Pronouns in all 7 cases

Serbian Personal Pronouns =

Lične zamenice u srpskom jeziku

A personal pronoun can refer to the person or

people speaking (‘first person’), spoken to
(‘second person’) or spoken about (‘third person’).

1) NOMINATIV
I - ja
you - ti
he - on
she - ona
it - ono
we - mi
you - vi
they - oni

they (female only) - one

they (neuter only) - ona
# which is, as you can see, the same as ‘she’

For the third person, we have three different

forms, which are based on gender: masculine,
neuter and feminine. English distinguishes three
genders for singular pronouns (he, she, it) but not
for plural pronouns. In Serbian however, the
three-way gender distinction is made for plural
pronouns as well. So, for 'they' we have:
oni - they (masculine);
one - they (feminine);
ona - they (neuter).

You already know that we also have different forms

for you-singular (ti) and you-plural (vi),
we also use the plural
form to address someone formally, which is sometimes
(not always) capitalised (Vi).
I am hungry. = Ja sam gladan.
You are studying. = Ti učiš.
He is good. = On je dobro.
She is beautiful. = Ona je lepa.
We are here. = Mi smo ovde.
You are late. = Vi kasnite.
They are sick. = Oni su bolesni.
They are sick. = One su bolesne.
They are sick. = Ona su bolesna.

2) GENITIV
me - mene
you - tebe
him - njega
her - nje
it - njega
us - nas
you - vas
them - njih

# notice I’ve written the object pronouns in

English, that’s because that’s how we actually
translate it into English; these forms in English
are used for genitiv, dativ, akuzativ, instrumental,
and lokativ, everything except for nominativ
which are subject pronouns
(I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they)

2-1 It’s a prepositional case, after prepositions like

near, far from, above, below, in front of, behind,
around, next to, alongside, from / to
I am tired of you. =
Umoran sam od tebe.
I am near him. =
Ja sam blizu njega.
She is standing above them. =
Ona stoji iznad njih.
2-2 possession
This show exists because of her. =
Ova predstava postoji zbog nje.
I got the present from him. =
Dobio sam pokloon od njega.
2-3 After some reflexive verbs
I am ashamed of you. =
Stidim se tebe.
I keep away from them. =
Čuvam se njih.
She is afraid of me. =
Ona se plaši mene.

3) DATIV
me - meni // mi
you - tebi // ti
him - njemu // mu
her - njoj // joj
it - njemu // mu
us - nama // nam
you - vama // vam
them - njima // im

There is a long form and a short form,

they hold the same meaning, they are
interchangeable. I would say that we
normally use the short form, the long
one is just for emphasis.

Give me the phone. =

Daj mi telefon.

Give me the ball, give it to meee! =

Daj meni loptu, daj meniii!

3-1 Dativ is used when a noun is

an indirect object.

I am giving him the book. =

Dajem mu knjigu. = Dajem knjigu njemu.
I am sending a gift to her. =
Šaljem joj poklon. = Šaljem poklon njoj.
I am paying homage to them. =
Odajem počast njima. = Odajem im počast.

You have to put the short form before

the direct object, dajem mu knjigu,
you cannot say dajem knjigu mu.
On the other hand, it is okay to say either
dajem njemu knjigu or dajem knjigu njemu,
but we like to put ‘njemu’ at the end because
of the emphasis

She likes you. =

Sviđaš joj se.
I owe it to you. =
Dugujem ti to.
I told them. =
Rekao sam im.
Pay him. =
Plati mu.
He promised me. =
Obećao mi je.
I am taking money from you. =
Uzimam ti novac.
You leave this to her. =
Ostavljaš joj ovo.

3-2 Dativ is used after some prepositions

toward - prema, ka
# you have to use the long form in
this case

She is running toward me. =

Trči prema meni.
The wind is blowing towards him. =
Vetar duva ka njemu.
I am going toward her. =
Idem prema njoj.
He is similar to me. =
On je sličan meni.
I will do it in spite of her. =
Uradiću to uprkos njoj.
According to you, I am a loser. =
Po vama sam gubitnik.

3-3 We use dativ with

verbs need and like:

I need - Treba mi - Meni treba

I need a drink. =
Treba mi piće.

like - sviđati se
She likes chocolate. =
Sviđa joj se čokolada.
We like the new car. =
Sviđa nam se novi auto.

4) AKUZATIV
me - mene // me
you - tebe // te
him - njega // ga
her - nju // je
it - njega // ga
us - nas
you - vas
them - njih // ih

There is a long form and a short form, they

hold the same meaning, they are
interchangeable. I would say that we
normally use the short form, the long
one is just for emphasis. Notice that we
only have one form for ‘us’ and ‘you’ plural.
4-1 Transitive verbs are
the ones that require an object.

Whenever you have a transitive verb

and a direct object in a sentence,
akuzativ will be used.

She is watching us. =

Ona nas gleda.
I hate him. =
Mrzim ga.
I love you. =
Volim te.
Drive them to school. =
Odvezi ih u školu.
We see you. =
Vidimo vas.

4-2 The second use of akuzativ is to

indicate the destination
when you are moving,
or action expressed by a verb.

They put the chip in her. =

Stavili su čip u nju.
Put the stuff in it. =
Stavi stvari u njega.

5) VOKATIV

Vokativ is used when you call someone,

talk to someone, or when you
address someone. Only in that case.
Therefore, you can only have vokativ
for the second person, singular and
plural.

Hey, you! = Hej, ti!

Hey, you! (plu) = Hey, vi!
6) INSTRUMENTAL

me - mnom
you - tobom
him - njim
her - njom
it - njim
us - nama
you - vama
them - njima

The instrumental case is used

to show an instrument or means with
which an action denoted by
the verb is performed. That was
just a reminder. We don’t have
any example for that use, can’t
use it with adjectives.
We need the instrumental for this:

6-1 The instrumental case is used

as an object of some prepositions:
with - sa, s
with him - sa njim, s njim
with me - sa mnom

She had a fight with him. =

Posvađala se sa njim.
He does not agree with me. =
Ne slaže se sa mnom.
I travel with them. =
Putujem sa njima.
We are talking to you. =
Pričamo sa vama.
He is amazed by us. =
Zadivljen je nama.
She had a fight with you. =
Posvađala se sa tobom.
6-2 Another preposition that requires
the instrumental case is the preposition
‘za’ - ‘behind, at, after, during’. We can use
this preposition with other cases,
of course, and it has different meanings.

She cries for you. =

Ona plače za tobom.
The dog runs after them. =
Pas trči za njima.
I grieve for her. =
Tugujem za njom.

6-3 We also use the instrumental

case with the prepositions:
among - među
above - nad
under - pod
in front of - pred

I am in front of you. =
Ja sam pred tobom.
I have an advantage over him. =
Imam prednost nad njim.
I sometimes mingle among them. =
Ponekad se mešam među njima.

7) LOKATIV

me - meni
you - tebi
him - njemu
her - njoj
it - njemu
us - nama
you - vama
them - njima
Lokativ endings are identical to dativ,
but we use these cases in different situations.
Also, there are NO short forms in lokativ.

If you are not sure how to use lokativ,

I definitely suggest studying the
‘All 7 cases explained’ video.

7-1 This case shows the location or position

of an object that is not moving.

There is still some anger in him. =

Još uvek postoji neka ljutnja u njemu.

7-2 We use lokativ when we talk about

someone or something
about - o

You are talking about her, aren’t you? =

Pričaš o njoj, zar ne?
This is not about us. =
Ne radi se o nama.
We know everything about them. =
Znamo sve o njima.

7-3 We use lokativ with

some other prepositions.
toward - prema
at, over, by - pri
on, all over, around - po
according to - po

Go toward him. =
Idi prema njemu.
There’s lipstick all over you. =
Karmin je svuda po tebi.
According to her, you are a loser. =
Po njoj si gubitnik.