Adjectives With Case Complements
Just as verbs take specific direct or indirect objects, certain Serbian adjectives govern obligatory or typical noun complements in a particular oblique case without a preposition: пун + bare Genitive (full of), сличан + bare Dative (similar to), and задовољан + bare Instrumental (satisfied with).
How It Works
In Serbian, adjective government (допуна придева / рекција придева) is a key feature of syntax. While adjectives typically agree in gender, number, and case with the head noun they modify, the complement governed by the adjective does not agree with anything—it takes a strictly mandated oblique case.
1. Core Adjectives and Their Governed Cases:
- Пун + bare Genitive: Expresses fullness, abundance, or content. Unlike English ('full of') or French ('plein de'), standard Serbian uses the bare Genitive without any preposition: пун наде (full of hope), пун воде (full of water).
- Сличан + bare Dative: Expresses comparison or resemblance: сличан оцу (similar to father), сличан оригиналу (similar to the original). No preposition like на or са is used.
- Задовољан + bare Instrumental: Expresses satisfaction, content, or pride in an outcome: задовољан резултатом (satisfied with the result). Standard Serbian strictly avoids using the preposition са here.
- Достојан + bare Genitive: Expresses worthiness: достојан поштовања (worthy of respect).
- Веран + bare Dative: Expresses loyalty or fidelity: веран пријатељима (faithful to friends).
- Богат + bare Instrumental: Expresses richness in resources: богат минералима (rich in minerals).
2. Syntactic Position:
These adjectives can appear either as predicative adjectives following present forms of the copula (Он је задовољан послом) or attributively inside a larger noun phrase (човек задовољан послом). The complement normally follows the adjective directly.
3. Distinction from Prepositional Complements:
A common pitfall is calquing from foreign languages (such as English 'with' or German 'mit') and adding prepositions like са to задовољан, or од to пун. In standard Serbian, the bare case alone expresses these relations.
Examples (4)
- Његове очи биле су пуне суза.
His eyes were full of tears.
Word by Word: His eyes were full of-tears.
The adjective 'пуне' governs the noun 'суза' in the bare Genitive plural to denote content.
- Овај нови модел је врло сличан претходном.
This new model is very similar to the previous one.
Word by Word: This new model is very similar to-previous.
The adjective 'сличан' requires its standard of comparison in the bare Dative singular ('претходном').
- Професор је био веома задовољан нашим одговорима.
The professor was very pleased with our answers.
Word by Word: Professor was very satisfied with-our answers.
The adjective 'задовољан' governs 'нашим одговорима' in the bare Instrumental plural without the preposition 'са'.
- Овај регион је веома богат природним изворима.
This region is very rich in natural springs.
Word by Word: This region is very rich natural springs.
The adjective 'богат' takes a bare Instrumental complement ('природним изворима') to indicate what it is rich in.
Common Mistakes
Adding the preposition 'са' after 'задовољан'.
Задовољан сам са новим послом.Задовољан сам новим послом.Standard Serbian requires the bare Instrumental to express the sphere or cause of satisfaction. The preposition 'са' expresses accompaniment or sociative meanings, not the complement of 'задовољан'.
Adding 'од' after 'пун' by translating English 'full of' literally.
Аутобус је био пун од путника.Аутобус је био пун путника.The adjective 'пун' governs a bare Genitive complement to indicate contents. The prepositional phrase 'од + Genitive' is reserved for causes (e.g., 'уморан од пута'), not fullness.
Using 'на + Accusative' instead of bare Dative after 'сличан'.
Он је врло сличан на свог брата.Он је врло сличан свом брату.Resemblance with 'сличан' is expressed by the bare Dative case in Serbian, not a prepositional phrase.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To learn adjectives with case complements (such as 'пун наде', 'сличан оцу', or 'задовољан резултатом'), learners need a solid grasp of how adjectives are used predicatively and how nominal cases mark semantic and syntactic arguments in Serbian.
- Adjectives After Be
Understanding how adjectives function predicatively after the verb 'to be' provides the base clause structure for adjectives taking complements.
Level 1 - Case Roles in a Sentence
Grasping the functional roles and inflectional forms of the various cases is necessary to understand how specific adjectives govern specific case complements (e.g., genitive, dative, or instrumental).
Level 3
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
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