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Showing posts with label Serbian pronunciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serbian pronunciation. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Days of the Week in Serbian at Three Levels

I'm sure that you find Serbian days of the week easy to pronounce. However, if you still struggle with Thursday (četvrtak), there's a useful introduction in this video to help you pronounce days well.

Since rarely does anyone use days of the week in its Nominative form:

1. Ponedeljak = Monday = Понедељак
2. Utorak = Tuesday = Уторак
3. Sreda = Wednesday = Среда
4. Četvrtak = Thursday = Четвртак
5. Petak = Friday = Петак
6. Subota = Saturday = Субота
7. Nedelja = Sunday = Недеља



Let me share with you a few exercises at three different levels:
A. Days of the Week in Serbian

a. Flashcards
b. Matching game
c. Gravity game
d. Test

B: What are you doing on + DAY ( Accusative case )?  = Šta radiš u subotu?
Let's practice together:
C: Words "svaki / sledeći / naredni / drugi + day "will trigger the Genitive case of both the adjective and the noun in the question:"What are you doing next Monday?" = "Šta radiš sledećeg ponedeljka?"
Let's practice together:

a. Flashcards
b. Matching game
c. Gravity game
d. Test

Sunday, August 07, 2016

Serbian Vowels Pronounced

Let me announce that the time of low quality video lessons is over. I am sure you will enjoy watching one of the introductory videos on how to pronounce Serbian vowels with a brand new tool :)

Serbian Vowels

Although there are only five + one vowels in Serbian: A, E, I, O & U + R, one must take into account that there is also a distinction between long and short vowels. This difference is not seen in orthography, but the stressed ones are more often the longer ones. 

Today I simply want to introduce you to the simplicity of the pronunciation of the basic five vowels, and then in the following videos we'll work on the pronunciation of the "sixth vowel" in Serbian, the syllable forming R, as well as the long and short vowel pronunciation and stress within a word. 


Sunday, January 24, 2016

How to Pronounce Serbian R?

How to Pronounce Serbian R?


If you patiently listen to Nada Zeković until the very end of the video below, you'll find out what is the secret of the accurate pronunciation of the Serbian "r". Verovali ili ne,  the secret is in its vibration :) Watch, listen, repeat and practice!




  • The position of the tip of the tongue is upfront, behind the upper front  teeth.
  • Besides, there's a slight vibration. (Listen to Nada comparing Spanish and Serbian name "Oskar" )

Advice on How to Pronounce Serbian R?



According to Nada, the best way is to practice by :
  • simply running round the house saying the vibrant "rrrrr" :)
  • focusing on sound clusters such as "pr" (pravo, prvi, pre, preko, prošlo...), and later on other words with this sound!
Best of luck!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Serbian Pronunciation Practice with Đ and DŽ

If you started learning Serbian and you are confused as to what might be the difference between DŽ and Đ sounds, let me help you by taking you through these five steps:

Step 1
Which of these two sounds is softer to your ear ? 
Dž/dž (or Џ џ  in Cyrillic)

or 

Đ / đ (or in Cyrillic script: Ђ ђ)?

Step 2: If you don't hear ANY difference, let me tell you that the sound Đ is much softer than DŽ.
*You'll get this sound to be softer, i.e. produce Đ, by pressing the tongue onto the lower teeth. Repeat "đ" several times and feel the tongue low, behind the teeth, touching them.

*To get the harsh "DŽ" curl your tongue behind the upper teeth, slightly above them. You'll notice that the sound becomes less soft as you raise your tongue upwards. (even curling it backwards). Now repeat it several times.

Step 3: Try to contrast the soft Đ with harsh DŽ, paying attention to the tongue position and listening to yourself. Can you hear the difference ?

Now it's time to practise with minimal pairs and not-so-minimal pairs, because there aren't that many words with Đ and DŽ:

Step 4:
Listen and repeat:
  • đak              džak
  • leđa             odžak
  • đinđuva       dživdžan
  • ceđenje        karakondžula
  • đubre           dželat
  • đurđevak     džanarika
  • đakonije      džangrizalo
  • đavo            džem
  • đevrek         džemper

Step 5:
Encircle the word you hear me say:
  1. đubre     džak        đak           odžak
  2. đevrek   džaba       đavo         džem
  3. džoker   đon          džomba     đozluci
  4. džudo    đevrek     džukela     đuveč
  5. ceđenje  dživdžan  đinđuva    dželat  
For more pronunciation practice visit the previous blog posts tagged "pronunciation in Serbian"

Monday, September 16, 2013

How to Pronounce Serbian "LJ" ?

For learners of Serbian as a foreign language often times it's difficult to pronounce the Serbian sound "LJ" or "Љ" correctly. That's because some students tend to pronounce "L" and then "J" separately. If you'd like to make your pronunciation of "lj" perfect, follow these steps:

  1. Try to say "L", as in English word "love". Where is your tongue ? Up or down ?
  2. Try to say "J", as in English word "yes". Where is your tongue ? Up or down ?
  3. Right, so you noticed that in "L" the tongue is up, just behind your upper  teeth, while with "J", the tongue is down. If you want to say "lj" correctly, the tongue mustn't move from the upward position downwards, because it's one sound.
  4. Now, keep your  tongue as if you want to pronounce "J" as in "yes", because it's the right tongue position for the perfect "lj", and at the same time try to pronounce "L", WITHOUT raising your tongue upwards. What happens ? Did you hear your first "lj" ? Now keep practising !
Keep your tongue low, as if you want to pronounce "J" (as in "yes") sound, but say "L" (as in "love")

Advanced Serbian - Srpski kao drugi jezik

Gde je ključ? Где је кључ? - Učimo srpski sa Marinom
Gde je ključ? ...
Where is the Key?-...
By Marina Petrović
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