Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Thursday, October 03, 2019

Serbian 101 - Glagol BITI

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

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

"Excuse me, where is..." - Serbian 101

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? 

Let's practice the phrase "Excuse me, where is ..."  



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





Monday, September 30, 2019

Learning Serbian Cyrillic with Easy to Read Books

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

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Learning Serbian with Songs

If you like learning Serbian with songs, I'm sure oyu will like some of the new exercises I published on the new SerbianLessons page:  

Learning Serbian with Songs



Friday, September 27, 2019

Serbian 701 - Lesson 1, Exercises

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
as well as reasons
  • to retire = otići u penziju
  • to graduate = diplomirati
  • to enroll = upisati se na fakultet

Serbian 701 - Exercises

Let's just watch again the first part, for about 1 minute, until Boškić goes out of the office. Can you hear the words:
  • častim
  • moja čast
  • slavlje
  • upisati akademiju
  • upisati fakultet
Slušajte ponovo i pokušajte da čujete:

  1. Ko časti?
  2. Zašto časti?
  3. Kako časti?
  4. Koga časti?

Exercises with Lesson1, Serbian 701

If you haven't done all the exercises from the previous post, you can do them on this page. Now, we are going to do a brand new exercise and talk about ourselves:

Hajde da vežbamo ove glagole u prošlom vremenu




Govorne vežbe

Posle svih ovih vežbi, vreme je da kažemo nešto o sebi, u kojim prilikama častite prijatelje i porodicu i kako?

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

How to practice Serbian - Ideas and Links

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

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Useful Phrases when Learning Serbian

It is a good idea to use at least two Serbian phrases from the very first lesson:
  • Šta znači? = What does ... mean?
  • Molim? = Pardon?
Of course, there are other ones which are useful, and you can start using them while learning the language. In this blog post, the idea is for you to practice them with the following Quizlets:








Monday, September 23, 2019

Step by Step Serbian

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.

All you have to do is to follow:
I also want to connect each post with the previous lessons covering the same topic, so you can practise using different materials (which are hidden in this ten year old blog). So, let's start!

How Step by Step Serbian?

Let's start with the alphabets used in the Serbian language: Ćirilica and Latinica


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

Once you are acquainted with the theoretical part, let's play:





Thursday, September 12, 2019

Listening Comprehension in Serbian - Numbers

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
  • 13 

Vocabulary  

Konotacije
  • držati se dobro  (keep oneself fit/taking good care of oneself)
  • imati oko za nešto (have a keen/sharp eye)
  • broj 13 donosi nesreću (number 13 is unlucky)

Brojevi kao imenice 

Numbers used as grades (at school, college, etc) behaving as nouns
  • jedan = jedinica
  • dva =dvojka
  • tri = trojka
  • četiri = četvorka
  • pet = petica
  • šest = šestica
  • sedam = sedmica
  • osam = osmica
  • devet = devetka
  • deset = desetka
  • jedanaest = jedanaestica 

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Listening and Reading Serbian

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:


Monday, September 09, 2019

Serbian Intermediate - Listening Comprehension, King's Chicken

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


Made with Padlet

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Foreigners in Serbia - Part 7

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?



Sunday, July 21, 2019

What is so special about 3, 6 and 9?

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?

Monday, July 15, 2019

Ordinal Numbers in Serbian - Part 1

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)
That's why we are starting just with a very simple list of 12 ordinal numbers in masc. sg. Nominative to learn the form, hear it, pronounce it and practice it. 


In our next lessons we'll be practicing more complex structures with the ordinal numbers in Serbian :)
I know it looks complicated, but it can be fun, and it is certainly good for your brain!

The list of exercises both in the Latin and Cyrillic script can be found on my Patreon page.

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Verb HTETI - to want

What do they want?
Hajde da slušamo ovu zabavnu pesmu i da odlučimo ko šta želi da jede? = Let's listen to this fun song and decide who wants to eat what? 

VOCABULARY

  • Tulumbe =  Tulumba or Bamiyeh is a deep-fried dessert  
  • kolač = a cake
  • čokolada = chocolate
  • šlag = whipped cream
  • jagode = strawberries
  • kolač sa čokoladom = a chocolate cake
  • kolač sa šlagom i jagodama = a cake with whipped cream and strawberries
  • hteti = to want to 
  • Hoću - hoćeš - hoće ---- hoćemo - hoćete - hoće
  • Hoću da uzmem = I want to have 

EXERCISE

  • Maksim hoće da uzme ...
  • Mama hoće da uzme...
  • Tata hoće da uzme ...

KVIZ

TRANSLATION

  • Poslastičarnica "Tumbe-tulumbe" = A sweetshop "Tumbe-tulumbe"
  • Dobar dan x 10 = Good afternoon
  • Izvolite, šta želite? = Can I help you, what do you want = would you like?
  • Mi bismo baš voleli da probamo vaše kolače. = We would really like to try your cakes.
  • Evo neka Maksim prvi izabere. = Here, let Maxim be the first to choose.
  • Mama, tata, ja ću ovaj kolačić sa čokoladom. = Mom, dad, I'll take this cake with chocolate.
  • Odličan izbor, Maksime, izvoli! = Excellent choice, Maxim, here you are!
  • Hvala. = Thanks.
  • A meni ćete dati ovu sa šlagom i jagodama. = And to me you will give this one with whipped cream and strawberries.
  • Svakako gospođo. Izvolite. = Sure, madam. Here you are.
  • Jao hvala Vam, baš ste ljubazni! Oh, thank You, you are so kind!
  • A ti tata, koji kolač ćeš ti da uzmeš? = And you daddy, which cake will you take?
  • Tumbe - tulumbe! = (I'll take) Tulumbe
  • Ah, izvolite. = Here you are.
  • Hvala. = Thanks.
  • ...
  • Oprostite, ako mogu da dobijem još samo pet komada? = Excuse me, if I could get only five more pieces? 

Monday, July 08, 2019

Serbian Vocabulary - Furniture, Step by Step

Serbian Vocabulary - Furniture, Step by Step
Today I want to show you how you can practice a bunch of words in an easy way, expanding your sentences and learning new grammar with the same vocabulary. Let's take some most common words for furniture, for example:

Nameštaj u kući - samo reči= Furniture, only words


Nameštaj u kući - with GIVE ME... or SHOW ME + Accusative for inanimate objects, please (formal)

Only fem. sg. nouns will get an U at the end, instead of A. For example: LAMPA --- Dajte mi lampU molim Vas (Give me the lamp, please). Otherwise, masc. and neut. sg. nouns won't change:
---
To support daily video lessons and quizzes for learning Serbian, join Patreon. Хвала!

Thursday, July 04, 2019

Easy Reading Exercises in Cyrillic Script

Wednesday, July 03, 2019

Vocabulary Practice with Easy Serbian Texts

Serbian exercises
 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:
If you would like to do the same exercises in the Cyrillic script, here comes the same set of exercises: 
Serbian Cyrillic

Monday, July 01, 2019

Easy to Read Serbian - Prva knjiga

I am happy to present you my first Easy to read Serbian named "Šta možemo da vidimo na selu" book which consists of three parts:
  • First part written in Serbian Latin alphabet
  • Second part written in Serbian Cyrillic script
  • Third part with an exercise both in both alphabets
I have also recorded a video where you can listen to me all three parts of the book.  
I would appreciate your honest feedback and suggestions as to which topics you would like me to cover in the future. 
Have fun!
Many thanks to my patrons who continually support me in creating Serbian language learning materials and who give me invaluable feedback!


Friday, March 22, 2019

Adjectives in Genitive Exercise

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:
The Adjectives which we are going to be used in front of some of the nouns are as follows:
  • 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

Sg. Masc.-OG, example: od čuvenOG glumca
Sg. Neut .-OG, example: od lepOG odela
Sg. Fem.-E, example: od čuvenE glumice

Pl. all genders - IH: od lepIH glumAca, od lepIH glumica, iz lepIH sela

Adjectives in Genitive Exercise

PAMETAN - ČUVEN - POZNAT - STAR - .VELIK - BOGAT - DAVNI - PROŠLI


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

Monday, March 18, 2019

Giving advice in Serbian


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


Friday, March 15, 2019

Serbian 701 - Exercises with Episode 5

Nadam se da ste uživali radeći prethodne vežbe i lekcije iz serije Srpski 701. Današnja epizoda je posvećena korupciji i od poslednja dva minuta sam vam napravila nekoliko vežbi.

PRVI KORAK: Odgledati poslednji deo epizode pet i isključiti zvuk. Dok gledate video opišite:

  • 1. šta vidite
  • 2. koga vidite
  • 3. šta mislite da oni rade i kako se osećaju
DRUGI KORAK: Pokušajte da uradite narednu vežbu BEZ slušanja


TREĆI KORAK: Sada odslušajte video još jednom i dopunite/popravite prazna polja koja su ostala
Za još vežbi i ideja za lekcije na različitim nivoima, pratite moj blog na Patreonu. Hvala!

Monday, March 11, 2019

Passive in Serbian - Lesson with Exercise

The original version of the article can be found on Blic. The text for this lesson is slightly changed:

You can practice reading with me and you can do the following exercise:




Saturday, March 09, 2019

Let's Learn Past Tense of To Work and Become

Let's learn a set of useful phrases with this website showing what some celebrities had done for a living before they became famous.



For the video with the detailed explanations and translations, check out my Patreon page.

 Exercise with Verb Worked in Serbian

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Modal Verb Can in Serbian

Here comes a video lesson for my students at Serbian 102 course, dedicated to the verb MOĆI = CAN. We practiced this earlier today, so you can practice with us. 

After watching the video again, I am sure you will remember most of the things, so that you will be able to do the following tasks yourself:  
Uživajte učeći = Have fun learning :)

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Advanced Serbian - Fun Serbian Customs

One of the customs in Serbia is to tear (cepati / pocepati) the shirt worn by the father who is celebrating his baby's birth. If you watched "Jutro će promeniti sve", you'll surely remember the scene with two fathers in torn shirts or t-shirts (pocepan(im) košulja(ma) ili majica(ma)).

One must wonder what is the origin of such a funny custom and I am sharing today with you a few answers to this question, which is of course in the form of an exercise. You just need to fill in the gaps with missing prepositions and enjoy reading the text. If you are not sure about the answers, you can first read the same text on Blic.




Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Advanced Serbian - Buildings, City Life and Urbanism

Advanced Serbian će biti serija video priloga uz koje ćete moći da čujete lep srpski jezik, proširite i obogatite vokabular uživajući u raznovrsnim temama.



Prvi u ovom nizu će biti naredni video od pet sati  koji će vam otkriti prelepe zgrade Beograda, kao i zaboravljene priče iz davnih, i ne tako davnih vremena. Sigurna sam da ćete uživati uz živopisne detalje i korisne kolokacije koje ću podeliti s vama putem vežbi u narednim javljanjima.

Monday, January 07, 2019

How to Say Merry Christmas in Serbian

Merry Christmas in Serbian 

Merry Christmas in Serbian

The best way to congratulate Christmas in Serbian is by saying:
For more information, interesting video lessons, songs and facts about Christmas in Serbia, check out my posts about Božić from the previous years!

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Serbian Cyrillic Game

Saturday, December 01, 2018

Serbian Aspect with Games - What were you doing?

In this video lessons you can simply practice translating sample sentences with the verbs in the imperfective aspect from English into Serbian.



Once you feel more confident, you can do the tasks yourself!

Imperfective - Perfective pairs of Verbs mentioned in this video


  • ČITATI - proČITATI >>> to be reading - to read
  • SLUŠATI - odSLUŠATI / poSLUŠATI >>> to be listening - to listen to
  • SPAVATI - odSPAVATI >>> to be sleeping - to sleep
  • PLESATI - odPLESATI / zaPLESATI >>> to be dancing - to dance
  • RADITI - uRADITI >>> to be working - to work
  • GLEDATI - odGLEDATI >>> to be watching - to watch

For more similar videos with explanations and exercises, check out my Patreon page!

Friday, November 30, 2018

Serbian for Kids - Numbers from 1 to 20

Monday, November 26, 2018

Serbian 101 - What's her/his name?

A very simple exercise with NJEGOVo or NJENo + IME, meaning HIS or HER + NAME. After watching this easy Serbian lesson, you'll be able to ask  the following two questions correctly:


  1. Koje je NJEGOVO ime? What is his name?
  2. Koje je NJENO ime? What is her name?
and answer them:
  1. NJEGOVO ime je Jovan = His name is John.
  2. NJENO ime je Suzana =Her name is Susan.




Exercises and Games with What's her/his name

TEST 


Friday, November 16, 2018

Serbian Accusative - Exercise with IT, HIM and HER

In our previous post you could watch the video and practice OVO - ONO - OVDE - ONDE - EVO GA - ENO GA and play a hidden object game.

Now, it is time for you to listen to the video and these two exercises:

Here or There?


OVDE or ONDE



Serbian Accusative - Exercise with IT, HIM and HER


GA or JE



If you are not sure how to pronounce the words correctly, do listen to me doing them!
Special thanks to all my Patrons who support creating these video and grammar lessons. HVALA!

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
Photo book