Practicing Serbian with Songs 

In the previous blog post you practiced Serbian with the song Donesi vina, krčmarice! Now I am adding the second part to it, a new exercise and a list of words to practice with this song. 

Practicing Serbian Word Order with Songs 


Practicing Vocabulary Serbian Songs 

  1. Doneti = to bring 
  2. Donesi = bring! informal
  3. Donesite = bring! formal or plural
  4. Vino = wine 
  5. Krčmarica = waitress arch. (Voc. case - krčmarice)
  6. Rumen = red, flush 
  7. lice = face 
  8. Daj = give! informal 
  9. Dajte = give! formal or plural
  10. piti = to drink (pijem = first person sg in present simple)
  11. tuga = sorrow 
  12. razbiti = to break, shatter 
  13. srce = heart
  14. boleti = to hurt
  15. hteti = to want/ will (hoću, hoćeš, hoće - sg. present simple)
  16. izgoreti = to burn (izgorim, izgoriš, izgori - sg. present simple)
  17. ružica = ruža = rose
  18. oči = eyes 
  19. crn = black 
  20. žeravica = ember 
  21. celo selo = The whole village
  22. zaneti se = to get carried away
  23. svi = everybody  
  24. Bog = god
  25. Bože = Voc case of Bog 
  26. stvoriti = To create (što je stvori =why have you created her)
  27. mlad = young 
  28. momak = young man
  29. mučiti = to torture
  30. moriti = to torture/torment 

Exercises with These Words 

Match Exercise

Flashcards Exercise

Test Exercise



The vocative, alive and singing

Krčmarice in the song's title is a vocative — the case you use when you address someone directly. Serbian still uses it every day, where most European languages have lost it: Marija → Marijo, profesor → profesore, drug → druže, krčmarica → krčmarice. If you have ever wondered why your name sounds slightly different when a Serb calls you, this is why.

The song also gives you a clean pair of imperatives, informal and formal: donesi / donesite, daj / dajte. That is the whole imperative system in two verbs — the singular informal, and the form used for a group or for politeness.

Vocative and imperative from the song

LatinicaЋирилицаEnglish
Donesi mi čašu vode, molim te.Донеси ми чашу воде, молим те.Bring me a glass of water, please.
Dajte nam još malo vremena.Дајте нам још мало времена.Give us a little more time.
Marijo, gde si ostavila ključeve?Маријо, где си оставила кључеве?Marija, where did you leave the keys?
Prijatelju, ovo je tvoja pesma.Пријатељу, ово је твоја песма.My friend, this is your song.
Ne razbijaj mi srce zbog sitnice.Не разбијај ми срце због ситнице.Do not break my heart over a trifle.

Call people by name

Take five names of people you know and put each one into the vocative, then say a short sentence addressed to them. Names ending in -a take -o, most male names take -e. A week of doing this and you will stop noticing that you are using a case that English does not have.

Vocative and imperative

Write these in Serbian, taking care with the vocative endings and the two imperative forms. Latin, then Cyrillic.

  1. Ana, come here!
  2. Bring the wine, please.
  3. Teacher, I have a question.
  4. Give me your hand.
  5. Do not forget the words.
Answers for the song vocabulary
EnglishLatinicaЋирилица
Ana, come here!Ano, dođi ovamo!Ано, дођи овамо!
Bring the wine, please.Donesi vino, molim te.Донеси вино, молим те.
Teacher, I have a question.Profesore, imam pitanje.Професоре, имам питање.
Give me your hand.Daj mi ruku.Дај ми руку.
Do not forget the words.Ne zaboravi reči.Не заборави речи.