The endings are regular, but the end of the stem sometimes moves. Three rules explain almost everything.
1. k, g, h → c, z, s before -i (masculine plural, feminine dative/locative):
| singular | plural / D-L | |
|---|---|---|
| radnik (worker) | radnik | radnici, radnicima |
| bubreg (kidney) | bubreg | bubrezi |
| ruka (hand) | ruka | u ruci (in the hand) |
| noga (leg) | noga | na nozi |
Exceptions: names and affectionate words (baka → baki, seka → seki).
2. The “fleeting a”: an a between two final consonants disappears as soon as an ending is added, and comes back in the genitive plural.
| N sg | G sg | G pl |
|---|---|---|
| pas (dog) | psa | pasa |
| momak (lad) | momka | momaka |
| stranac (foreigner) | stranca | stranaca |
| djevojka (girl) | djevojke | djevojaka |
| pismo (letter) | pisma | pisama |
Adjectives do the same: dobar → dobra, kratak → kratka. And a final l often turns into o: posao → posla (work), sto / stol → stola.
3. -ov- / -ev- in the plural: one-syllable masculines add it (grad → gradovi, broj → brojevi, muž → muževi), longer ones don't (prozor → prozori, prijatelj → prijatelji).
Irregular plurals to know: čovjek → ljudi (man → people), dijete → djeca, brat → braća, oko → oči, uho → uši, gospodin → gospoda. Djeca and braća are declined like a feminine singular (djece, djeci, djecu) but take a plural verb: Djeca su se igrala — the children were playing.
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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