мој / твој / наш

Simple Possession

Level 1Sounds Like prisvoǰne zamenice moǰ; tvoǰ; naš

Use мој (my/mine), твој (your/yours), and наш (our/ours) to indicate belonging. In Serbian, the exact same words function both as determiners ('my book') and independent pronouns ('the book is mine').

How It Works

Possessive pronouns denote belonging or kinship to the speaker (1st sg. мој), the listener (2nd sg. informal твој), or a group including the speaker (1st pl. наш).

Key Rules for Use:

  • Agreement with the noun: The form agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun being modified (not with the person of the speaker). At this introductory stage, you will focus on the nominative case. A female speaker says мој брат (masculine noun), while a male speaker says моја сестра (feminine noun).
  • Soft Stem Neuter Ending: Because these stems end in palatal or soft sounds (-ј- in мој- and твој-, -ш- in наш-), the neuter singular ending is -е rather than the regular hard ending -о. Always write моје дете or наше село, never *мојо or *нашо.
  • Plural Forms:
    - Masculine plural ends in -и: моји пријатељи, твоји другови, наши градови
    - Feminine plural ends in -е: моје књиге, твоје оловке, наше сестре
    - Neuter plural ends in -а: моја села, твоја писма, наша поља
  • Attributive and Predicative: The same form is placed before a noun (наша соба – 'our room') or used after the verb бити (Соба је наша – 'The room is ours').
  • Register Distinction: Твој is strictly singular and informal (friends, family, children). For polite address or multiple listeners, Standard Serbian requires ваш / Ваш.

Examples (5)

  1. Ово је мој брат, а ово је моја сестра.

    This is my brother, and this is my sister.

    Word by Word: This is my brother, and this is my sister.

    Shows agreement in the nominative: masculine 'мој брат' versus feminine 'моја сестра'.

  2. Где је твоја кућа?

    Where is your house?

    Word by Word: Where is your house?

    Uses the informal 2nd-person singular 'твоја', agreeing with the feminine noun 'кућа'.

  3. Наш стан је велики, а наше дете је мало.

    Our apartment is big, and our child is small.

    Word by Word: Our apartment is big, and our child is small.

    Shows 'наш' before masculine 'стан' and 'наше' with soft-ending -е before neuter 'дете'.

  4. Ова књига је моја.

    This book is mine.

    Word by Word: This book is mine.

    Demonstrates the predicative function: 'моја' means 'mine' without changing form.

  5. Ко су ваши пријатељи? — То су наши пријатељи.

    Who are your friends? — Those are our friends.

    Word by Word: Who are your friends? That are our friends.

    Illustrates masculine plural agreement ending in -и ('наши пријатељи').

Common Mistakes

  • Matching the pronoun's gender to the speaker instead of the noun possessed.

    Ја сам жена и ово је моја брат.
    Ја сам жена и ово је мој брат.

    In Serbian, possessive pronouns agree entirely with the grammatical gender of the noun possessed (брат is masculine, requiring 'мој'), regardless of the speaker's gender.

  • Using the hard vowel -о instead of the soft vowel -е for neuter nouns.

    То је мојо дете и нашо село.
    То је моје дете и наше село.

    Stems ending in soft consonants like -ј and -ш take -е in the neuter nominative singular, yielding 'моје' and 'наше'.

  • Confusing feminine plural -е with neuter plural -а endings.

    Ово су моја књиге.
    Ово су моје књиге.

    Feminine nouns in the nominative plural end in -е (књиге), so the possessive pronoun must also take -е: 'моје књиге'.

How It Connects

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

мој / твој / нашLevel 1Simple Possession

Learn This First

To use possessive pronouns correctly, you need to understand which grammatical person they refer to (via subject pronouns) and how to match their endings to the gender of the noun being possessed.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

мојмојтвојтвојнаш