Serbian normally builds a relative clause with inflected који: књига коју читам “the book that I am reading,” човек с којим радим “the man I work with.” The relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, but its case is determined inside the relative clause, not by the antecedent's role in the main clause.
Invariant што provides a second strategy. It is especially natural after broad antecedents such as све, нешто, оно, while with a concrete noun it is more conversational and may require a resumptive personal-pronoun clitic. The choice is treated comparatively on the који versus што page; here the goal is to build both patterns accurately.
Two Jobs at Once: Agreement and Clause Role
In који relatives, gender and number point back to the antecedent. Case marks the relative pronoun's role in its own clause.
Жена која води радионицу ради у нашој школи.
The woman who runs the workshop works at our school.
Жену која води радионицу упознао сам прошле године.
I met the woman who runs the workshop last year.
The antecedent is nominative жена in the first main clause and accusative жену in the second. The relative pronoun remains nominative која in both because it is the subject of води.
Now reverse the roles:
Жена коју смо јуче упознали води радионицу.
The woman whom we met yesterday runs the workshop.
Here the antecedent жена is the main-clause subject, but коју is accusative because it is the object of упознали. English often leaves who/that unchanged; Serbian forces the two syntactic roles apart.
Complete Declension of Који
| Case | Singular masculine / feminine / neuter | Plural masculine / feminine / neuter |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | који / која / које | који / које / која |
| genitive | којег(а) or ког(а) / које / којег(а) or ког(а) | којих |
| dative | којем(е) or ком(е) / којој / којем(е) or ком(е) | којима |
| accusative | који or којег(а)/ког(а) / коју / које | које / које / која |
| instrumental | којим / којом / којим | којима |
| locative | којем(е) or ком(е) / којој / којем(е) or ком(е) | којима |
Masculine singular accusative is који with an inanimate antecedent and којег(а)/ког(а) with an animate one. Којег makes the connection to the који paradigm especially transparent, while кога is extremely common. Relative pronouns have no vocative because they link clauses rather than address a listener.
Филм који смо гледали траје скоро три сата.
The film that we watched lasts almost three hours.
Глумац којег смо срели радо је разговарао с публиком.
The actor whom we met was happy to speak with the audience.
Колегиница којој сам послао документе данас не ради.
The colleague to whom I sent the documents is not working today.
Пројекат о којем говоримо почеће на јесен.
The project we are talking about will begin in the autumn.
Људи с којима путујемо већ су стигли на станицу.
The people we are traveling with have already arrived at the station.
Serbian places the preposition directly before the relative pronoun: о којем, с којима, од којег. English may strand it at the end, but Serbian does not say the equivalent of “the people који we travel с.”
The Relative Pronoun Comes First; Clitics Follow
Inflected који is a full, stressed form. When it opens a relative clause, auxiliary and personal-pronoun clitics normally follow it in second position:
Ово је књига коју сам ти обећала прошле недеље.
This is the book that I promised you last week.
Позови мајстора којем смо већ послали фотографије квара.
Call the repairman to whom we have already sent photographs of the fault.
In коју сам ти обећала, the cluster is auxiliary сам plus dative ти. Коју itself is not a clitic: it carries the relative link, feminine singular agreement, and accusative case.
Invariant Што After Broad Antecedents
After све “everything,” нешто “something,” ништа “nothing,” оно “that which,” and то “the fact/thing that,” invariant што is the default natural connector. It does not decline or agree.
Све што си ми препоручила било је корисно.
Everything you recommended to me was useful.
Постоји нешто што још нисмо проверили.
There is something that we have not checked yet.
То што касни воз не значи да ћемо пропустити везу.
The fact that the train is late does not mean that we will miss our connection.
In these clauses што can link to an entire proposition or to a semantically broad antecedent. Trying to force gender agreement onto it misses its function: што is invariant.
Do not confuse relative што with interrogative шта/што or causal што “because/why.” The spelling is the same, but the clause relation differs.
Што with a Concrete Noun and a Resumptive Clitic
With a concrete noun, који is the safest neutral choice across registers. A што relative also occurs in conversation and informal narrative, but it is stylistically marked and substantially less frequent than који in contemporary standard Serbian. When the antecedent has a non-subject role inside that relative clause, a personal-pronoun clitic usually carries the missing case information:
То је комшиница што нам је донела колаче.
That is the neighbor who brought us cakes.
Где је рачун што сам га оставио на столу?
Where is the bill that I left on the desk?
Позвала нас је пријатељица што смо јој чували мачку.
The friend whose cat we looked after called us.
The first што is itself followed by a clause in which the antecedent is understood as subject, so no resumptive subject pronoun is needed. In the second, accusative га resumes masculine рачун. In the third, dative јој marks the person whose cat we looked after; a more structurally explicit neutral version would use a construction with чији.
With a concrete antecedent, this што + clitic pattern is (informal) compared with fully inflected који, particularly in careful expository prose. It is not grammatically shapeless: the invariant connector introduces the clause, while the clitic records the antecedent's syntactic role.
Full and Clitic Resumption Are Not Interchangeable
A neutral што relative uses an unstressed clitic when resumption is needed. A full personal pronoun is possible only with strong contrast or repair and changes the information structure.
Ово је кандидат што смо га позвали у други круг.
This is the candidate whom we invited to the second round.
Ово је кандидат којег смо позвали у други круг.
This is the candidate whom we invited to the second round.
The two sentences identify the same participant. The first is conversational and resumes the object with га; the second is stylistically neutral and lets accusative којег carry the role.
— Где је рачун који си јуче донео? — Мислиш на онај што сам га оставио на столу?
‘Where is the bill that you brought yesterday?’ ‘Do you mean the one that I left on the desk?’
The dialogue moves naturally from inflected који to conversational што + га once рачун is established and resumed as the object of оставио.
Clitic order remains fixed:
То је књига што сам ти је јуче поменула.
That is the book that I mentioned to you yesterday.
After што, the cluster is сам ти је: auxiliary, dative, accusative. English order cannot be mapped word for word.
Serbian Does Not Normally Omit the Object Relative Marker
English readily says the book I bought, with no audible that. Standard Serbian keeps a relative strategy visible:
Књига коју сам купила већ је распродата у већини књижара.
The book I bought is already sold out in most bookstores.
Књига што сам је купила већ је распродата у већини књижара.
The book I bought is already sold out in most bookstores.
The first uses inflected коју; the second, more conversational option uses што + је. Simply removing both коју and што/је does not produce a neutral Serbian relative clause.
Свој Inside the Relative Clause
The relative clause has its own subject domain. Свој normally refers to that clause's subject, not automatically to the main-clause subject or antecedent.
Упознала сам писца који је представио своју нову књигу.
I met the writer who presented his own new book.
Упознала сам писца којем је уредница вратила његов рукопис.
I met the writer to whom the editor returned his manuscript.
In the first relative clause, the writer is subject, so своју refers to him. In the second, уредница is subject; своју would refer to the editor, so његову is required to refer to the writer.
Restrictive and Supplementary Relatives
A restrictive clause identifies which referent is meant and is not separated by commas. A supplementary clause adds information about an already identified referent and is set off by commas in writing.
Студенти који су предали рад могу да изађу.
The students who submitted the paper may leave.
Студенти, који су већ предали рад, чекали су резултате у ходнику.
The students, who had already submitted the paper, waited for the results in the corridor.
The first sentence selects a subset. The second presents all contextually identified students as having submitted. Punctuation therefore changes interpretation, not merely breathing rhythm.
Practice Tasks
Task 1: Choose the case of који
Complete: (1) жена _ ради овде; (2) жена _ смо позвали; (3) жена с _ путујемо.
Answers: која (subject, nominative), коју (object, accusative), којом (after с, instrumental).
Task 2: Rebuild with што
Change рачун који сам ти послао into a conversational што relative.
Answer: рачун што сам ти га послао. Invariant што introduces the clause; accusative clitic га resumes рачун, and the cluster order is сам ти га.
Common Mistakes
Copying the antecedent's main-clause case
❌ Разговарам са женом којом води радионицу.
Incorrect — the relative pronoun is the subject of води and must be nominative која.
✅ Разговарам са женом која води радионицу.
I am talking with the woman who runs the workshop.
Omitting the object relative marker as in English
❌ Филм гледамо вечерас освојио је три награде.
Incorrect — Serbian needs a visible relative link before гледамо.
✅ Филм који гледамо вечерас освојио је три награде.
The film we are watching tonight won three awards.
Using invariant што without the needed object clitic
❌ Где је пакет што сам оставио код рецепције?
Incorrect for the intended conversational што pattern — masculine object пакет must be resumed by га.
✅ Где је пакет што сам га оставио код рецепције?
Where is the parcel that I left at reception?
Putting clitics in English order
❌ То је порука што ти сам је послала јутрос.
Incorrect — the second-position cluster orders the auxiliary before dative and accusative clitics: сам ти је.
✅ То је порука што сам ти је послала јутрос.
That is the message that I sent you this morning.
Choosing свој by the wrong subject
❌ То је аутор којем је уредник вратио свој рукопис.
Incorrect for ‘the author's manuscript’ — свој refers to the relative-clause subject уредник.
✅ То је аутор којем је уредник вратио његов рукопис.
That is the author to whom the editor returned his manuscript.
Key Takeaways
- Који agrees with the antecedent in gender and number but receives case from its role inside the relative clause.
- Prepositions stand before the inflected relative form: с којим, о којој, од којих.
- Invariant што is especially natural after све, нешто, оно, and related broad antecedents.
- Conversational што relatives with concrete nouns often use a resumptive clitic to mark the antecedent's role.
- English object-relative omission is not the neutral Serbian pattern; retain који or use што + clitic.
Now practice Serbian
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Start learning Serbian →Related Topics
- Interrogative Pronouns: ko, što, kojiA1 — Question pronouns 'who', 'what', 'which' and their cases.
- Relative Clauses in DepthB1 — Building and punctuating koji/što/čiji clauses.
- koji vs što (relative 'which/that')B1 — Choosing the inflected vs invariant relative.
- Clitic vs Full Pronoun FormsA2 — The short unstressed and long stressed object pronouns.
- The Reflexive Possessive svojB1 — When to use svoj instead of moj/tvoj/njegov.