Lesson 33. The fleeting “a”

Look at these pairs:

In the singular form the letter a is there. In the case form (or in the plural) it disappears. This is called the fleeting “a”.

What is going on

Serbian likes words that are easy to pronounce. When we add an ending (-a, -u, -om, -i) and suddenly too many consonants pile up in a row, one vowel “runs away.”

Typical examples

An English parallel

English doesn’t drop vowels quite like this, but think of silent letters or contractions: sounds shift to keep words easy to say. Russian does the same thing — «отец → отца», «день → дня», «лоб → лба» — there it’s “e” or “o” that runs away. In Serbian the runaway vowel is a.

Important case: -ao → -l-

Words ending in -ao (petao, orao, posao) change ao to l in other forms:

Exercises

Exercise 1

Choose the correct form: «Nemam ___» (I don’t have a ___):

paspasapsa

Show explanation

Fleeting “a”: pas → psa in the genitive.

Exercise 2

Genitive of `otac`:

otacaocaoceva

Show explanation

otac → oca (it loses the a).

Exercise 3

Translate: Nemam novca.

Show answer

“I don’t have any money.” novac → novca (fleeting “a”).

Exercise 4

The word petao (rooster). What is the genitive (“of the rooster”)?

Show answer

petla. (petao → petla: -ao → -l- and the “a” runs away.)

Exercise 5

Why do Serbians say psa and not pasa? Explain in one phrase.

Show answer

Fleeting “a” — it disappears, because without it the word would end in two consonants plus the ending (ps-a vs pas-a), and this way it keeps only one consonant at the end of the syllable.

Lesson vocabulary

novac (новац)

— money

novca (новца)

— of the money (gen.)

momak (момак)

— young man

posao (посао)

— work, job

posla (посла)

— of the work (gen.)

oca (оца)

— of the father (gen.)

psa (пса)

— of the dog (gen.)