Contents Serbian An Essential Grammar Serbian: An Essential Grammar is an up to date and practical reference guide to the most important aspects of Serbian as used bycontemporary native speakers of the language. This book presents an accessible description of the language, focusing on real, contemporary patterns of use. The Grammar aims to serve as a reference source for the learner and user of Serbian irrespective of level, by setting out the complexities of the language in short, readable sections. It is ideal for independent study or for students in schools, colleges, universities and all types of adult classes. Features of this Grammar include: • use of Cyrillic and Latin script in plentiful examples throughout • a cultural section on the language and its dialects • clear and detailed explanations of simple and complex grammatical concepts • detailed contents list and index for easy access to information. Lila Hammond has been teaching Serbian both in Serbia and the UK for over twenty-five years and presently teaches at the Defence School of Languages, Beaconsfield, UK. i Routledge Essential Grammars Contents Essential Grammars are available for the following languages: Chinese Danish Dutch English Finnish Modern Greek Modern Hebrew Hungarian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Serbian Spanish Swedish Thai Urdu Other titles of related interest published by Routledge: Colloquial Croatian Colloquial Serbian ii Contents Serbian An Essential Grammar Lila Hammond iii First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2005 Lila Hammond Typeset in 10/12pt Sabon by Graphicraft Ltd, Hong Kong Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hammond, Lila, Serbian : an essential grammar / Lila Hammond. p. cm. — (Routledge essential grammars) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–415–28641–7 (pbk. : acid free) — ISBN 0–415–28640–9 (hardback : acid free) 1. Serbian language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English. 2. Serbian language— Grammar. I. Title. II. Series: Essential grammar. PG1239.5.E5H25 2005 491.8′282421—dc22 2004010094 ISBN 0–415–28640–9 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–28641–7 (pbk) I dedicate this book to Militca, Leo and Tara Contents vi Contents Contents Preface xiii Acknowledgements xiv Part I The language and its dialects 1 Chapter 1 Cultural, literary and linguistic background 3 Chapter 2 Dialects 9 Part II Alphabet, pronunciation and stress 11 Chapter 3 Alphabet 13 Chapter 4 Pronunciation 17 4.1 Consonants 19 4.1.1 Voiced and unvoiced consonants 19 4.1.2 Soft and hard consonants 20 4.1.3 Consonantal assimilations 21 4.1.4 Consonantal contractions 22 4.1.5 Fleeting a 23 4.1.6 Change of л/l to о 24 4.1.7 J changes 25 4.1.8 Effects of е/e and и/i on к/k, г/g and х/h 27 4.2 Vowels 29 4.2.1 Length and stress 29 4.2.2 Vowel mutations 29 Chapter 5 Stress 31 5.1 Word stress and tone 31 5.2 Shift of stress 32 5.3 Sentence stress 32 vii Part III Parts of speech 33 Contents Chapter 6 Verbs 35 6.1 Infinitives – classification 37 6.2 Infinitive and present tense stems 39 6.2.1 Type I conjugation 41 6.2.2 Type II conjugation 42 6.2.3 Type III conjugation 48 6.3 Types of verbs and aspects 50 6.3.1 Transitive and intransitive verbs 50 6.3.2 Imperfective and perfective verbs 51 6.4 Present tense 58 6.4.1 Formation of the present tense and its use 58 6.4.2 The negative present tense 63 6.4.3 The interrogative present 63 6.4.4 The negative interrogative present tense 64 6.5 Past tense (perfect tense) 64 6.5.1 Formation of the perfect tense and its use 64 6.5.2 The negative perfect tense 69 6.5.3 The interrogative perfect tense 70 6.5.4 The negative interrogative perfect tense 70 6.6 Future tense 71 6.6.1 Formation of the future tense and its use 71 6.6.2 The negative future 73 6.6.3 The interrogative future 74 6.6.4 The negative interrogative future 75 6.7 Aorist tense 75 6.7.1 Formation of the aorist tense and its use 76 6.7.2 The negative aorist 80 6.7.3 The interrogative aorist 80 6.7.4 The negative interrogative aorist 81 6.8 Future II 81 6.8.1 Uses of future II 81 6.8.2 Formation of the future II 82 6.9 The conditional 82 6.9.1 Uses of the conditional 82 6.9.2 Formation of the conditional 83 6.10 Imperative 87 6.10.1 Use of the imperative 87 6.10.2 Formation of the imperative 88 6.11 Reflexive verbs 90 viii 6.12 Impersonal verbs 91 6.13 Auxiliary verbs 92 Contents 6.14 Formation of the interrogative 93 6.15 Formation of the negative 95 6.16 Present perfective aspect of бити/biti 99 6.17 Ићи/izi and its derivatives 99 6.18 Modal verbs 101 Chapter 7 Nouns 105 7.1 Types of nouns 105 7.2 Gender of nouns 111 7.3 Cases of nouns 112 7.3.1 Nominative case 115 7.3.2 Genitive case 117 7.3.3 Dative case 126 7.3.4 Accusative case 133 7.3.5 Vocative case 140 7.3.6 Instrumental case 142 7.3.7 Locative case 146 7.4 Declension of nouns 152 7.4.1 Masculine and neuter nouns 153 7.4.2 Feminine and masculine nouns ending in -a and the noun мати/mati 162 7.4.3 Feminine nouns ending in a consonant, in -o, -ост/ost or -ад/ad, and the noun кћи/kzi 168 7.4.4 Declension of irregular nouns 173 Chapter 8 Pronouns 178 8.1 Personal pronouns 180 8.1.1 Declension of personal pronouns 181 8.1.2 Stressed personal pronouns 183 8.1.3 Unstressed personal pronouns 184 8.1.4 Order of unstressed personal pronouns 185 8.2 Reflexive pronouns 186 8.3 Possessive pronouns 188 8.4 Demonstrative pronouns 192 8.5 Relative pronouns 195 8.6 Interrogative pronouns 197 8.7 Universal pronouns 199 Chapter 9 Adjectives 201 9.1 Classification of adjectives 203 9.2 Indefinite adjectives 205 9.3 Definite adjectives 207 ix