сваки / неки / други

Each Some and Another

Level 2Sounds Like svaki; neki; drugi

Use сваки (each/every) for individual items in a group, неки (some/a certain) for unspecified people or things, and други (other/another/second) for alternatives or contrasts. All three behave like adjectives and must match their noun in gender, number, and case.

How It Works

1. Syntactic Role and Agreement

The words сваки, неки, and други precede nouns and agree with them in gender, number, and case via adjective agreement:

  • Сваки дан учим српски. (Every day I study Serbian.)
  • Нека жена пита за тебе. (A certain woman is asking for you.)
  • Имате ли другу књигу? (Do you have another / a different book?)

Like all adjectives modifying masculine nouns, they observe the animacy rule in the accusative singular: inanimate nouns keep the nominative form (Видим сваки град), while animate nouns take the genitive ending -ог(а) (Видим сваког студента).

2. Distributive vs. Collective: сваки vs. сви

Learners often confuse сваки with сви:

  • сваки is distributive and focuses on one member at a time. It normally requires a singular noun and verb: Сваки студент учи ("Each student studies").
  • сви is collective and requires a plural noun and verb: Сви студенти уче ("All students study").

Note: While сваки modifies singular nouns in standard distributive contexts, its plural forms appear naturally in specific environments: with plural-only nouns (pluralia tantum) such as свака врата ("every door") or свака кола ("every car"); in recurring interval expressions with cardinal numbers, especially in the genitive plural (сваких пет минута — "every five minutes", сваких десет дана — "every ten days"); and in certain formal or categorical expressions (одбити сваке преговоре — "to reject any negotiations").

3. Determiners vs. Substantive Pronouns

Do not confuse the adjectival determiners неки and сваки with the stand-alone pronouns неко (someone) and свако (everyone):

  • неко and свако replace an entire person/noun. They cannot directly modify a noun (*неко човек is ungrammatical).
  • The neuter adjectival forms look similar (неко дете = "some/a child", свако јутро = "every morning"), but they are modifying neuter nouns, not standing alone as people.

4. "Another" in Serbian: други vs. још један

English uses "another" in two distinct senses, which Serbian separates sharply:

  • други = "a different one" / "an alternative" (Дај ми другу шољу, ова је прљава — "Give me another cup, this one is dirty").
  • још један = "one more" / "an additional one" (Дај ми још једну кафу — "Give me another cup of coffee").

5. Useful Combinations

These words frequently combine:

  • сваки други: "every other" or "every second" (e.g., сваки други дан = "every other day").
  • неки други: "some other" or "a different" (e.g., неки други пут = "some other time").

Examples (5)

  1. Сваки дан учим српски језик.

    I study the Serbian language every day.

    Word by Word: Every day I-study Serbian language.

    Сваки is masculine singular nominative/accusative inanimate, modifying the singular noun дан.

  2. Неки људи воле зиму, а други више воле лето.

    Some people like winter, while others prefer summer.

    Word by Word: Some people like winter, but others more like summer.

    Неки modifies the plural noun људи, while други stands alone as an elliptical pronoun representing 'other people'.

  3. Можемо ли да разговарамо о томе неки други пут?

    Can we talk about that some other time?

    Word by Word: Can-we Q that we-talk about that some other time?

    The combination неки други creates the indefinite alternative 'some other'.

  4. Познајем сваког студента у овој групи.

    I know every student in this group.

    Word by Word: I-know every student in this group.

    Because студент is masculine animate, сваки takes the genitive-accusative ending -ог(а).

  5. Ова оловка не ради, имаш ли неку другу?

    This pencil doesn't work, do you have another one?

    Word by Word: This pencil not works, have-you Q some other?

    Feminine singular accusative forms неку другу used elliptically for 'some other pencil'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a plural noun with сваки to mean 'every day'.

    Учим сваки дани.
    Учим сваки дан.

    Сваки is strictly distributive and requires a singular noun (сваки дан), unlike English 'all days' or Serbian collective сви дани.

  • Using the pronoun неко instead of the determiner неки before a noun.

    Неко човек те чека напољу.
    Неки човек те чека напољу.

    Неко is an independent noun-pronoun ('someone'). To modify a masculine noun like човек ('a certain man'), you must use the adjectival determiner неки.

  • Using "друго" to mean "one more".

    Different MeaningКонобар, може ли друго пиво?
    Конобар, може ли још једно пиво?

    "Може ли друго пиво?" is correct, but it asks for a different beer. To order one more of the same drink, use "још једно".

How It Connects

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сваки / неки / другиLevel 2Each Some and Another

Learn This First

To use indefinite and distributive determiners like 'сваки', 'неки', and 'други', you need to know how noun genders work and how adjective endings match the noun in gender, number, and case.

Words in This Pattern

свакинекидруги