L-vocalisation

Lesson opening

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

L-vocalisation: how a consonant became a vowel

You have met this oddity before. The form is called the “l-participle”, yet the masculine is radio “he worked”, not “radil”. “Work, job” is posao in the nominative, but in the genitive it is suddenly posla, with an l out of nowhere. “Angel” is anđeo, but “angels” are anđeli. “Table” is sto, but “on the table” is na stolu. Every time it is the same story: where you expect an l, there is an o; add an ending, and the l comes back.

This is not a list of exceptions but one sound law that swept through the language several centuries ago and left its mark on verbs, nouns, adjectives and even the name of the capital. Once you have it, you will say radio, posao and beo with confidence, and in posla and bela you will see at once the posao and beo to look up.

The rule in one line, and how to check it

Split the word into syllables and look at where the l falls. If it closes a syllable, an o stands in its place. If it opens one, it is still there. That is the whole rule, for old words; newer ones such as hotel never went through it (more below).

The last row matters most: the law did not strike only at the end of the word. In seoski “rural” the l stood in the middle, but it closed the syllable before -sk-; in selo itself it opens a syllable and survives. The same story: selo → seoba “migration, moving house”, deliti “to divide” → deoba “division”, and even the name of the capital: Bel-grad “white city” → Beograd.

Verbs: the masculine always ends in -o

You meet the law most often in the l-participle from the lesson “The l-participle”. The historical masculine -l stood at the very end of the word, so it closed the syllable, and it became -o. In the other genders and in the plural a vowel follows it, and it survives.

Hence a simple mirror: a masculine participle in -o always hides an l, and the feminine shows it: bio — bila, video — videla, pio — pila (drank). The feminine form always shows the stem honestly, because there the l opens a syllable.

Nouns: posao — posla

This is where the alternation is most visible: the nominative ends in -o, and the other cases and the plural reveal the l. Note straight away: these nouns are masculine, despite the -o.

The declension: singular posao (Nom., Acc.), posla (Gen.), poslu (Dat., Loc.), poslom (Instr.); plural poslovi (Nom.), poslova (Gen.), poslove (Acc.), poslovima (Dat., Instr., Loc.). Only the nominative and accusative singular, the forms with no ending, have the -o.

Cheat sheet

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

L-vocalisation: l → o

vokalizacija: l at the end of a syllable became o; before a vowel l is intact (radio — radila). A historical law: newer words (hotel, bicikl) keep their l; old words alternate -o and l.

Verbs: the l-participle

Mirror rule: a masculine participle in -o hides an l; the feminine shows it.

Nouns: masculine, not neuter

• Declension: posao (Nom., Acc.), posla (Gen.), poslu (Dat., Loc.), poslom (Instr.); plural poslovi, poslova, poslove, poslovima.
• sto, so, vo, soko: two o’s merged (stol → sto); with an ending stola, soli, vola, sokola.
• Feminine (consonant declension): so — soli, solju (salt), misao — misli, mišlju (thought).

Adjectives

The ending -ao = fleeting a + vocalisation

• posl- → posal → posao (but posla); likewise ugl-, orl-, topl-, mogl-, rekl-.
• Quick speech: reko, došo, mogo (casual); standard rekao, došao, mogao.
• Nouns in -lac: čitalac — čitaoca — čitaoci — čitalaca (reader); gledalac, slušalac, mislilac. Gen. singular čitaoca “of the reader”, Gen. plural čitalaca (mnogo čitalaca). mislilac — mislioca: no j between i and o.
• Not only word-final: sel-ski → seoski, del-ba → deoba, Bel-grad → Beograd.

Where l stays

• l opens a syllable: molim, stola, bela, posla, glava, plan.
• Later loanwords: general, fudbal, metal, hotel, kanal, festival, april, gol, kristal, bicikl.
• Exceptions: bol “pain” (usually masculine: jak bol, bola, bolovi), val “wave” (usually talas).
• The Croatian standard keeps stol, sol, vol, sokol for Serbian sto, so, vo, soko.

Rebuilding the stem

• Dictionary → speech: -o becomes l, -ao becomes -al, drop the fleeting a: ugao → ugl- → u uglu; čitao → čitati.
• Text → dictionary: posla → posao, orla → orao, bela → beo; but čitaoca → čitalac.
• Relatives show the l: poslovni, poslodavac; deliti, podela; stolica, stolar; slan; pepeljara; mišljenje; seoba.