Plural by gender: -и/-ови/-еви, -е, -а
Ten minutes on the topic's core rule: masculine nouns add -и (many one-syllable ones take -ови/-еви instead), feminine -а-nouns swap it for -е, and neuter nouns swap -о/-е for -а. Build sentences pluralizing a roof and a curtain, then choose and translate your way through the rest, before the unit's own use lesson mixes every pattern in full sentences.
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
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.
| 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 |