The Genitive Case (Genitiv) in Serbian
Genitive Case: Possession and Absence (2. padež – Genitiv)
Answering Koga? (Of whom?) and Čega? (Of what?), expressing possession, absence (nema), quantity, time, and governing prepositions od, do, iz, bez, kod, pre, posle.
The *Genitive Case (Genitiv / Drugi padež) is the most versatile oblique case in Serbian grammar. It answers the questions Koga? (Of whom?) and Čega? (Of what?)*:
1. Primary Semantic Usages: - Possession and Relation: knjiga mog brata (my brother's book), glavni grad Srbije (capital of Serbia). - Absence and Negation with 'nema': Danas nema časova* (Today there are no classes), Nemam vremena (I don't have time). - Partitive Quantity: čaša vode (a glass of water), malo hleba (a little bread), mnogo ljudi (many people). - Extensive Prepositional Governance: Governs the vast majority of spatial and temporal prepositions: od (from), do (to/until), iz (out of), bez (without), kod (at/by), pre (before), posle (after), zbog (because of), blizu (near), ispred (in front of), iza* (behind).
2. Morphological Endings: - Masculine & Neuter singular: -a (studenta, grada, sela, mora). - Feminine singular: -e (žene, knjige, sobe); consonant feminines take -i (noći, ljubavi). - Genitive Plural Ending: Characterized by the long -a (studenātā, grādōvā, žēnā, sēlā) with distinct lengthening, or -i (reči, gostiju).
Examples
Danas nažalost nemamo dovoljno slobodnog vremena za duge šetnje po gradu.
Unfortunately today we do not have enough free time for long walks around town.
Studenti su se vratili sa odmora puni nove pozitivne energije i ideja.
The students returned from vacation full of new positive energy and ideas.
Došli smo iz Beograda do Novog Sada modernim brzim vozom.
We traveled from Belgrade to Novi Sad by a modern high-speed train.
Pre početka važnog ispita profesorka je odgovorila na sva pitanja studenata.
Before the start of the important exam, the professor answered all students' questions.
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