Turn the compass before touching the puzzle
The four compass nouns are sever, jug, istok and zapad. To say where something lies, Serbian often uses na plus the locative adjective: na severu, na jugu, na istoku, na zapadu. Movement in that direction uses prema with the dative: prema severu.
Maps become more useful when two locations are compared. Severno od and južno od are followed by the genitive, as are istočno od and zapadno od. Thus Novi Sad je severno od Beograda gives the listener a reference point instead of an isolated label.
A city receives its place through comparison
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Subotica se nalazi na severu Srbije. | Суботица се налази на северу Србије. | Subotica is in the north of Serbia. |
| Vranje je južno od Niša. | Врање је јужно од Ниша. | Vranje is south of Niš. |
| Negotin leži na istoku zemlje. | Неготин лежи на истоку земље. | Negotin lies in the east of the country. |
| Brod plovi Dunavom prema istoku. | Брод плови Дунавом према истоку. | The boat sails along the Danube towards the east. |
| Loznica je zapadno od Valjeva. | Лозница је западно од Ваљева. | Loznica is west of Valjevo. |
Give directions to someone who cannot see
Assemble the puzzle without reading place names aloud. Afterwards, give your partner four clues using severno od, južno od, istočno od and zapadno od; your partner must point to the correct pieces.
- Translate na zapadu.
- Complete: Idemo prema ______. (south)
- Write sever Srbije in Cyrillic.
- Which case follows od?
- Where is Subotica within Serbia?
Every piece returns to its side of the map
- in the west
- jugu
- север Србије
- the genitive
- in the north
Close the finished map and recreate its broad shape with four city names. Geography is remembered more easily when every name is tied to a direction.
Marina Petrović