Traps with pronouns
Four slips that turn a correct Serbian sentence into a wrong one: Ви paired with a singular verb instead of сте, a generic то instead of the pronoun matching a noun's gender, оне for a group of men instead of они, and a lowercase ви where formal singular address needs a capital. Ten minutes of building the right version and catching each mistake before it happens - the last of the series, right before the unit's own short conversation with a friend.
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
Third person: pronouns follow grammatical gender
Он/она/оно aren't reserved for people - they replace any noun of that gender, including objects: сто (masculine) is он, кућа (feminine) is она, село (neuter) is оно. The ending predicts the gender; see the noun-gender lesson.
The plural splits the same way: они for masculine, оне for feminine, она for neuter referents. A mixed-gender or unknown-gender group of people defaults to the masculine они.
Addressing people: ти, Ви, ви
Ти is informal, for one person you know well - family, friends, peers. Ви, capitalized, is formal - for one person you don't know well, an elder, or a superior - and always takes plural verb agreement even though it means one person: „Ви сте нови колега.“
Plain lowercase ви addresses more than one person, formal or informal. In speech Ви and ви sound identical; the capital letter is a writing-only convention marking formal respect toward a single addressee.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ja | mi |
| 2. | ti | vi |
| 3. | on / ona / ono | oni / one / ona |