Koji: how to glue a whole sentence onto a word
Until now a noun was described by an adjective: stari udžbenik. But usually the description is longer — "the textbook that we returned to the library". Such a description is introduced by koji, and it is the commonest link of adult Serbian. 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…
How it works
Until now a noun was described by an adjective: stari udžbenik. But usually the description is longer — "the textbook that we returned to the library". Such a description is introduced by koji, and it is the commonest link of adult Serbian.
Koji is not a frozen word like English "that" — it behaves like an adjective: it bends for gender, number and case. Gender and number come from the word it attaches to: udžbenik koji, sveska koja, dete koje, đaci koji. The case does not come from there: it comes from the job koji does INSIDE its own clause. English marks the same thing with who/whom/whose and word order. Watch one word, "profesor", three ways. Profesor koji predaje hemiju — he teaches there: subject. Profesora koga čekamo — we are waiting for him: object. Profesoru kome sam poslao rad — to him: recipient. Profesor s kojim sam razgovarao — the preposition drags the with-form along. A preposition always goes in front of koji, never stranded at the end: stan u kome živim, not "stan koji živim u" — the opposite of English, which strands its prepositions freely.
Two snags. First: the comma before koji is set when the clause merely adds information (Moj brat, koji živi u Nišu, dolazi sutra) and skipped when it picks out which one (Ovo je stan koji sam iznajmio) — the same restrictive/non-restrictive line English draws. Second: for animate masculine the object form equals the of-form — kandidat koga smo primili, but posao koji smo dobili — like English who vs which.
Living next door are što and gde. Što replaces koji in speech when the case is subject or object: čovek što sedi pored mene — said, not written. Gde is convenient for place: grad gde sam rođen instead of the stricter grad u kome sam rođen.
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?
Until now a noun was described by an adjective: stari udžbenik. But usually the description is longer — "the textbook that we returned to the library". Such a description is introduced by koji, and it is the commonest link of adult Serbian.
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.