Preposition–case government

Lesson opening

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Preposition–case government

A Serbian preposition never travels alone: the noun after it always stands in one particular case, and the preposition chooses which. od grada “from the city” is the genitive, ka gradu “towards the city” the dative, kroz grad “through the city” the accusative, and they cannot be swapped: “od gradu” instantly marks the speaker as a foreigner. This link between a preposition and its case is called government (Serbian rekcija): the preposition “governs” the case of the noun that follows it. You have met the cases and the prepositions in small groups; this lesson brings them together into one map, and the map shows the main thing: either the preposition alone picks the case, or the preposition together with the meaning, “where” or “where to”, “from where” or “with whom”.

English gives you no instinct here, for a simple reason: English nouns do not change after prepositions. From the city, to the city, through the city, in the city: the word city stays put. In Serbian each of these is a different form (od grada, ka gradu, kroz grad, u gradu), and the preposition decides which. The good news: the map is finite and well organised, with five “teams” by case and a handful of switchers. If you know some German, you have met the idea (aus always takes the dative, durch the accusative). The traps are few but real: two words for “between” with different cases, and switchers whose case changes the meaning: u grad “into town”, u gradu “in town”. Here is the map, shelf by shelf, as a reference to come back to.

The genitive: “the case of prepositions”

The genitive has far more prepositions than any other case, so you could call it “the case of prepositions”. You met them in two batches: the spatial ones in “Spatial genitive prepositions” and the ones of cause, purpose and time in “Abstract & temporal genitive prepositions”. Here they are in one list, with one more frequent preposition, preko.

The newcomer on this list is preko, “across, over, beyond”: preko mosta (across the bridge), preko puta (across the road, i.e. opposite), preko granice (across the border), and with a number, “more than”: preko sto ljudi (over a hundred people). English over stretches the same way, from “over the bridge” to “over a hundred”. preko too takes only the genitive. The team’s law is simple: see any of these prepositions, use the genitive, and never mind “where” or “where to”: Ja sam kod lekara (I’m at the doctor’s) and Idem kod lekara (I’m going to the doctor’s) are the same genitive. The one exception is s/sa: meaning “together with”, it takes the instrumental (see below). Why the genitive has so many was explained in “Spatial genitive prepositions”: long ago it merged with an old case that answered “from where?”, and “from something”, “without something”, “up to something” is what many of these prepositions mean. Longer, more formal prepositions such as pomoću “with the help of”, each with its own case, are gathered in “Secondary & compound prepositions”.

The dative: direction, concession, gratitude

The humblest team: just five prepositions, but frequent ones. They were covered in full in “Dative prepositions”; here what matters is their place on the map.

A handy way to remember them: the dative is the case of what something is aimed at (to whom?), and every preposition here is about orientation towards something: towards the city, according to the law, in spite of the rain, thanks to you, facing the house. But English to is wider than ka. ka means only direction, “towards”: ka izlazu (towards the exit), and prema says the same: prema stanici (towards the station). Going to see a person is kod + genitive: Idem kod druga (I’m going to a friend’s).

Cheat sheet

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Preposition–case government

Government (rekcija): the case a preposition requires. The preposition picks it (most have one case) or the meaning does (where to? where? from where? with whom?). English nouns never change after prepositions, Serbian ones always do: learn each preposition as a block, with its case (od grada, not “od gradu”).

Genitive: “the case of prepositions”

All take the genitive, for where and where to (Idem kod lekara); s/sa “with” takes the instrumental. preko “across, over”: preko puta (opposite), preko granice, preko sto ljudi (over 100).

The other four teams

Chameleons: the case changes the meaning

Key: kuda? → Acc.; gde? → Loc. (u, na) or Instr. (pod, pred, nad, za, među); s/sa, o, po: by meaning. za: Acc. za sto (where to), za sat, za mamu (for Mum), za slobodu (for freedom); Instr. za stolom (where), za tobom (following); Gen. za vreme rata.

s or sa

By sound, not by case (like English a/an).