General rules for forming plural nouns
Forming plural nouns in the feminine (ženski rod) and neuter (srednji rod) genders is very straightforward.
Feminine
The –a at the end of the word changes into –e:
- kuća – house → kuće
- žena – woman → žene
- stolica – chair → stolice
Neuter
The final –o or –e in the word is always changed into –a:
- pivo – beer → piva
- vino – wine → vina
- sunce – sun → sunca
- more – sea → mora
Masculine
The rule for masculine (muški rod) is also generally simple, but with a few exceptions.
In most cases the plural is formed by adding an –i at the end:
- televizor – TV → televizori
- prijatelj – friend → prijatelji
- susjed – neighbor → susjedi
Some exceptions when pluralising masculine nouns
For masculine nouns with only one syllable, we add the ending –ovi:
- most – bridge → mostovi
- stol – table → stolovi
- trg – square → trgovi
For the words which end in –k, the plural ending changes to –ci:
- dječak – boy → dječaci
- liječnik – doctor → liječnici
- poznanik – acquaintance → poznanici
Masculine nouns of one syllable which end with a palatal consonant (č, ć, đ, dž, š, ž, lj, nj, j) receive the ending –evi:
- nož – knife → noževi
- miš – mouse → miševi
- muž – husband → muževi
Words which end in –ac lose the final –a and receive the ending –ci:
- Amerikanac – American → Amerikanci
- policajac – policeman → policajci
- vatrogasac – firefighter → vatrogasci
A few common words don’t follow any of these rules, which it’s best just to learn by heart. For example:
- čovjek – man → ljudi – people
- brat – brother → braća
- kći – daughter → kćeri
- dijete – child → djeca
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A couple more exceptions which we’ll deal with later …
A handful of feminine nouns end in consonants. These nouns receive the ending –i in the plural such as:
- bolest – sickness → bolesti
- smrt – death → smrti
Things get a bit more complicated once one combines nouns with numbers (e.g. two tables or seven ducks)
That’s enough theory for now … let’s do some exercises!
Exercise: Can you form the plural of the following nouns?
Exercise: Write the plural version of each noun
sestra – sister → sestre
energija – energy → energije
pivo – beer → piva
brod – boat → brodovi
nebo – sky → neba
muzej – museum → muzeji
prozor – window → prozori
majka – mother → majke
pas – dog → psi
stolica – chair → stolice
sunce – sun → sunca
nož – knife → noževi
trg – square → trgovi
dijete – child → djeca
pjesma – song → pjesme
koncert – concert → koncerti
policajac – policeman → policajci
miš – mouse → miševi
brat – brother → braća
susjeda – neighbour (f) → susjede
vino – wine → vina
muškarac – man → muškarci
profesorica – professor (f) → profesorice
učenik – student (m) → učenici
sok – juice → sokovi
juha – soup → juhe
liječnik – doctor → liječnici
mobitel – cell phone → mobiteli
Exercise: Write the plural version of the marked nouns
Moja sestra ima prijateljicu. → Moje sestre
Brat želi pivo. → Braća
Susjed vidi mačku. → Susjedi
Most je velik. → Mostovi
Nož je u kuhinji. → Noževi
Amerikanac je student. → Amerikanci
Pas voli jesti. → Psi
Soba je čista. → Sobe
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