Common Mistakes in Serbian - 2

Fixing the mistakes that survive into advanced levels

The standard noun is bombona, although bonbona is often heard in casual speech. In the conditional, the first-person singular auxiliary is bih: ja bih, while bi is used with ti, on, ona and ono. The expression ni za šta is written as three words when it means “not for anything” or “for nothing”. Remember the complete phrase rather than an isolated spelling rule.

These are errors that stop being beginner errors and quietly settle in. The conditional bih is the classic one: it changes for person — ja bih, ti bi, mi bismo — and learners who freeze it as bi for everything sound fluent until exactly that moment. Read each sentence and check the form against its subject.

Corrected sentences in Latin and Cyrillic

Look carefully at ukusna, popila and menjao — every one of them is agreeing with something, and the agreement is what learners drop. The Cyrillic column is useful here precisely because it slows you down: you read letter by letter and notice endings that your eye would otherwise skate over.

Catching yourself

Say each corrected sentence aloud, then deliberately say the wrong version and notice how different it feels. Then write two conditional sentences about your own week — something you would do, something you would never do — and check the bih form against the subject before you say them.

Correction exercise

Translate these sentences into Serbian in both alphabets, paying particular attention to conditional forms and adjective agreement.

1. This sweet is delicious.
2. I would drink a coffee.
3. I would not trade you for anything.
4. She would not be late.
5. I would not do that for anything in the world.

Answers