Questions & Answers about Zdrav narod je važan.
Why is narod singular if the English meaning can be people?
Because narod is a collective noun in Serbian. Grammatically, it is singular masculine, even though its meaning refers to a group of people.
So Serbian treats it like this:
- narod je = the people/nation is
- not narod su
If you want to talk about individual people in the ordinary plural sense, Serbian usually uses ljudi:
- Zdravi ljudi su važni. = Healthy people are important.
What exactly does narod mean here?
Narod can mean:
- people as a group
- nation
- the populace
- sometimes ethnic group or folk
In this sentence, it does not sound like individual persons walking around one by one. It sounds more like a people / a nation / the population as a whole.
So Zdrav narod je važan is closer to:
- A healthy nation is important
- A healthy people is important
- A healthy population is important
depending on context.
Why is there no word for a or the?