Imam tri poena.

Imam means I have. It comes from the verb imati, which means to have.

It is the 1st person singular present tense form:

• imam = I have
• imaš = you have
• ima = he/she/it has

So Imam tri poena literally starts with I have.

Because Serbian usually does not need the subject pronoun when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

In imam, the ending -am already tells you it means I have, so ja is normally omitted.

• Imam tri poena. = neutral, natural
• Ja imam tri poena. = I have three points, with extra emphasis

After the numbers dva, tri, četiri (2, 3, 4), Serbian nouns often take a special counting form instead of the regular plural.

So:

• jedan poen = one point
• tri poena = three points
• not tri poeni

The form poeni is the regular plural, but it is not the form normally used after tri.

For example:

• Poeni su važni. = Points are important.
  Here poeni is fine because there is no number directly governing the noun.

For a learner, the simplest answer is: it is the form required after the number tri.

A more grammatical answer is that after 2, 3, 4, masculine and neuter nouns use a special paucal/counting form, which often looks the same as the genitive singular. For poen, that form is poena.

So in tri poena, the number tri determines the form of the noun.

Because in Serbian, when a noun comes after a number, the number controls the noun form.

So even though tri poena is the object of imam, the noun itself is shaped by tri, not by the usual pattern you might expect for a plain plural noun.

Think of the whole phrase tri poena as one unit meaning three points.

Here is the basic pattern:

• jedan poen = one point
• dva poena = two points
• tri poena = three points
• četiri poena = four points
• pet poena = five points

Notice that poena appears with both 3 and 5, but for different grammatical reasons:

• after 2–4, Serbian uses the special counting form
• after 5 and above, Serbian normally uses the genitive plural

For poen, those forms happen to look the same: poena.

The dictionary form is poen, and it ends in a consonant, which is very often a sign that a Serbian noun is masculine.

That fits the pattern:

• jedan poen
• dobar poen
• tri poena

So yes, poen is a masculine noun.

Yes, absolutely. It is grammatical.

The difference is mostly emphasis:

• Imam tri poena. = neutral
• Ja imam tri poena. = I have three points

You would use ja if you want contrast, for example:

• Ja imam tri poena, a on ima dva.
  = I have three points, and he has two.

Yes. Serbian word order is fairly flexible.

The most neutral version is:

• Imam tri poena.

But you may also hear:

• Tri poena imam.

That version puts more emphasis on tri poena. It can sound contrastive or stylistically marked depending on context.

For a beginner, Imam tri poena is the safest default.

They can both mean point, but they are not always used in exactly the same contexts.

• poen is very common in sports scoring
• bod is broader and is often used for points in rankings, contests, tests, or standings

So in many sports contexts, poen sounds very natural. In other contexts, bod may be more usual.

It is usually pronounced po-e-na, in three syllables.

So the vowels are both heard:

• po
• e
• na

It is not pronounced like one merged English-style vowel sound.