The Locative Case (Lokativ) in Serbian

In Serbian grammar, the *Locative Case (Lokativ / Šesti padež) is the only case that cannot be used without a preposition (predloški padež). It answers the questions O kome? (About whom?), O čemu? (About what?), and the spatial question Gde? (Where?)*:

1. The Five Prepositions Governing the Locative: - u (in / inside a space): Živim u Beogradu* (I live in Belgrade), u školi (at school) - na (on / at a surface or public event): Knjiga je na stolu (The book is on the table), na koncertu (at the concert) - o (about / regarding a topic): Pričamo o filmu (We are talking about the movie), o novom profesoru - po (along / around / according to): Šetamo po gradu (We walk around town), po zakonu (according to law) - pri (at the time of / attached to): pri radu (during work), pri ruci* (at hand).

2. Morphological Endings (Identical to Dative): - Masculine & Neuter sg.: -u (u gradu, na stolu, o selu, na moru). - Feminine sg.: -i (u sobi, o školi, u ruci). - Plural: -ima (masc./neuter: o gradovima, u selima) and -ama (fem.: u sobama, o ženama).

Contrast Rule (Motion vs. Location): - Directional movement into a place (Kuda?) takes Accusative: Idem u grad* / Stavi na sto. - Static position inside or on a place (Gde?) takes Locative: Nalazim se u gradu / Leži na stolu*.