Nominative, accusative - and calling someone by name
The rule
Uvod u padeže
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
Nominative vs. accusative - the pair you need now
The nominative is the subject form and the dictionary form used in the noun-gender lessons.
The accusative marks the direct object - what the verb's action lands on. Feminine nouns ending in -а take the ending -у: кућа → кућу, жена → жену, књига → књигу.
Inanimate masculine and neuter nouns are the same in the singular - nominative and accusative share the same ending. Animate masculine nouns follow a different rule, covered later.
Special cases
The vocative is for direct address only. Many masculine names stay the same (Марко!), while most feminine nouns change: мама → Мамо!
Кога/шта имаш? takes the accusative, since имати always needs a direct object (see verb-imati-present-a1).
| Nominative | Accusative |
|---|---|
| kuća | kuću |
| žena | ženu |
| knjiga | knjigu |
| škola | školu |