Colours in Serbian

Ljubio sam __________ oko



_________ sam ________ oko
Verno trajno i duboko
Al' ______ oko tugu krije
__________ oko verno nije.

Onda ljubljah oko ________
Misleć da je ono pravo
Al ________ oko isto znade
Zadat srcu bol i jade.

Odsad više nikad __________
Ja u oku tražit sreću
Jer svako _____ jest varavo
Bilo ono _______, _______, ________.

If you would like to practise using colours in Serbian in context, follow the Learn Serbian YouTube channel.

Why the colour changes beside the noun

Serbian colours behave like adjectives, so their endings follow the gender, number and case of the noun. The noun oko is neuter: plavo oko, crno oko, zeleno oko. With the feminine noun haljina, the same colours become plava, crna and zelena. With the masculine noun šešir, you need plavi, crni and zeleni.

The song gives you more than a colour list. It lets you hear one grammatical family repeating around oko. Fill the gaps by listening first; only afterwards use rhyme and adjective endings to confirm your choices.

A palette spread across five objects

Latinica	Ћирилица	English
Na prozoru stoji ljubičasta vaza.	На прозору стоји љубичаста ваза.	A purple vase is standing on the windowsill.
Dečak nosi narandžasti šal.	Дечак носи наранџасти шал.	The boy is wearing an orange scarf.
U daljini se vidi sivo nebo.	У даљини се види сиво небо.	A grey sky can be seen in the distance.
Na slici su dve bele ruže.	На слици су две беле руже.	There are two white roses in the picture.
Moje omiljene rukavice su tamnoplave.	Моје омиљене рукавице су тамноплаве.	My favourite gloves are dark blue.

Paint the endings, not only the words

Pick one colour and combine it with three nouns: crveni kaput, crvena torba, crveno dugme. Say the trio without pausing. Then choose another colour and repeat. Your ear will begin to associate -i, -a, -o with the three genders.

Now replay the song. This time, listen not only for each colour but also for the ending attached to it.
Marina Petrović