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Friday, July 24, 2009

Listening comprehension exercise in Serbian



Listen to this short reportage on the statue of Rocky in a Serbian village.

Then read the following questions and try to answer them:


MINUTES> 00:00 - 00:22

1. Where is the statue being made?

2. What will happen in August?

MINUTES> 00:22 - 00:36

3. When did the sculptor begin his work?

4. When is he going to finish?

MINUTES> 00:55 - 01:12

5. Where is the sculptor from?

6. Whose idea was it to make the statue?

MINUTES> 01:09 - 01:39

7. Where is Bojan from ?

8. What is Bojan's plan?

MINUTES> 01:40 - 01:50

9. Who made the first statue of Rocky?

10. How many such statues are there in the world?

MINUTES> 01:56 - 02:15

11. What is Zoran Batic talking about?

12. How many internet sites does he mention?


MINUTES> 02:25 - 02:35

13. What will the statue be made of?

14. How much will the statue weigh?

Monday, July 20, 2009

Useful vocabulary pages in Serbian

Since there was a comment from someone asking for months in Serbian, Cyrillic version, I am currently adding up all the material (follow Marina's courses - Vocabulary and Phrases) I have posted on this blog and the power point slides I've been using in my online teaching onto my SkolaSrpskog.com site. After each post, I added as many links to either pronunciation or cyrillic version as I have found so far.
pozz = pozdrav
ps. април = april

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)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Singular and Plural in Serbian


Neki ljudi svoje kućne ljubimce posmatraju kao decu.

1. NEKI - some
2. LJUDI - people
3. SVOJ - possesive pronoun like my/your /his /her/its /our/your /their, used when the possesion refers to the subject
4. KUĆNI LJUBIMAC - pet
5. POSMATRATI - to watch, regard as, think of
6. KAO - as, like (there is no distinction between AS and LIKE in Serbian)
7. DECA - children


PA...TATA, IMAŠ LI TESTAMENT?

1. PA... - well...
2. TATA - dad
3. IMATI - to have
4. LI - used for question forms in all tenses
5. TESTAMENT - the will (a legal declaration of a person's wishes as to the disposition of his or her property or estate after death, usually written and signed by the testator and attested by witnesses)


Translation:
Some people regard their pets as children.
Well, daddy, do you have the will ?

Practice. FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR Singular - Plural Exercise

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Exit Novi Sad

FROM THE NEWS REPORT, FOLLOW THE LINK

Američka televizija Si-En-En uvrstila je ovogodišnji "Egzit", koji se od 9. do 12. jula održava u Novom Sadu, među 12 najboljih muzičkih festivala na svetu u 2009. godini.
Novosadski festival "Egzit" (EXIT) uvršten je među 12 najboljih u godišnjem vodiču američke televizije Si-En-En."Egzit", koji će ove godine doživeti svoje jubilarno 10. izdanje, nalazi se na spisku "Vodič do najboljih svetskih muzičkih festivala".

“Egzit“ na listi najboljih festivala

****************** objašnjenje reč po reč :
1. NA - on

2. LISTA - a list

3. na listI - on a list


4. NAJBOLJI - the best (dobar-bolji- najbolji)




Američka televizija Si-En-En uvrstila je ovogodišnji "Egzit", koji se od 9. do 12. jula održava u Novom Sadu, među 12 najboljih muzičkih festivala na svetu u 2009. godini.

****************** objašnjenje reč po reč :

5. AMERIKA - AMERIČKI : America - American

6. TELEVIZIJA : Television

7. SI-EN-EN: CNN

8. UVRSTITI : include, insert, shortlist

9. JE UVRSTILA: past tense of 'uvrstiti' (TV je uvrstila Exit ... TV included EXIT ...)

10. OVOGODIŠNJI: this year's

11. EGZIT : exit

12. KOJI : which

13. ODRŽAVATI SE : to take place (Egzit se održava ove godine... Exit takes place this year...)

14. OD... DO : from ... to

15. U : in

16. MEĐU : among/between

17. MUZIČKI FESTIVAL: music festival (među muzičkim festivalima - among music festivals)

18. SVET : world (na svetu : in the world)

19. GODINA : year (u ... godini : in ... year)

Novosadski festival "Egzit" (EXIT) uvršten je među 12 najboljih u godišnjem vodiču američke televizije Si-En-En.

****************** objašnjenje reč po reč :

(this is almost the same sentence as the first one, but in the passive voice)

ACTIVE:

CNN je uvrstila Exit među 12 najboljih muzičkih festivala. (notice the active ending 'LA')

PASSIVE:

Exit je uvršten među 12 najboljih muzičkih festivala. (notice the passive ending 'N' )


"Egzit", koji će ove godine doživeti svoje jubilarno 10. izdanje, nalazi se na spisku "Vodič do najboljih svetskih muzičkih festivala".

****************** objašnjenje reč po reč :

20. ĆE : will (Conjugation of the aux. vb. 'will' in Serbian: ĆU, ĆEŠ, ĆE, ĆEMO, ĆETE, ĆE )

21. OVE: this (Sg. Nominative: OVAJ masculine, OVA fem. , OVO neuter)

22. SVOJE : its

23. JUBILARNO: in Serbian often used as 'milestone/important/10year"

24. IZDANJE: issue / release /publication / edition / (here 'event')

25. NALAZITI SE : be somewhere

26. SPISAK: list

27. VODIČ : guide

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Useful phrases and links for tourists coming to Novi Sad

AUTOBUS - bus / coach

VOZ - train

TROLEJBUS - trolley-bus


TRAMVAJ -tram


BICIKL - bicycle

AVION - plane




AUTOBUSKA STANICA - bus/ coach station
POLAZAK / POLASCI - departure
DOLAZAK / DOLASCI - arrivals
ŽELEZNIČKA STANICA - railway station
AERODROM - airport

KOLIKO KOŠTA ... - how much is ...

AUTOBUSKA KARTA - bus ticket
VOZNA KARTA - railway ticket
ULAZNICA - entrance fee
RENTIRANJE - renting of



ULICA - street


GLAVNA ULICA - main street


MOST -bridge


PARK - park


REKA - river


ŠKOLA - school


HOTEL - hotel


CRKVA - church

KATEDRALA - cathedral

MUZEJ - museum


POZORIŠTE - theatre

RESTORAN - restaurant

PAB - pub

KAFE - cafe

BOLNICA - hospital


CENTAR GRADA - city centre/ downtown


ZOOLOŠKI VRT - zoo


PIJACA - market


ŠOPING CENTAR - shopping centre


KAMP - camp

EXIT - izlaz

ENTRANCE - ulaz


TVRĐAVA - fortress



PETROVARADINSKA TVRĐAVA - Petrovaradin Fortress

POLICAJAC - policeman

POLICIJSKA STANICA - police station


KONZULAT - consulate


AMBASADA -embassy


******************* phrases in context:
questions:
HOW MUCH IS...? - koliko košta ...?
WHERE IS ... ? - gde je ... ?
(for pronunciation check this video)
possible answers :
THERE - tamo
TURN - skreni
(ON THE) LEFT - levo
(ON THE) RIGHT - desno
GO - idi / idite
STRAIGHT - pravo

Sunday, June 28, 2009

MAL for Serbian

Recently I came across this great site called MAL (Master Any Language) with flash cards, games and lists of words in Serbian and English. It is obviously in an early phase, and there are a few mistakes, which really made me laugh. For instance, for the word 'train' we use 'voz', never 'komora' or for 'hot' we say 'vruć' not 'gorući', and for the part of the body called 'calf', we use 'list', never 'batak' (this is used for poultry or for women's legs in sleng, usu. in Pl 'koji bataci', but this is not suitable translation for a flash card at an official language learning site) :o) Nevertheless, I am sure these mistakes will be corrected.


"noga" or "list" not "batak"!

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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