-а (мушки род)

Masculine Nouns Ending in a

Level 2Sounds Like muške imenice na -a

In Serbian, some nouns ending in -а refer to male persons (e.g., колега, судија, тата, Никола). They decline exactly like feminine -а nouns (e.g., жена), but adjectives and verbs in the singular agree in the masculine gender.

How It Works

While most masculine nouns end in a consonant, Serbian features a notable group of masculine nouns that end in -а in the nominative singular. These nouns primarily denote male family members (тата, деда, ујка), male professions and roles (колега, судија, војвода), and common male personal names (Никола, Лука, Пера).

1. Declension Pattern:
Morphologically, these words decline like regular nouns ending in -а (classified in Serbian grammars as the Second Declension / II именичка врста / е-врста, based on the genitive singular ending -е):

  • Nominativ: колег-а (sg.) / колег-е (pl.)
  • Genitiv: колег-е (sg.) / колег-а̄ (pl.) (Note: a few nouns like слуга retain the archaic standard dual ending слу̀гӯ alongside the regularized form слу́га̄)
  • Dativ/Lokativ: колег-и (sg.) / колег-ама (pl.)
  • Akuzativ: колег-у (sg.) / колег-е (pl.)
  • Vokativ: колег-о (sg.) / колег-е (pl.). In standard Serbian, common nouns, titles, and professions ending in -а regularly take the ending -о (e.g., колего!, судијо!, војводо!), while keeping -а is colloquial. Conversely, standard Serbian regularly retains -а for kinship terms and hypocoristics (тата!, деда!, ујка!). Personal names ending in -ица and hypocoristics take -е (Перице!, татице!). Disyllabic personal names with a long-rising accent take -о with an accent shift to long-falling (e.g., Пе́ра → Пе̂ро!, Ми́ша → Ми̂шо!), whereas disyllabic names with falling accents (Лука!) and polysyllabic names (Никола!, Немања!) regularly maintain -а.
  • Instrumental: колег-ом (sg.) / колег-ама (pl.)

2. Singular Agreement (Masculine):
Even though the noun itself takes -а declension endings, modifying adjectives, demonstrative pronouns, and past-tense active participles must be masculine in the singular:
• Мој добри колега је стигао. ("My good colleague has arrived."; not: *Моја добра колега...)
• Упознао сам твог познатог колегу. ("I met your famous colleague." Modifiers take masculine animate accusative endings, e.g., -ог, while the noun takes -у).

3. Plural Agreement:
In standard contemporary Serbian, plural forms of these nouns most commonly trigger feminine plural agreement on modifying adjectives and verbs, matching their morphological plural ending -е (grammatical agreement / слагање по облику):
• Наше колеге су дошле. ("Our colleagues have arrived.")
• Праведне судије су донеле одлуку. ("The just judges made a decision.")
However, semantic masculine plural agreement according to natural gender (слагање по смислу / значењу) is also fully acceptable in standard Serbian, especially with past verb forms:
• Наше колеге су дошли. ("Our colleagues have arrived.")

4. Possessive Adjectives:
Unlike masculine consonant nouns which take -ов/-ев, masculine nouns ending in -а form possessive adjectives with the suffix -ин, following their declension class: Никола → Николин, колега → колегин, тата → татин.

5. Phonological Details (Sibilarization):
Unlike regular feminine nouns (e.g., књига → књизи), male given names (Лука → Луки), hypocoristics (дека → деки, ујка → ујки), and modern loanwords (колега → колеги) resist sibilarization in the Dative/Locative singular to keep the base form clear. Traditional nouns like владика obligatorily undergo it (владици), while nouns like слуга allow doublets (слузи / слуги).

Examples (4)

  1. Мој нови колега је јуче успешно завршио посао.

    My new colleague successfully finished the job yesterday.

    Word by Word: My new colleague is yesterday successfully finished job.

    Notice the masculine singular adjective 'нови' and masculine past participle 'завршио' agreeing with 'колега'.

  2. Јуче сам упознао твог познатог судију.

    Yesterday I met your well-known judge.

    Word by Word: Yesterday am met your well-known judge.

    The adjectives 'твог' and 'познатог' take the masculine animate accusative ending (-ог), while the noun 'судија' takes the -a declension accusative ending (-у).

  3. Све наше колеге су стигле на састанак.

    All our colleagues arrived at the meeting.

    Word by Word: All our colleagues are arrived at meeting.

    In standard Serbian, the plural noun 'колеге' governs feminine plural agreement: 'све наше' and 'стигле'.

  4. Послао сам поруку мом ујки.

    I sent a message to my maternal uncle.

    Word by Word: Sent am message my uncle.

    In the dative singular, 'мој' becomes masculine 'мом', and 'ујка' becomes 'ујки' without consonant mutation (sibilarization).

Common Mistakes

  • Using feminine adjectives or verb forms with these nouns in the singular.

    Ова добра колега је дошла.
    Овај добри колега је дошао.

    Because the noun ends in -a, learners often mistakenly treat it as feminine in the singular. Modifiers and past verbs must be masculine.

  • Applying consonant-stem masculine declension endings directly to the noun.

    Видео сам мог колега.
    Видео сам мог колегу.

    Masculine nouns ending in -a decline like 'жена'. In the accusative singular, the noun takes -у (колегу), not a consonant-stem form.

  • Forming an irregular masculine plural ending in -и.

    Дошли су моји добри колеги.
    Дошле су моје добре колеге.

    The nominative plural follows the -a declension, taking the ending -е (колеге) and triggering feminine plural agreement in standard Serbian.

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-а (мушки род)Level 2Masculine Nouns Ending in a

Learn This First

To learn masculine nouns ending in -a (like 'колега' or 'судија'), you must understand noun genders, know the regular -a declension paradigm (typically feminine), and understand how adjective agreement functions so you can apply masculine modifiers to these nouns.

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