Comitative s(a)

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

s(a): with whom and with what

In the previous lesson, “Instrumental of means”, we settled one rule: a tool goes into the instrumental with no preposition (sečem nožem, I cut with a knife). Now for the other half of the picture. As soon as the thing next to the action is not a helper object but a companion (a person you do something with, or an extra that comes along with a thing), Serbian puts the preposition s (or sa) in front and uses the instrumental again. So one case shares two roles: the tool (no preposition) and company (with s(a)).

For an English speaker the news is mixed. English says with for both: with a knife and with my brother. Serbian splits them. The company half lines up with English almost word for word; the tool half is where English with has to be left behind. Three things need care: telling a companion from a tool when English gives you the same word for both; not carrying with over onto tools; and not mistaking a second, identical-looking sa, the one that really means “off, from where”, for company. We take them in turn.

Companions and extras: s bratom, sa mlekom

The core meaning of s(a) is “together with”. The companion can be a person, or something that “comes along” with a thing: an extra ingredient, a feeling, an accompanying circumstance.

Here English is a perfect guide: with my brother, with milk, with pleasure, with a smile. Wherever with means “together with” or “accompanied by”, Serbian says s(a) and puts the noun in the instrumental. Even abstract phrases carry over one to one: sa zadovoljstvom (with pleasure), s pažnjom (with attention, carefully), s ljubavlju (with love).

The “with” of a feature: čovek sa bradom

Company grows into another meaning of s(a): a feature, something a thing has. When a thing “carries” a characteristic with it, Serbian describes it with the same s(a) + instrumental: “a man with a beard”, “a house with a garden”, “coffee with sugar”:

The logic is the same as before: the feature “comes along with” the thing, so it takes s(a). And English again does exactly the same: with a beard, with blue eyes, with a view. A handy bridge: if English introduces a feature with with (what kind? the one with something), Serbian will use s(a). Even “a woman in glasses” is žena sa naočarima, literally “with glasses”.

Cheat sheet

The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.

Company: s(a), with whom and with what

s / sa + instrumental = company (accompaniment): s kim? / s čim? (with whom? with what?), unlike the bare instrumental of means (čime?, with what? by what means?).

Companions and extras

The “with” of a feature

Tool or companion: the preposition is the switch

One sa, two cases

s or sa: the one-vowel rule