Quantity and Indefinite Adjectives | Serbian Grammar

Words such as овакав, такав, сав, сваки, остали stand at the boundary between adjectives, determiners, and what Serbian school grammar calls adjectival pronouns. They specify kind, totality, distribution, or the remainder of a set, and they agree with a noun much like adjectives.

Their endings carry real information. Такав план, таква одлука, такво питање, такви предлози differ in gender and number; oblique forms such as таквом плану and са таквим људима also mark case. English words like such, every, and all do not show this agreement.

For the broader inventory of non-agreeing and agreeing quantity expressions, see Serbian quantifiers.

Овакав, такав, онакав: “like this/that”

This three-way series points to a kind or quality, not merely to an object:

Form	Core perspective	Example meaning
овакав	like this; associated with the speaker or current example	овакав проблем “a problem like this”
такав	like that; associated with the listener or something mentioned	такав одговор “an answer like that”
онакав	like that over there; remote or strongly contrasted	онакав поглед “that kind of view”

The spatial labels are useful starting points, but discourse matters. Такав commonly refers back to a quality just described, even when nothing is physically near the listener.

Овакав распоред ми одговара, али такав темпо не могу дуго да издржим.

A schedule like this suits me, but I can’t keep up that kind of pace for long.

Нисам очекивала онакав поглед с врха брда.

I wasn’t expecting that kind of view from the top of the hill.

Ако је понуда заиста таква, прихватићемо је без одлагања.

If the offer really is like that, we’ll accept it without delay.

The final example is predicative. Feminine таква identifies понуда even though the noun appears in another clause.

The fleeting а and the agreement paradigm

Masculine nominative singular овакав, такав, онакав contains fleeting а. Other gender and case forms use овакв-, такв-, онакв-.

Role	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	такав план	таква одлука	такво питање	такви планови
Genitive	таквог плана	такве одлуке	таквог питања	таквих планова
Dative/locative	таквом плану	таквој одлуци	таквом питању	таквим плановима
Accusative	такав план	такву одлуку	такво питање	такве планове
Instrumental	таквим планом	таквом одлуком	таквим питањем	таквим плановима

The masculine accusative shown is inanimate. With an animate noun, it matches genitive: никада нисам упознао таквог човека.

О таквој промени морамо да разговарамо са свим запосленима.

We need to discuss a change like that with all employees.

С оваквим алатом посао завршавамо много брже.

With a tool like this, we finish the job much faster.

💡

Learn такав — таква — такво together. The masculine а is fleeting; forms such as такава and таковом are not standard.

Сав: the whole amount or complete set

Сав presents something as complete or exhaustive. Its nominative forms are irregular enough to deserve their own set:

Gender/number	Form	Example
masculine singular	сав	сав посао
feminine singular	сва	сва опрема
neuter singular	све	све време
masculine plural	сви	сви гости
feminine plural	све	све карте
neuter plural	сва	сва села

Сав посао је завршен, сва опрема је спакована и сви гости су обавештени.

All the work is finished, all the equipment is packed, and all the guests have been notified.

Сву ноћ је падала киша, па су сва поља јутрос била под водом.

It rained all night, so all the fields were under water this morning.

Oblique forms also agree: без све опреме, током свег дана, са свим гостима, о свим питањима. Standalone све can mean “everything,” with forms such as genitive свега and dative/locative свему.

Сваки: each member, one by one

Сваки is distributive: it applies a statement to each member individually. It normally combines with a singular count noun: сваки дан, свака особа, свако питање.

Сваки кандидат добија исто питање и свака кандидаткиња има једнако време за одговор.

Every male candidate gets the same question, and every female candidate has equal time to answer.

Сваком госту смо послали адресу, а са сваким возачем смо потврдили време поласка.

We sent the address to every guest and confirmed the departure time with every driver.

Use сви + plural when the group is viewed collectively: сви гости су стигли “all the guests arrived.” Use сваки + singular when distribution matters: сваки гост је добио беџ “each guest received a badge.” Predicate agreement follows that number contrast.

Цео means “whole/entire” with a single bounded item: цео колач “the whole cake.” Сав can overlap, especially with time, mass, work, and total sets, but сваки never means one undivided whole.

💡

Use the question “group or member?” Сви студенти treats the students as a group; сваки студент distributes the statement to one student at a time.

Остали: the remainder of a known set

Остали means “remaining” or “the rest,” not simply any different member. It commonly appears in the plural, but singular forms are ordinary: остали део, остала храна, остало време.

Двоје гостију је отишло раније, а остали гости су се задржали до краја.

Two guests left early, while the remaining guests stayed until the end.

Осталу храну смо спаковали, а о осталим трошковима ћемо разговарати сутра.

We packed the remaining food, and we’ll discuss the remaining expenses tomorrow.

Други means “second,” “another,” or “other” depending on context; остали presupposes a set after one portion has been separated. If you have three proposals and reject the first, остала два предлога are the two remaining proposals. Други предлог can mean “the second proposal.”

Like relational adjectives and comparatives, остали has long-form morphology. There is no modern standard short form остал used to create an English a/the contrast.

Adjective-like quantities versus genitive-governing quantifiers

Some quantity words agree as adjectives: многи, бројни, малобројни, поједини, разни. Others—много, мало, неколико—do not agree with a plural noun; they govern genitive plural and create a quantity phrase.

Многи студенти су дошли раније, али је неколико студената чекало испред погрешне сале.

Many students arrived early, but several students waited outside the wrong room.

Бројни гости су већ стигли, а мало времена је остало до почетка.

Numerous guests have already arrived, and little time remains before the start.

Многи студенти has adjective agreement and plural predicate су дошли. Неколико студената and мало времена are quantity phrases; the noun is genitive, and the neutral default predicate is singular neuter је чекало / је остало. English “many/several students” hides this structural split.

These endings are not articles

Такав lacks final -и, but it does not mean “a such.” Сваки and остали end in -и, but that does not make them equivalents of “the.” Their shapes come from pronominal and long-adjective paradigms, while definiteness comes from reference and context.

These words normally precede their noun. Moving them after the noun is marked, contrastive, or literary and does not create an article contrast. Serbian determiner order and adjective order should be learned as syntax, not translated from English punctuation or article placement.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Carry такав through the cases

Use таква одлука as subject, direct object, topic after о, and means/circumstance after са.

Таква одлука ме брине; не подржавам такву одлуку; разговарамо о таквој одлуци; с таквом одлуком морамо бити опрезни.

A decision like that worries me; I don’t support such a decision; we’re discussing such a decision; with a decision like that, we must be careful.

Task 2: Choose сав, сваки, or остали

Decide whether the meaning is totality, individual distribution, or the remainder.

Сви учесници су добили програм; сваки учесник је добио имејл; остали учесници стижу сутра.

All participants received a program; each participant received an email; the remaining participants arrive tomorrow.

Common Mistakes

Leaving an adjective-like word invariant

❌ Не слажем се са такав одлуком.

Incorrect — са governs instrumental, and feminine agreement requires таквом одлуком.

✅ Не слажем се с таквом одлуком.

I don’t agree with a decision like that.

Preserving the fleeting а

❌ Никада нисам чуо за такаву понуду.

Incorrect — feminine accusative is такву; the а in такав is fleeting.

✅ Никада нисам чуо за такву понуду.

I’ve never heard of an offer like that.

Using сваки with a plural noun for collective “all”

❌ Сваки гости су већ за столом.

Incorrect — collective plural “all the guests” requires сви гости; сваки normally takes singular.

✅ Сви гости су већ за столом.

All the guests are already at the table.

Treating много as an agreeing adjective

❌ Много студенти су поставили питања.

Incorrect — много governs genitive plural студената and normally takes neuter singular predicate agreement.

✅ Много студената је поставило питања.

Many students asked questions.

Using остали for merely “another”

❌ Ова оловка не пише; дај ми осталу оловку.

Incorrect without a previously divided set — for an unspecified different pen, use другу.

✅ Ова оловка не пише; дај ми другу оловку.

This pen doesn’t write; give me another pen.

Key Takeaways

Овакав, такав, онакав point to a kind or quality and decline across the phrase.
Сав expresses totality; сви + plural is collective, while сваки + singular is distributive.
Остали identifies the remainder of a known set, not just any different item.
Agreeing многи/бројни differ structurally from genitive-governing много/мало/неколико.
Pronominal and long-form endings do not function as English articles.

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