Neuter Nouns in -о / -е

Neuter Nouns

Level 1Sounds Like sreden rod na -o; -e

Nouns ending in -о or -е are usually neuter: село, море, дете.

How It Works

Common neuter nouns.

  • in -о: село (village), место (place), писмо (letter), небо (sky)
  • in -е: море (sea), дете (child), име (name), срце (heart), кафе (coffee)
  • in -че: момче (boy), девојче (girl), куче (dog)

What goes with them.

Boys and girls. Because момче and девојче end in -е, they take neuter words: Девојчето е убаво.

Men in -о. A few words for men end in -о but are masculine, such as татко (father) and дедо (grandfather): добар татко. See Masculine Nouns in A and O.

Plural. Nouns in -о usually take -а (села), and many in -е take -иња (мориња). See Plural of Neuter Nouns. Дете has the irregular plural деца: see Irregular Plurals.

Examples (6)

  1. Живеам во мало село.

    I live in a small village.

  2. Детето спие.

    The child is sleeping.

  3. Охрид е убаво место.

    Ohrid is a beautiful place.

  4. Морето е топло.

    The sea is warm.

  5. Момчето е високо.

    The boy is tall.

    Момче names a boy, but it is neuter, so the adjective ends in -о.

  6. Кафето е многу добро.

    The coffee is very good.

Common Mistakes

  • Matching the adjective to the girl rather than to the neuter noun девојче.

    Девојчето е убава.
    Девојчето е убаво.

    Девојче is neuter, so the adjective takes -о even though it describes a girl.

  • Using the masculine adjective with a neuter noun.

    мал село
    мало село

    Село ends in -о and is neuter, so the adjective ends in -о too.

  • Treating татко as neuter because it ends in -о.

    добро татко
    добар татко

    Татко names a man and is masculine.

How It Connects

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

Neuter Nouns in -о / -еLevel 1Neuter Nouns

Learn This First

Neuter nouns follow the idea of gender.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-че