Dates in Serbian: Everything You Should Know!

Written by: Milica Antović; revised by: Milica Bokšan

Dates in Serbian are written and pronounced differently from those in English.

If you thought, ‘Oh no, Serbian must be complicated again!’, don’t worry.

In this blog post, you will find all you need to know about Serbian dates. Everything you read is explained in a manner that a Serbian professor would use to explain it to his students, so there will be no doubts.

To make all this even easier, we will begin with an interesting example!

Serbian Wedding And a Problem With The Invitation

So, let’s start learning by imagining that you’re invited to the Serbian wedding (who knows, you should be prepared).

The date on the invitation says 8/3/2026.

You’re already picturing the day – perfect excuse to break out your best summer look. Maybe even dust off those sunglasses you never get to wear. It’s going to be warm, sunny, maybe even outdoors. You’ve got the look planned, the vibe set, and perhaps even the half-written Instagram caption.

Then, as you are setting the invitation down, you notice something odd. The postmark on the envelope says 13/1/2026.

Thirteen? There’s no thirteenth month.

Maybe the dates are all… backwards. The wedding is in Europe, after all.

And just like that, your sunny August day turns into a chilly March afternoon. All because different parts of the world can’t agree on what number should come first!

If you’re learning Serbian, writing and reading dates correctly is essential, whether you’re filling out a form, scheduling an event, or booking a flight. Serbian dates aren’t difficult at all, but there are some rules you should be aware of.

Now, we will explain how dates are expressed in Serbian, focusing on ordinal numbers, their forms, and the appropriate grammatical case to use in different contexts.

Dates in Serbian: Format

First, it is very important to talk about the correct format. In Serbian, the day comes first, followed by the month, and then the year.

The proper date format in Serbian is day – month – year. It is easy to remember – it moves from the smallest to the largest unit of time!

So, if you’re used to the month – day – year format (like in the USA or Canada), be careful when booking a hotel or flight in Serbia!

Imagine showing up a month early or late for your reservation. You don’t want to make a mistake and assume you booked for July, only to show up and realise your reservation expired a month ago.

For example:

If you write 07/06/2026 thinking it’s July 6 (American format), in Serbia, it’s read as 7 June 2026.

Dates in Serbian: Basic Grammar Rules

In Serbian, the day is almost always written as a number (like 5. for 5th). You can either write the name of the month (5. novembar) or write it as a number (5.11.). Month names are written in lowercase:

1. januar (= January)
2. februar (= February)
3. mart (= March)
4. april (= April)
5. maj (= May)
6. jun (= June)
7. jul (= July)
8. avgust (= August)
9. septembar (= September)
10. oktobar (= October)
11. novembar (= November)
12. decembar (= December)

The year is always written in numbers and with a spot (2026.).

When using numbers only, add spaces between them and use dots instead of slashes: 5. 11. 2026.

Ordinal Numbers in Serbian Dates

Ordinal numbers indicate a position – these are numbers like first, second, third, and so on. You will easily recognize them in a text because they are written with a dot (ex. 3.) or as Roman numerals (ex. III).

In Serbian, they behave like adjectives and must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they refer to. So just like lep (beautiful) changes depending on the noun it describes (lepa žena, lepo dete, lep čovek), ordinal numbers do the same.

To form an ordinal number in Serbian, just add the ending -i(for masculine), -a (for feminine), -o/-e (for neuter) to the number (šesti, deseti, petnaesti), except for numbers listed below:

prvi, prva, prvo – first

drugi, druga, drugo – second

treći, treća, treće – third

četvrti, četvrta, četvrto  – fourth

Numbers like sedmi(7th) drop the fleeting “-a”:

sedmi, sedma, sedmo – seventh

osmi, osma, osmo – eighth

Bonus: Click here to learn some Serbian expressions with ordinal numbers!

Serbian Cases: Nominative vs. Genitive

When we talk about dates in Serbian, we use ordinal numbers for the day of the month. They change form depending on a word’s role in a sentence.

There are two questions people could ask when talking about dates in Serbian:

Koji..?

Kada..? / Kojeg datuma..? / Kog datuma..?

Dates in Serbian in Nominative

When we ask Koji je datum? we ask what the date is.

We answer using the basic form of the ordinal number and the name of the month – the nominative.

Examples:

Danas je peti januar. (= Today is the 5th of January.)

U utorak je bio dvadeset drugi februar. (= On Tuesday was the 22nd of February.)

Juče je bio prvi maj. (= Yesterday was the 1st of May.)

Dates in Serbian in Genitive

When you ask Kada si rođen? (= When were you born?) or Kojeg datuma si rođen? (= On which date were you born?), you don’t just name the date.

You’re using it to express the time, which in the Serbian language triggers the genitive case.

Examples:

Božić je sedmog januara. (= Christmas is on the 7th of January.)

Rođena sam dvadeset osmog septembra. (= I was born on the 28th of September.)

Upoznali su se petnaestog februara. (= They met on the 15th of February.)

Here, both the ordinal number and the month go into the genitive case:

sedmi  → sedmog

januar → januara

septembar → septembra, etc.

Again, the ordinal number must match the gender of the month (which is always masculine).

Year in Dates in Serbian

When we use years in dates, they are also considered as ordinal numbers and they are always in the genitive case.

Danas je dvadeset treći maj dve hiljade dvadeset pete (godine). (= Today is the 23rd of May, 2025.)

Rođena sam šesnaestog marta hiljadu devetsto devedeset šeste (godine). (= I was born on the 16th of March 1996).

In both cases, the word godine can be added, but it’s not mandatory. Actually, people usually omit it in everyday life!

Fun fact:

In Serbia, people (especially young ones) often ask Koje si godište? instead of How old are you?. It means ‘What year were you born in?’.

You don’t reply with the full year. Instead, you just say the last two digits as a neuter ordinal number.

Ja sam devedeseto godište. (= I was born in 1990.)

Marija je osamdeset peto godište. (Maria was born in 1985.)

Special Dates in Serbia

Some dates are not just dates; they are special days in Serbia. To learn about the most significant dates in Serbian history, check out this article.

Prvi maj, known as Labor Day in Serbia, is the day when families and friends go outdoors for the prvomajski uranak, a traditional early morning picnic. You could smell roštilj(= barbeque) almost everywhere.

In Serbian, you would say:

Prvi maj je državni praznik. (= May 1st is a national holiday.)

Idemo na izlet 1. maja. (= We’re going on a trip on May 1st.)

Then there’s Prvi april (April 1st), Serbia’s version of April Fools’ Day. Jokes and pranks are everywhere – friends play tricks on each other, newspapers publish fake news, and social media fills with funny lies. The phrase Aprililili! is often shouted after a successful prank.

Osmi mart (March 8th), International Women’s Day, is another important holiday in Serbia. Men give bouquets to mothers, wives, daughters, and female colleagues, while restaurants and kafanas often have special events. Famous singers usually have concerts on this day.

Summary:

Mastering dates in Serbian is all about understanding how ordinal numbers work with cases.

Remember this:

• Koji je datum? → use nominative

• Kada/Kog datuma? → use genitive

Would you like to learn more? You just need to schedule online Serbian lessons, and you will enjoy learning the Serbian language!