Questions & Answers about Cev ispod česme curi.
What is the grammatical role of each word in Cev ispod česme curi?
- cev = pipe. It is the subject of the sentence.
- ispod česme = under the faucet/tap. This is a prepositional phrase describing location.
- curi = is leaking / drips / runs. This is the verb.
So the structure is basically:
[subject] + [location] + [verb]
Why is it česme and not česma after ispod?
Because ispod normally requires the genitive case.
- dictionary form: česma = faucet / tap
- genitive singular: česme
So:
- ispod česme = under the faucet/tap
This is very common in Serbian: certain prepositions automatically require a specific case, and ispod is one of the prepositions that takes the genitive.
Is cev feminine, and how can I tell?
Yes, cev is a feminine noun.
Even though it does not end in -a, some Serbian feminine nouns end in a consonant. You usually learn their gender from usage and agreement.
You can tell here because the verb form fits a singular subject, but the strongest clue comes from knowing the noun itself: