ко год / шта год / који год

Whoever and Whatever

Level 4Sounds Like ko god; šta god; koǰi god

To say 'whoever', 'whatever', or 'whichever' in Serbian, append the invariant particle год as a separate word after a question pronoun or determiner: ко год ('whoever'), шта год ('whatever'), који год ('whichever'). In modern speech, they are frequently followed by да.

How It Works

Universal relative pronouns and determiners express complete indifference or unconditional inclusion ('it does not matter who/which/what'):

1. Forms and Meanings
• ко год = whoever, anyone who
• шта год (or што год) = whatever, anything that
• који год = whichever, whatever (declines for gender/number/case like regular који)
• Related relatives: какав год ('whatever kind of'), чији год ('whoever's'), колико год ('no matter how much').

2. The Role of 'да'
In contemporary standard Serbian, inserting да immediately after the phrase is extremely frequent: Ко год да дође... ('Whoever comes...'). Both variants—with or without да—are correct, though formal literary prose often uses the bare verb.

3. Case Matching and Resolving Conflicts
When using ко год in headless (free) relative clauses, standard Serbian requires case matching between the subordinate clause and the main clause. For instance, in Позови кога год желиш ('Invite whomever you want'), the form кога год simultaneously satisfies the accusative direct object requirement of both verbs (позови and желиш).

When the main clause and subordinate clause demand different cases (e.g., the main clause needs a dative recipient, but the relative clause needs a nominative subject), pairing a demonstrative directly with год (such as ономе ко год) is avoided in standard Serbian style because it is considered redundant. While occasionally heard in colloquial speech, standard Serbian resolves these structural case mismatches in two authentic ways:
• Fronting with a resumptive clitic pronoun: Ко год закуца, отворићемо му врата. ('Whoever knocks, we will open the door to him').
• Using the standard correlative construction: use онај ко (or свако ко) without год: Отворићемо врата ономе ко закуца.

4. Prepositions and Clitic Placement
• Preposition placement: Prepositions precede the pronoun, while год follows: [Preposition + Pronoun + год] (e.g., са ким год 'with whomever', у коју год 'into whichever', о чему год 'about whatever').
• Clitic placement: In contemporary standard Serbian, ко/шта/који + год forms a single, tightly bound syntactic constituent (clitic unit) and is not split. Unstressed pronominal and auxiliary clitics therefore follow the entire unit (or follow да if present): Шта год му кажеш... ('Whatever you tell him...'), С ким год се сретнеш... ('Whomever you meet...'), or Ко год да му се јави... ('Whoever reaches out to him...'). Intervening clitics between the pronoun and год are archaic and avoided in modern standard usage.

Examples (5)

  1. Ко год да позове, реци да сам на састанку.

    Whoever calls, say that I am in a meeting.

    Word by Word: Whoever that calls, say that am on meeting.

    Demonstrates the common modern construction with concessive 'да' followed by the present tense.

  2. Шта год одлучиш, ми ћемо те подржати.

    Whatever you decide, we will support you.

    Word by Word: Whatever decide, we will you support.

    'Шта год' acts as the accusative direct object of the subordinate verb 'одлучиш'.

  3. Можеш узети коју год књигу желиш.

    You can take whichever book you want.

    Word by Word: Can take whichever book want.

    'Коју год' acts as an adjectival relative determiner agreeing in feminine accusative singular with 'књигу'.

  4. Ко год да отвори врата, предај му лично ово писмо.

    Whoever opens the door, hand him this letter in person.

    Word by Word: Whoever that opens door, hand him personally this letter.

    When case requirements between the clauses conflict (nominative subject vs. dative recipient), fronting the free relative clause and supplying a resumptive clitic pronoun ('му') in the main clause is the standard natural solution.

  5. Са ким год да одеш, јави ми се касније.

    Whoever you go with, contact me later.

    Word by Word: With whom ever that go, inform me reflexive later.

    Illustrates correct preposition placement: the preposition precedes the inflected pronoun, followed by 'год'.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing the relative phrase as one fused word (*когод, *штагод).

    Когод да дође, биће добродошао.
    Ко год да дође, биће добродошао.

    In modern orthography, 'ко год' and 'шта год' meaning 'whoever' or 'whatever' must be written separately. The single compound 'когод' has different accentuation and means indefinite 'someone' (неко).

  • Inserting a preposition inside the pronoun phrase like negative pronouns (ни са ким).

    Разговарао сам са ко год сам срео.
    Разговарао сам са ким год сам срео.

    The preposition sits in front of the pronoun ('са ким год'), and the pronoun must decline appropriately into the required case (instrumental 'ким' after 'са'). Never leave the pronoun in nominative 'ко'.

  • Matching the pronoun's case to the main clause rather than its dependent clause.

    Позови ко год хоћеш.
    Позови кога год хоћеш.

    Inside the relative clause 'хоћеш [некога]', the pronoun is a direct object, so it must decline to the accusative 'кога год'.

How It Connects

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

ко год / шта год / који годLevel 4Whoever and Whatever

Learn This First

The pattern 'ко год; шта год; који год' forms unrestricted relative clauses ('whoever', 'whatever', 'whichever'). To use it correctly, learners need to know relative clause formation, the case declension of interrogative/relative pronouns based on internal clause roles, and the concept of free-choice pronouns.

Words in This Pattern

годкоштакоји