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Showing posts with label exercises in Serbian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercises in Serbian. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Verb Conjugations in Serbian

Serbian belongs to a group of (highly) flective languages, and as such its verbs have conjugations. This means that you have to pay attention to the suffixes which are added to the stem of each verb. If you have a dictionary of Serbian, you will notice that infinitive endings are -iti, -ati, -eti, or simply -ti and sometimes -ći. In order to learn the conjugations, it is wise to know that the suffixes for each person singular or plural are added to the verb stem (base verb without infinitive endings). 

The conjugation system of Serbian verbs is rather complex. There are several classes of regular verbs distinguished according to certain features the verbs within a class share. (I copied this sentence from Wikipedia, so you can follow the link to see the conjugations of the verb 'RADITI' (to work) to get the idea how it looks like in different tenses.)

As you could see, it is not only the present tense, but we need also to learn how to use the verbs in different tenses. Therefore, I made a playlist which will in time grow and help you learning Serbian verb conjugations:



Let me jot down a few examples:

infinitive: živETI
verb stem: živ

I live = ja živim
you live = ti živ
You live = Vi živite
He,she,it live = on, ona ono živi
We live = mi živimo
You live = vi živite
They live = oni, one, ona žive

The verbs belonging to the same group are as follows:
GOVORITI to talk, HVALITI to praise, UČITI to learn, MRZETI to hate, VOLETI to love, RADITI to work, ŽELETI to want, BROJATI to count, POSTOJATI to exist


The most useful website listing various forms and numerous verbs is LogosConjugator. I am sure it will help!





Sunday, February 01, 2009

10, 20, 30 ... 100

10 - deset 20 - dvadeset 30 - trideset 40 - četrdeset 50 - pedeset 60 - šezdeset 70 - sedamdeset 80 - osamdeset 90 - devedeset 100 - sto

****************

21 - dvadeset (i) jedan

**************** As you see the rule is very simple, just add 20 + 1. As for writing, the two numbers are written separately, either with 'and' or without it in between, while for administrative purposes, ie. in documents, the numbers are written together eg. 'dvadesetjedan'.

**************** Practise saying the numbers below, and then listen to the answers in the GCast Widget on the right, under the Post named 'Tens-exercise'.

29
34
67
98
61
23
35
53
47
78
82
93
130
169
174

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Characteristics in context

TO BE & ADJECTIVES for different genders


Adjectives describing Masculine nouns in Sg (Singular) take no endings (on je bogat), while the same adjectives describing Fem. Sg nouns take -a (ona je bogata), while with Sg. Neuter nouns the ending is -o (bogato selo). Plural, masc. adj. take an -i ending (ljudi su bogati), fem. adj. take -e (žene su lepe), and neuter adj. take -a (deca su visoka). In some cases, there are some changes in pronunciation, with adjectives ending in -N, or -K, for example (on je gladan - ona je gladna) - but there will be a special post on that subject.

For the sake of clarity, let's do a simple exercise with adjectives which have no pronunciation changes. The answer key is in the comment. If you want me to record the answer, just drop me a line.

A Short Adjective Story:

Andrew is tall. He is very handsome. His wife Lilly is also tall and pretty.
They have a son, called Tom. He is very good. They are now at home. Their house is big, because they are rich. Their dog Ava is very old and lazy.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Locative in Serbian

Lokativ

Lokativ ____ (is) padež koji ide uz predloge 'na', 'u', 'o', 'po', 'pri'. On označava mesto ____ ( where) se vrši radnja ili gde se nešto nalazi. Zato se i ______ (named) padežom mesta. Latinski 'locus' ______ (means) mesto. Evo nekoliko primera ______ (with) predlogom 'U':

Ljudi žive u Beograd__ , u Kruševc__, u Brisel__ ili na sel_. Kada ____ (are) imenice muškog i srednjeg roda u jednini, onda se doda nastavak 'U'. Ljudi žive i u Srbij___, Belgij__, Italij__ - ali pošto su ovo imenice ženskog roda u jednini, one gube poslednje 'a', i dodaje im se nastavak 'I'.

Lokativ se _________ (also) koristi i da iskažemo o kome pričamo, i tada se koristi _______ (with) predlog "o". Juče sam pričala o prijatelj___, muškarcim_, drugaric__ i odel___- u množini lokativ zahteva sledeće nastavke -ima, za muški rod, -ama i srednji -ima!

*********** Translation & Answers*******************

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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