When to Use the Article

Level 2Sounds Like koga se koristi členot

Add the article when the listener knows which thing you mean: Кучето се вика Бобо. Leave it off when you mention something for the first time: Имам куче.

How It Works

Macedonian usually leaves a unsaid. A noun without the article is new or unknown to the listener. Once it is known, it takes the article:

  • Имам куче. (I have a dog.)
  • Кучето се вика Бобо. (The dog is called Bobo.)

Use the article in these cases:

  • Something already mentioned or clear from the situation: Книгата е на масата. (The book is on the table.)
  • Something unique: сонцето (the sun), месечината (the moon).
  • General statements about a whole kind: Животот е убав. (Life is beautiful.) Мачките сакаат риба. (Cats like fish.) English leaves the out here, but Macedonian keeps the article.

Leave the article off in these cases:

  • Something new: Имам куче. If you want to stress one, use еден, една or едно; see One and A.
  • A job or role after сум: Јас сум студент. (I am a student.)
  • Most names of people and towns: Марко, Ана, Скопје, Охрид. Some other place names do take it; see Articles With Place Names.
  • Close family words with a short pronoun: мајка ми (my mother); see Family Words With Short Possessives.

Examples (6)

  1. Имам куче. Кучето се вика Бобо.

    I have a dog. The dog is called Bobo.

    The dog is new at first, then known.

  2. Сонцето грее.

    The sun is shining.

    There is only one sun, so it takes the article.

  3. Животот е убав.

    Life is beautiful.

    A general statement takes the article, unlike English.

  4. Мачките сакаат риба.

    Cats like fish.

    Мачките means cats in general here.

  5. Марко живее во Скопје.

    Marko lives in Skopje.

    Names of people and towns usually have no article.

  6. Јас сум студент.

    I am a student.

    A job after сум has no article.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving the article off a general statement, as in English.

    Живот е убав.
    Животот е убав.

    When you talk about something in general, Macedonian uses the article.

  • Adding the article to a job after сум when you mean a student.

    Јас сум студентот.
    Јас сум студент.

    Студентот means the particular student already talked about. To say what you are, leave the article off.

How It Connects

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

When to Use the ArticleLevel 2

Learn This First

When to use the article contrasts it with еден.