сам / самиот

Alone and the Very One

Level 3Sounds Like sam; samiot

Сам means alone or by oneself: Живеам сам. (I live alone.) Самиот before a noun means the ... himself: Самиот директор дојде. (The director himself came.)

How It Works

1. Сам — alone, by oneself, without help. Сам describes the person doing the action and agrees with them like an adjective (see придавки: нов; нова; ново; нови):

  • сам — masculine: Марко живее сам. (Marko lives alone.)
  • сама — feminine: Ана сама го поправи велосипедот. (Ana fixed the bike by herself.)
  • само — neuter: Детето оди само на училиште. (The child walks to school alone.)
  • сами — plural: Сами ја направивме тортата. (We made the cake ourselves.)

The same word covers alone (with nobody else) and by oneself (with no help). Context tells you which one is meant.

Do not mix it up with само: the neuter form само looks like the word само meaning only (see само; и јас). A man who lives alone says Живеам сам, and a woman says Живеам сама.

2. Самиот — the very one, himself. With the article (see член кај придавки: новиот; новата), the forms самиот, самата, самото, самите stand before a noun or pronoun and stress that it is exactly this one:

  • Самиот директор дојде. — The director himself came (not just someone from his office).
  • Самите тие го предложија тоа. — They themselves suggested it.
  • пред самиот влез — right in front of the entrance · на самиот крај — at the very end

Compare the meanings: Директорот дојде сам. means the director came alone, while Самиот директор дојде. means the director himself came.

With себе: сам со себе means to oneself: Си зборува сам со себе. (He talks to himself.) For reflexive pronouns in general, see себе; се; себеси.

Examples (6)

  1. Живеам сам.

    I live alone.

    Word by Word: I-live alone.

    The speaker is a man. A woman says Живеам сама.

  2. Ана сама го поправи велосипедот.

    Ana fixed the bike by herself.

    Word by Word: Ana alone it fixed bicycle-the.

  3. Детето веќе оди само на училиште.

    The child already walks to school alone.

    Word by Word: Child-the already goes alone to school.

    Само agrees with the neuter noun детето.

  4. Сами ја направивме тортата.

    We made the cake ourselves.

    Word by Word: Alone it we-made cake-the.

  5. Самиот директор дојде на средбата.

    The director himself came to the meeting.

    Word by Word: The-very director came to meeting-the.

  6. Го сретнавме пред самиот влез.

    We met him right in front of the entrance.

    Word by Word: Him we-met before the-very entrance.

Common Mistakes

  • Not matching сам to a female speaker or subject.

    Ана живее сам.
    Ана живее сама.

    Сам agrees with the person like an adjective. Ана is feminine, so the form is сама.

  • Using the word само (only) to say a man is alone.

    Марко живее само.
    Марко живее сам.

    After a verb, само is read as "only", so the sentence sounds unfinished. For a man living alone, use the masculine form сам.

  • Using сам after the noun when you mean "the director himself".

    Директорот сам дојде на средбата.
    Самиот директор дојде на средбата.

    Директорот сам дојде means the director came alone. To stress that it was the director in person, put самиот before the noun.

How It Connects

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

сам / самиотLevel 3Alone and the Very One

Learn This First

Сам and самиот build on reflexives and the article on adjectives.

Words in This Pattern

сам