Lesson 30. Plural: masculine nouns
Let’s talk about how to turn one brat into many braća? Well, no — that’s a special case. Let’s start with simple words.
Main rule: +i
Most masculine words take the ending -i in the plural:
| One | Many | Translation |
|---|---|---|
sto | **stolovi** | table → tables |
grad | **gradovi** | city → cities |
prozor | **prozori** | window → windows |
student | **studenti** | student → students |
učenik | **učenici** | pupil → pupils |
auto | **automobili** | car → cars |
See the difference: some words simply add -i (prozor → prozori), while others also insert -ov- or -ev- (sto → stolovi, grad → gradovi).
The softening
Notice: učenik → učenici. The letter k before -i can soften to c. Also:
Special words
A few important masculine words form their plural in a completely different way. You just memorize them:
Exercises
Exercise 1
The plural of «prozor»:
Show explanation
prozor → prozori (2+ syllables → just -i).
Exercise 2
How do you say «tables» in Serbian?
Show answer
Answer: stolovi
stolovi — with -ov- (short word).
Exercise 3
«Brothers» in Serbian:
Show explanation
A special word: braća.
Exercise 4
Form the plural: grad, konj, student, učitelj.
Show answer
gradovi, konji, studenti, učitelji.
Exercise 5
Translate: U našoj školi ima mnogo učenika.
Show answer
“There are many pupils in our school.” (učenika — a plural form; we’ll cover it in the cases.)
Lesson vocabulary
- stolovi (столови)
- — tables
- gradovi (градови)
- — cities
- prozori (прозори)
- — windows
- studenti (студенти)
- — students
- učenici (ученици)
- — pupils
- braća (браћа)
- — brothers
- ljudi (људи)
- — people
- čovek (човек)
- — person
- otac (отац)
- — father
- mnogo (много)
- — many