Neuter Nouns in -me

Level 4

Nouns in -me grow a stem: ime becomes imen-, vrijeme becomes vremen-.

How It Works

A handful of neuter nouns end in -me: ime (name), prezime (surname), vrijeme (time, weather), sjeme (seed). In the other cases they add -en-.

Caseimevrijeme
nominativeimevrijeme
genitiveimenavremena
dativeimenuvremenu
instrumentalimenomvremenom

Notice that vrijeme changes its ije to e in the other cases: vremena. Not every word does this: sjeme keeps its je (sjemena).

Dijete (child) adds -et-: djeteta, djetetu, djetetom. The plural is irregular: djeca.

You need the genitive often, after nemam and bez: Nemam vremena. Bez imena.

When in doubt, remember the shape: the stem grows by -en- in the other singular cases.

Examples (4)

  1. Ime mog brata je Haris.

    My brother's name is Haris.

    Ime in the nominative.

  2. Nemam danas vremena.

    I have no time today.

    Nemam takes the genitive vremena.

  3. Igra se s djetetom.

    She is playing with the child.

    Djetetom uses the longer stem djetet-.

  4. Ne znam njegovog prezimena.

    I do not know his surname.

    Prezimena is the genitive.

Common Mistakes

  • Learners keep the nominative form after nemam.

    Nemam vrijeme.
    Nemam vremena.

    Nemam needs the genitive: vremena.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Neuter Nouns in -meLevel 4

Learn This First

Some neuter nouns end in -me.

Words in This Pattern

imeprezimevrijemedijetesjeme