Learn to recognise and use neuter nouns in nominative and accusative case.
Neuter nouns typically end in -o or -e. Examples are: sonce (sun), besedilo (text), darilo (gift), gorivo (fuel), gnezdo (nest), jezero (lake), križišče (crossroads), mnenje (opinion), morje (sea).
The endings for neuter nouns are the same in nominative and accusative cases - too easy!
Here are some examples:
Nominative | Accusative | Translation |
sonce | sonce | sun |
besedilo | besedilo | text |
darilo | darilo | gift |
gnezdo | gnezdo | nest |
The accusative case is used when an object or a person (a noun) is directly receiving the action or is the object of an action.
For example "Jaz vidim sonce" (I see the sun) - the object "sun" is receiving the action of "seeing".
We can help determine the case by using the following questions:
Case | Helper Question | Example |
Nominative | Who or what (is here)? | Besedilo je tu. (The text is here) |
Genitive | Who or what (is not here)? | Besedila ni tu. (The text is not here) |
Dative | To whom or to what (do we give)? | Besedilu dam obliko. (I give form to the text.) |
Accusative | Whom or what (do we see)? | Jaz vidim besedilo. (I see the text.) |
Locative | Next to whom or what (is)? | V besedilu je napaka. (There is an error in the text.) |
Instrumental | With whom or with what (is)? | Z besedilom je dal informacijo. (He gave information with the text.) |
Further examples of when accusative is used:
Helper question | Example | Translation |
Whom or what do I see? | Vidim jezero. | I see a lake. |
What do I buy? | Kupim gorivo. | I buy fuel. |
What do I read? | Berem besedilo. | I'm reading a text. |
What do I have? | Imam mnenje. | I have an opinion. |