Lekar pregleda nos.

The doctor examines the nose.

Breakdown of Lekar pregleda nos.

• lekar: doctor
• pregledati: to examine
• nos: a nose

Questions & Answers about Lekar pregleda nos.

Why is there no word for the or a in this sentence?

Serbian does not have articles.

So lekar can mean the doctor, a doctor, or doctor in a general sense, depending on context. The same is true for nos.

English needs articles; Serbian usually does not.

How do I know which word is the subject and which is the object?

In Lekar pregleda nos, lekar is the subject and nos is the direct object.

Grammar-wise:

• lekar is in the nominative case
• nos is in the accusative case

The verb pregleda agrees with lekar as the singular subject.

Why doesn’t nos change form?

Because nos is a masculine inanimate noun.

In Serbian, masculine inanimate nouns usually have the same form in:

• nominative singular
• accusative singular

So:

• nominative: nos
• accusative: nos

That is why the word looks unchanged.

Would a masculine noun ever change in the accusative?