attention to remember which is which.

singular plural singular plural

Ja sam Mi smo Ja nisam Mi nismo

Ti si Vi ste Ti nisi Vi niste

On je Oni su On nije Oni nisu

Ona je One su Ona nije One nisu

Ono je Ona su Ono nije Ona nisu

Important: all the positive forms of verb to be start with s, all but one. It might be tempting to use
'se' instead of 'je' for the third person singular. But pay attention, that's a different word: the
reflexive pronoun or particle!

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 1 3
– Kako si ti? – Kako ste ti i Ana?
– Dobro sam. A ti? – Nismo baš dobro, ali smo bolje.
– Nisam loše.

2 4
– Kako je Marija? – Kako su Milan i Marija?
– Nije loše. A kako je Milan? – Dobro su. A kako su tvoji brat i sestra?
– Dobro je, hvala na pitanju. – Nisu loše.

Exercise 3: Fill in the blanks using positive or negative (-) forms of verb to be:
1. Kako ______ ti? – Dobro ______ . A ti?
2. Kako ______ ti i Ana? – Odlično ______ . A vi?
3. Kako ___ Marija? – ______ loše, hvala na pitanju. (-)
4. Kako ____ Milan? – Dobro ____ , hvala na pitanju.

5. Kako ____ Milan i Marija? – ______ dobro. (-)

6. Kako ____ tvoji brat i sestra? – Odlično _____ .

Exercise 4: Connect the pronouns with the Exercise 5: Connect the pronouns with the
corresponding form of verb to be corresponding form of verb to be
1) ja a) si 1) ja a) nije
2) ti b) je 2) ti b) nije
3) on c) sam 3) on c) nisam
4) ona d) je 4) ona d) nismo
5) ono e) smo 5) ono e) nisi
6) mi f) su 6) mi f) nije
7) vi g) je 7) vi g) nisu
8) oni h) su 8) oni h) nisu
9) one i) ste 9) one i) niste
10) ona j) su 10) ona j) nisu

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 Exercise 6: Use the positive form of the Exercise 7: Use the negative form of the verb to be:
verb to be:
1. Ja _________ Jelena, ja sam Jovana.
1. Ja _________ profesor. 2. Vi sigurno _________ žedni.
2. Mi _________ vaši prijatelji. 3. Milica i Ana ________ sestre, one su prijateljice.
3. Mama i tata _________ roditelji. 4. Ti sigurno _________ Petar.
4. Vi _________ moji roditelji. 5. On je moj brat, on _________ moj gost.
5. Jelena _________ moja prijateljica. 6. Ona je moja sestra, ona _________ moja
6. Jovan _________ moj brat. domaćica.
7. Ti _________ moj najbolji prijatelj. 7. Mi _________ gladni.
8. Ove devojke _________ moje sestre. 8. Petar i Jovan _________ mali.

Exercise 8: Translate to Serbian:

1. I am your brother. - _______________________________.
2. He is my best friend. - _______________________________.
3. She is my sister. - _______________________________.
4. They are my parents. - _______________________________.
5. You are not my guest. - _______________________________.
6. They are not hungry. - _______________________________.
7. You are thirsty. - _______________________________.
8. I am not student (feminine gender). - _______________________________.
9. We are yours friends. - _______________________________.

Razgovor na času
Odgovori je cela rečenica, na primer:
Da li je Ana tvoja mama? – Da, Ana je moja mama. Ne, Ana nije moja mama.

Ko je tvoj prijatelj? Ko nije tvoj prijatelj? Ko je tvoj profesor? Ko nije tvoj gost?
Da li sam ja tvoja profesorica? Da li je Jovan tvoj brat? Da li je Marija tvoja sestra?