Lesson 29. Neuter gender
Two types of neuter nouns
Neuter nouns in Serbian end either in -o or in -e.
Ending in -o
selo (село)
— village
jezero (језеро)
— lake
kolo (коло)
— circle, round dance
leto (лето)
— summer
mleko (млеко)
— milk
meso (месо)
— meat
vino (вино)
— wine
nebo (небо)
— sky
Ending in -e
more (море)
— sea
polje (поље)
— field
dete (дете)
— child
pile (пиле)
— chick
jagnje (јагње)
— lamb
sunce (сунце)
— sun
srce (срце)
— heart
Agreement
Neuter nouns go together with:
- Possessives:
moje, tvoje, naše. - Demonstratives:
ovo, to, ono. - Adjectives ending in
-o:crveno, plavo, veliko.
moje more (моје море)
— my sea
ovo selo (ово село)
— this village
veliko srce (велико срце)
— a big heart
A quirk: words that “grow” in the cases
Some neuter nouns (dete, pile, jagnje) pick up an extra -et in the cases:
- nominative:
dete(child) - genitive:
deteta(of the child) - …
We’ll learn this later (Part 5). For now, just know it exists.
Exercises
Exercise 1
What gender is sunce?
Show explanation
sunce ends in -e → neuter.
Exercise 2
Choose the right form: '___ more'
Show explanation
more is neuter. The possessive is moje.
Exercise 3
Sort by gender: dete, knjiga, grad, pile, nebo, mama, konj, meso.
Show answer
masc.: grad, konj. fem.: knjiga, mama. neut.: dete, pile, nebo, meso.
Exercise 4
Write in Serbian: “my summer”, “my lake”, “my heart”.
Show answer
moje leto, moje jezero, moje srce.
Exercise 5
How do you say “blue sky”, “yellow sun” in Serbian?
Show answer
plavo nebo, žuto sunce. Both adjectives are in the neuter form (-o).
Lesson vocabulary
- jezero (језеро)
- — lake
- polje (поље)
- — field
- vino (вино)
- — wine
- pile (пиле)
- — chick
- jagnje (јагње)
- — lamb
- ovo (ово)
- — this (neut.)
- to (то)
- — that (neut.)
- moje (моје)
- — my (neut.)