Lesson 34. Animate and inanimate
What this division is about
All nouns can be split into two big types:
- Animate (living): people, animals.
- Inanimate (non-living): objects, phenomena.
In Serbian this matters only for the masculine gender. For feminine and neuter nouns there is no difference.
Why you need it
In Serbian (as in Russian), animate masculine words behave in a special way in the accusative case:
The Russian parallel
Russian works exactly the same way:
- “вижу брата” (animate, with an ending).
- “вижу стол” (inanimate, no ending).
So the rule is already familiar to you.
Animate / inanimate
| Animate | Inanimate |
|---|---|
brat, otac, učitelj | grad, sto, hleb |
pas, konj, lav | prozor, auto, telefon |
učenik, student | kompjuter, stan, zid |
An interesting question
What about plants, microbes, dolls — are they animate or not? In the language (not in biology):
cvet(flower) — inanimate. “I see a flower” —vidim cvet, no ending.lutka(doll) — this is a feminine word, so the difference does not apply to it.
Bottom line: in Serbian, “animate” means only a human or an animal. Plants do not count.
Exercises
Exercise 1
Which word is animate?
Show explanation
pas (dog) — a living being.
Exercise 2
'I see the teacher' — which one is correct?
Show explanation
učitelj is animate masculine → in the accusative it takes an ending: učitelja.
Exercise 3
Sort these into two groups: brat, telefon, konj, grad, student, prozor, lav, stan.
Show answer
Animate: brat, konj, student, lav. Inanimate: telefon, grad, prozor, stan.
Exercise 4
Make two sentences: “I see my brother” and “I see the table.”
Show answer
Vidim brata. (+a, animate)
Vidim sto. (no change, inanimate)
Exercise 5
Why is it “вижу брата” but “вижу стол” without an ending? Explain.
Show answer
brat is animate, so in the accusative it takes -a. sto is inanimate, so in the accusative it stays unchanged.
Lesson vocabulary
- živ (жив)
- — alive
- neživ (нежив)
- — not alive
- Vidim… (Видим…)
- — I see…
- cvet (цвет)
- — flower
- telefon (телефон)
- — phone
- kompjuter (компјутер)
- — computer
- zid (зид)
- — wall