Agreement With Quantity Subjects

In Serbian syntax, слагање са количинским субјектом handles the competition between граматичко слагање (formal grammatical agreement) and слагање по смислу (semantic agreement or synesis).

Because quantifiers govern different forms (paucals 2–4 govern the paucal/genitive singular form, whereas numbers 5 and above govern the genitive plural) or lack standard case morphology, agreement follows precise functional categories:

• Compounds ending in 1 (e.g., двадесет један): Governed strictly by the rightmost digit, as described in compound number agreement. The predicate agrees in the singular with the gender of the noun: Јавио се 21 кандидат.
• Paucal numerals (2, 3, 4) and compounds ending in 2, 3, 4 (e.g., двадесет два, тридесет четири): Linked to counting two to four. In tenses without participle gender marking (such as the present tense), paucal subjects consistently govern 3rd-person plural verb forms: Три човека раде, Двадесет два града леже на реци, Четири жене чекају (singular verb forms are ungrammatical). In compound past tenses (past tense), feminine nouns trigger feminine plural agreement: Три жене су дошле; neuter nouns take neuter plural ending in -ла: Два села су изгорела; masculine nouns formally trigger paucal agreement ending in -ла: Дошла су три коња, Три града су пала, Двадесет три прозора су пукла. For male human persons (personal masculine nouns), semantic masculine plural agreement ending in -ли is also fully standard and very common: Три човека су дошли (alongside Три човека су дошла). However, semantic -ли is strictly restricted to human persons and is ungrammatical for non-human animals or inanimate nouns (*Три коња су дотрчали; *Три града су пали).
• Numerals 5 and above (and compounds ending in 5–0): Governed under five or more with genitive plural. Standard Serbian fully licenses two agreement models:
  1. Formal grammatical neuter singular: in the past tense with је ... -ло (Педесет студената је положило испит, Пет жена је дошло) and in the present tense with 3rd-person singular (Пет људи ради).
  2. Semantic plural agreement: in the past tense agreeing with the natural gender of the noun (Педесет студената су положили испит, Пет жена су дошле) and in the present tense with 3rd-person plural (Пет људи раде). Both patterns are completely standard in contemporary usage; the plural agreement is especially common when emphasizing individual agency or action, while determiners and demonstratives (e.g., Свих десет студената су положили испит, Тих пет година су брзо прошле) further reinforce semantic plural agreement.
• Quantity Adverbs (много, мало, доста, пуно, неколико): Governed under amounts with genitive. For pure adverbs of quantity (много, мало, доста, пуно), prescriptive normative grammar strictly requires neuter singular agreement: Дошло је много људи, Мало студената је положило, Много људи ради. Constructing these adverbs with plural verbs (*Много људи су дошли, *Много људи раде) is common in colloquial speech, but normative grammars explicitly classify it as non-standard. In contrast, неколико stands apart: it standardly licenses both neuter singular (Неколико људи је дошло) and semantic plural (Неколико људи су дошли) across formal registers.
• Collective Numerals (двоје, троје, петоро): Governed under collective numerals. Standardly require neuter singular agreement: Петоро деце је дошло.
• Male Numeral Nouns on -ица (тројица, петорица): Governed under counting male people. Despite their feminine declension suffix, they designate groups of men and license two standard agreement forms: grammatical paucal agreement ending in -ла (Тројица су отишла) or semantic masculine plural agreement ending in -ли (Тројица су отишли). They never take feminine singular agreement (*Тројица је отишла).
• Quantifying Nouns (већина, мањина, део): Formally take singular agreement matching the feminine or masculine head noun (Већина људи је гласала), though semantic agreement in the plural is widespread and well established in public discourse and media (Већина људи су гласали).