Seven cases — and English prepositions do their job
English has almost no cases left: just I/me, he/him, whose. Roles are done by word order and prepositions — of, to, with, in. Serbian keeps the roles and fires the prepositions: the noun itself grows endings that say "of", "to", "with", "in", "into". For example: “Живим у Београду” — I live in Belgrade. A rule from the Serbian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
English has almost no cases left: just I/me, he/him, whose. Roles are done by word order and prepositions — of, to, with, in. Serbian keeps the roles and fires the prepositions: the noun itself grows endings that say "of", "to", "with", "in", "into".
Seven cases in all. Six work like the English preposition set; the seventh is the vocative, a calling form English manages with tone and a comma: Ana → Ano!, Marko → Marko!, drug → druže! — "friend!" as a shape of the word.
The practical minimum for now: after the preposition u (in), when you answer "where", the ending is -u: u Beogradu — in Belgrade, u kući — in the house.
By example
- Живим у БеоградуŽivim u BeograduI live in Belgrade
- Идем у продавницуIdem u prodavnicuI am going to the shop
- Хвала, друже!Hvala, druže!Thanks, friend!
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
Seven cases — and English prepositions do their job: how does it work in Serbian?
English has almost no cases left: just I/me, he/him, whose. Roles are done by word order and prepositions — of, to, with, in. Serbian keeps the roles and fires the prepositions: the noun itself grows endings that say "of", "to", "with", "in", "into".
What does it look like in an example sentence Serbian?
“Живим у Београду” (Živim u Beogradu) — I live in Belgrade. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.