B1 — intermediateThe instrumental case

Locational instrumental preps

Lesson opening

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

Prepositions of place with the instrumental: pod stolom, nad glavom, za kućom

You already know the instrumental as the case of the tool (pišem olovkom, I write with a pencil), of company (s bratom, with my brother) and of manner (šapatom, in a whisper). But it has a spatial job too. With a small handful of prepositions the instrumental answers the question “where?” and describes a fixed position around an object: pod stolom (under the table), nad glavom (above your head), pred kućom (in front of the house), za kućom (behind the house), među ljudima (among people). The prepositions themselves map neatly onto English ones. What English does not have is the case: the ending on the noun that tells you whether something is there or is going there.

The main idea of the lesson is the “where versus where to” fork, which you have already met. In “Location vs direction” you saw u gradu (in the city: staying put) against u grad (into the city: movement). That lesson also showed pod, pred, za working the same way; here is the whole set of five, nad, pod, pred, za, među, in full. Their case of rest is not the locative but the instrumental: pod stolom (where? under the table: instrumental), but pod sto (where to? under the table: accusative). English makes this distinction only now and then, with in / into and on / onto; with under or behind it says the same thing both times. Separately we will look at s(a) “with”, a loner that has no rest/movement pair at all.

The six prepositions of the instrumental

First, a head count. Serbian has few prepositions that take the instrumental: exactly six in everyday use, and each has a straightforward English equivalent. Five of them are spatial (nad, pod, pred, za, među); the sixth, s / sa “with”, stands apart, and “Comitative s(a)” has covered it. A reminder of its two forms: sa is required before s, z, š, ž (sa sestrom) and in sa mnom; before most other sounds both are correct (s bratom and sa bratom). Before mnom the place prepositions add a vowel too: nada mnom (above me), poda mnom (under me), preda mnom (in front of me).

Examples

Preposition	Example (where?)	Translation
nad	nad glavom	above your head, overhead
pod	pod stolom	under the table
pred	pred kućom	in front of the house
za	za kućom	behind the house
među	među đacima	among the pupils
s / sa	s rođakom	with a cousin

Deeper grammar

Six prepositions: s, nad, pod, pred, za, među

The set is easier to learn than it looks: it is tiny, and it falls into pairs. Five prepositions are spatial and come as opposites, “under / over” and “in front of / behind”, plus “between”: pod (under), nad (over, above), pred (in front of), za (behind), među (between, among). With all five the instrumental means rest, and for movement they switch to the accusative; more on that below. The sixth preposition, s / sa “with”, falls outside this logic. It always takes the instrumental and has no rest/movement pair, because it names not a place but a companion: s bratom (with my brother), sa mnom (with me).

Keep in mind the fork inside s(a) itself. With the instrumental it means “with (someone or something)”, the companion (s bratom); with the genitive the same s(a) means “off, down from”: sa stola (off the table), s krova (off the roof). One preposition, two cases, two different meanings; in this lesson only the instrumental “with” concerns us. And među is no exception to the spatial pattern: it too has its own movement form, Stani među njih (go and stand among them), next to the resting Stojim među njima (I’m standing among them).

Rest versus movement: pod stolom or pod sto

The same five prepositions take two cases, and the choice depends on one question: is this a position (where?) or a move to a new spot (where to?). Where: instrumental. Where to: accusative.

Cheat sheet

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Prepositions of place with the instrumental: pod stolom, nad glavom

The instrumental also answers “where?”: with five spatial prepositions. The sixth, s / sa, is company, with no rest/movement pair.

The six prepositions of the instrumental

Examples

Preposition	Where?	Translation
nad	nad glavom	above your head
pod	pod stolom	under the table
pred	pred kućom	in front of the house
za	za kućom	behind the house
među	među đacima	among the pupils
s / sa	s rođakom	with a cousin

sa is required before s, z, š, ž and in sa mnom (sa sestrom); before other sounds both forms are correct (s bratom / sa bratom). Likewise nada mnom, poda mnom, preda mnom.
s(a) + instrumental = company (s bratom), but s(a) + genitive = “off, from” (sa stola, off the table).

Where versus where to: pod stolom or pod sto

Examples

Where? instrumental	Where to? accusative
Lopta je pod stolom. is under the table	Gurni loptu pod sto. push it under
Slika visi nad kaminom. hangs above	Okači sliku nad kamin. hang it above
Čekam pred kućom. waiting in front	Izađi pred kuću. come out front
Auto je za kućom. is behind	Sunce je zašlo za kuću. set behind
Stojim među njima. among them	Stani među njih. join them

Second key, the verb: a new spot (gurni, okači, izađi, stani) → accusative; staying put (je, visi, čekam, stojim) → instrumental; moving within a place or following is still “where”: Avion leti nad gradom, Idem za tobom.
With nad the accusative is rarer: everyday speech prefers Okači sliku iznad kamina.
Instrumental: -om / -em, plural -ima / -ama. “Where to” accusative: a masculine thing = dictionary form (pod sto), feminine -u (pred kuću).
pred of time, accusative too: pred kraj godine (towards the end of the year), pred zoru (just before dawn).

za: behind, at, after

Examples

Phrase	Translation
Sedimo za stolom.	We're sitting at the table.
Ana je za volanom.	Ana is at the wheel.
Radi za kompjuterom.	He's working at the computer.
Bašta je za kućom.	The garden is behind the house.
Mačka je za ormarom.	The cat is behind the wardrobe.
Idem za tobom.	I'm following you.
Trči za psom.	He's running after the dog.

Genitive twins: iznad, ispod, ispred, iza, između. Often interchangeable for place (pred kućom = ispred kuće); one case for “where” and “where to”. “Between” two points is između (između kuće i škole); među mostly means “among” (među prijateljima); “between us” is među nama or između nas.