Genitive Case (Possessive Case)
Without a preposition, the genitive case is used primarily to denote possession.
Ovo je glavna ulica Zagreba - This is the main street of Zagreb
To je šešir moje žene - This is my wife's hat
It is also used after a large number of prepositions. These generally denote origin, distance or removal from somewhere or something.
iz + G 'out of, from'
Jeste li iz Zagreba? - Are you from
Zagreb?
Ozvado labamoci oz ormara - take
the coat out of the wardrobe
blizu + G 'near' (ie, not distant from)
Hotel je blizu autobusne postaje - The hotel is near the bus stop
Nisam imala problema
The -a ending on problem tells yu tht this word is being used in the genitive case. meaning I didn't have any problems. The genitive case in Serbo-Croat can be used to indicate what in English would be expressed by some or any, as opposed to a single object. Compare the following sentences :| To nije moj problem. | That is not my problem. |
| Nisam imala problema. | I didn't have any problems. |
| Gdje je kruh? | Where is the bread? |
| Imate li kruha? | have you got any bread? |
Formation of the genitive
Singular
Masculine. Genitive ends in -a:
To je torba gospodina Antića - That's Mr Antić's bag
Neuter. Genitive ends in -a as with masculine nouns:
more: grad je nedaleko od mora - The town is not far from the sea
Feminine:
a) Nouns ending in -a have genitive in : -e
Engleska: Mi smo iz Engleske - We are from England
b) Nouns ending in a consonant have enitive in: -i
noć: Poslije te lijepe noći .... - After that beautiful night . . .
Plural
The genitive plural for all genders is -a except for feminine noun ending in a consonant, which have the genitive plural ending -i.
Structures using the genitive case
1) Nema, third person singular of nemati, meaning 'he has not' or 'there is not':
| Nema nikoga doma | There is no one at home |
| Nema ni novca ni novcanika | He has neither money nor wallet |
2) Evo + G: 'here is' or 'here are':
| Evo postaje | Here is the stop! |
| Evo naše adrese | Here is our address |