Lesson 35. Part 3 Review: gender and number

You’ve finished Part 3 — the first grammar part of the textbook. Now you know:

1. Serbian has 3 genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
2. Gender is determined by the ending: a consonant → masc., -a → fem., -o/-e → neut.
3. There are exceptions: tata, deda are masculine; ljubav, noć are feminine.
4. The plural:
   • masc.: +i (often with -ov-/-ev-). Example: sto → stolovi.
   • fem. in -a: -a → -e. Example: sestra → sestre.
   • neut.: -o/-e → -a. Example: more → mora.
   • Special: brat → braća, čovek → ljudi, dete → deca.
5. The fleeting “a” runs away when an ending is added: pas → psa, otac → oca, petao → petla.
6. Animacy matters for masculine nouns in the accusative: Vidim brata (+a), Vidim sto (no change).

The big table — three genders

Part test

Test · Part 3. The noun: gender and number

Pick answers in the exercises below. The counter at the bottom right tallies the correct ones. This is not an exam — just a way to check yourself.

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What gender is knjiga?

masculinefeminineneuter

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What gender is more?

masculinefeminineneuter

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What gender is tata (an exception)?

masculinefeminineneuter

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The plural of `sto`:

stolistolovista

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The plural of `sestra`:

sestrisestrasestre

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The plural of `more`:

morimoramores

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The special form for 'children':

detidecadetovi

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'Brothers' in Serbian:

bratibratovibraća

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The fleeting 'a' — pick the correct genitive form of `pas`:

pasapsapase

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The correct way to say 'I see the brother':

Vidim brat.Vidim brata.Vidim bratovi.

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More tasks

Exercise 1

Write the plural of `jabuka`:

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Answer: jabuke

Exercise 2

'My room' in Serbian:

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Answer: moja soba

Exercise 3

Figure out the gender of each word and fill in the possessive: ___ sunce, ___ prozor, ___ sestra.

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moje sunce, moj prozor, moja sestra.

Exercise 4

Form the plural: pas, mačka, dete, grad, soba, more.

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psi, mačke, deca, gradovi, sobe, mora. (psi — plural of pas; the fleeting ‘a’ runs away here too.)

Exercise 5

Translate 3 sentences into Serbian: — “I have two sisters and one brother.” — “My house is big.” — “I see the cat.”

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— Imam dve sestre i jednog brata. — Moja kuća je velika. — Vidim mačku. (mačka → mačku in the accusative, feminine.)

What’s next

In Part 4 we’ll dive into verbs. We’ll learn to say “I am / you are / he is” with confidence, conjugate the present tense, and ask questions. After that you’ll be able to put together full sentences.

Congratulations! 🎉