I am new in learning Serbian and my native language does not have inflected from. It is kind of hard for me to understand when to use Dative / accusative / vocative etc. Can anyone explain what is the meaning of the Other Form table and when to use them?

Hi Mega! I will explain to you these cases.

Serbian have 7 cases:

1. Nominative
2. Accusative
3. Instrumental
4. Dative
5. Locative
6. Genitive
7. Vocative

I put this order because this is how I learned Serbian but in their school they have different ordering.

Let's discuss first the first 2 cases, Nominative, Accusative and Instrumental.

To not to forget these cases, try remembering this way:

Nominative is the Subject of the sentence.

Accusative is the Object of the sentence.

Example:

English: I am eating apple.

"I" is the subject so it's Nominative.

"apple" is the object so it's Accusative.

In Serbian, "I" is "Ja" and "apple" is "jabuka"

For nominative, you don't have to change anything. So the original word will remain the same. You can see the explanation here.

So "I" will just stay "Ja".

For accusative, it changes depends on the gender and the number. So because "jabuka" is feminine and it's singular, the rule for feminine singular is to change the ending "a" to "u" so "jabuka" will become "jabuku". You can see the detail explanation here.

So the translation will be:

Serbian: Ja jedem jabuku.

(additional explanation: jedem is the verb translation for I'm eating. There is different explanation about the verb inflection here.)

Instrumental case usually uses the preposition "with" which is "sa / s" in Serbian.

So when you say:

English: "I am eating apple with my mother."

"with my mother" is the instrumental in this sentence.

with - sa / s

my - moja (feminine)

mother - mama

And because it's instrument, "moja mama" will change to "mojom mamom"

Serbian: "Ja jedem jabuku sa mojom mamom."

You can see the detailed Instrumental explanation here.

You can also check my explanation in my YT channel about these 3 cases. Serbian Cases: Nominative, Accusative and Instrumental

Locative and Dative have the same rules, so I will put them in one place.

These are the rules for both in nouns:

Locative indicates the place where the action is happening. It is where something is located.

Example:

I am in the park.

Ja sam u parku.

I am - Ja sam

in - u

park - park

And because 'park' is masculine, and it's singular, then you will add 'u' as you can see the table above. That is why 'park' became 'parku'. Ja sam u parku.

Another example:

I am in the school.

Ja sam u školi.

I am - Ja sam

in - u

school - škola

And because 'škola' is feminine and it's singular, then you will change the 'a' to 'i' as you can see the table above. That's why 'škola' became 'školi'. Ja sam u školi.

You can see the detailed explanation here: Serbian Locative

Dative indicates a thing or a being to whom something is sent.

Example:

I will give that to the doctor.

Daću to doktoru.

I will give - Daću

that - to

doctor - doktor

And because 'doktor' is masculine, and it's singular, then you will add 'u' as you can see the table above. That is why 'doktor' became 'doktoru'. Daću to doktoru.

Another example:

I will give that to the nurse.

Daću to sestri.

I will give - Daću

that - to

nurse - sestra / medicinska sestra (but usually they just omitting medicinska and just using 'sestra')

And because 'sestra' is feminine and it's singular, then you will change the 'a' to 'i' as you can see the table above. That's why 'sestra' became 'sestri'. Daću to sestri.

You can see the detailed explanation here: Serbian Dative

Genitive case answers the questions 'of what?' and 'of who?'.

These are the genitive noun rules:

Example:

I am afraid of lion.

Plašim se lava.

I am afraid - Plašim se

lion - lav

And because this is a genitive because it answers the question 'of what', then we apply the rules for genitive which is adding 'a' because 'lav' is a masculine. So 'lav' became 'lava'. 'Plašim se lava'.

Another example:

I am afraid of duck.

Plašim se patke.

I am afraid - Plašim se

duck - patka.

And because this is a genitive because it answers the question 'of what', then we apply the rules for genitive which is changing 'a' to 'e' because 'patka' is a feminine. So 'patka' became 'patke'. 'Plašim se patke'.

The detailed explanation is available here: Serbian Genitive

Vocative is used only when you are calling someone.

These are the rules for vocative:

Masculine - add 'e'

Feminine - change 'a' to 'o'

This is not always the rules. There are some exemptions but this is the general rules.

Example, the name is 'David' and you are calling him. Then you will call him 'Davide'. 'Hey, Davide!'.

Another example is the name 'Bojan' which is again a masculine. When you call Bojan, you will say, 'Hey, Bojane. Šta radiš?'. You will add 'e' at the end.

For feminine, one example is 'Kata'. When you call Kata, you will say, 'Hey, Kato!'. You will change 'a' to 'o'

But again, there are some exemption that doesn't apply to these rules.