The two exception classes
Ten minutes of the grammar lesson's own two exceptions to the ending rule: a closed set of masculine nouns for male people that ends in -а like тата and судија, and a closed set of feminine nouns that ends in a consonant like ноћ and the whole -ост class. Build three sentences giving each exception its correct - not its ending-predicted - agreement, then hear the grammar lesson's own example about a word being feminine said aloud.
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
The two exception classes
A closed set of nouns for male people ends in -a but stays grammatically masculine: тата (dad), деда (grandpa), судија (judge) - they decline like feminine -a nouns but take masculine agreement: мој тата, not моја тата.
A second set of feminine nouns ends in a consonant instead of -а - most productively, virtually every abstract noun in -ост (младост, радост, могућност), plus a handful of concrete nouns like ноћ, реч, крв. Worth memorising as a class, since the consonant ending alone would otherwise suggest masculine.
| Ending | Gender | Example |
|---|---|---|
| suglasnik | muški | sto |
| -a | ženski | žena |
| -o | srednji | selo |
| -e | srednji | polje |
| suglasnik (izuzetak) | ženski | noć |
| -a (izuzetak, muška osoba) | muški | tata |