Noun Declension Classes (Vrste deklinacije) in Serbian
Noun Declension Classes: I, II, III (Vrste deklinacije imenica)
Serbian nouns fall into 3 declension classes: Class I (masculine consonant/-o and neuter -o/-e with Gen.sg -a), Class II (feminine/masculine in -a with Gen.sg -e), and Class III (consonant feminines with Gen.sg -i).
In Serbian systematic morphology, all nouns decline according to *three primary Declension Classes (Deklinacijske vrste), classified strictly by their Genitive Singular ending*:
*1. First Declension (Prva / A-vrsta deklinacije: Genitive -a): - Masculine nouns ending in a consonant or -o/-e: grad (Gen. grada), čovek (Gen. čoveka), prozor (Gen. prozora), Danilo (Gen. Danila). - Neuter nouns ending in -o or -e: selo (Gen. sela), polje (Gen. polja), dete (Gen. deteta with suffix -et-). - Characterized by Dat./Loc. -u, Ins. -om/-em, and Nom.pl -i (masc.) / -a* (neuter).
*2. Second Declension (Druga / E-vrsta deklinacije: Genitive -e): - Feminine nouns ending in -a: žena (Gen. žene), knjiga (Gen. knjige), škola (Gen. škole). - Masculine male person names in -a: sudija (judge, Gen. sudije), Nikola (Gen. Nikole), vladika (Gen. vladike). - Characterized by Dat./Loc. -i (with sibilarization k → c, g → z), Acc. -u, Ins. -om, and Nom.pl -e*.
*3. Third Declension (Treća / I-vrsta deklinacije: Genitive -i): - Feminine nouns ending in a consonant (Zero-ending in Nom. sg.): noć (Gen. noći), ljubav (Gen. ljubavi), stvar (Gen. stvari), kost (Gen. kosti), reč (Gen. reči). - Characterized by uniform -i throughout Gen., Dat., Loc., Voc., and entire plural, with Instrumental singular in -lju / -ju (noću, ljubavlju, smrću* via jotation).
Examples
Po prvoj vrsti deklinacije menjaju se imenice muškog i srednjeg roda sa nastavkom -a u genitivu.
According to the first declension class decline masculine and neuter nouns with the ending -a in the genitive.
Imenica sudija pripada drugoj deklinaciji iako označava osobu muškog pola.
The noun sudija (judge) belongs to the second declension even though it designates a male person.
Imenice treće vrste kao noć, stvar i ljubav imaju nastavak -i u genitivu jednine.
Nouns of the third class like noć, stvar, and ljubav have the ending -i in the genitive singular.
Ova tri gramatička modela obuhvataju sve postojeće imenice u savremenom srpskom jeziku.
These three grammatical models encompass all existing nouns in the modern Serbian language.
Related terms
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