The genitive case (possession & 'of')
The genitive expresses 'of' / belonging, where something comes from, and quantity. Masculine and neuter nouns take -a (grad → grada), feminine -a nouns take -e (žena → žene). It also follows many prepositions (od, do, iz, kod) and words of quantity (čaša vode).
Examples
- centar grada the city centre
- čaša vode a glass of water
- Iz Beograda sam. I'm from Belgrade.
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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Want to say "the city centre"? Many people add "od" and say centar od grada. But Serbian doesn't need it — a bare genitive is enough. Let's see how it works.
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The genitive is the case that answers "whose?" or "of what?". You use it to say that something belongs to someone, where something comes from, and how much of it there is.
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First, the endings. Masculine and neuter nouns take the ending -a. Grad becomes grada, and selo becomes sela. Feminine nouns ending in -a take -e: žena becomes žene.
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Let's start with possession. "Centar grada" — the centre belongs to the city, so grad goes into the genitive and becomes grada. centar grada
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It works the same with a feminine noun. "Vrata kuće" — kuća shifts into the genitive and becomes kuće, with the ending -e. vrata kuće
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Now quantity. After words of measure or amount, the genitive follows. "Čaša vode" — voda becomes vode, because we're saying how much of something there is. čaša vode
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Same principle: "šolja kafe". Kafa becomes kafe — again the genitive of quantity. šolja kafe
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Many prepositions also require the genitive. The most important are: od, do, iz and kod. After each one, the noun goes into the genitive.
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"Iz Beograda sam." The preposition iz means origin — where you come from — so Beograd goes into the genitive and becomes Beograda. Iz Beograda sam.
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And with the preposition kod. "Kod doktora" — kod means "at someone's", so doktor goes into the genitive and becomes doktora. kod doktora
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Here's the most common mistake. Under the influence of English or German, many people add "od": centar od grada. But for possession Serbian uses a bare genitive — centar grada. No preposition.
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Let's recap. The genitive expresses possession, origin and quantity. Masculine and neuter take -a, feminine takes -e. It's required by the prepositions od, do, iz, kod — and for a simple "whose" you use a bare genitive, without "od".