One of the common and very productive ways of expanding a verb meaning is the process of "prefixation" in Serbian. While in English this additional meaning is conveyed through use of different tenses or prepositions in phrasal verbs, at a sentence level, in Serbian it is achieved through only one word, at the lexicology level.

Today we are talking about PO- prefix and its meanings.

Meaning of Po- Prefix in Serbian

There are five main meanings of PO- prefix when added to a verb. These are as follows:

1. making a perfective verb out of an imperfective one: jesti - pojesti
2. adding up "distributive meaning", often combined with the word "sve": krasti - pokrasti (there will be a special post dedicated to this)
3. beginning of the action: leteti -  poleteti
4. spatial meaning (additional meaning "over") : bacati -  pobacati
5. action which lasts for a long time: živeti - poživeti

Exercise with Po- Prefix in Serbian

Examples with Po- Prefix in Serbian Literature

- What is the meaning of the noun ZLATO and verb POzlatiTI?
- What meaning(s) does this prefix add?
- What is the gist of the story?

Most Common Mistakes in Serbian

I'm sure you've seen a lot of interesting photos which explain most common mistakes in the Serbian language, such as this one:

Video with Most Common Mistakes in Serbian

Today, I've come across this great video with similar examples. I am sure you'll enjoy watching it! 

Serbian Pronouns in Accusative

• Feminine singular: Vidim ribu, vidim je!

• Masculine and Neuter Sg: Vidim hleb / meso, vidim ga!

• Plural, all genders: Vidim jaja, vidim ih! 

Useful Vocabulary

• Ananas = pineapple
• Grožđe = grapes
• Dinja = melon
• Višnje = sour cherries
• Trešnje = sweet cherries

Stiže još jedan / još jedna set of exercises to practice one of the lessons from Serbian 102 course!

Past tense of To be Explained

You can find the pronunciation and the form of the verb to be in Serbian in this post published earlier.

Past tense of To be with Exercises

Past tense of To be - Games

What do you see in Serbian?  

Srpski 401 se bazira na preslatkoj mini seriji koja se zove Mala istorija Srbije, o kojoj sam pisala pre pet godina (vreme baš leti = time really flies by)!
Don't forget that for more exercises like this one with explanations and video lessons with slow pronunciation you can join Patreon page, tier one.

This is, These are - in Serbian

Let's jump with joy each time we come across a phrase or two which are easier in Serbian than in English.

There is no need for you to think how to say THIS and THESE, simply say OVO and it covers both categories!

Ovo je haljina = this is a dress

Ovo su čizme = these are boots

The only thing we are actually practicing is IS and ARE in Serbian, in different contexts:

1. Odeća = Clothes
2. Životinje = Animals 
3. Hrana = Food
4. Poslovi = Jobs 

Ovo je, ovo su with Clothes

This is, These are -Exercises

This is, These are - Games

Glagol BITI - značenje (meaning)

Even if you are really familiar with the verb to be in Serbian, let's simply review what we know with tthese fun exercises:

Glagol BITI - vežbe (exercise)

Glagol BITI - igre (games)

Glagol BITI - additional exercises

One of the useful phrases when learning Serbian is IZIVINTE = ИЗВИНИТЕ = excuse me.

Excuse me, where is ... in Serbian

After this phrase, you have certainly attracted someone's attention, so you can ask a follow up question. Today we are practicing the phrase GDE JE = ГДЕ ЈЕ = where is?

How to pronounce IZVINITE, GDE JE in Serbian

• Excuse me, where is the exit? = Izvinite, gde je izlaz? 

After practicing with the Flashcards, you are ready to play and win :D

I am happy to announce that my third book with easy texts both in Cyrillic and Latin alphabet, Who is Who, has been published!

Let me remind you of the first two books, which you can read along with me on my Youtube channel and Patreon page:

Easy to Read -  Šta možemo da vidimo na selu?

This book called "What you can see on the farm" is just the first part of the series covering animal and farm vocabulary,  together with  the most common verbs in Serbian.

Easy to Read -  Gde je ključ? 

In this second book, Where is the Key? I continue using the most common verbs which require the accusative case. We are also practicing introducing ourselves and our friends.  There is also a task for you to find ONE hidden key. If you are having problems finding it, do let me know!

Easy to Read -  Ko je ko?

In the third book, Who is Who, we are dealing with some similar names like Jovan and Jovana or Ivan and Ivana. Since they can be a bit confusing, we are trying to figure out who is who, by following our friends in search of one another. At the end of the book there is an Activity book where you need to find the hidden page numbers... a little bit of Locative case will always prove useful in the days to come :D

The Fourth Easy to Read book 

The name of the fourth book is "What we like" and it is all about games and seasons we like. It is to be published in October. This one is the easiest of all, and I am sure you'll love it! Watch this space :D

Learning Serbian with Songs

• Super Easy - Boje 
• Super Easy - Čokolada 
• Elementary - Whistle at 8 = Zvižduk u 8 
• Pre-intermediate, Present Simple Verbs - Da li čuješ? 
• Intermediate, Genitive - Još volim te 

In one of the more advanced Serbian language courses, you can learn how to use the following set of phrases to talk about yourself and important occasions when you want to:https://www.learnserbianblog.com/2018/09/serbian-advanced-course.html

• treat someone = častiti  / počastiti nekog
• take someone out to a restaurant = izvesit nekog u restoran

Serbian 701 - Exercises

Exercises with Lesson1, Serbian 701

Hajde da vežbamo ove glagole u prošlom vremenu

Practicing Serbian Daily

Let me share with you a few good posts and resources with great ideas how to learn and practice Serbian on a daily basis:

1. With Youtube videos  
2. Practicing Pronunciation
3. Listening to Serbian authentic resources
4. Doing exercises on my old website SerbianLesson.com and a new one SerbianLessons.com
5. Practicing reading easy and fun books in Serbian Cyrillic and Latin alphabet
6. Joining one of my Serbian language learning courses on Udemy

It is a good idea to use at least two Serbian phrases from the very first lesson:

• Šta znači? = What does ... mean?
• Molim? = Pardon?

Why Step by Step Serbian?

Having made hundreds of quizzes and exercises in Serbian, I thought of posting them here on this blog on a daily basis, starting from the easiest ones. This will make it easier for you to learn regularly and have some kind of continuity.

How Step by Step Serbian?

First, you can read more about these two alphabets in the previous posts:

• Listening and seeing both alphabets, published back in 2008 :)
• Super easy guide to Serbian Cyrillic Script, from 2009
• Switching from the Latin alphabet to the Cyrillic script and back, dated 2010

Practicing Numbers while Listening 

Another exercise where your task is to jot down the numbers you hear while watching this funny add:

Listening Comprehension Numbers - Answer Key

Brojevi koje čujemo (they are written in white, just select them and you'll see the answers)

• 30
• 35
• 10
• 5 
• 13 

Vocabulary  

Unfortunately, there are too few Serbian videos with subtitles in Serbian. Whenever I come across one, I do my best to share it with you. I hope that with BBC in Serbian comeback, there will be more and more videos with subtitles covering interesting topics, like this one about how to live without waste = kako živeti bez otpada:

Besides a wonderful recipe for King's Chicken, you will hear three stories about the origin of this simple and tasty dish. Let's listen the following video first.



You can listen to the video as many times as you want, try to listen to it a bit slower (change speed to 0.75) and write down at least one short story on our joint Padlet :) Simply click twice on the background and start writing. There is no need for you to write your name! Have fun :)

1. Prva priča - link  
2. Druga priča - link
3. Treća priča - link

A few years ago I shared with you a few posts about foreigners in Serbia. Since there are so many beautiful stories about this topic on RTS youtube channel, I decided to share all them and make some additional exercises.

Srbija je haos sa nekim čudnim redom

Današnja priča je o Sine iz Norveške. Odgledajte ovu prelepu priču i odgovorite na pitanja ispod:

1. Kako se ona zove?
2. Odakle je?
3. Zašto je došla prvi put u Srbiju?
4. Kako se zove prijatelj iz Srbije kog je prvo upoznala?
5. Šta joj se svidelo prvi put kad je bila u Srbiji?
6. Šta nije uobičajeno u Srbiji posle plivanja, a što je normalno u Norveškoj?
7. Kada pričamo o tašnama i torbama, šta u Srbiji ljudi nikad ne rade, dok je u Norveškoj to normalno?
8. Da li je Sine udata i da li će se udavati?
9. Gde ona živi sada?
10. Gde ona radi sada?
11. Šta je studirala u Norveškoj?
12. Šta je studirala u Srbiji?
13. Čime se sve bavi?
14. Kakvi su joj planovi za budućnost?
15. Zašto?

Numbers and Addition in Serbian

Let's watch the video where you can see and hear  numbers being added in Serbian. If you click CC you will be able to follow the English translation as well. If you decrease the speed, from normal to 0.75, you can practice your pronunciation :) Have fun!



For more advanced learners, there are a few, actually 3, questions:
1. Can you recognize the accent? Which one is it - Serbian or Bosnian or Montenegrin?
2. Could you hear the name of the famous scientist who is mentioned in the video?
3. Why are numbers 3, 6, and 9 magical?

Ordinal numbers in Serbian behave as adjectives, so they change according to the noun's:

• number (singular or plural - prva kolona vs. prve kolone)
• gender (masc. fem or neuter - prvi red vs. prvA kolona vs. prvO mesto)
• case (after the basic form of Nominative, there will be all six cases - prvi čovek - prvog čoveka - prvom čoveku - prvog čoveka / prvi hamburger - prvi čoveče - sa prvim čovekom - o prvom čoveku)

• Download an e-book version of the e-book "Šta možemo da vidimo na selu?"
• Practice vocabulary 
• Practice reading and understanding the story 

If you would like to practice vocabulary used in my first book about things we can see on a farm, I'd suggest you do the following exercises in this order:

Many thanks to my patrons who continually support me in creating Serbian language learning materials and who give me invaluable feedback!

Let me tell you how I can make the exercises about Tesla's letters can be even more complicated: I'll add the following adjectives in the same text and make it a task. Of course, before doing this task, let us review the forms of Adjectives in Genitive:

• Pridevi uz osobe: pametan - čuven - poznat
• Pridevi uz zemlju / kraljevinu: čuven - star
• Pridevi uz reč muzej (Adligat): veliki - mali - poznat - dosadan - bogat - siromašan
• Pridevi uz godine / dane: davni - prošli - sledeći

Endings for Adjectives in Genitive

Adjectives in Genitive Exercise

If you would like to receive more lessons like this one, consider joining my Patreon blog.

Here comes a very simple exercise, based on two short texts. Hope you'll be able to do it perfectly well:

Asking for Advice in Serbian

Giving Advice in Serbian