Present Tense of to Go

1. Ja idem - ti ideš - on/ona/ono ide ///// mi idemo - vi idete - oni / one  / ona idu

Common Serbian Phrases with this Verb

Your task

Let me introduce you to one of my pets, a guinea pig called Beba. If it is a boy or a girl, you'll find out in our future lessons with it :)

The idea is for you to practice this short dialogue asking each other what you are having for breakfast:



a: Šta radiš = What are you doing?
b: Doručkujem = I'm having breakfast.
a: Šta doručkuješ? = What are you having for breakfast?
b: Doručkujem (travu) = I'm having grass for breakfast. (trava = grass)

For this, you'll need some knowledge about food & the accusative case. I'm sure this video will help:



Have fun!

Today I am sharing with you conjugations with the verb TO HAVE = IMATI + words in an office:

Present Simple of Verb to HAVE:

JA imam
TI imaš
ON-ONA-ONO ima
MI imamo
VI imate
ONI-ONE-ONA imaju

Nouns Following the Verb to Have

Feminine Sg:
1. stolica = chair
2. kanta = bin
3. biljka = plant
4. diploma = diploma
5. klima = air conditioning
6. slika = picture

Masculine Pl:
1. sto = table
2. kompjuter = computer
3. telefon = telephone
4. sertifikat = certificate
5. ormarić = filing cabinet
6. sat = clock

Speaking and Writing exercise

If you are curious as to why the final -a in the fem. sg. noun changes, do check the theory about the Accusative case. Even if you are not interested in the cases, after practising with this video lesson, you will be able to say and write these examples correctly.

If you would like to enjoy the full version with exercises such as this one with the verbs live and work, you are welcome to support my work on Patreon :)

p.s. You are enjoying these cute little animations, thanks to the consistent support of my five current Patrons!  Hvala im :)

I'm sure that you find Serbian days of the week easy to pronounce. However, if you still struggle with Thursday (četvrtak), there's a useful introduction in this video to help you pronounce days well.

Since rarely does anyone use days of the week in its Nominative form:

In one of the very first posts I created on this blog, there was a list of the keywords when talking about yourself . It was published back in 2008 and you can find it by clicking on this link.

Now, if we use these words in context, we can see how the personal pronouns referring to the same words can be often heard. Let's practice such sentences together!

Masc./Neuter  Sg Nouns in Accusative >>> Corresponding Pronouns (on / ono  >>> ga/njega)

1. IME = first name.............................................Koje je vaše ime? Možete li da ga ponovite? 
2. PREZIME = surname.....................................Koje je vaše prezime? Možete li da ga ponovite? 
3. DEVOJAČKO PREZIME = maiden name....Koje je vaše devojačko prezimee? Možete li da _____ ponovite? 
4. MESTO ROĐENJA = place of birth...............Gde ste rođeni? Ponovite Vaše mesto rođenja! Možete li da ____ napišete?
5. DATUM ROĐENJA = date of birth...............Kad ste rođeni? Ponovite Vaše datum rođenja! Možete li da ____ napišete?
6. PASOŠ = passport.........................................Da li je ovo Vaš pasoš? Dajte mi ___ molim Vas! 

1. LIČNA KARTA = identity card....................Imate li ličnu kartu? Dajte mi je, molim Vas!
2. STALNA ADRESA = permanent address....Imate li stalnu adresu? Možete li da __ napišete? 
3. MEJL ADRESA = e-mail address................Imate li mejl adresu? Možete li da mi __ pošaljete
4. ZDRAVSTVENA KNJIŽICA = health insurrance...Imate li knjižicu Dajte mi ___, molim Vas!

1. PASOŠI...................Imate li pasošE? Molim vas dajte mi ih!
2. LIČNE KARTE...... Pokažite mi lične karte. Dajte mi ____, molim vas!
3. IMENA .................. Kako se zovete? Koja su vaša imena? Ajde, ponovite mi ___ polako, molim vas!
4. MEJL ADRESE.... Hajde da razmenimo mejl adrese! Možete li da mi ___ pošaljete još jednom, molim vas!

In the previous post you could see the different forms of pronouns in the Accusative case in Serbian:

If you are familiar with the personal pronouns in Serbian in the Nominative case, it's time for you to their different forms through various cases.

The clever way is to approach these more complicated forms through the texts you've done before, using the pronouns instead of nouns. For example:



If we turn all the nouns into the corresponding pronouns, we would get a fun story:

• Želim da kupim njih. = Želim da ih kupim.
• Da li  imate njih, ali u plavoj boji? = Da li ih imate, ali plave?
• Da li možete da mi pokažete nju i njih = Da li možete da mi je pokažete i da mi ih pokažete?
• Želim da kupim nju, nju i nju i njih. = Želim da je kupim i želim da ih kupim.

However, the easiest way is to learn pronouns is through songs and exercises:

• Personal pronouns in the Dative with "Kafu mi draga ispeci"
• Personal pronoun "we" in different forms with "Moja draga" 
• Personal pronouns in the Accusative and possessive adjectives with "Dudo"
• Mixed personal pronouns with "Tako mi svega"

• Accusative (MENE / SEBE - TEBE/ VAS - NJEGA - NJU(JE) - NJEGA // NAS - VAS - NJIH)

• Locative ( o MENI/ SEBI - TEBI - VAMA - NJEMU - NJOJ - NJEMU // NAMA - VAMA - NJIMA)
• Instrumental (SA MNOM/SOBOM - TOBOM - VAMA - NJIM - NJOM - NJIM // NAMA - VAMA - NJIMA)

After two months of adjusting an old course of mine to the new set of quality criteria at Udemy, Serbian 102 has been approved and is visible for anyone interested in learning Serbian at pre-intermediate level. I'm adding now additional new video lessons such as this one:

 Accusative in Serbian

 

and quizzes:

Quizzes with  Accusative in Serbian

TEST - 15 rečenica

Example with Sg. JA + IĆI + CRKVA >>> Idem u crkvu
Example with Pl. TI + VIDETI + MOSTOVI >>> Vidiš mostove

LEARN

SPACERACE

Pronunciation of Exercise 

You can record a similar story with www.Vocaroo.com

 

The topic of today's lesson is the verb IĆI U/NA(to go to) followed by different places. Because of the preposition U/NA, which mean in/at/on in English, students tend to make a mistake and use the Locative case of a noun instead of the Accusative. However, since IĆI U is the verb which denotes movement, we can translate it with GO TO and then it is followed by the Accusative.

So, with today's Quizlet set we will be  practicing:

• different conjugations of the verb IĆI in its imperfective form: idem (sada)  = I am going to (now). 
• prepositions U vs. NA
• Accusative Singular nouns (there is a change only with the Feminine nouns, which drop the final A and add U)

Learning Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Practicing Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Test with Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Brand New Serbian Online Course

There are so many different online tools for making tests, quizzes and fun video exercises and I think you noticed I like experimenting with them while creating various tasks for learning Serbian. Funnily enough, it takes time for some tools to develop and in the meantime, I completely forget about them. One of these is certainly Quizlet, which I joined three years ago, but haven't realized its potential until recently, thanks to my student, Paul! Hvala, Pavle :)

Video with Verb Conjugations

This video is made for you to practise conjugating Serbian verbs in the Simple Present tense. For more advanced students, this video lesson can be also used for making sentences in the past or future tense or in the conditionals.

• imati = to have
• videti = to see
• voleti = to like

After uploading a hundred of videos both from Serbian 101 and Serbian 102 course, and revising each of them, Ivan decided to help me with his 3D effects vidos. So far he's made 30 short videos with the verbs used in the course, in the present and past tense so far, but he plans to make 5 more each day.

I'll post some of them here on the blog, but for the complete version, refer to the Serbian101-102 course. Here comes its short description:

• Tenses: Present Simple and Past Simple Tense
• Cases: Nominative, Accusative, Instrumental and Locative
• Modals: Can, Must
• Pronouns: Personal and Possessive Pronouns
• Adjectives: Possessive Adjectives and Noun-adjective Agreement
• Numbers: Cardinal and Ordinal

• functions such as:
• • Greetings
  • Introductions
  • Asking for Clarification/Explanation
  • Asking about Directions
  • Giving Directions
  • Requesting 
  • Offering
  • Expressing Likes and Dislikes
  • Asking about Likes and Dislikes
• situations such as:
• • • Meeting People
    • Small Talk
    • In a Restaurant
    • Shopping
    • Arranging a Meeting
    • Talking about Family
    • Talking about Routines
    • Talking about your Life
• vocabulary topics such as:
• • Family members
  • Numbers
  • Food
  • Souvenirs
  • Places in a city
  • Countries and Cities
  • Means of transport
  • Colours
  • Jobs and occupations

Here comes a brand new video lesson with the verb "koristiti" or "to use". This verb is commonly followed by the Accusative case and you can practise using both singular and plural form of the nouns while watching this video:














This sounds very simple until you want to make more complicated sentences or to say what is useful to you (šta TI koristi?) and similar. That's why my next post will cover collocations and phrases with this verb used in many different contexts, similar to the previous ones.

Although you can find a lot of Serbian language exercises on this site, I am sure you'll like my new way of reading 'n' grammar tests :)

 If you are not sure what the right answers are, I'll publish a video with the key tomorrow :)
Make sure you check the blog posts about:

• the Locative case in Serbian
• the Genitive case in Serbian
• the Accusative 

If you are a beginner in learning Serbian and you want to practise only the most frequent  verbs, I'm sure you'll enjoy this video with:

• videti (to see)
• voleti (to love / like)
• imati (to have)

For more speaking practice videos click here. and if you are a more advanced learner of Serbian try to ask / answer questions in different tenses or conditionals. For example: Šta bi uradio kada bi video zeca / mačku...?

One of the most common mistakes students of Serbian as a foreign  language tend to make is to use the verbs of movement "ići " + u, "stići" + u, "vratiti se" + u, "posetiti" with the noun in Dative, instead of Accusative. That's why it's often heard:

Idem u Beogradu (incorrect)

instead of

Idem u Beograd (correct)

In the case of the listed verbs above (ići = to go to/ stići = to arrive at/ vratiti se = to come back to /posetiti = to visit), the noun which follows them is in the Accusative case (so called the Accusative of goal/aim).

That's why I've created this video with which you can make simple sentences such as:

• Idem u London / Budimpeštu (Present Simple)
• Stižem u London / Budimpeštu (Present Simple word order)
• Posetio sam London /Budimpeštu (Past Simple)
• Vraćam se u London / Budimpeštu (Present Simple word order with "se")

One of the funny grammatical categories you might come across in Serbian are "animate" vs. "inanimate"  nouns, which is for instance reflected in the Accusative declensions, only for Sg. Masculine. This means that just because you've seen (to see = videti)  or taken a photo ((u)slikati) of a person, not a thing, a noun like "dečak" will take the Genitive declension markers (suffix -a)  instead of Accusative (zero suffix), although it's still an Accusative case. (I'm talking only about the form here).

For example: Ovo je dečak. Videla sam dečaka. Slikala sam dečaka. (there's also a stress change from the first to the second syllable).

While the linguists dwell on these topics and enjoy discussing whys and ifs of such irregularities, I always enjoy helping you in the most practical way. That's why Ivan and I created these two videos, carefully choosing nouns both in singular and then in plural and grouping them. With both videos you can practice saying simple sentences, with the verbs:

• videti (to see )
• fotografisati  = slikati = uslikati (to take a photo of )
• snimati (to record)

The first video covers the grammatical category of "inanimate" objects:

The second one is obviously all about "animate" category - this time the topic is "people " (so switch to the Genitive endings for masc. please).

Now that you've practised a set of  verbs which require the Accusative case, in different tenses and with different nouns ( which you have seen / broken / bought /sold / fixed / turned off / turned on etc.), it's time you did the same exercise, but this time with adjectives.

The topic of adjectives in Serbian is always tricky as they not only agree with the number and gender of the noun, but also with its case. While in some cases, like in the Accusative for example, the case endings are the same for the nouns and adjectives, it's not always that easy ( e.g. in the Genitive case).

That's why we'll stick to the Accusative case today, because we've already practised it and it's easy!
Let's watch the same video and add the following adjectives in front of each noun :

• MODERAN = modern
• JEFTIN = cheap
• SKUP = expensive
• VELIKI = big
• MALI = small
• NOVI = new
• STARI = old
• DOBAR = good

If you've practised the Accusative form of the nouns and pronouns with the video in the previous post, it's time to expand your confidence onto the verbs which require a noun/pronoun in this case. With all the listed nouns (TV, pegla, mobilni telefon, mašina za veš ...), the following verbs, properly conjugated, will make sense:

• videti (to see) Present Tense conjugations: Sg: vidIM, vidIŠ, vidI Pl: vidIMO, vidITE, vidE           Past Tense : Sg: videO, videLA, videLO Pl: videLI, videLE, videLA
• gledati (to watch) gledAM, gledAŠ, gledA - gledAMO, gledATE, gledAJU ( for the following verbs you'll see only: PRESENT Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -ju and for the PAST Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la )
• imati (to have)  Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -ju (imaJU) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• koristiti (to use) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (koristE) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• raditi (to work) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (rade) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• popravljati (to fix) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -ju (popravljaju) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• uključiti (to turn on) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (uključe) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• isključiti (to turn off) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (isključe) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• kupiti (to buy) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (kupe) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• prodati (to sell) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (prodate) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• vratiti (to return) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (vrate) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• (po)kvariti se (to break down) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (pokvare) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la
• baciti (to throw away) Sg: -m/-š/- Pl: -mo / -te / -e (bace) Past: Sg. -o/-la/-lo Pl. -li/-le/-la