Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

Google Tag Head

Monday, November 19, 2012

Serbian Idioms - "Doterati Cara Do Duvara"

The Serbian idiom "doterati cara do duvara" has the similar meaning as the English one "to come to a head". I have often heard  this phrase in my childhood, always wondering what "duvar" might mean.

The word "duvar" is a loan word, and if you go to Google translate and check it at Turkish-English translation, you'll find out that the meaning of the word is "zid" (wall). So, the literal translation would resemble the expression "to drive someone (in this case "the tzar") up the wall" and yet, Serbian phrase for this expression (drive someone up the wall) is "dovesti nekog do ludila" (or litterally "make someone crazy"). You can check the pronunciation of these two idioms here, at our audio forum (and I hope you'll surprise your Serbian family or friends by pronouncing the phrases correctly and using them appropriately).

Talking about the usage, I was really surprised that in my group of eight teenage students only one had heard of  "doterati cara do duvara". She explained that her teacher of Serbian insists on students learning and using proverbs and idioms, but she also hasn't heard of the phrase being used outside of the classroom!  Does this mean that we tend to use idioms less frequently, or is it the case just with this idiom ? Maybe the world has changed for better and  retko iko ikada (rarely does anyone) "dotera cara do duvara" :)

What do you think ?

Friday, November 02, 2012

What's Something Like in Serbian

How to say "what is something like in Serbian" ? Listen to this song and answer my questions in the quiz. Make sure you click "Finish Survey" at the end in order to get an instant feedback:



Uradite kviz odmah = Do the quiz immediately!

Advanced Serbian - Srpski kao drugi jezik

Gde je ključ? Где је кључ? - Učimo srpski sa Marinom
Gde je ključ? ...
Where is the Key?-...
By Marina Petrović
Photo book