~8 min · 10 exercises

Part of the unit “One and many: the plural of nouns”

Množina imenica

noun-plural

Overview

Plural endings depend on gender: masculine usually takes -и, feminine -а changes to -е, and neuter -о/-е to -а.

This lesson covers the nominative plural (subject form); other cases have their own plural endings.

Masculine plural: -и, and the -ов-/-ев- infix

Most masculine nouns simply add -и to the consonant-final singular: студент → студенти, пријатељ (friend) → пријатељи. Nothing else changes.

Many monosyllabic masculine nouns - one syllable in the nominative singular - insert -ов- or -ев- before that same -и. After a hard final consonant the infix is -ов-: град (city) → градови, мост (bridge) → мостови. After a soft/palatal final consonant (ч, ж, ш, ђ, ћ, џ, љ, њ, ј, ц) the infix is -ев- instead: кључ (key) → кључеви, нож (knife) → ножеви. Some frequent one-syllable nouns take no infix and simply add -и: зуб (tooth) → зуби, прст (finger) → прсти, дан (day) → дани - learn these separately.

Feminine and neuter plural

Feminine nouns ending in -а swap it for -е: жена (woman) → жене, књига (book) → књиге. Feminine nouns ending in a consonant instead - the exception class from the lesson on noun gender, like ноћ - take -и: ноћ (night) → ноћи.

Neuter nouns swap their singular -о or -е for -а: село (village) → села, поље (field) → поља. This covers most neuter nouns cleanly, but a small class of nouns ending in -е inserts an -ен- infix instead of a plain swap - име (name) → имена, време (time) → времена - so it isn't quite as exception-free as it looks.

Extra stem changes in some plurals

Some masculine nouns change their stem before -и. Learn common forms such as ђак → ђаци and бубрег → бубрези as vocabulary.

Some masculine nouns have a vowel that disappears in the plural: момак → момци, пас → пси. Learn common forms as vocabulary; detailed sound-change rules come later.

Irregular plurals to memorize

A few common nouns have irregular plural forms that are best learned as vocabulary: човек → људи, око → очи, ухо → уши, дете → деца and брат → браћа.

For now, learn дете → деца and брат → браћа as irregular plural forms. Their agreement patterns are covered later.

Tables

Plural ending by gender
Gender	Ending	Example
masculine (consonant)	-i	student → studenti
masculine (one syllable, hard consonant)	-ovi	grad → gradovi
masculine (one syllable, soft consonant)	-evi	ključ → ključevi
feminine in -a	-e	žena → žene
feminine, ending in a consonant	-i	noć → noći
neuter	-a	selo → sela

Examples

Studenti uče srpski.

The students are studying Serbian.

Regular masculine plural - just add -и.

Gradovi u Srbiji su lepi.

The cities in Serbia are beautiful.

Monosyllabic masculine noun град takes the -ов- infix before -и.

Ključevi su na stolu.

The keys are on the table.

Soft-stem monosyllabic noun кључ takes -ев-, not -ов-.

Žene rade u školi.

The women work at the school.

The feminine plural is жене.

Sela su mala, ali lepa.

The villages are small, but beautiful.

Neuter noun: -о becomes -а - село → села.

Momci pevaju pesmu.

The young men are singing a song.

The plural of момак is момци. Learn this common form as a word.

Ljudi vole muziku.

People love music.

Човек has a fully irregular plural, људи - no rule produces it.

Oči su joj plave.

Her eyes are blue.

The plural of око is очи. Learn this irregular form as vocabulary.

Čaše su čiste.

The glasses are clean.

Feminine -а noun swaps the ending for -е: чаша → чаше - the easiest plural pattern.

Tanjiri su na stolu.

The plates are on the table.

Тањир is a consonant-final masculine noun of more than one syllable, so it just adds -и - no infix needed.

Noževi su oštri.

The knives are sharp.

Soft-stem monosyllabic noun нож takes -ев-, the same pattern as кључеви above.

Compared with…

English marks almost every plural with one ending, -s (or -es), regardless of gender - a category English nouns don't even have. Serbian instead picks the ending from gender, and layers sound changes (sibilarization, the fleeting а) that English's plain -s never triggers. The one genuine bridge is irregular plurals: English already has child→children and man→men, so a plural that must be memorized rather than derived is a familiar idea - only the words and their number (five, not two or three) differ.

Serbian

Ovo dete je moje. Ova deca su moja.

Дете→деца mirrors English child→children - both irregular, memorized rather than derived.

English

This child is mine. These children are mine.

Common mistakes

Wrong

To su mosti.

Right

To su mostovi.

Мост is a monosyllabic masculine noun and needs the -ов- infix before the plural -и: мостови, not *мости.

Wrong

To su ključi.

Right

To su ključevi.

After a soft/palatal final consonant like ч, the infix is -ев-, not plain -и: кључеви, not *кључи.

Wrong

To su kuća.

Right

To su kuće.

Feminine -а nouns swap the ending to -е in the plural - куће, not the unchanged singular кућа.

Wrong

To su čoveci.

Right

To su ljudi.

Човек has a fully suppletive plural, људи - never a regularized *човеци.

Tips & exceptions

Tips

Predict the plural ending from the gender you already learned in the lesson on noun gender: consonant-final masculine → -и (or -ови/-еви for many one-syllable nouns), -а-feminine → -е, -о/-е-neuter → -а.
Many one-syllable masculine nouns add -ов-/-ев- before -и; learn the frequent forms as chunks. Some common nouns add only -и, such as зуб → зуби, прст → прсти and дан → дани.
The five irregular plurals - човек→људи, дете→деца, брат→браћа, око→очи, ухо→уши - cannot be derived from any rule; learn them as fixed vocabulary pairs, the same way you memorize an English irregular plural like child→children.

Exceptions

Some masculine nouns change their stem in the plural. Learn common forms such as ђак → ђаци and бубрег → бубрези as vocabulary.
Not every one-syllable masculine noun takes -ов-/-ев-. Several frequent ones add plain -и: зуб (tooth) → зуби, прст (finger) → прсти, дан (day) → дани. Learn them as individual words, the way you learn век → векови.
Деца and браћа are irregular plural forms. Learn them with their singular forms; agreement is covered later.
The plural forms очи and уши are irregular. Learn them as vocabulary.

Summary

Masculine nouns usually add -и, with -ов-/-ев- in many one-syllable words; feminine nouns ending in -а change it to -е, and neuter nouns ending in -о/-е change it to -а. Learn common exceptions and stem changes as vocabulary: зуби, ђаци, момци, људи, очи, уши, деца and браћа.