Language/Serbian/Grammar/Plural
Hi everyone,
In today's lesson, we will learn how to form the plural in Serbian.
- Singular = једнина
- Plural = множина
Rule
Words that ends with:
- a in plural form changes to e
- e,o in plural form changes to a
- Everything else gets suffix i
- There are possible exceptions from rule above like: уво - уши (ear) ; око - очи (eye)
Serbian language also have genitive plural, that makes that there are even 2 and in some cases 3 plural forms. Genitive plural is used in counting, from numbers 2-4 have one form, and starting from 5 have another form. Some genitive plurals are same as singular, but with different accent. During counting, with numbers that ends with 1 (exception in 11, 111, 211, 5411...), noun is always in singular form. Other number endings (except for 11-19) apply rule from genitive plural.
Next words: врата (door), маказе (scissor), мердевине(ladder), кола (car) don't have singular form.
Also is in some casses present form of plural that is used to represent group of something: цвет-цветови-цвеће (flower), лист-листови-лишће (leaf)
Examples
| Singular | Plural | Gen. plural 2-4 | Gen. plural 5... | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| јабука | јабуке | јабуке | јабука | apple |
| крушка | крушке | крушке | крушака | pear |
| девојка | девојке | девојке | девојака | girl (adolescent) |
| коњ | коњи | коња | коња | horse |
| зид | зидови | зида | зидова | wall |
| нокат | нокти | нокта | ноктију | finger nail |
| мушкарац | мушкарци | мушкарца | мушкараца | man |
| жена | жене | жене | жена | woman |
| пас | пси | пса | паса | dog |
| уво | уши | ува | ушију | ear |
| рука | руке | руке | руку | arm |
| дан | дани | дана | дана | day |
| оловка | оловке | оловке | оловки | pen |
| дугме | дугмад | дугмета | дугмади | button |