-има / -ама

Plural Dative and Locative

Level 2Sounds Like dativ i lokativ množine na -ima; -ama

In Serbian, the dative, locative, and instrumental plurals share the exact same endings (a pattern known as D-L-I syncretism). Nouns ending in -a take -ama, while almost all other nouns take -ima. Because the forms look identical, the difference between dative and locative depends entirely on context: dative marks indirect objects or direction, while locative always requires a static preposition like u, na, or o.

How It Works

1. Function and Syntactic Difference

In the plural, Serbian uses identical endings for dative, locative, and instrumental. However, their grammatical roles remain distinct:

  • Dative plural: Marks indirect objects, recipients, or beneficiaries without a preposition (e.g., giving or saying something to multiple people), or follows prepositions of direction/attitude such as к/ка ('toward') or према ('toward/according to').
  • Locative plural: Marks static location, time, or the topic of speech/thought. The locative plural can never appear alone; it is strictly governed by prepositions such as у ('in'), на ('on'), о ('about'), по ('around / according to'), or при ('at / near').

2. Ending Distribution by Declension Class

A. Endings in -ама (Class II Nouns)
All regular nouns that end in -а in the nominative singular take -ама:

  • женски род на -а: књига → књигама, девојка → девојкама.
  • мушке именице на -а: колега → колегама, судија → судијама.
  • Important: Unlike the singular dative (књизи), the plural suffix -ама starts with /a/, so sibilarization does not happen (књигама, never књизама).

B. Endings in -има (Class I and Class III Nouns)
Standard plurals of masculine, neuter, and consonant-ending feminine nouns take -има:

  • мушки род на сугласник (Class I): Most multisyllabic nouns take -има directly on the stem (студент → студентима), as do certain common monosyllabic nouns that take the short plural (дан → данима, зуб → зубима, прст → прстима).
  • проширена множина на -ови; -еви: Most monosyllabic masculine nouns insert -ов- or -ев- before the ending (град → градовима, муж → мужевима). A few disyllabic nouns also take this extension (e.g., ветар → ветровима, појас → појасевима).
  • средњи род на -о; -е (Class I): Regular neuter stems drop their singular suffix and attach -има (село → селима, поље → пољима). However, neuter n-stems ending in -ме expand with -ен- before the ending (име → именима, време → временима).
  • женске именице на сугласник (Class III): Consonant-ending feminine stems take -има (ствар → стварима, ноћ → ноћима).
  • Note on irregular collective plurals: Words like деца (plural of дете), браћа (plural of брат), and господа (plural of господин) are grammatically collective nouns that decline like feminine singular nouns in -а, taking the singular ending -и in the dative and locative (деци, браћи, господи) rather than -има.

3. Sound Changes Before -има

Because -има begins with the front vowel -и-, masculine stems without the infix undergo сибиларизација:

  • к → ц: ученик → ученицима
  • г → з: разлог → разлозима
  • х → с: сиромах → сиромасима
  • Also watch out for непостојано а dropping out (момак → момцима, пас → псима).

Examples (5)

  1. Често разговарамо о старим градовима.

    We often talk about old cities.

    Word by Word: Often we-talk about old cities.

    Locative plural governed by the preposition 'о'. The masculine monosyllabic noun 'град' takes the '-ов-' stem extension followed by '-има'.

  2. Учитељица је прочитала нову причу свим девојчицама.

    The teacher read a new story to all the girls.

    Word by Word: Teacher auxiliary read new story to-all girls.

    Dative plural marking the indirect object (recipient). 'Девојчица' ends in '-a' in the singular, so it takes '-ама'.

  3. Приступ овим информацијама је омогућен новим студентима.

    Access to this information has been enabled for new students.

    Word by Word: Access to-these information is enabled to-new students.

    'Информацијама' is dative plural with '-ама', and 'студентима' is a multisyllabic masculine noun taking '-има'.

  4. Поклонили смо пажњу новим ученицима у школи.

    We gave our attention to the new pupils at school.

    Word by Word: Given we-auxiliary attention to-new pupils in school.

    The masculine noun 'ученик' undergoes sibilarization (к → ц) before the suffix '-има', becoming 'ученицима'.

  5. У овим малим селима људи живе мирно.

    People live peacefully in these small villages.

    Word by Word: In these small villages people live peacefully.

    Locative plural governed by 'у'. The neuter noun 'село' replaces '-о' with '-има' (селима).

Common Mistakes

  • Applying sibilarization (k, g, h -> c, z, s) to -a stems in the plural

    Причамо о новим књизама.
    Причамо о новим књигама.

    Learners often remember the singular dative/locative shift ('књизи') and mistakenly apply it to the plural. Because the plural ending is '-ама', the low vowel 'a' does not trigger any consonant alternation.

  • Forgetting the -ов- / -ев- infix on short masculine nouns

    Идемо према градима.
    Идемо према градовима.

    Most single-syllable masculine nouns in Serbian must retain their expanded plural infix ('-ов-' or '-ев-') before adding the plural dative/locative ending '-има'.

  • Using the locative without a governing preposition

    Показао сам градовима пријатељу.
    Показао сам градове пријатељу.

    The locative plural can never function as a direct object or stand on its own without prepositions like 'у', 'на', or 'о'. Direct plural objects require the accusative ('градове').

How It Connects

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-има / -амаLevel 2Plural Dative and Locative

Learn This First

To learn the plural forms of the dative and locative cases (-има for masculine/neuter, -ама for feminine), learners need a working knowledge of noun plurals generally, as well as the meanings and prepositions associated with the dative and locative cases in the singular.

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