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Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Serbian Phrases: Don't Argue with Me

Would it be funny for you to hear a phrase "Don't argue with mine!", whatever that might mean?

Here comes a short clip with a similar phrase, which is obviously wrong and make people laugh (together with a specific pronunciation of  Mr. Šojić's "ć" in "ćao" :)



- Nemaš! Šta moliš? Imaš (li) kod sebe 350 Evra?
- Ma gospodine Šojiću...
- Ma, ćao! Nemaš! Ćao! Ne raspravljaj se sa mene! Ne raspravljaj se!

Don't argue with me!

The correct Serbian phrase: "Don't argue with me" would be as follows:

- Ne raspravljaj se sa mnom! (not "sa mene"=)

The verb "to argue" is always used with "se" form: raspravljati se. A few synonyms would be:
svađati se and prepirati se. (Ne svađaj se sa mnom / Ne prepiri se sa mnom). 

 Instrumental of Serbian Pronouns

The preposition "with" requires the Instrumental  form of the pronoun so you can use the mentioned verbs with the following pronouns as well:
  • with me = sa mnom
  • with you = sa tobom
  • with him/it = sa njim
  • with her = sa njom
  • with us = sa nama
  • with you = sa vama / Vama
  • with them = sa njima
If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon. HVALA!

Sunday, January 22, 2017

How to Practice Serbian Pronouns in Instrumental

How to cope with all different forms of Serbian pronouns, in different cases and with all the different endings? Well, there are many different ways, starting with old-fashioned grammar learning;


to using them in phrases, without thinking about grammar at all. What I find really efficient, is to listen to Serbian songs and learn the pronouns in common phrases, by singing :)

Let me share with you the following song: Za Njom by S.A.R.S.



How to Practice Serbian Pronoun SHE in the Instrumental Case



Now that you have heard this song, sang along, and done the exercise, can you tell me which prepositions were there in front of "NJOM"?

Friday, January 20, 2017

Are You Proficient in Serbian?

From time to time I get a request to publish more exercises for Serbian for an advanced and even proficient level. I guess that creating short tasks based on various films and series in Serbian certainly helps. One of such series which I wanted to recommend for more proficient speakers of Serbian is Prvi Servis, sponsored by VreleGume. I love their short format and a really great cast.  The topics are everyday problems of ordinary people.

In the first episode, there is a short monologue with lots of mistakes, which can be easily corrected by an advanced student of Serbian.


Would you like to give it a try? You can write your suggestion in the comment below!

Example 1:

1:25 min: Kada sam u vaša zemlja ja ovo, a kod kuće imam Volvo.
           *Correction:  Kada sam u vašOJ zmljI

Your task:
3:35 min: Majstor kaže da je teško kvarnost velika. Ili je amortizer ili je može biti da je možda ova …. kako kaže on kod vas… balans štanglica, ili je može biti da je stabilizatorski dio. Kaže popraviće, hitno mi je potrebno auto za sutra.
A auto moram imati jer mater meni stiže. Moram je pokupit. Moja mater je iz naša zemlja, srpska. Moja Mater je iz Vojnić.A otac mi je njihov, on je Lunski La iz Lunski Le, Moj otac je Turstend. Tako da mater moja dolazi. Stara je, ne može da hoda. Kaže više mi je samo  da umrem, samo da umrem, već mi dosta to,  da se sahrani u Vojnići to.
A hitno bi  mi moralo se  prebaciti ja za grad. Ako ima neko dobro da pozove taksi.  Imam krune, plaćam sve, da. Ako može neko da mi nazove taksi, a majstor će se potruditi. Vidim da je dobar čovek.

 You can write your suggestion in the comment below!

Monday, January 16, 2017

Serbian Video Lessons with Pronunciation

Today we are practising three simple questions and three simple answers:
  1. Where do you / You live? = Где живиш / живите?= Gde živiš / živite? 
  2. What do you / You do? = Шта радиш / радите? (Чиме се бавиш / бавите?)  = Šta radiš / radite? (Čime se baviš / bavite?) 
  3. What do you do in your free time? = Шта радиш / радите у слободно време? = Šta radiš / radite u slobodno vreme?
The answers are as follows:
  1. Живим у ... = Živim u ... (I live in ...Beogradu / Limi - check out the previous posts about the Locative case)
  2. Радим као ... = Radim kao ...(I work as a ...profesor / lekar - check out the video about occupations)
  3. У слободно време ... = U slobodno vreme ...( In my free time I learn Seriban - učim srpski - check out the previous video about hobbies)

Serbian Video Lessons with Pronunciation

Now that you understand what we are going to talk about, you are ready for the video lesson! Have fun!



If you are a beginner and want to learn Serbian in the easiest way possible, do join my new & revamped Seriban Activator newsletter!

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Days of the Week in Serbian at Three Levels

I'm sure that you find Serbian days of the week easy to pronounce. However, if you still struggle with Thursday (četvrtak), there's a useful introduction in this video to help you pronounce days well.

Since rarely does anyone use days of the week in its Nominative form:

1. Ponedeljak = Monday = Понедељак
2. Utorak = Tuesday = Уторак
3. Sreda = Wednesday = Среда
4. Četvrtak = Thursday = Четвртак
5. Petak = Friday = Петак
6. Subota = Saturday = Субота
7. Nedelja = Sunday = Недеља



Let me share with you a few exercises at three different levels:
A. Days of the Week in Serbian

a. Flashcards
b. Matching game
c. Gravity game
d. Test

B: What are you doing on + DAY ( Accusative case )?  = Šta radiš u subotu?
Let's practice together:
C: Words "svaki / sledeći / naredni / drugi + day "will trigger the Genitive case of both the adjective and the noun in the question:"What are you doing next Monday?" = "Šta radiš sledećeg ponedeljka?"
Let's practice together:

a. Flashcards
b. Matching game
c. Gravity game
d. Test

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Practising Phrases in Serbian - I need

If you were happy with my short video lesson about the very simple form of the phrase "I need somethingyesterday, I am sure you are now ready for a few exercises. Let me start with the easier ones and then I'll add some for more advanced students:

  • For Beginners: Practising only "Treba mi +  different international words"

  • For Intermediate students: Practising "Treba + mi/  ti / Vam / mu / joj / nam / im + international words"
d. Test



  • For Advanced students: Practising the past tense form "I needed + something", which is more complicated because here the past tense form of the word has to agree with the direct object (something): "TrebalE su mi jabukE // TrebalI su joj prijateljI // TrebalA nam je vodA" (+ word order with 3rd person Sg of the direct object).


Monday, January 09, 2017

Most Frequent Phrases in Serbian - I Need

I need = Treba mi


I guess one of the most needed verbs in a language must be the verb to need = trebati :) It is a really handy word in Serbian, because of the two following reasons:

Firstly, this verb doesn't conjugate, because in its simplest meaning "I need (something)" we actually use "Treba mi" where "mi" means "to me". If you want to say "You need", it will be "Treba Vam" (formal version) or "Treba ti" (informal version). Therefore, you'll simply change the pronoun as follows:

  • TREBA mi hamburger
  • TREBA ti pica 
  • TREBA mu vino (to him / it = mu)
  • TREBA joj muzika (to her = joj)
  • TREBA  nam restoran (to us =nam)
  • TREBA vam /Vam burek (to you - You = vam/Vam)
  • TREBA im mleko (to them = im)


Secondly, because in Serbian this phrase sounds like the passive in deep structure, the noun always takes a subject case, which is Nominative. (A hamburger is needed to/by me = Treba mi hamburger). Therefore, you don't need to change its form, i.e. no declension :) Lovely! Take a look at the previous examples and the words which follow "Treba ... " phrase. No cases, at all:


  1. hamburger - a hamburger
  2. pica - a pizza
  3. vino - a wine
  4. muzika - music
  5. restoran - a restaurant
  6. burek - burek (a special kind of pie)
  7. mleko - milk
Now, let's practice the pronunciation of this useful phrase together:



1. Šta ti treba? = What do you need?
2. Šta Vam treba? = What do You need? (formal one)
3. Treba mi = I need
4. Ne treba mi = I don't need


Tomorrow, we'll be doing some exercises connected with this video lesson and recording our own XO game :D



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
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