Koji: how to glue a whole sentence onto a word
An adjective describes a word in one word. Often you need longer than that: "the textbook we need". Such a description comes in on koji, the commonest link of grown-up speech. For example: “Ово је уџбеник који нам треба за хемију” — This is the textbook we need for chemistry. A rule from the Serbian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
An adjective describes a word in one word. Often you need longer than that: "the textbook we need". Such a description comes in on koji, the commonest link of grown-up speech.
Koji bends like an adjective. Gender and number come from the word it hangs on: udžbenik koji, sveska koja, dete koje.
The case comes from elsewhere — from the job koji does inside its own half of the sentence. Profesora koga čekamo — there it is the object. Stan u kome živimo — there a preposition rules it.
The preposition always stands in front of koji, never stranded at the end: stan u kome živim, not "stan koji živim u". And with a male person the object form matches the of-form: kandidat koga smo primili.
Table
| role inside the clause | m. | f. | n. | example | in English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject | koji | koja | koje | đak koji uči | who studies |
| object, a thing | koji | koju | koje | ispit koji polažem | that I sit |
| object, a person | koga | koju | — | drug koga zovem | whom I call |
| recipient | kome | kojoj | kome | kolega kome pišem | to whom I write |
| with a preposition | u kome | u kojoj | u kome | stan u kome živim | in which I live |
| plural | koji | koje | koja | knjige koje čitam | that I read |
| spoken | što | što | što | čovek što sedi | that sits |
By example
- Ово је уџбеник који нам треба за хемијуOvo je udžbenik koji nam treba za hemijuThis is the textbook we need for chemistry
- Професор кога чекамо предаје књижевностProfesor koga čekamo predaje književnostThe professor we are waiting for teaches literature
- Стан у коме живимо има две собеStan u kome živimo ima dve sobeThe apartment we live in has two rooms
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Koji: how does it work in Serbian?
An adjective describes a word in one word. Often you need longer than that: "the textbook we need". Such a description comes in on koji, the commonest link of grown-up speech.
What does it look like in an example sentence Serbian?
“Ово је уџбеник који нам треба за хемију” (Ovo je udžbenik koji nam treba za hemiju) — This is the textbook we need for chemistry. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.