Many short masculine nouns expand their stem in the plural with -ов- or -ев-: град — градови, број — бројеви. The final -и is the nominative plural ending; -ов-/-ев- belongs to the expanded plural stem and remains before other case endings: градове, градова, градовима.
Traditional descriptions call this the “long plural” (дуга множина) in contrast with an unexpanded or “short plural” (кратка множина) such as пас — пси. The distinction is morphological, not a claim that the spoken vowel is long, and ordinary spelling adds no accent or vowel-length marks.
Review the three-way contrast between ordinary plural, small-count forms, and genitive plural on Singular and Plural. The present page follows only the expanded masculine stem through those environments.
The Core Pattern
The expansion is especially common with one-syllable masculine nouns ending in a consonant.
| Singular | Nominative plural | Expanded stem | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| град | градови | градов- | city/cities |
| син | синови | синов- | son/sons |
| зид | зидови | зидов- | wall/walls |
| краљ | краљеви | краљев- | king/kings |
| број | бројеви | бројев- | number/numbers |
| нож | ножеви | ножев- | knife/knives |
Стари градови уз Дунав привлаче много посетилаца.
The old towns along the Danube attract many visitors.
Сви бројеви телефона су сачувани у облаку.
All the phone numbers are saved in the cloud.
Ови ножеви су оштри, па их држи ван домашаја деце.
These knives are sharp, so keep them out of children's reach.
The same formation is productive with many established loans: блог — блогови, клуб — клубови, тим — тимови, мејл — мејлови. Serbian does not attach English plural -s to these declined nouns.
Локални клубови су послали своје млађе тимове на турнир.
The local clubs sent their junior teams to the tournament.
Choosing -ов- or -ев-
As a strong general tendency, non-palatal stems select -ов- and stems ending in a palatal or postalveolar consonant select -ев-. This yields sets such as син — синови, град — градови, круг — кругови versus краљ — краљеви, муж — мужеви, кључ — кључеви, крај — крајеви.
| Common -ов- environments | Common -ев- environments |
|---|---|
| син — синови | краљ — краљеви |
| град — градови | нож — ножеви |
| круг — кругови | кључ — кључеви |
| блог — блогови | случај — случајеви |
This tendency is not a complete algorithm. пут — путеви and курс — курсеви have -ев- although the final consonant does not belong to the clearest palatal group. Lexical history and established usage matter. Learn the plural with the noun instead of trying to repair a remembered form by sound alone.
Not Every Short Masculine Noun Expands
One syllable makes the long plural likely, not obligatory. Frequent short plurals include пас — пси, зуб — зуби, прст — прсти, гост — гости, коњ — коњи, црв — црви, мрав — мрави. Several essential nouns are more irregular: човек — људи, брат — браћа.
Гости су оставили капуте у ходнику, а пси су остали у дворишту.
The guests left their coats in the hall, while the dogs stayed in the garden.
Longer masculine nouns usually take the ordinary plural without -ов-/-ев-: студент — студенти, прозор — прозори, телефон — телефони. Yet syllable count is again only a tendency: случај — случајеви has two syllables and an expanded plural.
There is no fully reliable semantic rule. Animate син takes синови, while animate пас takes пси; inanimate град and број both expand. Animacy matters for masculine case syncretism, but it does not select the long or short plural.
Моји синови су повели псе до језера.
My sons took the dogs to the lake.
The Expanded Stem Through the Cases
Once -ов-/-ев- is present, it remains throughout the plural paradigm. The case ending comes after it.
| Case | град (inanimate) | син (animate) | краљ (animate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative plural | градови | синови | краљеви |
| genitive plural | градова | синова | краљева |
| dative plural | градовима | синовима | краљевима |
| accusative plural | градове | синове | краљеве |
| vocative plural | градови | синови | краљеви |
| instrumental/locative plural | градовима | синовима | краљевима |
Разговарали смо о градовима у којима бисмо могли да живимо.
We talked about cities where we might live.
Позвала је синове и поделила им старе породичне фотографије.
She called her sons and handed out the old family photographs to them.
In singular accusative, animacy produces видим град but видим сина. In plural accusative, both classes have -е after the appropriate stem: видим градове, видим синове. Do not copy the genitive plural синова into the plural object simply because сина serves both genitive and accusative in the singular.
After numbers five and above, the genitive plural naturally displays the expansion:
За викенд смо обишли пет градова и два стара замка.
Over the weekend we visited five cities and two old castles.
Here пет градова has genitive plural, while два стара замка uses the small-count form. Number government chooses the case-shaped ending, but the lexical choice of expanded градов- remains.
Stem Alternations Alongside the Infix
Some nouns change more than simply adding -ов-/-ев-. сто — столови restores л in the expanded stem, while орао — орлови uses the oblique stem орл- before -ов-. These relations become clearer when several forms are learned together: сто, стола, столови and орао, орла, орлови.
Нови столови су стигли, али старе столице још нисмо продали.
The new tables have arrived, but we haven't sold the old chairs yet.
The plural stem can also support derivation or fixed lexical meanings, but do not assume every sequence ов/ев is this plural marker. In његов or дрвен, those letters belong to different morphology.
Case, Agreement, and Flexible Order
Adjectives and demonstratives agree with the case and number of the expanded noun: ови нови градови, ове нове градове, у овим новим градовима. Endings allow the object to move for emphasis.
Ове градове туристи најчешће посећују у пролеће.
These are the cities tourists visit most often in spring.
Ове градове is accusative plural even though it comes first; туристи is nominative plural subject. English word order would suggest the opposite unless translated passively or with a cleft. Serbian morphology makes the roles explicit.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting the expanded stem from a noun that requires it.
❌ Мали гради у унутрашњости губе становнике.
Incorrect — the regular nominative plural of град is градови, not гради.
✅ Мали градови у унутрашњости губе становнике.
Small inland towns are losing residents.
2. Adding -ов- to every short masculine noun.
❌ Пазите, псови су изашли на улицу.
Incorrect — пас has the short irregular plural пси, not псови.
✅ Пазите, пси су изашли на улицу.
Watch out, the dogs have gone into the street.
3. Choosing -ов- mechanically after a palatal ending.
❌ Сви кључови су у горњој фиоци.
Incorrect — кључ takes the expanded plural кључеви.
✅ Сви кључеви су у горњој фиоци.
All the keys are in the top drawer.
4. Treating the infix as if it occurred only in nominative.
❌ Разговарали смо о новим градама.
Incorrect — the expanded stem remains in locative plural: градовима.
✅ Разговарали смо о новим градовима.
We talked about the new cities.
5. Using genitive plural for an animate plural object.
❌ Видела је својих синова испред школе.
Incorrect for a definite direct object — masculine accusative plural is своје синове.
✅ Видела је своје синове испред школе.
She saw her sons in front of the school.
Key Takeaways
- -ов-/-ев- expands the plural stem; case endings follow it.
- Non-palatal stems tend toward -ов-, while palatal and postalveolar stems tend toward -ев-, but lexical exceptions must be learned.
- Not every short masculine noun expands: compare градови, пси, људи.
- Animacy affects case relationships, not the choice of -ов-/-ев-.
Related Topics
- Singular and PluralA1 — Forming the plural and the special role of paucal/counting forms.
- Masculine Noun DeclensionA2 — The full singular and plural paradigm of masculine nouns.
- Animacy in Masculine NounsA2 — Why animate masculines have accusative = genitive.
- The Plural Oblique Endings (-ima/-ama)B1 — Why the dative, locative, and instrumental plural all merge.
- Genitive Plural: The Hard CaseB1 — The notoriously variable genitive plural endings.