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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
If you want to ask Yes/No questions in Serbian always start with 'DA LI', no matter what tense. For the Present Tense keep this word order :
Let me add the word order commonly used in colloquial speech:
Exercise: Make 6 Yes/No questions about Ivan. The answers are in the first comment, because Ivan doesn't feel like recording his own voice right now :o(
- Da li (+Subject if it is necessary, or cannot be inferred from the conjugation) + Verb ... Example: Da li Ivan živi u Novom Sadu? Da li živimo u Novom Sadu?
- Da li + Verb TO BE (+ S ) Example: Da li si u Parizu? Da li si ti Ivan?
- Da li + se (+ S) + Verb in case of verbs with reflexive pronoun 'se' ... Example: Da li se on zove Ivan? Da li se budiš u pet ili u šest?
Let me add the word order commonly used in colloquial speech:
- Živi li Ivan u Novom Sadu ? - Verb + li + (S)
- Jesi li u Parizu ? - To be (only the full forms: jesam/jesi/jeste/jesmo/jeste/jesu) + li + (S) ...
- Zoveš li se Ivan ? - Verb + li + se + (S) / Jel' + se +(S) + Verb
Exercise: Make 6 Yes/No questions about Ivan. The answers are in the first comment, because Ivan doesn't feel like recording his own voice right now :o(
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Lokativ
Lokativ ____ (is) padež koji ide uz predloge 'na', 'u', 'o', 'po', 'pri'. On označava mesto ____ ( where) se vrši radnja ili gde se nešto nalazi. Zato se i ______ (named) padežom mesta. Latinski 'locus' ______ (means) mesto. Evo nekoliko primera ______ (with) predlogom 'U':
Ljudi žive u Beograd__ , u Kruševc__, u Brisel__ ili na sel_. Kada ____ (are) imenice muškog i srednjeg roda u jednini, onda se doda nastavak 'U'. Ljudi žive i u Srbij___, Belgij__, Italij__ - ali pošto su ovo imenice ženskog roda u jednini, one gube poslednje 'a', i dodaje im se nastavak 'I'.
Lokativ se _________ (also) koristi i da iskažemo o kome pričamo, i tada se koristi _______ (with) predlog "o". Juče sam pričala o prijatelj___, muškarcim_, drugaric__ i odel___- u množini lokativ zahteva sledeće nastavke -ima, za muški rod, -ama i srednji -ima!
*********** Translation & Answers*******************
Lokativ ____ (is) padež koji ide uz predloge 'na', 'u', 'o', 'po', 'pri'. On označava mesto ____ ( where) se vrši radnja ili gde se nešto nalazi. Zato se i ______ (named) padežom mesta. Latinski 'locus' ______ (means) mesto. Evo nekoliko primera ______ (with) predlogom 'U':
Ljudi žive u Beograd__ , u Kruševc__, u Brisel__ ili na sel_. Kada ____ (are) imenice muškog i srednjeg roda u jednini, onda se doda nastavak 'U'. Ljudi žive i u Srbij___, Belgij__, Italij__ - ali pošto su ovo imenice ženskog roda u jednini, one gube poslednje 'a', i dodaje im se nastavak 'I'.
Lokativ se _________ (also) koristi i da iskažemo o kome pričamo, i tada se koristi _______ (with) predlog "o". Juče sam pričala o prijatelj___, muškarcim_, drugaric__ i odel___- u množini lokativ zahteva sledeće nastavke -ima, za muški rod, -ama i srednji -ima!
*********** Translation & Answers*******************
Sunday, November 02, 2008
One of the most difficult features of the Serbian language are declensions, i.e. different suffixes which words such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives take in different cases. Let me add all of them in one place, while in the following posts you will be able to focus on practicing these cases, one by one and in a more fun way!
Draga Anna,
Hvala ti za predivnu idej__ kako da vodim ovaj blog. Trudiću se da redovno objavljujem kratke prič__ ili postov__ , bez nastavak__ za padež___, a rešenj___ ćeš moći da pročitaš u audio fajl__ na vrhu___ svak___ post___. U početk___ ću pisati lakše tekst___ , pa sve teže i teže. Možeš mi i dojaviti šta ti se sviđa, a šta ne u komentar___.
Pošto svakodnevno izmišljam test____ za učenik___ englesk___, neće mi biti teško da to radim i za srpsk___ . Nadam se da ćeš uživati, kao i ostali vredni učenic__ koji nalete na ovaj blog.
Do sledećeg javljanj___ sve najbolje i puno pozdrav___
od Marin___
ps. the answer key is in comments
Singular Cases Suffixes in Serbian
Case name: | Answers question: | Used to describe: | Suffixes (I tried describing just the majority of case endings, general rule, not the exceptions and specific ones) | |
Nominative | KO? ŠTA? Who? What? | Usually the subject of a sentence and predicative | - Masc. most often ends in a consonant - Fem. most often ends in A - Neut. most often ends in -E or -O | |
Genitive | KOGA?ČEGA? Of who? Of what? | Possession, belonging, a part of something | - Masc. nouns take an - A ending - Fem. nouns drop the final -a and take an -E ending - Neut. nouns drop the final -e or -o and take an - A ending (while some nouns in animate category add an infix T, so you get deteTA, pileTA) | |
Dative | KOME?ČEMU? To whom? To what? | The noun to which/ whom something is given, shown, etc. | - Masc. nouns take an - U ending - Fem. nouns drop the final -a and take an -i ending - Neut. nouns drop the final -e or -o and take an - U ending | |
Accusative | KOGA? ŠTA? Whom? What? | Usually the object of a sentence | - Masc. nouns describing inanimate concepts don't change while nouns in animate category (person / animal / plant) take an - A ending, the same as the genitive case - Fem. nouns drop the final -a and take an -U ending - Neut. nouns describing inanimate concepts don't change, regardless of the category (animate/inanimate) | |
Vocative | HEJ! Calling someone or in poems referring to something or some place | Used to address somebody or something | - Masc. nouns ending in a consonant take an - E ending, the ones ending in an -a drop the final -a and take an -O suffix, otherwise they don't change (examples: Dejvid - Dejvide! Pera - Pero! Mirko - Mirko! ) - Fem. nouns of the foreign origin don't change in the locative, while the two and more syllable ones drop the final -a and take an -O ending, while names ending in -CA drop the final A and take an -E (Marina! Kim! Nada - Nado! Ljubica - Ljubice!) - Neut. nouns don't change | |
Instrumental | S KIM? ČIM? Using, with, whom? Using, with, what? | Company (with preposition s) or utilization of something or someone to accomplish an action | - Masc. nouns take an - OM ending - Fem. nouns drop the final -a and take an -OM ending - Neut. nouns drop the final -e or -o and take an - OM ending >>> for all genders, after some "soft" sounds you will have an ending -EM (mužEM, tušEM...) | |
Locative | GDE? O KOME? O ČEMU? Where? About whom? | Location, Relation | (It's good to know that the locative = dative in form) - Masc. nouns take an - U ending - Fem. nouns drop the final -a and take an -i ending - Neut. nouns drop the final -e or -o and take an - U ending |
Plural Cases Suffixes in Serbian ... coming soon
Exercise with Case Suffixes in Serbian
Draga Anna,
Hvala ti za predivnu idej__ kako da vodim ovaj blog. Trudiću se da redovno objavljujem kratke prič__ ili postov__ , bez nastavak__ za padež___, a rešenj___ ćeš moći da pročitaš u audio fajl__ na vrhu___ svak___ post___. U početk___ ću pisati lakše tekst___ , pa sve teže i teže. Možeš mi i dojaviti šta ti se sviđa, a šta ne u komentar___.
Pošto svakodnevno izmišljam test____ za učenik___ englesk___, neće mi biti teško da to radim i za srpsk___ . Nadam se da ćeš uživati, kao i ostali vredni učenic__ koji nalete na ovaj blog.
Do sledećeg javljanj___ sve najbolje i puno pozdrav___
od Marin___
ps. the answer key is in comments