Genitiv uz odrične glagole
Overview
verb-imati-present-a1 already showed нема as a fixed phrase - „Нема проблема.“ - and promised that the missing thing's case would be covered fully in a later lesson. This is that lesson: genitive-case-a2's genitive is exactly the case negation reaches for, and проблема is its genitive singular, not an unrelated fixed ending.
The pattern is traditionally called генитив уз одричне глаголе (the genitive with negated verbs). In Serbian it survives most robustly in exactly two places: the impersonal нема and the personal немати - both already familiar, both now getting their missing rule.
Нема + genitive - negating existence
Нема never conjugates for person, even when the missing thing is ours or theirs - it stays a frozen, impersonal 3rd-person-singular form, and whatever is missing shifts from what would be nominative into genitive: „Нема хлеба.“ (хлеб → хлеба) „Нема места.“ (место → места)
This also folds in negation-a1's negative pronouns: „Нема никога код куће.“ (There's nobody home) puts нико into its genitive form никога, exactly like any other missing thing.
Немати + genitive - negating possession
The personal, conjugated немати (verb-imati-present-a1: немам, немаш, нема…) works the same way on its direct object: whatever would be the accusative object of affirmative имати becomes genitive once negated. „Имам новац.“ (accusative, unchanged for this noun) becomes „Немам новца.“ (genitive).
Modern colloquial speech sometimes keeps the accusative after немати, especially with a specific, definite object - you'll hear Немам ту књигу alongside the more traditional Немам те књиге. The genitive stays the standard, written-register choice, and the one to produce actively.
Negated existence across every tense
Нема is really just the present tense of a wider pattern: negated existence keeps the genitive whatever the tense, built on negated бити's own forms (past-tense-perfekat-a2, future-tense-futur-a2). The past uses the neuter participle било impersonally: „Није било хлеба.“ (There wasn't any bread.) The future uses неће бити: „Неће бити места.“ (There won't be room.)
Genitive after без (without) is a different, unrelated rule - без takes the genitive whether the clause is negative or not (без хлеба needs no negated verb at all) - so don't read every genitive near a negated sentence as this construction.
Tables
| Noun | Accusative (affirmative) | Genitive (negative) |
|---|---|---|
| novac | novac | novca |
| vreme | vreme | vremena |
| posao | posao | posla |
| sestra | sestru | sestre |
Examples
Compared with…
English marks none of this: have simply takes no or not any before the object, with zero case marking - I have no money and I have money use the identical noun form. A learner used to English has to actively remember that negating the verb also changes the noun's ending, not just add not.
Common mistakes
Tips & exceptions
- Test with нема first: if the impersonal it doesn't exist reading works, the following noun is always genitive - no exceptions.
- Learn немати/нема as a matched pair with имати: whatever would be the accusative object of имати becomes genitive the moment you negate to немати/нема.
- Modern colloquial speech sometimes keeps the accusative after немати, especially with a definite object - genitive stays the standard, written-register default and the form to produce actively.
- Genitive after без is unrelated to negation - без always takes the genitive whether the clause is affirmative or negative, so don't read every genitive near a negated verb as this construction.
- Negated verbs other than (не)мати/(не)бити mostly keep the accusative in modern Serbian (Не читам ту књигу, not the genitive); the productive genitive-of-negation rule is essentially limited to existence and possession, not every transitive verb.
- Нема itself never conjugates for person - it stays a frozen impersonal 3rd-singular form even for we/they: „Нема (никог) код нас.“, not a made-up personal form for this existential sense.
Summary
Opens Focus mode: one exercise at a time, with explanations — either script accepted.
Grammar Words Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Guided lesson Listening Reading Writing Speaking Test
This lesson is the unit's first step. The grammar, the words and the first guided lesson are open to everyone; the rest of the unit's lessons and its text, dialogue and tasks come with Premium.