некога / нечега / некоме

Declining Indefinite Pronouns

Level 3Sounds Like nekoga; nečega; nekome

The indefinite pronouns неко (someone) and нешто (something) decline across cases to express unspecified people and things. Key forms include некога (genitive/accusative: someone), некоме (dative/locative: to/about someone), and нечега (genitive: of something).

How It Works

When discussing someone or something whose identity is indefinite, unknown, or withheld, Serbian uses the noun-pronouns неко and нешто. When these pronouns take on oblique case functions in a sentence, their endings inflect predictably based on their question-word roots: ко and шта / што.

1. Forms for 'неко' (animate indefinite pronoun):
• Генитив: неког(а) – Плашим се некога. (I am afraid of someone.)
• Датив: некоме / неком – Послао сам некоме поруку. (I sent a message to someone.)
• Акузатив: неког(а) – Видим некога. (I see someone.)
• Инструментал: неким – Разговарам са неким. (I am talking with someone.)
• Локатив: некоме / неком – Причају о некоме. (They are talking about someone.)

2. Forms for 'нешто' (inanimate pronoun):
• Генитив: нечег(а) – Сетио сам се нечега. (I remembered something.)
• Датив: нечему – Тежим нечему бољем. (I strive toward something better.)
• Акузатив: нешто – Тражим нешто. (I am looking for something.)
• Инструментал: нечим – Пишем нечим оштрим. (I am writing with something sharp.)
• Локатив: нечему / нечем – Размишљам о нечему. (I am thinking about something.)

Critical Syntax Rules:
• No Preposition Splitting: Unlike negative compounds (ни са ким), prepositions never split indefinite pronouns: always од некога, са неким, од нечега, never не од кога.
• Pronoun vs. Adjective: Do not confuse the noun-pronoun неко (which stands alone) with the adjectival pronoun неки (which modifies a noun: неки човек).

Examples (4)

  1. Мораш некоме поверити своју тајну.

    You must entrust your secret to someone.

    Word by Word: You-must to-someone entrust own secret.

    Shows 'некоме' functioning as a dative recipient complement.

  2. Уплашио се нечега у мраку.

    He got scared of something in the dark.

    Word by Word: He-got-scared self of-something in dark.

    Demonstrates 'нечега' as a genitive object governed by the reflexive verb 'уплашити се'.

  3. Добио сам поруку од некога из школе.

    I received a message from someone from school.

    Word by Word: Received am message from someone from school.

    Illustrates that the preposition 'од' directly precedes the full compound 'некога' without splitting it.

  4. Јуче сам видео некога испред куће.

    Yesterday I saw someone in front of the house.

    Word by Word: Yesterday am seen someone in-front-of house.

    Shows 'некога' serving as an animate accusative direct object.

Common Mistakes

  • Splitting the indefinite pronoun with a preposition (e.g. *не од кога).

    Чуо сам то не од кога другог.
    Чуо сам то од некога другог.

    Only negative pronouns (like 'ни од кога') split around prepositions. Indefinite 'не-' pronouns keep the preposition in front: 'од некога'.

  • Failing to use the palatalized stem 'нече-' for oblique cases of 'нешто'.

    Бојим се од нештага.
    Бојим се нечега.

    The oblique forms of 'нешто' derive from 'шта/што' with a stem shift to 'нече-' ('нечега', 'нечему', 'нечим'). Forms like *нештага do not exist.

  • Using the noun-pronoun 'неко' as an adjective before a noun.

    У соби је био неко човек.
    У соби је био неки човек.

    'Неко' is an independent noun-pronoun ('someone'). To modify a noun as an adjective ('some man'), use 'неки'.

How It Connects

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

некога / нечега / некомеLevel 3Declining Indefinite Pronouns

Learn This First

To decline indefinite pronouns like 'неко' and 'нешто' into forms such as 'некога', 'нечега', and 'некоме', you first need to be familiar with the base pronouns themselves and the oblique case forms of the interrogatives 'ко' and 'шта', as indefinite pronouns take the prefix 'не-' followed by the same case endings.

Words in This Pattern

неконешто