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   - Instrumental case
   - Vocative case
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The Serbian Instrumental Case: Endings and Usage
(PDF version)

The instrumental case endings for the three possible classes of Serbian nouns are given in Table 1 below.

When to use the instrumental case in sentences?

As the name suggests, the instrumental case is used to show an instrument or means with which an action denoted by the verb is performed. The following verbs take the instrumental case as their objects.

The instrumental case also appears with many other (not necessarily transitive) verbs to express the idea ‘by means of’ (examples 1-4). Also, the instrumental case occurs in certain time expressions (examples 5-6).

The instrumental case is also used as an object of some prepositions

• The most frequent preposition that requires instrumental case is s(a) ‘with’. The basic meaning is ‘with, accompanying.’ Note that the format s(a) is a shorthand for two possibilities: sa or s.
  
  The full form sa is used when the word that follows begins with a similar sounding consonant: s, š, z, ž, č, dž (e.g., sa Suzanom ‘with Susan’, sa Zvonkom ‘with Zvonko’, sa životom ‘with life’).
  
  The short form s is used in all other contexts, including when the word that follows begins with a vowel (e.g., s Anom ‘with Anna’), although sometimes people use the full sa form here as well.
  
  Note that the preposition ‘sa’ also occurs with the genitive case, but has quite different meaning then.
  
  Table 5: Some examples of the instrumental case as the object of preposition sa

  	Serbian	English
  1.	Ona se posvađala s profesorom.	She quarreled with her professor.
  2.	Ona se ne slaže s tom politikom.	She doesn’t agree with those politics.
  3.	Director je razgovarao s radnicima.	The director talked with the workers.
  4.	Ona je putovala sa drugaricom.	She traveled with her girlfriend.
  5.	On nije zadovoljan s novim kolima.**	He is not satisfied with his new car.
  6.	On nije zadovoljan s tobom.**	He is not satisfied with you.
  7.	On nije zadovoljan svojim uspehom.**	He is not satisfied with his success.

  
  **Note that in examples 5-7, the adjective zadovoljan can take the instrumental noun with (ex. 5, 6) or without (ex. 7) the preposition s(a). There is a tendency not to use the preposition s(a) when the noun denotes an abstract object, as in example 7 above.  Also, there is a tendency to use the preposition s(a) when the instrumental noun denotes a human being, as in example 6. This is just a tendency, not a strict rule.

• Another preposition that requires the instrumental case is the preposition za ‘behind, at, after, during’. With this preposition, the instrumental carries various meanings:  a) a place that is behind or around something (examples 1-2); b) to show that the object in instrumental case is in front of the subject of the sentence (example 3); c) time duration (example 4).
  
  Note that the preposition za also occurs with the accusative and genitive cases, but has different meaning then.
  
  Table 6: Some examples of the instrumental noun as the object of preposition za

  	Serbian	English
  1.	Devojčica stoji za uglom.	The girl is standing behind the corner.
  2.	Cela porodica sedi za stolom.	The whole family is sitting at the table.
  3.	Dečak trči za loptom.	The boy is running after the ball.
  4.	Za ručkom niko ne govori.	During lunch, nobody talks.

• The following prepositions also take the instrumental case: među ‘among’, nad ‘above, over’, pod ‘under’, pred ‘in front of’. When used with these prepositions, the instrumental case indicates the location of the action or state expressed by the verb. Some examples are shown in Table 6 below.
  
  Note that these prepositions also occur with the accusative case, but have different meaning then (show a destination or goal of the movement or action expressed by a verb).
  
  For a more comprehensive list of prepositions, see the file Serbian prepositions and their cases.
  
  Table 7: Some examples of the instrumental noun as the object of prepositions

  	Serbian	English
  1.	Devojčica sedi među dečacima.	The girl is sitting among the boys.
  2.	Kiša se sručila nad gradom.	The rain poured over the city.
  3.	Mirko spava pod drvetom.	Mirko is sleeping under the tree.
  4.	Dragan čekao pred kućom.	Dragan waited in front of the house.

To ask questions about the instrumental case, we use the following interrogative pronouns in the instrumental case:
Sa kime ‘with whom’   Sa čime ‘with what’
 
Note that the preposition sa sometimes is not necessary, depending on the verb. The vowel ‘e’ in ‘kime’ and ‘čime’ is also optional.

The instrumental ending –i and -ju for Class III nouns

As mentioned in a footnote for Table1, Class III singular nouns have two endings: -i or –ju. The -i ending generally occurs when the noun is modified, as in: sa jednom ljubavi ‘with one love’, while -ju ending occurs with unmodified nouns, as in: sa ljubavi ‘with love’.
 
The table below shows the –ju ending for various nouns belonging to Class III. Note that the sound –j (pronounced ‘y’) undergoes some phonological changes due to a general phonological rule of consonant ‘softening’ or palatalization.  Don’t panic! It’ll make sense with practice.

Explanations of sound changes (for details see Phonological rules)

• In 1. d +j = đ by a general rule of palatalization or consonant softening.
• In 2. nothing happens in writing, but in pronunciation, the sound nj is a single sound, pronounced as n in the Spanish word pinata.
• In 3. we have this rule: v+j=vlj.
• In 4. we have two phonological rules: t+j = ć to get: bolesću. Then, we have a phonological rule of place assimilation, where s before the palatal sound ć, becomes a palatal sound š. Or to put it in terms of a mathematical formula: s+ć = šć. Don’t panic! These are general phonological rules that happen across the entire language, and you’ll eventually learn them by practicing.
• In 6. we have two deletion rules:  ć+j=ć and đ+j=đ.
• In 7. nothing happens in writing, but in pronunciation, the sound lj is a single palatal sound, pronounced lj.
• In 8, nothing happens.

And now some exercises! If you get stuck or are not sure whether you got it right, please email me for help.

Exercise 1 – Fill out the instrumental case forms in sentences below
 
Using the nouns below (given in nominative, or dictionary form), please insert the appropriate instrumental forms in the following sentences. For convenience, I have indicated which noun goes with which sentence.

Exercise 2 – Translate the following sentences

For this exercise you need to know both the present tense and past tense. The boldface nouns require the instrumental case. If you don’t have a bi-directional Serbian-English-Serbian dictionary, you may go to the website: http://www.krstarica.com/dictionary/ to get the words you need for this exercise.  Note that for nouns, a dictionary will only give you the nominative case forms.