Serbo-Croatian is a South Slavic language that, like most other Slavic languages, has an extensive system of inflection. This article describes exclusively the grammar of the Shtokavian dialect, which is a part of the South Slavic dialect continuum and the basis for the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian standard variants of Serbo-Croatian. "An examination of all the major 'levels' of language shows that BCS is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system."
Pronouns, nouns, adjectives and some numerals decline (change the word ending to reflect case, the grammatical category and function) whereas verbs conjugate for person and tense. As in other Slavic languages, the basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO), but the declensions show sentence structure and so word order is not as important as in more analytic languages, such as English or Chinese. Deviations from the standard SVO order are stylistically marked and may be employed to convey a particular emphasis, mood or overall tone, according to the intentions of the speaker or writer. Often, such deviations will sound literary, poetical or archaic.
Nouns have three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) that correspond, to a certain extent, with the word ending. Accordingly, most nouns with -a are feminine, -o and -e neuter, and the rest mostly masculine but with some feminine. The grammatical gender of a noun affects the morphology of other parts of speech (adjectives, pronouns, and verbs) attached to it. Nouns are declined into seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative, and instrumental, albeit with considerable syncretism (overlap) especially in the plural.
Verbs are divided into two broad classes according to their aspect, which can be either perfective (signifying a completed action) or imperfective (action is incomplete or repetitive). There are seven tenses, four of which (present, perfect, future I and II) are used in contemporary Serbo-Croatian, and the other three (aorist, imperfect and pluperfect) used much less frequently. The pluperfect is generally limited to written language and some more educated speakers, and the aorist and imperfect are considered stylistically marked and rather archaic. However, some nonstandard dialects make considerable (and thus unmarked) use of those tenses. Aorist and pluperfect are typically more used in villages and small towns of Serbia than in standard language, even in villages close to the Serbian capital Belgrade. In some parts of Serbia, the aorist can even be the most common past tense.Nevski, Aco. "Past Tenses in Serbian Language, and modern trends of their use" Belgrade, February 2019. Retrieved on April 07 2019.
All Serbo-Croatian lexemes in this article are spelled in accented form in the Latin alphabet as well as in Ijekavian and Ekavian (with Ijekavian bracketed) when these differ. See Serbo-Croatian phonology.
Nouns Serbo-Croatian makes a distinction between three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative, instrumental), and two numbers (singular and plural).
The dative and locative cases mostly coincide; however, in some nouns they have a different pitch accent: grȃd — grȃdu — grádu, stvȃr — stvȃri — stvári.
Declension
Serbo-Croatian has three main declensional types, traditionally called a-type, e-type and i-type respectively, according to their genitive singular ending.
a-type nouns This type reflects Proto-Slavic o-stems, and is characterized by the endings (-o), (-e), or zero (-Ø) in the nominative singular, and (-a) in genitive singular. It includes most of the masculine and all of the neuter nouns.
The category of animacy is important for choosing of accusative singular of o-stems, and of personal pronouns. Animate nouns have the accusative case like the genitive, and inanimate nouns have the accusative case like the nominative. This is also important for adjectives and numerals that agree with masculine nouns in case.
This type has two sets of case endings: one for masculine, and the other for neuter gender:
Case Singular Plural masculine neuter masculine neuter Nominative (N) -Ø, -o, -e -o, -e, -Ø -i, -ov-i, -ev-i -a Genitive (G) -a -a -ā, -ōv-ā, -ēv-ā -ā Dative (D) -u -u -ima, -ov-ima, -ev-ima -ima Accusative (A) =N or G =N -e, -ov-e, -ev-e =N Vocative (V) -e, -u, or =N =N =N =N Locative (L) =D =D =D =D Instrumental (I) -om, -em -om, -em =D =D
The zero ending -Ø is for masculine nouns that end in a consonant in the nominative singular. Most masculine monosyllabic and some bisyllabic words receive an additional suffix -ov- or -ev- throughout the plural (bor – borovi 'pine', panj – panjevi 'stump').
The choice of -o- and -e- endings in the nominative, vocative and instrumental singular, as well as the plural suffix -ov-/-ev-, is governed by the stem-final consonant: if it is a "soft" (chiefly palatal consonant – c, č, ć, đ, j, lj, nj, š, ž, št, and sometimes r), -e- endings are used, and -o endings otherwise; however, there are exceptions.
Some loanwords, chiefly of French origin, preserve the ending vowel (-e, -i, -o, -u) as part of the stem; those ending in -i receive an additional epenthetic -j- suffix in oblique cases: kàfē – kafèi 'café', pànō – panòi 'billboard', kànū – kanùi 'canoe', tàksi – taksiji 'taxi'. They are always of masculine gender; loanwords ending in -a are typically of the e-declension class (feminine); neuter nouns are basically a closed class.
Masculine nouns Masculine nouns belonging to this declension class are those that are not hypocorisms, and do not end in -a, which undergo e-type declension.
According to the nominative singular forms they are divided in two classes: nouns having the zero ending -Ø in nominative singular (twelve declensional patterns) nouns having the ending -o or -e in nominative singular (two declensional patterns)
Pattern 1 – Nouns without "disappearing a" Case Singular Plural N ìzvor ìzvor-i G ìzvor-a ȉzvōr-ā D ìzvor-u ìzvor-ima A ìzvor ìzvor-e V ìzvor-e ìzvor-i L ìzvor-u ìzvor-ima I ìzvor-om ìzvor-ima
Pattern 2 – Nouns with "disappearing a" Case Singular Plural N nȍk-a-t nȍkt-i G nȍkt-a nȍk-ā-t-ā D nȍkt-u nȍkt-ima A nȍk-a-t nȍkt-e V nȍkt-e nȍkt-i L nòkt-u nȍkt-ima I nȍkt-om nȍkt-ima
Pattern 3 – Nouns ending in -in Case Singular Plural N grȁđan-in grȁđan-i G grȁđan-in-a grȁđān-ā̄ D grȁđan-in-u grȁđan-ima A grȁđan-in-a grȁđan-e V grȁđan-in-e grȁđan-i L grȁđan-in-u grȁđan-ima I grȁđan-in-om grȁđan-ima
Pattern 4 Nouns ending in -k Nouns ending in -g Nouns ending in -h Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural N vòjnīk vojníc-i bùbreg bùbrez-i tr̀buh tr̀bus-i G vojník-a vojník-ā̄ bùbreg-a bȕbrēg-ā̄ tr̀buh-a tȑbūh-ā̄ D vojník-u vojníc-ima bùbreg-u bùbrez-ima tr̀buh-u tr̀bus-ima A vojník-a vojník-e bùbreg-a bùbreg-e tr̀buh-a tr̀buh-e V vȍjnīč-e vojníc-i bùbrež-e bùbrez-i tr̀buš-e tr̀bus-i L vojník-u vojníc-ima bùbreg-u bùbrez-ima tr̀buh-u tr̀bus-ima I vojník-om vojníc-ima bùbreg-om bùbrez-ima tr̀buh-om tr̀bus-ima
Pattern 5 – Nouns ending in -(a)k Case Singular Plural N čvór-a-k čvórc-i G čvórk-a čvȏr-ā-k-ā̄ D čvórk-u čvórc-ima A čvórk-a čvórk-e V čvȏrč-e čvórc-i L čvórk-u čvórc-ima I čvórk-om čvórc-ima
Pattern 6 – Nouns ending in a palatal Case Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural N pȃnj pánj-ev-i sȗž-a-nj sȗžnj-i prȋšt príšt-ev-i G pánj-a pánj-ēv-ā̄ sȗžnj-a sȗž-ā-nj-ā̄ príšt-a príšt-ēv-ā̄ D pánj-u pánj-ev-ima sȗžnj-u sȗžnj-ima príšt-u príšt-ev-ima A pȃnj pánj-ev-e sȗž-a-nj sȗžnj-e prȋšt príšt-ev-e V pȃnj-u pánj-ev-i sȗžnj-u sȗžnj-i prȋšt-u príšt-ev-i L pánj-u pánj-ev-ima sȗžnj-u sȗžnj-ima príšt-u príšt-ev-ima I pánj-em pánj-ev-ima sȗžnj-em sȗžnj-ima príšt-em príšt-ev-ima
Pattern 7 – Nouns ending in -c Case Singular Plural Singular Plural N strȋc stríč-ev-i klȉn-a-c klȋnc-i G stríc-a stríč-ēv-ā̄ klȋnc-a klȉn-ā-c-ā D stríc-u stríč-ev-ima klȋnc-u klȋnc-ima A stríc-a stríč-ev-e klȉn-a-c klȋnc-e V strȋč-e stríč-ev-i klȋnč-e klȋnc-i L stríc-u stríč-ev-ima klȋnc-u klȋnc-ima I stríc-em stríč-ev-ima klȋnc-em klȋnc-ima
Pattern 8 – Nouns ending in -lac Case Singular Plural N posjètil-a-c posjètioc-i G posjètioc-a posjètil-ā-c-ā̄ D posjètioc-u posjètioc-ima A posjètioc-a posjètioc-e V posjètioč-e posjètioc-i L posjètioc-u posjètioc-ima I posjètioc-em posjètioc-ima
Pattern 9 – Nouns ending in -o Case Singular Plural Singular Plural N pȅpeo pȅpel-i ȕgao ȕgl-ov-i G pȅpel-a pȅpēl-ā ȕgl-a ȕgl-ov-ā̄ D pȅpel-u pȅpel-ima ȕgl-u ȕgl-ov-ima A pȅpeo pȅpel-e ȕg-a-o ȕgl-ov-e V pȅpel-e pȅpel-i ȕgl-e ȕgl-ov-i L pȅpel-u pȅpel-ima ȕgl-u ȕgl-ov-ima I pȅpel-om pȅpel-ima ȕgl-om ȕgl-ov-ima
Pattern 10 – The noun čȍv(j)ek Case Singular Plural N čȍv(j)ek ljȗd-i G čȍv(j)ek-a ljúd-ī D čȍv(j)ek-u ljúd-ima A čȍv(j)ek-a ljȗd-e V čȍv(j)eč-e ljȗd-i L čȍv(j)ek-u ljúd-ima I čȍv(j)ek-om ljúd-ima
Masculine nouns ending in -o or -e present a special case. They generally comprise personal names, hypocorisms and certain foreign-language borrowings.
Pattern 11 – Nouns in -ē or -o Case Singular Plural N bìfē bifè-i G bifè-a bifé-ā D bifè-u bifè-ima A bìfē bifè-e V bȉfe-u bifè-i L bifè-u bifè-ima I bifè-om bifè-ima
Pattern 12 – Nouns ending in -i Case Singular Plural Singular Plural N žìrī žirìj-i tàksi tàksij-i G žirìj-a žiríj-ā tàksij-a tàksij-ā D žirìj-u žirìj-ima tàksij-u tàksij-ima A žìrī žirìj-e tàksi tàksij-e V žȉrij-u žirìj-i tàksij-u tàksij-i L žirìj-u žirìj-ima tàksij-u tàksij-ima I žirìj-em žirìj-ima tàksij-em tàksij-ima
Pattern 13 – Personal names Case Non-palatal paradigm Palatal paradigm N Dànil-o Hȑvoj-e G Dànil-a Hȑvoj-a D Dànil-u Hȑvoj-u A Dànil-a Hȑvoj-a V Dànil-o Hȑvoj-e L Dànil-u Hȑvoj-u I Dànil-om Hȑvoj-em
Pattern 14 – Hypocorisms ending in -ko Case Non-palatal paradigm Palatal paradigm N raščupànk-o raščupànc-i G raščupànk-a raščupán-ā-k-ā D raščupànk-u raščupànc-ima A raščupànk-a raščupànk-e V rȁščupank-o raščupànc-i L raščupànk-u raščupànc-ima I raščupànk-om raščupànc-ima
Neuter nouns Neuter nouns end in -o, -e and -∅.
Neuter nouns ending in -o The final o is always a suffix. Nouns which have at least two consonants (except st and zd) before the final o have disappearing a in genitive plural.
Pattern 1 – Parisyllabic nouns without disappearing a Case Singular Plural N kòl(j)en-o kòl(j)en-a G kòl(j)en-a kȍl(j)ēn-ā D kòl(j)en-u kòl(j)en-ima A kòl(j)en-o kòl(j)en-a V kòl(j)en-o kòl(j)en-a L kòl(j)en-u kòl(j)en-ima I kòl(j)en-om kòl(j)en-ima
Pattern 2 – Parisyllabic nouns with disappearing a Case Singular Plural N jȅdr-o/jèdr-o jèdr-a G jȅdr-a jȅd-ā-r-ā D jȅdr-u jèdr-ima A jȅdr-o jèdr-a V jȅdr-o jèdr-a L jȅdr-u jèdr-ima I jȅdr-om jèdr-ima
The noun dȑvo can mean 'wood', in which case it is declined as above (without disappearing a); and 'tree', where it can be declined either as above (without disappearing a) or as an imparisyllabic form below:
Pattern 3 Case Singular Plural N dȑv-o drv-èt-a G dȑv-et-a drv-èt-ā D dȑv-et-u drv-èt-ima A dȑv-o drv-èt-a V dȑv-o drv-èt-a L dȑv-et-u drv-èt-ima I dȑv-et-om drv-èt-ima
When the nouns ȍko and ȕho mean 'eye' and 'ear', except after a number ending with two-to-four, their plurals are feminine; their plurals are neuter otherwise.
Pattern 4 – Feminine plural Case Plural N ȍč-i G òč-ijū D òč-ima A ȍč-i V ȍč-i L òč-ima I òč-ima
Pattern 4 – Neuter plural Case Plural N ȍk-a G ôk-ā D òč-ima A ȍk-a V ȍk-a L òč-ima I òč-ima
Nouns čȕdo 'miracle', kȍlo 'wheel', nȅbo 'sky', t(ij)êlo 'body' and ȕho 'ear', in addition to parisyllabic form plurals without disappearing a, have imparisyllabic plurals formed by appending -es- to the base. These plurals are used differently. The nominative plural of ȕho is ušèsa, and the nominative plural of t(ij)êlo is t(j)elèsa.
Pattern 5 – Nouns with -es- Case Plural N čud-ès-a G čud-és-ā D čud-ès-ima A čud-ès-a V čud-ès-a L čud-ès-ima I čud-ès-ima
Neuter nouns ending in -e