Serbian Plural Declension Across All Cases
In English a plural is the easy part: you add an -s and you are done. "City" becomes "cities," and it stays that way whether the cities are doing something, being talked about, or being travelled through. English nouns have no cases, so this idea takes a little getting used to: in Serbian, a noun changes its ending depending on its job in the sentence, and it does this in the plural too. Here is the good news that makes this lesson worth your time — the Serbian plural is actually lighter to learn than the singular, because in the plural several cases share the very same ending. The big shortcut is this: the dative, the instrumental and the locative plural are identical. Three cases, one form. For most masculine and neuter nouns that form ends in -ima, and for feminine -a nouns it ends in -ama. The vowel just matches the noun; the idea is the same either way. So "with friends" is sa prijateljima (instrumental -ima), "in the cities" is u gradovima (locative -ima), and "to the women and people" is Ženama i ljudima (feminine -ama beside masculine -ima). Once you know one of these three cases in the plural, you already know the other two. The case that really stands out is the genitive plural. For masculine and neuter nouns it ends in -a: mnogo gradova means "many cities." Many feminine -a nouns drop to a bare stem, so "five women" is pet žena. The genitive plural is the workhorse of quantities — it appears after "many," after most numbers, and wherever English would say "of." A small wrinkle: a "fleeting a" sometimes slips in to break up a cluster of consonants (sestra becomes sestara), but do not let that distract you as a beginner. The trap to avoid: because English keeps one plural form, learners often try to invent a separate plural ending for every case, producing something like u gradovih. That form does not exist. The plural locative — like the dative and instrumental — is simply u gradovima. The other classic slip is choosing -ima where Serbian wants feminine -ama (or the reverse). Lean on the gender of the noun and you will pick the right vowel. Put it together and one short phrase carries two endings at once: sa prijateljima kroz mnogo gradova — "with friends through many cities."
Examples
- sa prijateljima with friends
- u gradovima in the cities
- mnogo gradova many cities
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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You already survived the singular cases. Now you need the plural — and here's the good news: the plural is actually easier.
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In the singular, every case has its own ending. In the plural, several cases share endings, so there's less to memorize. Let me show you the big shortcut.
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Here it is. Three different cases — dative, instrumental, and locative — collapse into one single ending in the plural. For most nouns that ending is -ima.
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So instead of three endings to learn for those three cases, you learn one. The same -ima covers with the friends, in the cities, and to the children. One ending, three jobs.
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Watch it work. Instrumental plural — doing something together with people. sa prijateljima
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Same ending, different case. Locative plural — where something happens. u gradovima
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And dative plural — who you give something to. Notice it's still that same family of endings. ženama i ljudima
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One small note. Feminine nouns ending in -a take -ama instead of -ima for these same three cases. So men become ljudima, but women become ženama. Same idea, just the vowel matches the noun.
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Now the one plural case that really stands out: the genitive — used for of, for amounts, and after many numbers. For masculine and neuter nouns it ends in -a.
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You meet this constantly with quantities. Many cities — the noun goes genitive plural. mnogo gradova
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Feminine nouns are different here. Many of them lose the ending entirely and end on the bare stem — that's the genitive plural žena, of women. pet žena
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Let's line up the whole plural so you can see how little there really is. For a noun like grad, city, here are the plural endings, with the shared ones grouped together.
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Here's the trap to avoid. Don't try to keep all the plural cases separate like in the singular. If you invent a special locative form, you're working too hard — locative is just the -ima form you already know.
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Put it together in one sentence and feel how natural it gets: I traveled with friends through many cities. putovao sam sa prijateljima kroz mnogo gradova
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So remember: the plural shares endings, so it's lighter than the singular. Lean on -ima for three cases at once, and watch the genitive — it's the one that stands out.
