Serbian THANK YOU Phrases
Today we are practicing easy Serbian THANKING phrases with the bunch of nouns. The idea of the exercise is to properly connect HVALA NA and the following words:
- poklon
- pokloni
- burek
- voda
- pivo
- jabuke
- sve
Exercises with Serbian Thank You Phrases
Speaking Exercise - Video lesson
Why hvala is followed by the locative
Hvala na is followed by the locative case, and that is the whole difficulty of this exercise. Poklon becomes Hvala na poklonu; voda becomes Hvala na vodi; jabuke becomes Hvala na jabukama. The thanks are easy — the ending is the lesson.
There is also a second construction with a completely different case: Hvala vam na pomoći uses the dative for the person and the locative for the thing. And when you thank someone for doing something, Serbian prefers Hvala što ste došli — literally thank you that you came — rather than an infinitive.
Thanking with the right ending
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Hvala na lepom poklonu. | Хвала на лепом поклону. | Thank you for the lovely present. |
| Hvala vam na strpljenju. | Хвала вам на стрпљењу. | Thank you for your patience. |
| Hvala na kafi i razgovoru. | Хвала на кафи и разговору. | Thank you for the coffee and the conversation. |
| Hvala što ste došli na vreme. | Хвала што сте дошли на време. | Thank you for coming on time. |
| Hvala na svemu, vidimo se uskoro. | Хвала на свему, видимо се ускоро. | Thank you for everything, see you soon. |
Singular, then plural
Take each noun from the exercise and say the phrase twice — once in the singular, once in the plural: Hvala na poklonu, Hvala na poklonima. The plural locative ending -ima is the same for masculine, feminine and neuter, so getting it once gets it everywhere.
Say thank you properly
Translate each expression of thanks and underline the ending that the locative gave you. Latin and Cyrillic.
- Thank you for the book.
- Thank you for the apples.
- Thank you for your help.
- Thank you for calling.
- Thank you for the beer.
Answers for the thanking phrases
| English | Latinica | Ћирилица |
|---|---|---|
| Thank you for the book. | Hvala na knjizi. | Хвала на књизи. |
| Thank you for the apples. | Hvala na jabukama. | Хвала на јабукама. |
| Thank you for your help. | Hvala na pomoći. | Хвала на помоћи. |
| Thank you for calling. | Hvala što ste zvali. | Хвала што сте звали. |
| Thank you for the beer. | Hvala na pivu. | Хвала на пиву. |