Gde je moj novčanik? Ne vidim ga u torbi.

Because novčanik is a masculine singular noun, and the possessive moj has to agree with it in gender, number, and case.

• moj = masculine singular
• moja = feminine singular
• moje = neuter singular

Since novčanik ends in a consonant and is masculine, moj novčanik is the correct form.

It is in the nominative singular.

In Gde je moj novčanik?, novčanik is the thing being asked about, so it stays in its basic dictionary form.

Serbian often omits subject pronouns when they are not needed.

So instead of saying something like Gde je on? or Gde je onaj novčanik?, Serbian simply says:

• Gde je moj novčanik?

The noun itself already tells you what the subject is, so no extra pronoun is necessary.

Ga means him/it as a direct object pronoun here. It refers back to novčanik.

So:

• novčanik = wallet
• ga = it

Serbian uses gendered pronouns, so the form of it depends on the grammatical gender of the noun. Since novčanik is masculine, ga is the natural short form here.

Ga is the short, unstressed form of the pronoun, while njega is the full, stressed form.

In a neutral sentence, Serbian usually prefers the short form:

• Ne vidim ga. = neutral, normal
• Ne vidim njega. = more emphatic, like I don’t see HIM

So in this sentence, ga is the natural choice.

Because ga is a clitic: a short unstressed word that cannot stand alone and usually goes in a fixed position in the sentence.

In simple sentences like this, the most natural order is:

• Ne vidim ga.

That is the standard, neutral word order for I don't see it.

Because after u meaning in, Serbian uses the locative case when talking about location.

• basic form: torba = bag
• locative singular: torbi
• u torbi = in the bag

So torba changes to torbi because the sentence is describing where something is.

This is a very important case contrast:

• u torbi = in the bag → location, no movement
• u torbu = into the bag → movement toward the inside

So in this sentence:

• Ne vidim ga u torbi = I don’t see it in the bag

If you were talking about putting something into the bag, you would use u torbu.

Here Ne vidim is the normal present-tense way to say I don’t see it or I can’t see it in context.

Serbian does not need a separate progressive form like English I am not seeing. The present tense is enough:

• vidim = I see
• ne vidim = I don’t see

Depending on context, English might translate it as either I don’t see it or I can’t see it.

Yes, you could.

• Gde je moj novčanik? = Where is my wallet?
• Gde je novčanik? = Where is the wallet?

Including moj makes the possession explicit. Serbian sometimes leaves possessives out when ownership is obvious from context, but using moj is completely natural and often clearer.

Gde is the standard Serbian form and the safest one to learn first.

You may also encounter gdje in some regional varieties, but gde is perfectly standard and very common in Serbian.

A simple learner-friendly guide:

• novčanik ≈ nov-CHA-neek
• torbi ≈ TOR-bee
• gde ≈ gdeh, with gd pronounced together

Also note:

• č sounds like ch in chocolate

So novčanik has that ch sound in the middle.