Plural of Masculine Nouns

Level 1

Masculine plurals add -i, -ovi or -evi.

How It Works

SingularPluralPattern
prijateljprijatelji-i
gradgradovi-ovi
nožnoževi-evi
stostolovi-ovi, with an l

A good first guess: a word with one syllable takes -ovi (brod brodovi; dan is an exception, see below), or -evi after a soft consonant (muž muževi). A word with two or more syllables usually takes -i: student studenti, učitelj učitelji.

Exceptions are common and worth learning as pairs: dan dani, čovjek ljudi, brat braća (a group). Some nouns also change the end of the stem before -i: Bosanac Bosanci.

Short nouns can sound odd with a bare -i, so the -ov- and -ev- entry explains why Bosnian adds a little syllable.

Examples (4)

  1. Gradovi u Bosni su lijepi.

    The cities in Bosnia are beautiful.

    Grad takes -ovi.

  2. Moji prijatelji su iz Tuzle.

    My friends are from Tuzla.

    Prijatelj takes -i.

  3. Noževi su u ladici.

    The knives are in the drawer.

    Nož ends in a soft consonant, so it takes -evi.

  4. Stolovi su u bašči.

    The tables are in the garden.

    Sto becomes stolovi, with an l added.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding -i to a short noun.

    Stoli su novi.
    Stolovi su novi.

    Sto and many other short nouns take -ovi.

How It Connects

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

Plural of Masculine NounsLevel 1

Learn This First

Plurals build on the singular.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

množinaimenicamuški