Poslodavac želi takvog kandidata.

Because kandidata is in the accusative singular.

In this sentence, kandidata is the direct object of želi (wants), so it has to be in the accusative case.

For masculine animate nouns in Serbian, the accusative singular has the same form as the genitive singular. That is why:

• nominative: kandidat
• accusative: kandidata

Since a candidate is a person, it counts as animate.

Because takvog has to agree with kandidata.

Takav means something like such or that kind of. In Serbian, words like this change form to match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, kandidata is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative
• animate

So takav becomes takvog.

A useful comparison:

• takav kandidat = such a candidate / that kind of candidate
  (nominative)
• želi takvog kandidata = wants such a candidate
  (accusative)

It usually means such a candidate, that kind of candidate, or a candidate like that.

The exact natural English translation depends on context. Takav does not point to one specific candidate in the same way taj (that) does. It often describes a type or kind of person.

So:

• taj kandidat = that candidate
• takav kandidat = such a candidate / that sort of candidate

That distinction is important.

Želi is the 3rd person singular present tense of želeti (to want).

So:

• ja želim = I want
• ti želiš = you want
• on/ona/ono želi = he/she/it wants
• mi želimo = we want
• vi želite = you want
• oni/one/ona žele = they want

In this sentence, the subject is poslodavac (employer), which is singular, so the verb is želi.

Yes. Poslodavac is the subject of the sentence, and it is in the nominative singular.

The structure is:

• Poslodavac = subject
• želi = verb
• takvog kandidata = direct object

So this is a very standard Serbian sentence pattern: Subject + Verb + Object.

Yes. Serbian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral, most straightforward order is:

• Poslodavac želi takvog kandidata.

But you could also say:

• Takvog kandidata poslodavac želi.

That version puts more emphasis on takvog kandidata.

Even though the word order changes, the case endings still show who is doing the action and who receives it. That is why Serbian can move words around more freely than English.

Because Serbian does not have articles like English a/an/the.

So kandidat or kandidata can mean:

• a candidate
• the candidate

depending on context.

In this sentence, takvog kandidata is often best translated as such a candidate, but Serbian itself does not use a separate article word.

In Serbian grammar, nouns referring to people and many animals are treated as animate.

Since kandidat means a person, it is masculine animate. That matters because masculine animate nouns have a special accusative pattern:

• vidim kandidata = I see the candidate
• znam profesora = I know the professor
• čekam prijatelja = I am waiting for my friend

Compare that with a masculine inanimate noun:

• vidim sto = I see the table

For inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative usually looks like the nominative. For animate nouns, it usually looks like the genitive.

Yes, but the meaning changes.

• taj kandidat = that candidate
  → a specific person
• takav kandidat = such a candidate / that kind of candidate
  → a type or kind of person

So:

• Poslodavac želi taj kandidat would be wrong grammatically anyway, because the case is wrong.
• The correct version would be Poslodavac želi tog kandidata = The employer wants that candidate.

Compare:

• Poslodavac želi tog kandidata. = wants that specific candidate
• Poslodavac želi takvog kandidata. = wants a candidate of that kind

Yes. In this sentence it is singular.

You can see that from both words:

• takvog = masculine singular accusative animate
• kandidata = singular accusative of kandidat

If it were plural, it would look different, for example:

• Poslodavac želi takve kandidate. = The employer wants such candidates.

So the sentence you have is clearly about one candidate.

This sentence fits Ekavian Serbian because of the verb form connected with želeti.

In standard Serbian, you may encounter both:

• želeti → more typical in Ekavian
• željeti → more typical in Ijekavian

But the form želi itself looks the same in both, so the sentence is perfectly understandable either way. Nothing else in the sentence strongly marks one variety over the other.

Then takav would change to match the new noun.

For example:

• Poslodavac želi takvu radnicu.
  = The employer wants such a female worker.

• Poslodavac želi takvo iskustvo.
  = The employer wants such experience.

So the pattern is the same: the word meaning such changes form to agree with the noun.

In your sentence:

• takvog matches a masculine animate singular noun

That agreement is one of the key things to notice in Serbian.