LingoflyDragi prijatelju, srećan rođendan: the calling form and how to congratulate
You speak TO a person in a different form from the one you use ABOUT them. That is the calling form, and you hear it in every toast and every letter. For example: “Драги пријатељу (prijatelju), срећан (srećan) ти (ti) рођендан (rođendan) и (i) све (Sve) најбоље” (najbolje) — Dear friend, happy birthday and all the best. A rule from the Serbian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
You speak TO a person in a different form from the one you use ABOUT them. That is the calling form, and you hear it in every toast and every letter.
Masculine words after a hard stem take -e: drug → druže, brat → brate, gost → goste. After a soft stem they take -u: prijatelj → prijatelju, muž → mužu. Names in -o do not move: Marko → Marko.
Feminine words in -a take -o: Ana → Ano, majka → majko, gospođa → gospođo. Neuter words and every plural stay put: dete → dete, ljudi → ljudi.
The adjective goes along with the noun: dragi prijatelju, poštovani goste. You congratulate with čestitati: čestitam ti rođendan. And the wish itself is srećan in front of the occasion: Srećan rođendan!
Table
| the word | the calling form | how it is used | in English |
|---|---|---|---|
| drug | druže | zdravo, druže | hi, friend |
| brat | brate | brate moj | my dear brother |
| gost | goste | poštovani goste | dear guest |
| prijatelj | prijatelju | dragi prijatelju | dear friend |
| Ana | Ano | Ano, dođi | Ana, come here |
| majka | majko | majko moja | mother of mine |
| gospođa | gospođo | gospođo Marić | Mrs. Marić |
| dete | dete | dete moje | my child |
By example
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
Dragi prijatelju, srećan rođendan: how does it work in Serbian?
You speak TO a person in a different form from the one you use ABOUT them. That is the calling form, and you hear it in every toast and every letter.
What does it look like in a Serbian example sentence?
“Драги пријатељу (prijatelju), срећан (srećan) ти (ti) рођендан (rođendan) и (i) све (Sve) најбоље” (najbolje) (Dragi prijatelju, srećan ti rođendan i sve najbolje) — Dear friend, happy birthday and all the best. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.