Plural Direct Objects

Level 2Sounds Like akuzativ množine

The accusative plural marks multiple direct objects receiving an action or targets of motion. Masculine and feminine nouns generally end in -е, while neuter nouns end in -а. Unlike the singular, masculine animate and inanimate nouns share the exact same endings in the plural.

How It Works

In Serbian, акузатив множине (accusative plural) has two primary grammatical functions:
1. Direct Object: Specifying multiple people, animals, or objects directly affected by a transitive verb (e.g., Купујем књиге – 'I am buying books').
2. Directional Destination: Indicating motion towards or into multiple entities when paired with spatial prepositions like у, на, под, над, or пред (e.g., Стави чаше на столове – 'Put the glasses onto the tables').

Declension Patterns:
• Masculine: Consonant-ending nouns add -е. Short monosyllabic stems typically include the extended plural suffix -ов- / -ев- before the ending (град → градове; кључ → кључеве). Nouns with a fleeting a drop it in the plural (момак → момке).
• Feminine: Standard nouns ending in -а end in -е (жене, књиге). Consonant-stem feminine nouns end in -и (ствари).
• Neuter: Nouns ending in -о or -е end in -а (села, поља).

Adjective & Determiner Agreement:
Modifiers must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun:
• Masculine & Feminine: -е (нове, добре, моје, ове)
• Neuter: -а (нова, добра, моја, ова)

Crucial Distinction from the Singular:
In the singular, masculine animates use genitive forms (акузатив мушког живог и неживог). However, in the plural, animacy makes no difference. Both пријатељ (friend) and прозор (window) take -е: пријатеље, прозоре.

Examples (4)

  1. Познајем ове нове студенте.

    I know these new students.

    Word by Word: I-know these new students.

    Masculine animate direct object: the demonstrative pronoun, adjective, and noun all end in -e.

  2. Прочитала сам све твоје књиге.

    I have read all your books.

    Word by Word: Read have-I all your books.

    Feminine direct object: the quantifier 'све', possessive 'твоје', and noun 'књиге' take the feminine accusative plural ending -e.

  3. Видим лепа села кроз прозор воза.

    I see beautiful villages through the train window.

    Word by Word: I-see beautiful villages through window of-train.

    Neuter direct object: both adjective 'лепа' and noun 'села' end in -a in the accusative plural.

  4. Стави кључеве на столове.

    Put the keys on the tables.

    Word by Word: Put keys onto tables.

    Demonstrates both direct object (кључеве) and spatial destination after 'на' (столове), with long plural -ев- and -ов-.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the nominative plural ending -и for masculine direct objects.

    Купио сам нови телефони.
    Купио сам нове телефоне.

    While feminine and neuter plural nominatives look identical to their accusatives, masculine nouns and adjectives change from -и in the nominative to -е in the accusative.

  • Applying the singular masculine animate rule to the plural.

    Чекам мојих пријатеља.
    Чекам моје пријатеље.

    In Serbian, animate syncretism (accusative = genitive) exists only in the singular. Plural animate masculine objects regularly take -e, not the genitive plural.

  • Treating collective nouns like 'деца' as regular accusative plurals.

    Често чувам деце.
    Често чувам децу.

    Words like 'деца' (children) and 'браћа' (brothers) are grammatically feminine singular collective nouns and must take the feminine singular accusative ending -у.

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Plural Direct ObjectsLevel 2

Learn This First

To use plural direct objects in Serbian, you must understand how the accusative case functions as the direct object of a verb, as well as how plural noun forms are structured in the nominative.