~13 min · 12 exercises

Part of the unit “Society & institutions: language that turns actions into nouns”

Nominalizacija i formalni registar

nominalization-formal-register

Overview

register-style-b2 already named nominalization as one of formal register's tools, alongside Ви and the passive, and word-formation-b2 supplied the underlying -ање/-ење machinery for building a deverbal noun in the first place. This lesson goes further than either: formal Serbian isn't just "use more nouns", it's a full strategy - a semantically light verb (донети, извршити, спровести, водити) carries the grammar while a deverbal noun carries the real content, and a small closed set of fixed prepositions decides how that nominalization attaches to the rest of the sentence.

Two mechanisms to keep separate throughout this lesson: verb-noun periphrasis, where a light verb is paired with a deverbal noun instead of a single plain verb, and the fixed prepositions a nominalization needs to attach to the rest of a sentence (приликом, поводом, путем, услед, у циљу, с обзиром на). Both raise the register on their own; a single formal sentence usually stacks both together.

Verb-noun periphrasis: light verbs that carry a deverbal noun

Formal and administrative Serbian regularly swaps a single verb for a semantically light verb plus the deverbal noun word-formation-b2 already taught you to build: одлучити → донети одлуку, проверити → извршити проверу, истражити → спровести истрагу, анализирати → извршити анализу. The single verb and the periphrasis are usually interchangeable in plain meaning, but not in register - донети одлуку reads like a report or the minutes of a meeting, одлучити reads like ordinary speech.

Which light verb goes with which deverbal noun is fixed per noun, not predictable from meaning alone - exactly the kind of lexical partnership phraseology-collocations-c1 studies under the name collocation. Донети одлуку is the standard pairing; *направити одлуку or *урадити одлуку are not, even though направити and урадити are perfectly ordinary, correct verbs elsewhere. A few periphrases, like водити рачуна о нечему (to be mindful of something), have no single-verb equivalent at all - the periphrasis is simply the only way to say it.

Fixed prepositions that attach a nominalization to the sentence

A deverbal noun needs a preposition to link it back into the sentence the way a да-clause or a conjunction would in plain speech, and formal Serbian has a small set of these, each with one fixed case: приликом + genitive ("on the occasion of / during"), поводом + genitive ("regarding, on the occasion of"), путем + genitive ("by means of, via"), услед + genitive ("owing to"), у циљу + genitive ("with the aim of"), and с обзиром на + accusative ("considering, given"). Learn the preposition together with its case as one inseparable unit, the same way da-constructions-vs-infinitive-c1 treats да + present as a pair that doesn't split.

С обзиром на is the one exception to the genitive pattern here - it governs the accusative - and it is also the one of these six most often followed directly by a whole clause rather than a noun phrase. When a clause follows, standard Serbian needs с обзиром на то да ("considering that…"), never a bare *с обзиром да: the то fills the noun-phrase slot that на still requires even when the real content is a clause.

Nominalization chains and their limits

Because a deverbal noun can itself take a genitive complement, nominalizations stack: поводом обележавања годишњице оснивања (on the occasion of marking the founding anniversary) nests three genitives - обележавања, годишњице, оснивања - each depending on the one before it. This kind of chain is the clearest fingerprint of an administrative or academic register, and it is exactly what critics of "office style" complain about in every language that has it - more than one language's own style guides carry a long-standing, unflattering name for the identical habit.

Two or three nested genitives read as merely formal; four or more usually reads as bad style even in a genuinely formal document, and gets rewritten with a relative or да-clause the moment it stops being parseable at a glance. The same impulse to avoid naming a personal subject also drives modality-c1's impersonal требало би/ваљало би, though a modal verb at least stays finite; a nominalization drops the verb altogether, so clitic-placement-complex-clauses-c1's whole question - where does the clitic go? - never even arises here: there is no finite verb, no auxiliary and no subject left to carry one.

Tables

Light verb + deverbal noun vs. the plain verb
Light-verb periphrasis	Plain verb	Meaning
doneti odluku	odlučiti	make a decision
izvršiti proveru	proveriti	carry out a check
sprovesti istragu	istražiti	conduct an investigation
izvršiti analizu	analizirati	carry out an analysis
voditi računa (o nečemu)	- (nema odgovarajućeg glagola)	be mindful (of something)

Examples

Komisija će doneti odluku o ovom pitanju do kraja nedelje.

The committee will make a decision on this matter by the end of the week.

Light-verb periphrasis донети одлуку instead of the plain одлучиће - the formal, report-style choice.

Izvršena je detaljna provera svih podnetih dokumenata.

A detailed check of all submitted documents has been carried out.

The participial passive извршена је (register-style-b2) combines with the periphrasis извршити проверу - formal register usually stacks more than one device at once.

Sprovešće se istraga o uzrocima požara.

An investigation into the causes of the fire will be conducted.

Reflexive passive спровешће се - no agent named at all, the maximally impersonal formal option; спровести contracts its futur exactly like довести → довешће.

Prilikom potpisivanja ugovora obavezno ponesite ličnu kartu.

When signing the contract, be sure to bring your ID card.

Приликом + genitive потписивања stands in for када потпишете or да потпишете.

U cilju poboljšanja uslova rada uvedene su nove mere.

New measures have been introduced with the aim of improving working conditions.

У циљу + genitive побољшања names the goal; уведене су is the participial passive again.

Povodom obeležavanja godišnjice osnivanja organizovana je svečanost.

A ceremony was organized on the occasion of marking the founding anniversary.

A short nominalization chain: обележавања depends on поводом, годишњице depends on обележавања.

Molba se podnosi putem elektronske pošte.

The application is submitted via email.

Путем + genitive поште; the reflexive passive подноси се needs no named applicant.

Usled lošeg vremena let je otkazan.

Due to bad weather, the flight was cancelled.

Услед + genitive is the formal register's because of - plain speech would simply say због лошег времена.

S obzirom na to da su rezultati još uvek nepotvrđeni, odluka će biti doneta sledeće nedelje.

Given that the results are still unconfirmed, the decision will be made next week.

С обзиром на то да + clause, never the bare *с обзиром да - то fills the noun-phrase slot на still needs.

Compared with…

English runs a strikingly similar system for the same reason - bureaucratic and legal English also prefers "make a decision" over "decide", "conduct an investigation" over "investigate", "carry out an analysis" over "analyze" - so the core mechanism, a semantically light verb plus a nominalized noun, needs no new explanation for an English speaker. What doesn't transfer is the fixed-preposition layer: English marks the same relations with ordinary prepositions that never shift case (English has none), so приликом/поводом/услед/у циљу collapse into a much smaller, less differentiated set of English connectors ("during", "regarding", "due to", "in order to") - a learner has to actively split them back apart case by case in Serbian rather than mapping one English preposition onto one Serbian one.

Serbian

Izvršena je detaljna analiza rezultata.

English independently prefers the same light-verb periphrasis in formal writing - a rare case where the whole strategy, not just the vocabulary, transfers directly.

English

A detailed analysis of the results was carried out.

Common mistakes

Wrong

S obzirom da su troškovi visoki, projekat je obustavljen.

Right

S obzirom na to da su troškovi visoki, projekat je obustavljen.

С обзиром на needs its accusative object even when a clause follows it - то fills that slot before да; the bare с обзиром да skips the preposition's required object and is widely considered non-standard.

Wrong

Komisija je napravila odluku o pitanju.

Right

Komisija je donela odluku o pitanju.

Донети одлуку is a fixed collocation (phraseology-collocations-c1) - направити is a perfectly good verb elsewhere, but it doesn't pair with одлука; the light verb has to be learned per noun, not guessed from meaning.

Wrong

Prilikom potpisivanje ugovora, doneli smo i ostala dokumenta.

Right

Prilikom potpisivanja ugovora, doneli smo i ostala dokumenta.

Приликом governs the genitive; потписивање here is the unmarked nominative/accusative form, not the genitive потписивања this preposition requires - the same fixed case-per-preposition rule as any other preposition.

Wrong

S obzirom na ovog problema, moramo reagovati brzo.

Right

S obzirom na ovaj problem, moramo reagovati brzo.

С обзиром на governs the accusative, and проблем is an inanimate masculine noun whose accusative matches the nominative овај проблем; овог проблема is genitive, the case pattern of the other five prepositions in this lesson, wrongly carried over to the one exception.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

Learn each fixed preposition together with its case as one unit - приликом/поводом/путем/услед/у циљу all take the genitive, and с обзиром на is the deliberate exception with the accusative.
Treat a light-verb-plus-noun pairing (донети одлуку, извршити проверу) as a fixed collocation to memorize whole, not a free choice between synonymous verbs - phraseology-collocations-c1 makes this the general rule, not just a formal-register quirk.
Услед and због both mean "because of" and both take the genitive, but услед is the more formal, administrative of the two - reach for it in writing, not in conversation.
When a nominalization chain grows past two or three nested genitives, that's usually a sign to rewrite with a relative or да-clause, even inside a formal document - readability still counts.

Exceptions

Legal, academic and bureaucratic writing pushes nominalization chains considerably further than this lesson's everyday-formal standard - register-style-b2 already flagged the same specialized extreme for the passive.
A handful of periphrases, like водити рачуна о нечему, have no single-verb equivalent at all - there is nothing plainer to compare them against; they are simply the normal way to say it, formal register or not.
С обзиром на can also govern a noun phrase directly with no clause at all (с обзиром на ситуацију) - the то да pattern is needed only when what follows is a full clause, not whenever с обзиром на appears.

Summary

Formal Serbian raises its register with two combinable devices: verb-noun periphrasis, pairing a semantically light verb (донети, извршити, спровести) with a deverbal noun (word-formation-b2) instead of a single plain verb, in fixed, per-noun collocations (phraseology-collocations-c1); and a small set of prepositions - приликом/поводом/путем/услед/у циљу + genitive, с обзиром на + accusative - that attach a nominalization back into the sentence, with с обзиром на то да (never bare с обзиром да) bridging to a full clause. Because a deverbal noun can itself take a genitive complement, nominalizations chain; two or three links read as formal, more than that usually needs rewriting. No finite verb means no clitic domain at all inside a nominalization, sidestepping clitic-placement-complex-clauses-c1's whole question.