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Monday, March 02, 2015

Serbian Verbs - Short Story 1

Serbian verbs ,
Serbian Verbs - Short Story 1

Serbian Verbs in Short Stories

Recently I have considered* a list of the most frequently used Serbian verbs and I decided to write short stories and dialogues based on them. In* the first ten often used verbs, the following four are in this story:
  • biti
  • imati
  • jesti
  • videti
I also added the verb "voleti" in this group, which is actually at 31st position according to its frequency, but I hope you won't mind!
Can you translate this dialogue into your mother tongue? I will translate it into English and this will help you to check your own translation. If you happen to have time, do send it (via comment maybe?), because it will help other students all over the world in the future!

*Sorry for the clumsy translation, I was trying to stick to the Serbian original text which can be found here.

Dialogues in English and Serbian

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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Sretenjski Ustav Exercise and Video

Sretenjski ustav exercise ,
Sretenjski Ustav Exercise and Video

Sretenjski Ustav Exercise with Video

Here comes the perfect opportunity to share with you a special episode of "Mala istorija Srbije" dedicated to Sretenjski ustav.


I also want to share with you a few suggestions as to how to have an interesting lesson based on this video:

1. Opišite šta se dešava u ovoj epizodi, ali bez slušanja
2. Sada ponovo odslušajte celu epizodu i odgovorite na sledeća pitanja:


  • a. po čemu je poznat Sretenjski ustav?
  • b. kada je donet?
  • c. kako ga je ruski ambasador nazvao?

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    Monday, February 09, 2015

    St Valentine's Day with Exercises 2

    Serbian holidays , serbian songs
    St Valentine's Day with Exercises 2

    Songs for St Valentine's Day in Serbian

    For all of you eagerly waiting for another love song, this time sung to a woman, here comes one suggestion: I Still Love You by Sergej  Ćetković. The answer key, or the lyrics, can be found here, but I am sure you'll have fun trying to do my exercise as well:
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    Sunday, February 08, 2015

    St Valentine's Day with Exercises 1

    Serbian holidays , serbian songs
    St Valentine's Day with Exercises 1
    If you are in love and getting ready to surprise your loved one on 14th February, or Sveti Trifun in Serbian, and if you are in search of a good love song, in the following few days I'll share with you a few suggestions.

    Ako ste zaljubljeni i pripremate se da iznenadite voljenu osobu povodom 14. februara, svetog Trifuna u Srbiji, i u potrazi ste za dobrom ljubavnom pesmom, evo ovih nekoliko dana ću vam dati nekoliko predloga:

    Pesma za njega = A song for him
    *Ne brinite, sutra stiže pesma za nju = No worries, tomorrow I'll post a song for her!



    Vežba za tebe :)



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    Friday, January 30, 2015

    Ideas for Advanced Serbian Lessons - City

    Advanced Serbian ,
    Ideas for Advanced Serbian Lessons - City

    Advanced Serbian Lessons - Describing a City

    For all of you who are eager to learn more advanced Serbian, I found another great video which can be turned into a few different speaking and listening comprehension exercises:

     

    Advanced Serbian Speaking

    Exercise one: watching the video without listening to it. You can take a guess what each building or buildings might be, using the following structures:
    • Ova zgrada bi mogla da bude (this building could be...) ... pijaca / vrtić / škola / stambena zgrada / crkva / sportski centar / tržni centar / bazen / pozorište ... or plural form:
    • OvE zgradE bi moglE da budU...
    • Ovo je idealno mesto za (this is a perfect spot for...) ... pijacu / vrtić / školu / stambenu zgradu / crkvu / sportski centar / tržni centar / bazen / pozorište
    • Da sam arhitekta / dizajner / političar, ja bih na ovom mestu izgradio ...(if I were an architect, I'd build...)  ... pijacu / vrtić / školu / stambenu zgradu / crkvu / sportski centar / tržni centar / bazen / pozorište
    Exercise two: watching the video and listening to the detailed explanation. Check if you were right about each building(s), using the following phrases:

    • Oni su rekli da će ovde biti izgrađen tržni centar, a ja sam rekao da će biti škola (They said that there will be a shopping centre built, but I said that would be a school.)

    Advanced Serbian Vocabulary and Grammar

    Exercise three: doing an exercise based on the text below, which I am currently working on (making gaps mainly where the nouns in genitive are):

    Advanced Serbian
    Šabac, grad na Savi
    Šabac, grad koji je delio države i carstva, na obali velike reke sa srednjovekovnom tvrđavom, kao obeležjem i simbolom. Živeo je kroz istoriju san o izlasku na Savu. Vizija o gradu na reci konačno je estetski, funkcionalno i ekonomski utemeljena planom detaljne regulacije: "Šabac, grad na Savi".

    Plan obuhvata površinu omeđenu ulicama: produžetak Kralja Aleksandra i Kralja Milana, od pruge do obale reke Save. Područje obuhvata plana podeljeno je na blokove različitih namena.Blokovi 11, 13 i 14 rezervisani su za izgradnju poslovnih objekata, dozvoljene spratnosti P+2. Tržni centar, izložbeno-prodajni salon ekskluzivnih oblika i materijala, samo su neki od planiranih sadržaja. Svoje mesto imaju i objekti kulture iste srpatnosti.

    Infrastrukturni objekti biće smešteni u bloku 12. Najatraktivniji segment obuhvata plana je stambeni deo za  oko 4000 ljudi. Naselje će činiti objekti kolektivnog stanovanja  dozvoljene spratnosti P+3 i gradske vile spratnosti P+2, koje mogu imati maksimalno po 10 stanova, minimalne površine do 45 metara kvadratnih.

    Pored stambenog bloka planirana je izgradnja memorijalnog centra, osnovne škole i dečijeg obdaništa. Na mestu nekadašnje kasarne, uzvodno od tvrđave, predviđena je parkovska površina koja se završava pristaništem i marinom za čamce i turističke brodove, uz prateće sadržaje: hotel, carinarnicu, portirnicu, hangare za čamce, ugostiteljske i administrativno-upravne objekte. Marina će biti sagrađena na mestu predratnog pristaništa, piše agencija, nekada omiljenog mesta Šapčana tokom leta.
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    Thursday, January 29, 2015

    Learning to Conjugate in Serbian - To Have Breakfast

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    Learning to Conjugate in Serbian - To Have Breakfast

    Learning to Conjugate in Serbian

    Today I've found a video with an easy text in Serbian, which I forgot to upload  and share  with you last year. I corrected this mistake and you can see it now on my Youtube channel. I think you will find this exercise quite easy, as it focuses only on  the verb " to have breakfast " - doručkovati.

    Learning to Conjugate in Latin Script

    Since the video is for you to practice the Cyrillic script, let me write some basic forms of the verbs you will need in the Latin alphabet.


    Present Simple of doručkovati and piti (to drink)
    • Doručkujem-doručkuješ-doručkuje // doručkujemo - doručkujete - doručkuju
    • Pijem - piješ - pije // pijemo - pijete - piju
    Past Simple of doručkovati and piti (to drink)
    • Doručkovao - doručkovala - doručkovalo // doručkovali - doručkovale - doručkovala
    • Pio - pila - pilo // pili - pile - pila
    Future Simple of doručkovati and piti (to drink)
    • Doručkovaću - doručkovaćeš - doručkovaće // doručkovaćemo - doručkovaćete - doručkovaće
    • Piću - pićeš - piće // pićemo - pićete - piće
    I've written both the past and the present forms for the more advanced learners to practice turning the same text into the past and future tenses and thus learning to conjugate "doručkovati".

    Learning to Conjugate in Cyrillic

    Now, I am sure you are ready for this exercise:



    In order to turn the Cyrillic into Latin alphabet, do use the perfect tool for that, called SlovoMajstor:

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    Wednesday, January 28, 2015

    Verb Biti in Serbian

    Biti in Serbian , Serbian language 365
    Verb Biti in Serbian

    Biti in Serbian

    The verb "TO BE" in Serbian is something you should learn at the very beginning, because you'll need it not to express the most essential facts about yourself, but also because it is used as an auxiliary verb in the Simple Past tense.

    That's why this post dedicated to the different conjugations, i.e. forms, of the verb to be can be useful both for the beginners and more advanced students.

    A few short videos and exercises with the verb Biti in Serbian

    Exercise 1
    While watching this video say "This is a... These are ...s" using these structures:
    • Ovo je ... (+ nominative Sg)


    Exercise 2:
    • Ovo su ...(+ nominative Pl) 
    • Ovo je...(+ nominative Sg)

     Exercise 3
    While watching this video say what the photos are about (the locative case ) using the phrase: Ova slika je o... = This photo is about

    Exercise 4
    Using these full forms of the verb TO BE, give the positive and negative answers with 

    the full form of the verb to be:


    Links to the previous posts about the verb Biti in Serbian

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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
    Photo book