Serbian for Beginners - Common Mistakes

This is a short video with Jeremija, who was pretty tired when answering my questions, so he made quite a few mistakes. Try to figure out which numbers are wrong, and what he should have said:



If you want to watch the video lessons covering the same topic and level, check out this page with beginner Serbian lessons.

A number chooses the form that follows it

With age, Serbian says imati plus a number and the appropriate form of godina. After numbers ending in one—except eleven—use godinu: dvadeset jednu godinu. After two, three and four—except twelve to fourteen—use godine. Five and higher normally take genitive plural godina.

The teen numbers jedanaest, dvanaest, trinaest and četrnaest all take godina. Look at the complete number, not merely its final written digit: dvadeset dve godine, but dvanaest godina.

One year refuses the ending used after two

Latinica	Ћирилица	English
Moja sestričina ima jednu godinu.	Моја сестричина има једну годину.	My niece is one year old.
Blizanci danas imaju četiri godine.	Близанци данас имају четири године.	The twins are four years old today.
Njihov pas ima sedam godina.	Њихов пас има седам година.	Their dog is seven years old.
Ujak puni trideset dve godine u avgustu.	Ујак пуни тридесет две године у августу.	My uncle turns thirty-two in August.
Stara fotografija ima sto jednu godinu.	Стара фотографија има сто једну годину.	The old photograph is 101 years old.

Create three age riddles whose answers require all three forms. Your partner must give the number and the noun ending correctly to solve each one.
Marina Petrović