Everyday Serbian numbers do more than name amounts. They select the form of the counted noun, sometimes control predicate agreement, and behave differently when they count objects, state an age, or identify a telephone line. The practical goal is to hear which frame you are in before choosing a noun form.
This page gives reusable spoken phrases. The complete morphology is on Numeral Government; here the emphasis is buying, counting, giving an age, and confirming numbers accurately.
The three core quantity frames
Serbian quantities follow a three-way pattern:
| Final number | Example with карта | Example with сто | Core pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | једна карта | један сто | singular, with gender agreement |
| 2–4 | две карте | два стола | paucal form |
| 5–20 | пет карата | пет столова | genitive plural |
| 21, 31… | двадесет једна карта | двадесет један сто | final један/једна restores singular |
| 22–24, 32–34… | двадесет две карте | двадесет два стола | final 2–4 selects paucal |
| 25–30, 35–40… | двадесет пет карата | двадесет пет столова | genitive plural |
Numbers ending in 11–14 stay in the 5+ pattern: једанаест карата, дванаест столова, сто тринаест дана. Look at the final spoken number, but treat the “teens” as a block.
Требају ми једна повратна карта и две резервације за седишта.
I need one return ticket and two seat reservations.
За групу смо купили двадесет четири карте, а остало је још пет места.
We bought twenty-four tickets for the group, and five seats are still available.
Један and два show gender
Један agrees with the noun: један рачун, једна кафа, једно место. The number two distinguishes masculine/neuter два from feminine две: два рачуна, два места, две кафе.
Молим вас, једну кафу, један чај и два парчета колача.
One coffee, one tea, and two slices of cake, please.
Why једну кафу rather than citation једна кафа? The order is the direct object of an understood or explicit verb such as узећу, so feminine singular shows accusative. The 2–4 phrase две кафе has the same visible form in nominative and accusative.
Узећу једно велико паковање и две мале кесе.
I'll take one large package and two small bags.
Adjectives inside the phrase follow the numeral pattern: једна мала кеса, две мале кесе, пет малих кеса. English leaves small unchanged; Serbian marks the entire phrase.
Asking how many and answering
Use колико for “how many/how much.” A count noun after it normally appears in genitive plural, as in колико карата and колико људи; a mass noun normally appears in genitive singular, as in колико времена.
Колико карата вам треба? — Три за одрасле и једна за дете.
How many tickets do you need? — Three for adults and one for a child.
Колико кошта ова свеска? — Сто двадесет динара.
How much does this notebook cost? — One hundred twenty dinars.
With динар, 2–4 and 5+ forms look alike in many phrases (два динара, пет динара), but singular returns after compound један: сто један динар. The smaller unit makes the contrast visible: једна пара, две паре, пет пара.
Рачун је двеста један динар, а код себе имам само двеста динара.
The bill is 201 dinars, and I only have 200 dinars on me.
Predicate agreement with counted groups
With два, три, четири, a plural predicate is natural: стигла су три аутобуса. With numbers five and above, the quantity commonly takes singular neuter agreement: стигло је пет аутобуса.
Јутрос су стигла два пакета, а поподне је стигло пет писама.
Two parcels arrived this morning, and five letters arrived in the afternoon.
The l-participle agrees accordingly: neuter plural стигла with два пакета, neuter singular је...стигло with пет пакета. Natural word order can place the quantity before or after the verb, but the agreement pattern remains.
Saying your age
Serbian uses имати “have,” not English be: Имам двадесет година. The noun година follows quantity rules, and имати makes a singular “one” phrase accusative.
| Age | Natural Serbian |
|---|---|
| 1 | Има једну годину. |
| 2 | Има две године. |
| 5 | Има пет година. |
| 21 | Има двадесет једну годину. |
| 22 | Има двадесет две године. |
| 25 | Има двадесет пет година. |
Колико година има твоја сестра? — Има тридесет једну годину.
How old is your sister? — She is thirty-one.
For a baby, има годину дана is a very common way to say “is one year old.” Дан does not literally add days here; годину дана is a duration phrase.
Наш син има годину дана и већ покушава да хода.
Our son is one year old and is already trying to walk.
Telephone numbers are identifiers
A telephone number is not a counted noun phrase. Read its digits or conventional groups and preserve an initial zero. When accuracy matters, reading digit by digit is safest.
Мој број је 064 208 31 57: нула шест четири, два нула осам, три један, пет седам.
My number is 064 208 31 57: zero six four, two zero eight, three one, five seven.
— Да ли је последња група 57 или 75? — Пет седам: 57.
— Is the last group 57 or 75? — Five seven: 57.
With an international number, read + as плус and follow the digits as written. Do not silently add or remove a national trunk zero during confirmation.
Measures and container quantities
Everyday shopping often counts a measure, while the substance remains genitive: килограм јабука, два килограма јабука, пет килограма јабука; флаша воде; две флаше воде.
Дајте ми пола килограма сира и две флаше воде, молим вас.
Give me half a kilogram of cheese and two bottles of water, please.
The first noun carries the numeral pattern; the substance answers “of what?” and remains genitive. This nested structure is why literal English word order is not enough.
Situational dialogue
— Добар дан, колико карата желите? — Три: две за одрасле и једну дечју карту. — То је укупно две хиљаде сто динара. — У реду. Можете ли да ми поновите број резервације? — Наравно: шест нула четири, два један девет.
— Hello, how many tickets would you like? — Three: two adult tickets and one child ticket. — That is 2,100 dinars in total. — All right. Could you repeat the reservation number? — Of course: six zero four, two one nine.
The dialogue switches systems: counted tickets change noun form; a price is a quantity; the reservation number is an identifier and is repeated digit by digit.
Practice
Task 1: Build the three frames
Једна порука, две поруке, пет порука; једно питање, три питања, осам питања.
One message, two messages, five messages; one question, three questions, eight questions. Answer: singular, paucal, genitive plural.
Task 2: Separate amount from identifier
Имам двадесет две године, а последње две цифре мог броја су два и два.
I am twenty-two years old, and the last two digits of my number are two and two. The age governs године; the identifier preserves each digit.
Common Mistakes
Ignoring gender with two
❌ Требају ми два карте за Нови Сад.
Incorrect—карта is feminine, so ‘two tickets’ is две карте.
✅ Требају ми две карте за Нови Сад.
I need two tickets to Novi Sad.
Using the 2–4 noun form after five
❌ На столу је пет књиге.
Incorrect—five requires genitive plural књига and normally singular neuter predicate agreement.
✅ На столу је пет књига које треба вратити у библиотеку.
There are five books on the table that need to be returned to the library.
Translating age with бити
❌ Моја сестра је тридесет једна година.
Incorrect English transfer—Serbian expresses age with имати and accusative једну годину.
✅ Моја сестра има тридесет једну годину.
My sister is thirty-one years old.
Dropping a zero from an identifier
❌ Број 064 читам од шестице и изостављам почетну нулу.
Incorrect for confirming a phone number—the initial zero is part of the national-format identifier.
✅ Број 064 почињем са „нула шест четири“ када га потврђујем.
When confirming 064, I begin with ‘zero six four.’
Key Takeaways
- Counted nouns use singular after one, paucal after 2–4, and genitive plural after 5+ and 11–14.
- Један/једна/једно and два/две show gender; adjectives follow the whole numeral phrase.
- Serbian “has” an age: има двадесет једну годину, not “is” twenty-one.
- Telephone and reservation numbers are identifiers: preserve and confirm every digit.
- Measures can contain nested genitives: две флаше воде, пет килограма јабука.
Now practice Serbian
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Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- Numeral Government: 1 / 2-4 / 5+A2 — The master rule for which case a counted noun takes.
- Cardinal Numbers 0-10A1 — The basic counting numbers and which decline.
- Reading Numbers, Years, and Prices AloudA2 — How to say large numbers, years, and amounts.
- Numbers in Use: Money, Time, Phone, AgeA2 — Practical numeral patterns in everyday contexts.
- Shopping and MoneyA2 — Prices, paying, and shopping phrases.
- Telling Time and DatesA2 — Asking and saying the time, days, and dates.