Since the vocative case is used when we are addressing someone or calling someone, most often one person, there are changes in the singular form only (of course there are exceptions). Addressing things or abstract concepts won’t be something you will hear in everyday conversations, but there are plenty of examples in poems and literature.
MASC. SG. NOUNS ENDING IN A CONSONANT ADD E TO THE STEM:
e.g. Igore, Jovane, brate, Miloše, gospodine
MASC. SG. NOUNS ENDING IN J, DŽ, Č, Ć, Đ, LJ, NJ, Š, Ž add U
e.g. mužu, prijatelju (doesn’t apply to proper names, though – Miloše)
MASC. SG. NOUNS ENDING IN -A
These words either don’t change, like tata, kolega, Nikola, Saša, Balša…
Or in some cases the final -a is dropped and O is added. e.g. sudija – sudijo!
FEM. SG. NOUNS ENDING IN –A
Common nouns ending in –a, turn to O, e.g. gospođa – gospođo, majka – majko!
Long names (3 syllables) stay the same: Radmila, Milena, Dragana, Jelena..
Two syllable names ending in –a, with long stress, turn to O e.g. Nada – Nado!
Two-syllable names ending in –a, with short stress, don’t change. E.g. Mila!
More syllable nouns ending in -ica turn to E e.g. Milica – Milice! Drugarica – drugarice !
With words and names of foreign origin (or still felt as “foreign” names/words) there is no change.
FEM. SG. NOUNS ENDING IN A CONSONANT
Words like riječ / ljubav / and other abstract nouns ( ending in -st) — adding I e.g. Ljubav – Ljubavi
Exercise:
Ovo je Mocart. Ćao, _____________.
Ovo je Dragan. Ćao, ____________________.
Ovo je moj tata. Hej, ____________________ sačekaj me!
Ovo je moj prijatelj. Gdje si krenuo ___________________?
Ovo je moj kum. Šta ima, _________________?
Ovo je Jovan. Drago mi je, _________________.
Ovo je moja majka. __________________ovo je moja prijateljica Rada.
Ovo je Rada. Drago mi je. Kako si, ___________________?
Ovo je Ljubica. Gde si _______________?
Ti si moja ljubav, ____________________ moja!
Ovo je Sanja. Drago mi je, ________________________.
Ovo je Lana. Ćao _________________.
Dobar dan, ______________________ (gospodin ministar).
Zdravo, _____________________ (predsjednik).
There is one more ex in the Exercises section. Try to do it 🙂
