Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Sunday, March 03, 2013

Learn Serbian Phrases - dan dvadeseti

In the previous posts you could practise the phrases for giving directions. Today, I came across this great video which can help you learn the language of instructions, when talking about exercises. It's useful to revise the body parts first:


and then to enjoy watching and listening to the video below:


Serbian Phrases free e-book

  • First, you can do these exercises with your eyes closed, only by listening to her
  • Then, you can watch the video and do the exercise, checking if you understood her well
  • Finally, you can do this follow-up exercise I made for you

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Learn Serbian 365 Days with Songs and Poems- Day 19



Although this poem is not written by a Serbian, but a Russian poet, I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to Rade Šerbedžija, our renowned actor, and his uniqe interpretation :)

This poem is perfect for getting to know the verb "to wait" and its

  • imperative form "čekaj"
  • the pronouns following it "čekaj + me"
  • the word order: Čekaj me vs. Samo me čekaj dugo
  • parts of speech: čekati (infinitive) čekanje (noun)
  • conjugations

Friday, March 01, 2013

Learn Serbian 365 Days - Detective Story, part 2

Serbian Language 365 days
Убиство у радној соби
Part 1: Where are they ?

Now that you are aware of who the main characters of the first detective story are, let's move onto the second phase of solving this mysterious case!
  • Do exercise 1 in order to figure out if you solved the first task correctly
  • Watch the video below, before doing the exercise 2 in order to understand what had happened on the day Đorđe Belić was murdered and where the main characters were at that moment.
  • If you have any questions regarding this case, feel free to ask them in the comments section.


Наставиће се...

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Intermediate Serbian - Verb Aspect, lesson 3

Before we continue with the video lessons focusing on aspect differences, let's be impratctical and  talk only about the grammar today:

As you probably noticed in the previous post for the intermediate level, one can turn an imperfective verb into a perfective one by adding a prefix (buditi - probuditi ,  razbuditi ). But this is not the only way to change an aspect of a verb. You can also:

  • add a prefix to the verb and it becomes perfective 
  • add a suffix to the verb and it becomes perfective (dremati - dremNUti)
  • alter the stem (odmoriti - odmarati, which I explained in the previous post)
But, we have to be cautious with the process of prefixation ! Quite often the meaning of the verb does not bear only the difference in aspect ( whether the action is complete or incomplete: "I wrote" - "I was writing" : Napisao sam = Pisao sam). It more frequently bears a new layer of meaning,  like the ones mentioned in "buditi" becoming perfective in "probuditi" or "razbuditi", so we need to  use phrasal verbs in English to accurately convey the additional meaning.

Let me give you a few examples of:
  • clear-cut distinction pefective-imperfective (without any additonal meanings):
  1. pisati - napisati (to be writing - to have written/wrote)
  2. čitati - pročitati (to be reading - to have read/ read )
  • the prefix adding new meanings :
  1. igrati - odigrati / izigrati / zaigrati  (to be playing - to have played / to play up / to play upon* these translations are incomplete and need to be read in  the sentences, which will be the aim of our future lessons at this level )
  2. pisati -  prepisati (to copy) / zapisati (to jot down) / upisati (to enroll)
Until the next lesson, do practise the aspect in Serbian by doing some fun exercises published in the previous posts:

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Serbian Language Day 16 - Pre-intermediate Course, Lesson 3

Before moving onto the third lesson for the pre-intermediate level of Serbian, you can always flick through the previous blog posts:
In today's lesson you can revise your knowledge of the Locative case, but this time with the verb "živeti" = to live and "govoriti" = to speak (a language) + adjectives describing languages &  nouns for countries:

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

365 Days of Serbian Language - Beginner Lesson 3

If you practised the verb TO BE in the Serbian in my previous lessons,  I'm sure this will be an easy task for you:
  1. Mute this video before watching it and try to give / write the correct answers for each button. 
  2. You can write down the answers and then watch the video again and listen to Jeremija giving his responses. 
  3. Has he made any mistakes and if he has, correct the wrong answers (you can write the replies in the comment)


*This is also a smooth intro to the lesson on numbers in Serbian.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Learn Serbian Language 365 Days by Watching Youtube

I'm sure you enjoyed my last post about Poletarac ! Bilo je zabavno, zar ne ? Today, I'd like to remind you of four great interviews with foreigners living in Serbia, which I posted last year:
They share their view of many different aspects of life and I'm sure you'll enjoy watching them, as well as  doing some extra exercises and video lessons:

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