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Sunday, February 07, 2010

Vuku Karadžiću

cyrillic , Serbian poems
Vuku Karadžiću


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)
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Saturday, February 06, 2010

Serbian Adjectives and Nouns in Genitive Case

Genetive in Serbian ,
Serbian Adjectives and Nouns in Genitive Case
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
  1. ___________ knjigE. (book)
  2. ___________ momkA. (young man)
  3. ___________ automobilA. (car)
  4. ___________ nosA. (nose)
  5. ___________ zgradE. (building)
  6. ___________ kućE. (house)
  7. ___________ stoLA. (table)
  8. ___________ torbE. (bag)
  9. ___________ deteTA. (child)
  10. ___________ 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.
  1. ___________ momakA.
  2. ___________ automobilA.
  3. ___________ nosEVA.
  4. ___________ zgrada.
  5. ___________ kuća.
  6. ___________ stoLOVA.
  7. ___________ torbI.
  8. ___________ decE.
  9. ___________ zrnA.
  10. ___________ 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!' ?
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Thursday, February 04, 2010

How to use Adjectives in Serbian

Serbian adjectives ,
How to use Adjectives in Serbian
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
  1. ___________ knjiga. (book)
  2. ___________ momak. (young man)
  3. ___________ automobil. (car)
  4. ___________ nos. (nose)
  5. ___________ zgrada. (building)
  6. ___________ kuća. (house)
  7. ___________ sto. (table)
  8. ___________ torba. (bag)
  9. ___________ dete. (child)
  10. ___________ 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:
  1. ___________ momCI.
  2. ___________ automobilI.
  3. ___________ nosEVI.
  4. ___________ zgradE.
  5. ___________ kućE.
  6. ___________ stoLOVI.
  7. ___________ torbE.
  8. ___________ deCA.
  9. ___________ zrnA.
  10. ___________ devojke. (young girls)
Audio answer (make sure you are logged in as a guest, if you want to hear the MP3 file)
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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Свети Сава - школска слава

Serbian holidays ,
Свети Сава - школска слава

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

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Thursday, January 07, 2010

Srećan Božić - Hristos se rodi!

Serbian holidays ,
Srećan Božić - Hristos se rodi!
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

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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Badnje veče = Orthodox Christmas Eve

Badnje veče = Orthodox Christmas Eve
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Saturday, January 02, 2010

What are you doing in Serbian

serbian conjugations , verb conjugations in Serbian
What are you doing in Serbian
Endings for the 1st, -am, conjugation group of verbs in Serbian in the Present Tense are
-am - aš - a -amo -ate -aju

Endings for the Accusative Fem. Nouns:

Nouns in Singular + question ''šta'' (what) requires the noun in Accusative - find out what the rule is for the Nouns which are Feminine Singular:
  1. ŠTA ČEKAŠ? ČEKam tvoj ODGOVOR. (odgovor - answer)
  2. ŠTA ČITAŠ? ČITam KNJIGU. (knjiga - book)
  3. ŠTA GLEDAŠ? GLEDam PRIREDBU. (priredba - show)
  4. ŠTA IGRAŠ? IGRam ODBOJKU. (odbojka - volleyball)
  5. ŠTA IMAŠ? IMam SVESKU. (sveska - notebook)
Let's practise: 

Yes, you are right, the ending for Sg. Fem. Noun in Accusative is - U, while
Sg. Masc and neuter have no endings (at least not in the inanimate category).
Now, let's check what's happening in the Plural with Fem. nouns:
  1. ŠTA OBOŽAVAŠ? OBOŽAVAM KNJIGe. (knjiga - knjige = book - books)
  2. ŠTA PEVAŠ? PEVAM PESMe. (pesma - pesme = song -songs)
  3. ŠTA PRIČAŠ? PRIČAM PRIČe. (priča - priče = story - stories)
  4. ŠTA KUPUJEŠ? KUPUJEM HALJINe. (haljina - haljine = dress - dresses)
  5. ŠTA RUČAŠ? RUČAM PEČURKe. (pečurka - pečurke = mashrooms)
  6. ŠTA ČEKAŠ ? ČEKAM ODGOVORe (odgovori - odgovore = answers)
Yeees, you are rigth again - since Fem. Nouns in Plural take -e, in Accusative Pl, nothing changes ;)

Pl. Masc. gets an -i ending, and it also changes to  -e, like in "odgovor" - so for plural, don't think
twice, simply add -E and you'll do it splendidly :)

Neuter nouns in Pl. add -a, but then they don't change in Accusative, which is also very nice. So, we
have the example "odelo" in Sg., "odela" in Pl. and then, "Kupio sam odela" IN Acc. is the same.

Let's practise:

LearnSerbian Blogspot - October 2008 (mp3)

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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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