Lesson 59 · Part 5

Lesson 59. Adjectives in the Accusative

Adjective Endings

Adjectives in the Accusative

Gender/NumberEndingExample
m. singular inanimate -∅ (=nom.) velik grad
m. singular animate -og velikog brata
f. singular -u veliku sestru
n. singular -o (=nom.) veliko more
m. plural -e velike gradove
f. plural -e (=nom.) velike sestre
n. plural -a (=nom.) velika mora

Examples

Vidim moga brata. (Видим мога брата.)
— I see my brother. (animate m. +og)
Čitam novu knjigu. (Читам нову књигу.)
— I read a new book. (f. +u)
Volim plavo more. (Волим плаво море.)
— I love the blue sea. (n. = nom.)
Imam velik sto. (Имам велик сто.)
— I have a big table. (inanimate m. = nom.)
Gledam stare filmove. (Гледам старе филмове.)
— I watch old films. (m. pl. +e)

The Form moga / mog

Possessive and demonstrative pronouns have a short and long form:

  • moj → moga / mog (animate m. acc.) — vidim mog brata or vidim moga brata.
  • tvoj → tvoga / tvog.

Both work. The short form is more common in speech.

Exercises

Exercise 1

"I love a red car":

Show explanation

In casual speech, auto often acts like feminine → acc. crvenu auto / crvenog auta. Technically it’s m. inanimate, so we leave it like the nominative; but for learning, the second option works.

Exercise 2

Translate: "I see my big brother."

Show answer

Vidim mog velikog brata.

Exercise 3

Why doesn’t the adjective change when you say "I see a table" but it does change when you say "I see a brother"?

Show answer

sto is inanimate m., acc. = nom. brat is animate m., acc. = gen. (with -og in adjectives).

Lesson vocabulary

nov нов
new
star стар
old
novog новог
new (animate m. acc.)