Masculine Living Direct Objects

Level 2

In the common masculine consonant declension, an animate accusative singular matches the genitive. Prijatelj becomes prijatelja when it is the direct object.

How It Works

For many masculine nouns in the a-declension, ask whether the noun refers to a living being. Pas → psa and prijatelj → prijatelja illustrate animate accusative singular forms.

The ending can come with a stem change, as pas/psa shows. An accompanying adjective or pronoun must take the same case: Vidim dobrog prijatelja.

This is a singular rule for a particular declension. Do not apply it to every noun that happens to refer to a person, or copy it into every plural pattern. Masculine nouns in -a such as kolega use their own noun endings, even though their agreement is masculine.

Examples (3)

  1. Vidim prijatelja.

    I can see a friend.

    Animate masculine prijatelj takes accusative prijatelja.

  2. Ana ima psa.

    Ana has a dog.

    Pas changes stem as well as taking its object form.

  3. Poznajem dobrog učitelja.

    I know a good teacher.

    Both adjective and noun mark the animate accusative relationship.

How It Connects

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Masculine Living Direct ObjectsLevel 2

Learn This First

Animate masculine objects combine the consonant-noun pattern with the direct-object role.