Learn Serbian

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

How to pronounce letters in Serbian

While teaching Serbian to speakers of other languages, I noticed that different students have different pronunciation problems with certain Serbian sounds/phonemes. In order to practise together, let's make most of this lovely online learning tool, where you can simply listen to me and other students pronouncing certain words or phrases.

You will always be able to access the recordings from this site and to add your short replies. Let's practise together:

Intro :
* Introduce yourself like this:

Zdravo, ja sam ______. Ja sam _______. Imam _______godina. Živim u _________u/i.

(Hi, I am .... I am a ... I am ... I live in ...)

Pronunciation:

*Ć - ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će (= will)

*Č - čekaj (wait) čuvaj se (take care) čitaj (read)

*Š - šutni (kick) šališ se? (are you kidding?) šta? (what?)

*C - cev (pipe), car (tzar) cvet (flower)

*S - sve (all), svet (world), sutra (tomorrow)

*Đ - đak (pupil, student), đavo (devil), Đorđe (name)

*DŽ -džaba (for free, worthless), džemper (jumper, cardigan), džin (giant)

*NJ - njiva (field), Anja (Anya), šaliti se (to make/tell jokes)

*LJ - ljuljaška (swing), ljubav (love), biljka (plant)

*H - hrčak (hamster), hleb (bread), hladno (cold)

Asking About Location in Serbian

Marina locative case in Serbian ,

Fourteen years ago on March, 13th 1996, this song was the Song of the Day at the local radio station. I remember listening to it every hour! Take a guess where I was by asking questions, as follows:

1. "Da li ste bili u + city ? "
(when you guess the name of the city, proceed to 2)
2. "Da li ste bili u + place ?"

1/Word Bank: ---> Locative Case

Bečej ----> Bečeju
Senta ----> Senti
Zrenjanin ---> Zrenjaninu
Novi Sad---> Novom Sadu
Šabac ---> Šapcu
Niš ---> Nišu
Kragujevac ---> Kragujevcu
now, you do the same...
Kraljevo --->
Milanovac --->
Paraćin--->
Subotica --->
Zaječar--->
Beograd --->

2/Word Bank for places ---> Locative

škola - školi
crkva - crkvi
centar - centru
važno mesto - važnom mestu
*now, you do the same...
zgrada
vrtić
prodavnica
sajam
knjižara
bolnica

Why Do We Connect? Zašto se povezujemo?

Marina learn serbian ,

Recently LearnSerbian participated in "Why Do We Connect" video project. The idea was to post a response to the simple question "Why Do We Connect?" = Zašto se povezujemo?

Our answer was "To get inspired - to create!" = "Da se inspirišemo. Da stvaramo"! There are many more answers, each revealing one piece of ''why-we-connect puzzle''. I'll do my best to translate them slowly, one by one...

Now a question to you - why do you connect with other people on the www? Zašto se vi povezujete sa drugim ljudima preko interneta?

Serbian With Garfield

Marina Learn Serbian with Garfield ,

JA SAM DUH IZ TEGLE SA KOLAČIMA
JA - I
SAM - am
DUH - ginie / spirit / ghost
IZ - from
TEGLA - jar
SA - with
KOLAČ - cookie

ISPUNIĆU TI TRI ŽELJE

ISPUNITI - fulfil
TI (TEBI) - to you
TRI - three
ŽELJA - wish

NIKAD NEMA KOLAČA KADA SU TI POTREBNI

NIKAD - never
NEMA - there isn't any / negative of 'have'
KADA - when
SU - (they) ARE
TI - you
TREBATI - to need
POTREBNI - needed
********************************************************* pronunciation

STEP 1: CLICK THIS LINK TO PRONOUNCE WORDS SLOWLY
(if you are accessing the audio link for the first time, make sure you click the button 'log in as a guest' when asked for the password and user name)
STEP 2: CLICK THIS LINK TO LISTEN TO THE CARTOON AND READ IT ALONG
(My assistant was happy to act out the dialogue and record it for you - it was me who cut the last vowel 'i' in 'potrebni')
STEP 3: PRACTISE READING YOURSELF

********************************************************* grammar exercises
STEP 1: Singular - Plural Nouns Exercise 2
Write down the plural of the following words:
1. kolač -
2. tegla -
3. duh -
4. želja -
5. potreba -

STEP 2: the Verb TO BE + FROM (IZ) + PLACE with case suffixes
Complete the sentences with the places in brackets:
Ja sam duh iz (tegla)______________.
Ja sam kolač iz (tegla) _______________.
Ja sam duh iz (knjiga) _________________.
Ja sam mačak iz (strip)___________________.
Ja sam Garifld iz (Beograd)__________________.
Ja sam duh iz (London)______________________.

STEP 3: the Personal Pronoun TI - TEBI
Write down the appropriate noun:
Ispuniću ti 1 ___________ željU.
Ispuniću ti 2 ____________ željE.
Ispuniču ti 3 ____________ željE.
Ispuniću ti 4 ____________ željE.
Ispuniću ti 5 ____________ željA.
Ispuniću ti 6 ____________ željA.

STEP 4: the Present Tense Conjugation of the verb TO BE
Ja __________duh iz tegle sa kolačima.
Ti __________duh iz tegle sa kolačima.
On _________duh iz tegle sa kolačima.
Ona ___________duh iz tegle sa kolačima.
Ono ___________duh iz tegle sa kolačima.

STEP 5: the negative forms + NIKAD (never)
general:
Nikad nema kolača. (There aren't any cakes)
Nikad _____ vremena. (time)
Nikad _____ sreće. (luck)
Nikad ______ čokolade. (chocolate)
Nikad ______ para.(money)

personal (for myself)
Nikad nemaM kolača (I never have any cakes)
Nikad _____ vremena. (time)
Nikad _____ sreće. (luck)
Nikad ______ čokolade. (chocolate)
Nikad ______ para.(money)

Montenegro and its language

Ahoythere Montenegro language ,

When is a language a language and when is it a dialect?

In 2007, a year after this small Balkan country broke from its big sister Serbia, Montenegrin - or Crnogorski - became the official language, as defined by the constitution.

To read more:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8520466.stm

Adverbs, Adjectives and Nouns in Serbian - Word Order

Marina Adverbs in Serbian , Word order in Serbian

The Serbian language has fairly free word order because of its numerous suffixes for various categories. Let's see how to rephrase the sentences from the post on Adjectives and Nouns introducing an Adverb 'zaista', which means ''really''.

Formula:
This + BE + (article which doesn't exist in Serbian) really + Adj + Noun
Noun + BE + really + Adj

adjectives: LEP / JAK / VISOK / VELIK / SKUP
a. Ovo je zaista lepa knjiga = Ovo je lepa knjiga zaista = Zaista ovo je lepa knjiga = Zaista lepa je knjiga ovo.*

b. Knjiga je zaista lepa = Knjiga je lepa zaista = Zaista knjiga je lepa = Zaista lepa je knjiga.*
*less common word orders

___________ momak. (young man)
___________ automobil. (car)
___________ nos. (nose)
___________ zgrada. (building)
___________ kuća. (house)
___________ sto. (table)
___________ torba. (bag)
___________ dete. (child)
___________ zrno. (grain)

Vuku Karadžiću

Marina cyrillic , Serbian poems

Vuk je hteo, gde god krene,
Da se ljudi opismene,
Za slobodu da se bore,
I za jezik kojim zbore.

Ostašte nam posle Vuka
Lepa slova i azbuka.
Sad ih piše svaka ruka
Sa radošću i bez muka.

Vuk je bio dobre volje,
Vuk je bio prepun sreće
Kad pobedi ono bolje,
Kad se stekne znanje veće.

Ranko Simović

For your homework:
Listen to this poem and try to copy it in Cyrillic script :)
(if you are asked for username and password, click 'log in as a guest' to be able to listen to MP3)

Serbian Adjectives and Nouns in Genitive Case

Marina Genetive in Serbian ,

After doing the exercise in Nominative, both Singular and Plural, let's move onto
Genetive case: (to find out which case is Genetive ask the following quiestons: ‘Of whom, whose’ (od koga) or ‘of what’ (čega)

Example: Some 'se' verbs require Genetive, like to be scared OF 'plašiti se' or to take hold OF 'dočepati se'
Singular: Plašim se skupog automobila.

adjectives: LEP / JAK / VISOK / VELIK / SKUP

___________ knjigE. (book)
___________ momkA. (young man)
___________ automobilA. (car)
___________ nosA. (nose)
___________ zgradE. (building)
___________ kućE. (house)
___________ stoLA. (table)
___________ torbE. (bag)
___________ deteTA. (child)
___________ zrnA. (grain)

Adjectives + Plural Nouns in Genetive:

adjectives: LEP / JAK / VISOK / VELIK / SKUP
(beautiful/strong/tall/big, large/expensive)

*Try to use all the adjectives that collocate with the nouns as follows:
Example:
Plural: ...od lepih knjiga.

___________ momakA.
___________ automobilA.
___________ nosEVA.
___________ zgrada.
___________ kuća.
___________ stoLOVA.
___________ torbI.
___________ decE.
___________ zrnA.
___________ devojAkA.

The audio answer has been recorded :o)
(in case you are asked for your username, click 'log in as a guest')
***********************
What I don't like to do when teaching Serbian grammar is to actually give the kind of exercise I just posted above - mixing up all the genders, so you cannot infer the rule (which majority of textbooks do). That's why for more elementary students, I'd group words in an exercise like the following one:

Nominative Fem. Sg. KUĆA, DEVOJKA, TORBA, KNJIGA, ZGRADA
+ Adjective: velikA kućA, velikA devojkA, velikA torbA, velikA knjigA, velikA zgradA
(so that your ears come to like this A-A concordance)
Genetive Fem. Sg: od kućE, od devojkE, od torbE, od knjigE, od zgradE
+ Adjective: od velikE kućE, od visokE devojkE, od skupE torbE, od jeftinE knjigE
(so that your ears come to like this E-E concordance)
etc. etc.
I think that so many (meaningless) suffixes like 'a' 'e' 'ih' 'og' 'u' 'om' ... can be learnt only through drill and immersion. What do you think, how many seconds/minutes would it take for you to think about all the categories (and their corresponding suffixes) involved in the following sentence in order to utter it fluently and accurately: 'Koliko lepih devojaka u ovom divnom gradu!' ?

How to use Adjectives in Serbian

Marina Serbian adjectives ,

I have already written about a special relationship between adjectives and nouns in Serbian. Just to remind you, adjectives not only change according to Sg/Pl, but also according to gender and case. Therefore, I'll continue with my exercises for different categories. I hope Ivan will be willing to record the answers for you, when he comes back from school (I'll post the link here).
Adjectives + Singular Nouns in Nominative (from the previous post)
adjectives: LEP / JAK / VISOK / VELIK / SKUP

___________ knjiga. (book)
___________ momak. (young man)
___________ automobil. (car)
___________ nos. (nose)
___________ zgrada. (building)
___________ kuća. (house)
___________ sto. (table)
___________ torba. (bag)
___________ dete. (child)
___________ zrno. (grain)

Adjectives + Plural Nouns in Nominative:
adjectives: LEP / JAK / VISOK / VELIK / SKUP
(beautiful/strong/tall/big, large/expensive)
*Try to use all the adjectives that collocate with the nouns as follows:
For example: lepE / velikE / skupE knjigE:

___________ momCI.
___________ automobilI.
___________ nosEVI.
___________ zgradE.
___________ kućE.
___________ stoLOVI.
___________ torbE.
___________ deCA.
___________ zrnA.
___________ devojke. (young girls)

Audio answer (make sure you are logged in as a guest, if you want to hear the MP3 file)

Свети Сава - школска слава

Marina Serbian holidays ,

Химна Светом Сави

Ускликнимо с љубављу
Светитељу Сави
Српске цркве и школе
Светитељској глави.
Тамо венци, тамо слава,
Где нас српски пастир Сава.

Појте му Срби,
Песму и утројте!

Благодарна Србијо,
Пуна си љубави
Према своме пастиру
Светитељу Сави.
Цело српство слави славу
Свога оца Светог Саву.

Појте му Срби,
Песму и утројте!

С неба шаље благослов
Свети отац Сава.
Са свих страна сви Срби,
С мора и Дунава,
К небу главе подигните
Саву тамо угледајте:

Саву српску славу,
Пред престолом Творца!

Да се српска сва срца
С тобом уједине,
Сунце мира, љубави
Да нам свима сине;
Да живимо сви у слози,
Свети Саво, ти помози,

Почуј глас свог рода,
Српскога народа!

Пет векова Србин је
у ропству чамио,
Светитеља Саве
Име је славио.
Свети Сава Србе воли
И за њих се Богу моли.

Појте му Срби,
Песму и утројте!

Click here for full screen version

Srećan Božić - Hristos se rodi!

Marina Serbian holidays ,

Anđeli pevaju

(Što god tkaš vezuj konce za mene)
Noć prekrasna i noć tija
Nad pećinom zvezda sija
U pećini mati spi
Nad Isusom anđel bdi. (x2)

Anđeli pevaju, pastiri sviraju,
Anđeli pevaju, mudraci javljaju,
Što narodi čekaše,
Što proroci rekoše.
Evo sad se u svet javi
U svet javi i objavi:
Rodio se Hristos Spas
Za spasenje sviju nas!

Aliluja, aliluja,
Gospodi pomiluj!

Radost Duša Ljubav Poštenje Isus Vera Nada Spasenje Mir Pokajanje Gospod Smirenje Ljubav Mladost Spokoj

Aliluja, aliluja,
Gospodi pomiluj!
Rodio se Hristos Spas,
Za spasenje sviju nas!
Aliluja, aliluja,
Gospodi pomiluj!

Mir Božiji, Hristos se rodi! Vaistinu se rodi!

Božić Božić Blagi Dan

Badnje veče = Orthodox Christmas Eve

Marina

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Božić Božić Blagi Dan

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

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