Lesson 48 · Part 5

Lesson 48. Nominative Plural

Summary Table

Nominative case, plural

GenderEndingExamples
masculine -i (often with -ov-/-ev-) stolovi, prozori, učenici
feminine in -a -e mame, sestre, knjige
feminine in consonant -i noći, stvari, reči
neuter -a sela, mora, polja

Role in the Plural — the Same

The nominative plural behaves the same way as singular: it’s either the subject or the predicate.

Učenici uče srpski. (Ученици уче српски.)
— Students study Serbian.
Moje sestre su velike. (Моје сестре су велике.)
— My sisters are big.
Deca se igraju u polju. (Деца се играју у пољу.)
— Children are playing in the field.

Agreement

In the plural, adjectives and pronouns also change:

Possessives in the plural

Singular genderPossessive singularPlural
masculine moj brat moji braća (moja braća!)
feminine moja sestra moje sestre
neuter moje selo moja sela

Numbers and Agreement

With the numbers 2, 3, 4 — the form is like the nominative plural (for masculine and feminine in -a, there’s a special “dual” form in -a for masculine):

dva brata (два брата)
— two brothers (not `braća`!)
tri sestre (три сестре)
— three sisters
četiri grada (четири града)
— four cities

With 5 and more — the genitive plural form:

pet braće (пет браће)
— five brothers
deset knjiga (десет књига)
— ten books

Exercises

Exercise 1

Nominative plural of `prozor`:

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prozori (2 syllables → just -i).

Exercise 2

How do you say "my sisters"?

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Feminine plural — moje.

Exercise 3

Form the nominative plural: pas, mačka, more, grad, pile.

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psi, mačke, mora, gradovi, pilići. (Fleeting “a”: pas → psi.)

Exercise 4

Translate: “My brothers are at school”.

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Moja braća su u školi. (yes, su, because it’s plural in meaning, even though braća is grammatically feminine singular — agreement usually follows meaning.)

Exercise 5

Why do they say moja braća and not moji braća?

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Because braća is feminine singular grammatically. The agreement follows the feminine singular form (moja), even though the meaning is plural.

Lesson vocabulary

psi пси
dogs
mačke мачке
cats
moji моји
my (masculine)
moje моје
my (feminine)
moja моја
my (neuter; feminine singular)