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Showing posts with label past tense in serbian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label past tense in serbian. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Serbian 201 - Present Tense to Past Tense

Present Tense to Past Tense

Here comes a fun exercise to help you practice the Simple past tense in Serbian. Let's turn this present tense story into the past tense:

Serbian Past Tense Exercise
Pay attention, the underlined words are in the Nominative/infinitive



Thursday, October 24, 2019

Serbian 301 - Retelling Story

In Serbian 301 one is practicing to confidently ask and answer questions about some past tense events. This can be practiced in different ways:

  • talking about your past, or past events in your life
  • talking about your friends and family and their experiences
  • retelling a short story that we have previously learnt
  • retelling an interesting film/book plot
Additionally, you can also practice telling a story based on a suitable song. Let's take Kristing by Zdravko Čolić, for example!

Retelling Story in Serbian - Song 


Retelling Story in Serbian

For the sake of understanding here comes a page with the lyrics translation (not the perfect one, though, but you'll get the gist) and now you can practice retelling the story with the following set of exercises:







Retelling Story by asking questions

Now that you know what has actually happen, can you add your questions in the comments below?
Let me start with just a few:
  1. Kada je Zdravko išao na salaš?
  2. Gde je bio salaš?
  3. Šta sve znači "društvo"?
  4. Ko je stajao na vratima?
  5. Šta je petrolejka?

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Serbian 201 - Zvati SE in Past Tense

In the previous post we practiced the phrase "what's your name" or "how are you called" = "kako se zoveš" in Present Tense. Today we are practicing the same phrase but in the past tense with the family vocabulary :)

Zvati se in Past Tense - MATCH



Learning Zvati se in Past  



Test with zvati se in Past


Tuesday, October 08, 2019

Serbian 102 - Past tense of Biti

Stiže još jedan / još jedna set of exercises to practice one of the lessons from Serbian 102 course!



Past tense of To be Explained

You can find the pronunciation and the form of the verb to be in Serbian in this post published earlier.



Past tense of To be with Exercises




Past tense of To be - Games



Saturday, March 09, 2019

Let's Learn Past Tense of To Work and Become

Let's learn a set of useful phrases with this website showing what some celebrities had done for a living before they became famous.



For the video with the detailed explanations and translations, check out my Patreon page.

 Exercise with Verb Worked in Serbian

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Word Order with Past Tense of To Be

If you liked the video and the follow-up exercises I recently published, it's time for you to do revise it and practice pronunciation:





Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Serbian Past Tense - Bio Bila or Bilo?

Bio Bila Bilo



Verb To Be in the Singular,  simple past form


SINGULAR
Ja sam bio = I was masculine
Ja sam bila = I was feminine

Ti si bio = You were masc. sg.
Ti si bila = You were fem. sg.

On je bio = He was , obviously masc. sg.
Ona je bila = She was, obviously fem. sg.
Ono je bilo = It was,  neuter, sg.

When you drop the subject (noun or pronoun), you start with the very past tense of the verb to be and this is what we are practicing now with this game!

BIO SAM ... BILA SAM ... BILO JE...

Links to Quizlet exercises with BIO BILA BILO


1. Flashcards - https://quizlet.com/230095390/flashcards
2. Learn exercises - https://quizlet.com/230095390/learn
3. Micromatch - https://quizlet.com/230095390/micromatch
4. Gravity -  https://quizlet.com/230095390/gravity

For the full version of the video and more exercises, join my Patreon page. Thanks :)

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Learning Serbian Efortlessly

Let's learn the past tense form of "She was" in Serbian the easy way: BILA JE with this beautiful song, step by step:




Now, an exercise:


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! 

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Past Tense Practice in Serbian

Past Tense Practice in Serbian

You can find lots of useful info on the Simple Past tense in Serbian in some of the previous posts on this blog. Today I'd like to share a cute song I found on Youtube - all you have to do is to listen to it carefully and add the past tense suffixes to the past tense and present tense verbs and a few suffixes with the nouns in plural. 



Dlan_ _ _ ti puni snova
Osmeh boje izazova
Reci, kud si krenu_ _?
U srcu ti ceo svemir
U oč_ _ _ kriješ nemir
Snove si sakri_ _

Zvezd_  su u tvojoj kosi
Kao da te jesen pros_
Nikom neće da te da
Hoda_ lako kao vila
Gde si se do sada kri_ _
To me baš zanima

Samoj sebi već sam čudna
Svake noći ja sam budna
Šta se sa mnom desi_ _
Tvoji prst_ na gitari
I sve te lagane stvar_
Sviraj mi ponovo

Malo čežnje na tvom licu
Leptir slete_ na žicu
Nebo se osmehu_ _
Probaj sa mnom sne da deli_
Šapući mi sve što želiš
Niko nas ne čuje

Hajde da malo proba_ _
Baš to x3
Jagod_ s puno šlaga
Ti si mi tako draga
Pa nek ide sve
Do vraga

Hajde da malo krade_ _
Baš to x3
Osmeh od sladoleda
Noć ima ukus meda
Šta je iza tvog pogleda

Source and download via Youtube channel Vanja Grastić



If you are not sure about the meaning, I prepared a quiz with which you can learn the words, and later on you can try to sing the song :)

Let's learn the vocabulary:
Let's listen:
Let's play:

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Talking about your childhood dreams in Serbian

You may remember some of the funny Kefalica videos from my past posts. This time, the video is about "Kafana", which is combined with very nice story about what a pop singer wanted to become when she was a little girl. I added subtitles under her story in this video:


If you want to enjoy the whole story and hear what the kids are saying in between, do watch the video on Youtube.


Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Past Tense in Serbian

Let's make a short comparison of the Present Simple and Past Simple in Serbian with this "drinks video" :)


  • Šta obično piješ / pijete tokom dana ?
  • Šta obično piješ / pijete kada izađeš uveče ?
  • Šta si juče pio  / pila ? / Šta ste juče pili ?*




*translation:

  • What do you usually drink during the day ? ("piješ" informal, "pijete" formal)
  • What do you usually drink when you go out at night ?
  • What did you drink yesterday ? ("pio" for masculine singular, "pila" for feminine singular, "pili" for the second person singular, used formally, or for the second person plural, when you are talking to more people)


Saturday, August 03, 2013

How to Use the Serbian Conjugator ?

If you've practised the Accusative form of the nouns and pronouns with the video in the previous post, it's time to expand your confidence onto the verbs which require a noun/pronoun in this case. With all the listed nouns (TV, pegla, mobilni telefon, mašina za veš ...), the following verbs, properly conjugated, will make sense:
  • videti (to see) Present Tense conjugations: Sg: vidIM, vidIŠ, vidI Pl: vidIMO, vidITE, vidE           Past Tense : Sg: videO, videLA, videLO Pl: videLI, videLE, videLA
  • gledati (to watch) gledAM, gledAŠ, gledA - gledAMO, gledATE, gledAJU ( for the following verbs you'll see only: PRESENT Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -ju and for the PAST Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la )
  • imati (to have)  Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -ju (imaJU) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • koristiti (to use) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (koristE) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • raditi (to work) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (rade) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • popravljati (to fix) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -ju (popravljaju) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • uključiti (to turn on) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (uključe) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • isključiti (to turn off) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (isključe) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • kupiti (to buy) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (kupe) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • prodati (to sell) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (prodate) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • vratiti (to return) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (vrate) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • (po)kvariti se (to break down) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (pokvare) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
  • baciti (to throw away) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (bace) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
If you are a beginner in Serbian, let's focus on the present simple tense and practise conjugating out loud with the:

Present tense examples:
  • Imam telefon, ali GA ne gledam.
  • Moj brat ima mašinu za sudove i često JE koristi.
If you are at an intermediate level, I guess that dealing with the past simple won't be much of the problem. The idea of this blog post is to encourage you to become more fluent and confident. That's why you can simply learn/revise past simple in Serbian and make a few similar sentences like in the example:

Past tense examples:
  • Kupili smo mobilni telefon i čim smo GA uključili, odmah se pokvario.
  • Moj sin je popravio peglu i kada sam videla kako dobro radi bacila sam JE. 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Serbian Language 365 Day 3 - Intermediate level & Past Tense

Let's practise the Simple Past Tense in the Serbian language. While the beginner and pre-intermediate courses of Serbian  focus is on phrases, present tense, modals and cases, the intermediate course focuses on aspects, explaining the subtle differences between "odmarati" and "odmoriti" and similar.

Since we are at the very beginning of everyday Serbian lesson series, let me introduce you to some of the earlier posts covering this topic:
...as well as one of the Youtube videos, which somehow connect with the yesterday's post, so now it can be easily understood:


Text : "Gde si bila ?" (Fem. Sg.) / "Gde si bio?" (Masc. Sg.) = Where were you ?
Fem. Sg. Bila sam u ...
Masc. Sg. Bio sam u ...

Monday, July 30, 2012

Past Tense in Serbian - Common Mistakes

If you watched our previous podcast, you'll be aware of the fact that Jeremija keeps making mistakes, and I do my best to help him understand which correct forms to use. This time the topic was "bio" or "bila":

Are there any other mistakes which I didn't correct ?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Past Tense of To Be in Serbian

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Past Tense of To Be in Serbian

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Talking About Summer Holidays



To answer these questions correctly, you can check how to make sentences in the Past Tense in Serbian. Verb conjugations which you'll need to answer the questions in the video are as follows:

  • sunčao, sunčala, sunčalo, sunčali, sunčale, sunčala
  • gledao, gledala, gledalo, gledali, gledale, gledala
  • vozio, vozila, vozilo, vozili, vozile, vozila
  • surfovao, surfovala, surfovalo, surfovali, surfovale, surfovala
  • brao, brala, bralo, brali, brale, brala
  • jeo, jela, jelo, jeli, jele, jela
  • plivao, plivala, plivalo, plivali, plivale,plivala
  • posmatrao, posmatrala, posmatralo, posmatrali, posmatrale, posmatrala
  • šetao, šetala, šetalo, šetali, šetale, šetala

Friday, February 04, 2011

Past Participles in Serbian

Past Participles missing: formed by replacing the 'i/e/ati' or 'ći' infinitive ending of the verb with the past participle endings as follows:

Masc. Sg -o
Fem. Sg - la
N. Sg -lo
Masc. Pl -li
Fem. Pl - le
N. Pl -la




_______________ (she arrived) je sama sa ljetom
_______________ (she approached) i rekla hello
Pogledi su nam ________________ (telling) više od riječi
K’o da se zvijezda sa neba
____________________ (came down) meni na dlan
______________ (I knew) sam samo o njoj da zove se Džuli

Džuli, Džuli
A _______________ (I wanted) sam da dugo traje taj san

Pamtim još dodir te ruke
Lice i njen pogled blag
Odmah je jasno mi _______________ (it was) da ludo je volim
Kao i sve ljetne snove
I nju mi je _________________ (took away) dan
_________________ (it remained) samo je sjećanje na jedan juli

Džuli, Džuli
A _____________ (I wanted) sam da dugo traje taj san

Pitam u noćima nebo
Da li je to __________ (it was) san
Ili je stvarno te noći me ______________ (she was kissing) Džuli
Prošetam sam pored mora
Dočekam tako i dan
Zamolim more da vrati mi Džuli i juli

Džuli, o… Džuli, o…
Džuli, o… Džuli
A htio sam da dugo traje taj san
O moja Džuli

Answer key and the English translation

Friday, July 17, 2009

Past Tense Plural suffixes in Serbian

Past Tense with Garfield

Džon: Danas sam naporno radio.
Danas - today
Sam - to be ( I am = ja sam)
Raditi - to work (Sing. masc. radio, fem. radila, neuter radilo)
Naporno - hard (to work hard - naporno raditi)

Gafrild: Znači sad je vreme za zabavu.
Znači - it means
Sad - now
Je - to be (it is - to je ('to' refers to 'vreme' (neuter))
Vreme - time
Za - for
Zabavu - entertainment, fun

Practice : Turning Past Tense Sg for masc. and fem. into Plural

As I mentioned in some of the previous posts, in the Past Tense there is an important
distinction among masc. ending in -o, fem. ending in -la, and neuter. ending in -lo.
For Plural, the endings are as follows:
Pl. masc. - li
Pl. fem. - le
Pl. neut. -la

Try to turn the Singular forms for Masc. / Fem. nouns from the previous exercise into Plural:

1. USTATI (GET UP)
1a. TO A GIRL: ustala
TO GIRLS ustale

1b. TO A BOY: ustao
TO BOYS: ustali

2. ZAVRŠITI (FINISH)
2a. TO GIRLS:
2b. TO BOYS:

3. KUPITI (BUY)
3a. TO GIRLS:
3b. TO BOYS:

4. ZABORAVITI (FORGET)
4a. TO GIRLS:
4b. TO BOYS:

5. VIDETI (SEE)
5a. TO GIRLS:
5b. TO BOYS:

6. PRODATI (SELL)
6a. TO GIRLS:
6b. TO BOYS:
7. BITI (TO BE)
7a. TO GIRLS:
7b. TO BOYS:

8. SAKRITI (HIDE)
8a. TO GIRLS:
8b. TO BOYS:

9. UZETI (TAKE)
9a. TO GIRLS:
9b. TO BOYS:

10. DOBITI (GET)
10a. TO GIRLS:
10b. TO BOYS:


Now, do the same with full sentences: Don't forget the verb to be! There are two common word orders:

Formal. S + to be+ Vb+o/la/lo/li/le/la
example: Ona je ustala. (Singular) One su ustale. (Plural)

Informal. Vb+o/la/lo/li/le/la + To Be
example. Ustala je. (Singular) Ustale su. (Plural)

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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