Addressing Someone

Unlike the grammatical cases that connect verbs, prepositions, and objects, the vocative stands outside the core sentence structure. It is the case of direct address, greeting, and exclamation.

Key Singular Endings:

• Masculine consonant stems taking -е: Many masculine nouns ending in a hard consonant take -е. This triggers palatalization (палатализација): к → ч, г → ж, х → ш, and ц → ч (e.g., човек → човече!, друг → друже!, дух → душе!, отац → оче!). Masculine loanwords and occupational titles ending in -ор regularly take -е (e.g., професор → професоре!, доктор → докторе!, директор → директоре!). Stems with a fleeting а in -ар also take -е (e.g., ветар → ветре!), as do a few specific roots like цар → царе!. Regular common nouns in -з take regular -е without mutation (e.g., мраз → мразе! as in Деда Мразе!, баксуз → баксузе!). An older shift з → ж survives standardly in a few historical nouns (e.g., кнез → кнеже!, витез → витеже!). Foreign names ending in non-velar consonants also regularly take -е (e.g., Давид → Давиде!, Џон → Џоне!, Роберт → Роберте!, Том → Томе!).
• Masculine consonant stems taking -у:
  • Soft stems ending in palatals (ч, ћ, ђ, џ, ж, ш, љ, њ, ј) take -у (e.g., пријатељ → пријатељу!, младић → младићу!, муж → мужу!). For personal names in -ш, doublets exist (e.g., Милош → Милоше! / Милошу!).
  • Stems ending in -р that denote agents or professions (suffixes like -ар, -ир, -ер) frequently accept both -у and -е as standard doublets in literary Serbian (e.g., лекар → лекару! / лекаре!, новинар → новинару! / новинаре!, конобар → конобару! / конобаре!, инжењер → инжењеру! / инжењере!, пастир → пастиру! / пастире!).
  • Nouns where a fleeting а leaves a velar preceded by a dental or palatal take -у to avoid palatalization (e.g., мачак → мачку!, предак → претку! with regular voice assimilation). Foreign names ending in velar consonants (-к, -г, -х) and certain affricates or consonant clusters standardly remain unchanged in the nominative to avoid palatalization (e.g., Џек!, Марк!, Бах!, Ерих!, Франц!), while -у appears only colloquially.
  • Ethnonyms ending in -ез and -уз also take -у (e.g., Француз → Французу!, Енглез → Енглезу!).
• Common nouns ending in -а: Regular common nouns in -а (both feminine and masculine) generally take -о (e.g., жена → жено!, мајка → мајко!, девојка → девојко!, комшија → комшијо!). However, multisyllabic common nouns (three or more syllables) ending in -ица take -е (e.g., учитељица → учитељице!, другарица → другарице!, куварица → куварице!). Two-syllable nouns in -ица keep regular -о (e.g., птица → птицо!, жица → жицо!).
• Feminine consonant stems: Feminine nouns ending in a consonant take -и (e.g., љубав → љубави!).
• Neuter nouns: Always remain identical to the nominative form (e.g., дете!).

Names in Modern Serbian:

• Masculine names ending in -а: Two-syllable masculine names with a long-rising accent standardly take -о (e.g., Пера → Перо!, Божа → Божо!, Миша → Мишо!). By contrast, names with short or falling accents (such as Саша → Саша!, Реља → Реља!, Лука → Лука!) and longer multi-syllable masculine names in -а (such as Никола → Никола!, Немања → Немања!) standardly remain identical to the nominative.
• Female names ending in -а: Two-syllable female names with a long-rising accent regularly take -о (e.g., Нада → Надо!, Маја → Мајо!, Сара → Саро!). Female names with short or falling accents (such as Ана → Ана!, Маша → Маша!) and longer names with three or more syllables (such as Јелена → Јелена!, Марија → Марија!) standardly remain identical to the nominative in contemporary everyday standard Serbian. However, multisyllabic female names ending in -ица take -е (e.g., Милица → Милице!, Даница → Данице!).

Punctuation Rule:
A vocative word or phrase must strictly be set off with commas: Добар дан, господине Јовановићу!