Learn numbers in Serbian
Knowing numbers in Serbian is probably one of the most useful things you can learn to say, write and understand in Serbian. Learning to count in Serbian may appeal to you just as a simple curiosity or be something you really need. Perhaps you have planned a trip to a country where Serbian is the most widely spoken language, and you want to be able to shop and even bargain with a good knowledge of numbers in Serbian.
It's also useful for guiding you through street numbers. You'll be able to better understand the directions to places and everything expressed in numbers, such as the times when public transportation leaves. Can you think of more reasons to learn numbers in Serbian?
The Serbian language (Српски in Cyrillic, Srpski in Latin alphabet) is a South Slavic language from the Indo-European family. Official language in Serbia, it is co-official in Bosnia and Herzegovina (with Bosnian and Croatian), and counts about 7 million speakers.
List of numbers in Serbian
Here is a list of numbers in Serbian. We have made for you a list with all the numbers in Serbian from 1 to 20. We have also included the tens up to the number 100, so that you know how to count up to 100 in Serbian. We also close the list by showing you what the number 1000 looks like in Serbian.
- 1) један (jedan)
- 2) два (dva)
- 3) три (tri)
- 4) четири (četiri)
- 5) пет (pet)
- 6) шест (šest)
- 7) седам (sedam)
- 8) осам (osam)
- 9) девет (devet)
- 10) десет (deset)
- 11) једанаест (jedanaest)
- 12) дванаест (dvanaest)
- 13) тринаест (trinaest)
- 14) четрнаест (četrnaest)
- 15) петнаест (petnaest)
- 16) шеснаест (šesnaest)
- 17) седамнаест (sedamnaest)
- 18) осамнаест (osamnaest)
- 19) деветнаест (devetnaest)
- 20) двадесет (dvadeset)
- 30) тридесет (trideset)
- 40) четрдесет (četrdeset)
- 50) педесет (pedeset)
- 60) шездесет (šezdeset)
- 70) седамдесет (sedamdeset)
- 80) осамдесет (osamdeset)
- 90) деведесет (devedeset)
- 100) сто (sto)
- 1,000) хиљада (hiljada)
- one million) један милион (jedan milion)
- one billion) једна милијарда (jedna milijarda)
- one trillion) један билион (jedan bilion)
Numbers in Serbian: Serbian numbering rules
Each culture has specific peculiarities that are expressed in its language and its way of counting. The Serbian is no exception. If you want to learn numbers in Serbian you will have to learn a series of rules that we will explain below. If you apply these rules you will soon find that you will be able to count in Serbian with ease.
The way numbers are formed in Serbian is easy to understand if you follow the rules explained here. Surprise everyone by counting in Serbian. Also, learning how to number in Serbian yourself from these simple rules is very beneficial for your brain, as it forces it to work and stay in shape. Working with numbers and a foreign language like Serbian at the same time is one of the best ways to train our little gray cells, so let's see what rules you need to apply to number in Serbian
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Digits from zero to nine are specific words, namely нула (nula) [0], један (jedan) [1], два (dva) [2], три (tri) [3], четири (četiri) [4], пет (pet) [5], шест (šest) [6], седам (sedam) [7], осам (osam) [8], and девет (devet) [9]. The digits one and two have both a feminine, a masculine and a neuter form: једна/један/једно (jedna/jedan/jedno) [1], две/два/два (dve/dva/dva) [2] (feminine/masculine/neuter).
The tens are formed by adding the ten word (десет / deset) at the end of the multiplier digit, with the exception of ten where the unit is implicit: десет (deset) [10], двадесет (dvadeset) [20], тридесет (trideset) [30], четрдесет (četrdeset) [40], педесет (pedeset) [50], шездесет (šezdeset) [60], седамдесет (sedamdeset) [70], осамдесет (osamdeset) [80], and деведесет (devedeset) [90].
The numbers are constructed from the matching units in the masculine form, followed by the suffix -ест (-naest, which is the contraction of на десет (na deset), meaning on ten) with no space from eleven to nineteen (eg. дванаест (dvanaest) [12], тринаест (trinaest) [13]…), and with the и (i) (and) word and the ten from twenty-one to ninety-nine (eg. двадесет и три (dvadeset i tri) [23]).
The hundreds, formed from the matching multiplier digit and the word for hundred (сто / sto), except for one hundred itself, are: сто (sto) [100], двеста (dvesta) [200], триста (trista) [300], четиристо (četiristo) [400], петсто (petsto) [500], шестсто (šeststo) [600], седамсто (sedamsto) [700], осамсто (osamsto) [800], and деветсто (devetsto) [900].
The hundreds can also be made by using the feminine form of hundred (стотина, stotina): једна стотина (jedna stotina) [100], две стотине (dve stotine) [200], три стотине (tri stotine) [300], четири стотине (četiri stotine) [400], пет стотина (pet stotina) [500], шест стотина (šest stotina) [600], седам стотина (sedam stotina) [700], осам стотина (osam stotina) [800], and девет стотина (devet stotina) [900].
Being gendered, all the higher scale names follow the declension rules of Serbian. Besides, one and two share the same gender as the following scale unit if any, even when composed as in twenty-one trillion for instance. For instance, the word for thousand (хиљада (hiljada)) is feminine, as is the word for billion (милијарда (milijarda)), hence they follow the same patterns as the feminine form of hundred (две хиљаде (dve hiljade) [2,000], једна милијарда (jedna milijarda) [one billion] and две милијарда (dve milijarda) [2 billion]). The same occurs with the millions, but million is a masculine word (један милион (jedan milion) [one million] and два милиона (dva miliona) [two million]).
The Serbian language follows the long scale system for naming big numbers: every new word greater than a million is one million times bigger than the previous term. Thus, једна милијарда (jedna milijarda) is equivalent to 109 (one billion in the US) and један билион (jedan bilion) is one trillion (1012).
Noun declension, by Larisa Zlatic (in .pdf)
The Treatment of Numerals in Text Processing, by Cvetana Krstev and Duško Vitas (in .pdf)
Serbian transliteration
Numbers in different languages