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Friday, May 26, 2017
Thursday, May 25, 2017
While in the previous simple Serbian cartoons we ppractised the prepositions followed by the Genitive:
Serbian Genitive Task
I'm going to write the translations of these captions. Your task is to match them with colours :)
Boje (colours) su: narandžasta (1), crvena (2), tamno plava (3), ljubičasta (4), tamno ljubičasta (5), zelena (6)
today we are revising the same case, with words, both in Masc. and Feminine Singular, such as:
- Rim, London, Pariz >>> iz RimA, iz LondonA, od ParizA - Sg. Masc.
- Srbija, Engleska >>> iz SrbijE, iz EngleskE - Sg. Fem.
However, this time I am also introducing demonstrative adjectives this and these in Serbian:
This and These in Serbian
- for "she" (like in "this girl" - devojčica) >>> Ova devojčica
- for "he" (like in "this boy" - dečko) >>>Ovaj dečko
- for "it" (like in "this sun" - sunce) >>> Ovo sunce
- for they Masc. Pl or Masc. and Fem. Pl. together (like in "these people" - ljudi) >>>Ovi ljudi
- for "they" Fem. Pl.(like in "these women" - žene) >>> Ove žene
- for "they" Neut. Pl. (like in "these kids" - deca) >>> Ova deca
Serbian Genitive Task
I'm going to write the translations of these captions. Your task is to match them with colours :)
Boje (colours) su: narandžasta (1), crvena (2), tamno plava (3), ljubičasta (4), tamno ljubičasta (5), zelena (6)
- a) My village is more beautiful than Paris (the preposition "than" in comparison always requires the Genitive case)
- b) This one with an umbrella is from London for sure (the preposition "from" requires the Genitive)
- c) If they are from Rome, we are from Paris!
- d) If this sun sees me, it must think I am from Paris!
- e) This little one (=a girl) is surely from Serbia!
- f) These postcards from Italy are funnier than the ones from France!
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Giving Directions in Serbian
- Izvinite = excuse me (although izvinite can mean sorry as well)
- da li = the way to start "yes -no" question
- ovo = this
- put = way
- za = to
- aerodrom = airport (masc. sg.)
- ali = but
- na raskrsnici = at the crossroads
- skrenite = turn (formal, informal is "skreni")
- desno = right
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Let me introduce you to one of my pets, a guinea pig called Beba. If it is a boy or a girl, you'll find out in our future lessons with it :)
The idea is for you to practice this short dialogue asking each other what you are having for breakfast:
a: Šta radiš = What are you doing?
b: Doručkujem = I'm having breakfast.
a: Šta doručkuješ? = What are you having for breakfast?
b: Doručkujem (travu) = I'm having grass for breakfast. (trava = grass)
For this, you'll need some knowledge about food & the accusative case. I'm sure this video will help:
Have fun!
The idea is for you to practice this short dialogue asking each other what you are having for breakfast:
a: Šta radiš = What are you doing?
b: Doručkujem = I'm having breakfast.
a: Šta doručkuješ? = What are you having for breakfast?
b: Doručkujem (travu) = I'm having grass for breakfast. (trava = grass)
For this, you'll need some knowledge about food & the accusative case. I'm sure this video will help:
Have fun!
Friday, May 19, 2017
If you mastered the word hungry: gladAN - gladNA, you are ready to deal with happiness :D

He is happy = On je srećan.
She is happy = Ona je srećna.
They are happy = Oni su srećni.
Now, for a more difficult task! How would you say the following phrases:
He is happy = On je srećan.
She is happy = Ona je srećna.
They are happy = Oni su srećni.
Now, for a more difficult task! How would you say the following phrases:
- I am happy (said by a girl)
- I am happy (said by a boy)
- We are happy (for a boy and girl)
Thursday, May 18, 2017
One of the frequent questions is how to translate Serbian "hteti" into English?

Hteti - Will or Want?
The simple truth is that the verb "hteti" can be translated into English in both ways, either will or want to, or even wish. The best way is to learn through some examples.Želeti vs. Hteti
- Hoćeš li mi pomoći? Will you help me? (pure future ) - Hoću! Pomoći ću ti (Yes, I'll help you)
- Hoćeš li prestati već jednom? Will you stop it once and for all? - Neću! (I won't)
- Hoćeš li da mi pomogneš? Do you want to help me? (a bit stronger than "want") - Naravno! Of course! Svakako! Sure!
- Da li hoćeš da idemo u Beograd? Do you want us to go to Belgrade?
- Želiš li da mi pomogneš? Do you wish/want to help me? (a bit more like "wish" than "want") - Kako da ne! Sure!
- Šta želiš da ti kupim u Beogradu? What do you want me to buy you in Belgrade?
Accepting and Declining
The other set of useful phrases which we can learn from is how to best respond to questions starting with "Will you?" or "Do you want to....?"
Prihvatanje/potvrđivanje = Accepting
- Naravno
- Svakako
- Nema problema
- Kako da ne
- Hoću (if the question starts with Hoćeš li...?)
- Želim (if the question starts with Želiš li...?)
- Da
- Jašta (colloquial + archaic, but fun)
Odbijanje = Declining
- Nema šanse (no way)
- Nikako (no way)
- Neću / Ne želim
- Ne, hvala (no, thanks)
- Jok (colloquial + archaic, but fun)
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Many of my students have asked me to create a series of video lessons or similar teaching materials dedicated only to adjectives contrasting Masculine and Feminine forms. Here comes the first one in this series - something reeeeaaaaally simple:

Masculine Sg. of hungry>>> gladAn
Feminine Sg. of hungry >>> gladnA
Neuter Sg. of hungry >>> gladNo
Here comes a trick question: Da li sam JA dečko ili devojčica? Am I (JA in sentence 4) a boy or a girl?
Masculine Sg. of hungry>>> gladAn
Feminine Sg. of hungry >>> gladnA
Neuter Sg. of hungry >>> gladNo
Exercise with this photo lesson
- Ko je gladan? Who is hungry?
- On je gladan! He is hungry!
- Ona je gladna! She is hungry!
- Ja nisam gladan! I am not hungry!
Here comes a trick question: Da li sam JA dečko ili devojčica? Am I (JA in sentence 4) a boy or a girl?
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
If you really had fun learning Genitive yesterday, I'm sure you'll have a blast today:

As you can see, there's a bunch of characters speaking to you in Serbian (written both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet :) Because they are talking about where they are right now, they are using (guess what?) the Genitive case. Now, I have a few tasks for you. Let's find out:
A. Who is saying what? = Ko šta kaže?
As you can see, there's a bunch of characters speaking to you in Serbian (written both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet :) Because they are talking about where they are right now, they are using (guess what?) the Genitive case. Now, I have a few tasks for you. Let's find out:
A. Who is saying what? = Ko šta kaže?
- Sunce kaže:
- Majmun kaže:
- Ptica kaže:
- Dečko kaže:
B. Where are = Gde su...
- dečko (a boy)
- devojčica (a girl)
- pingvin (a penguin)
- ptica (a bird)
- majmun (a monkey)
- sunce (the sun)
- mačka (a cat)
C. One Cyrillic text is missing - which one? Write it in the comment below:
Serbian Genitive with Sg. Feminine Nouns
I hope you have mastered your Genitive with Sg. Masc. nouns. That's why we are working on the nouns which are Fem. Sg. today. Look at the examples:
- Ja sam iznad zgrade! Ko sam ja? Da li sam ja ptica?
- Danas sam ispred zgrade! Ko sam ja? Da li sam ja mačka?
- Oni su iznad mene! Ko su oni? Ko sam ja?
- On nije iznad mačke! Ja sam iznad mačke! Ko sam ja?
What happens with the following nouns?
- zgrada = building
- ptica = bird
- mačka = cat
- devojčica = girl
- voda = water
when they follow the prepositions:
- iznad = above or over
- ispod = below or under
- iz = from
- pored = near or beside
By looking the examples, you can see that the final -a disappears, becoming an -e:
- Iznad zgradE = above the building
- Ispod pticE = under the bird
- Pored mačkE = beside the cat
- Iza devojčicE = behind the girl
- Iznad vodE = above the water
Asking simple questions with the verb TO BE in Serbian
I am sure you have noticed two types of questions in this exercise:
- Wh-? questions: Ko sam ja = Who am I and Ko su oni? Who are they?
- Yes-no questions: Da li sam ja pingvin? = Am I a penguin?
With the verb to be=biti, it is obvious that there is
- a wh-? question word before an inversion (ja sam becomes KO sam ja)
- da li question phrase before an inversion (ja sam becomes DA LI sam ja)
Yes, it's that simple :)
Rešenje = Solution
Now that you understand EVERYTHING, it's time to solve the mystery...
Monday, May 15, 2017
What a lovely morning for such an easy Serbian Genitive photo lesson:

Dobro jutro iz sunčanog LondonA! Pogodite odakle šaljem pozdrave: ispod ili iznad mostA?
Добро јутро из сунчаног ЛондонА! Погодите одакле шаљем поздраве: испод или изнад мостА?
Good morning from sunny London! Guess where I am sending the greetings from: under or above the bridge?
Dobro jutro iz sunčanog LondonA! Pogodite odakle šaljem pozdrave: ispod ili iznad mostA?
Добро јутро из сунчаног ЛондонА! Погодите одакле шаљем поздраве: испод или изнад мостА?
Good morning from sunny London! Guess where I am sending the greetings from: under or above the bridge?
Serbian Genitive with Masculine Singular
London and most (bridge) are two Masc. Sg. nouns in this case. What endings showed up when we used them after the prepositions:
- iz = from
- under / below = ispod
- above / over = iznad
- Ja sam iz Londona / Beograda / Lisabona / Bostona / Čikaga (Čikago) / Sidneja / Frankfurta /Minhena / Beča / Pariza
- Moja mama je iz Perua / Irana / Iraka / Luksemburga / Portugala /Izraela
Sunday, May 14, 2017
What do you want to do TODAY?
Šta želite da radite DANAS?
Today I am in Paris. I want to see the Mona Lisa.
DANAS sam u Parizu. Želim da vidim Mona Lizu.
While in the previous lesson we noticed that the Locative Singular ending was only -i, it was like that simply because we were in places which are in Feminine Singular (U Moskvi, Aziji, Evropi, Budimpešti...)
However, today we are in having fun in places which are Masculine Singular and that's why we add the suffix -u at the end of each place:
Šta želite da radite DANAS?
Today I am in Paris. I want to see the Mona Lisa.
DANAS sam u Parizu. Želim da vidim Mona Lizu.
However, today we are in having fun in places which are Masculine Singular and that's why we add the suffix -u at the end of each place:
- Ja sam danas u Parizu. = Danas sam u Parizu.
- ...Beograd >>> Beogradu
- ...Lisabon >>> Lisabonu
- ... Sidnej >>> Sidneju
- ... Niš >>> Nišu
- ...muzej >>> muzeju
- ... centar >>> centru
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Where are you today?
Today we are in Moscow. Moscow is in Russia. Russia is in Europe and Asia. Where are you today? Let's say this in Serbian!Danas smo u Moskvi :) Moskva je u Rusiji. Rusija je u Evropi i Aziji. Gde ste vi danas?
Cyrillic Script Version
Данас смо у Москви :) Москва је у Русији. Русија је у Европи и Азији. Где сте ви данас?
Let's practice the Locative in Serbian
Feminine Singular
- Moskva >>>Moskvi
- Rusija >>> Rusiji
- Azija >>> Aziji
- Evropa >>> Evropi
- Lima >>> ???
- Barselona >>> ???
- Budimpešta >>> ???
- zgrada (building) >>> ???