Predicative Instrumental

In contemporary standard Serbian, the predicative instrumental fulfills the role of a secondary predicate, specifying a status, office, role, evaluation, or feigned identity assigned through verbal action. It appears primarily in formal, administrative, journalistic, and literary registers, as well as specific colloquial expressions of pretense.

1. Transitive Verbs (Object-Oriented)
The predicative instrumental appears with transitive verbs denoting appointment, election, naming, or judgment:

• сматрати (to consider, deem)
• именовати (to appoint)
• прогласити (to proclaim, declare)
• изабрати (to elect)
• назвати / називати (to call, label)

When using these verbs, the direct object appears in the accusative case, while its title, evaluation, or label appears in the bare instrumental:

• Изабрали су је председницом. (They elected her president.)
• Сматрају га одговорним човеком. (They consider him a responsible man.)
• Назвали су га кукавицом. (They called him a coward.)

Important restriction with назвати: The bare instrumental is used only when assigning a common-noun label, characterization, or epithet (назвали су га издајником / кукавицом). When assigning a proper personal name (дати име), standard Serbian requires the nominative: Назвали су сина Лука / Стефан (never *Луком or *Стефаном).

Normative notes and alternatives: In standard Serbian syntax, verbs of judgment and designation offer parallel constructions. With сматрати, standard Serbian fully accepts both the bare predicative instrumental (сматрају га одговорним човеком) and the prepositional construction за + accusative (сматрају га за одговорног човека), alongside a subordinate content clause (сматрају да је одговоран човек). Similarly, with verbs of election or designation such as изабрати or поставити, the construction with за + accusative (изабрали су је за председницу) is standard and widely used alongside the bare instrumental. However, introducing the complement with као after сматрати (*сматрати кога као...) is non-standard; као belongs instead with verbs like гледати као or посматрати као.

2. Subject Complements and Passive Constructions
The predicative instrumental also functions as a subject complement in several key environments:

• Passive and reflexive-passive constructions: In journalistic and official styles, this is the most common and productive environment for subject-oriented predicative instrumentals:
  • Проглашен је победником такмичења. (He was declared the winner of the competition.)
  • Именована је директорком установе. (She was appointed director of the institution.)
  • Сматра се стручњаком за међународно право. (He is considered an expert in international law.)
• Verbs of pretense and personal feeling: With reflexive verbs of pretense, personal feeling, or perceived state, the predicative instrumental is natural even in colloquial speech:
  • Прави се будалом / Енглезом. (He plays dumb / He pretends not to understand.)
  • Осећам се победником. (I feel like a winner.)
• Semi-copulas (постати, остати): In everyday standard Serbian, the nominative is the primary, unmarked choice: Постао је лекар. However, the predicative instrumental is still encountered in formal, administrative, and elevated literary registers: Постао је директором, Постала је угледном научницом.

3. Crucial Serbian-Specific Constraints

• No Prepositions: Never insert са / с. The predicative instrumental is strictly bare (prepositionless).
• Adjectives: Evaluation vs. Copulas: Standard Serbian does not allow instrumental adjectives after simple copulas or semi-copulas like бити or постати: say Он је постао богат (nominative), never *Он је постао богатим. However, predicative instrumental adjectives are natural and standard with verbs of evaluation and personal state: Сматрају га одговорним (They consider him responsible), Осећам се усамљеним (I feel lonely).
• Archaic with 'бити': Using the predicative instrumental with the simple copula бити (e.g., био је лекаром) is archaic. Contemporary Serbian uses the nominative: био је лекар.
• Endings: Masculine nouns ending in hard consonants take -ом, while stems ending in soft or palatal consonants take -ем (e.g., лекаром vs. учитељем, крајем).