I added all the forms of the personal pronouns in Serbian below (source: Wikipedia), but what's more important for you is to practise them in context. That's why I'd suggest you watch this video and then try to mute it and say the sentences while watching.
One person changes form when absence becomes action
Genitive forms commonly follow prepositions such as bez, od, do and pored: bez mene, od tebe, pored njega, do nje, bez nas, od vas, pored njih. These are stressed forms and cannot be replaced by the short accusative clitics.
Accusative distinguishes stressed forms—mene, tebe, njega, nju, nas, vas, njih—from short forms me, te, ga, je, nas, vas, ih. Use the short form in a neutral statement near the verb; choose the long form for contrast or after a preposition.
Prepositions demand a strong pronoun; verbs often prefer a short one
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Bez nje ne možemo završiti zajednički portret. | Без ње не можемо завршити заједнички портрет. | Without her, we cannot finish the group portrait. |
| Čekali su nas ispred zatvorenog bioskopa. | Чекали су нас испред затвореног биоскопа. | They waited for us outside the closed cinema. |
| Fotograf je pozvao njega, a ne njegovog brata. | Фотограф је позвао њега, а не његовог брата. | The photographer invited him, not his brother. |
| Od vas očekujem samo iskren odgovor. | Од вас очекујем само искрен одговор. | I expect only an honest answer from you. |
| Nisam ih video među putnicima na pristaništu. | Нисам их видео међу путницима на пристаништу. | I did not see them among the passengers at the quay. |
Mute the clip and supply every relationship
Mute the video and write the missing pronoun for each scene. Beside it, mark G or A and strong or short; then unmute and compare both form and position.
- Complete: bez ______. (she)
- Short accusative for oni?
- Write Čekali su nas in Cyrillic.
- Which form adds contrast: ga or njega?
- Translate od vas.
The pronoun chart finally enters a real scene
- nje
- ih
- Чекали су нас
- njega
- from you
Take one neutral sentence with a short pronoun and create a contrastive correction using the long form. Let your voice make the contrast as clear as the grammar.
Marina Petrović
