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Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query serbian phrases. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query serbian phrases. Sort by date Show all posts

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Fraze na srpskom - speaking practice



Watch this video and practise asking basic questions and giving answers. The next step is to ask the same questions with "Vi". You can watch one of the previous video lessons with  Serbian phrases covering the topic " Vi" vs. "Ti" in Serbian.

Serbian Phrases free e-book

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Serbian Language 365 Day 3 - Intermediate level & Past Tense

Let's practise the Simple Past Tense in the Serbian language. While the beginner and pre-intermediate courses of Serbian  focus is on phrases, present tense, modals and cases, the intermediate course focuses on aspects, explaining the subtle differences between "odmarati" and "odmoriti" and similar.

Since we are at the very beginning of everyday Serbian lesson series, let me introduce you to some of the earlier posts covering this topic:
...as well as one of the Youtube videos, which somehow connect with the yesterday's post, so now it can be easily understood:


Text : "Gde si bila ?" (Fem. Sg.) / "Gde si bio?" (Masc. Sg.) = Where were you ?
Fem. Sg. Bila sam u ...
Masc. Sg. Bio sam u ...

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Practice Speaking Serbian

A great way to practice speaking Serbian is by playing fun online games which are as simple as:
  • finding a hidden object
  • dress up flash games 
  • cooking and similar
  • spotting a difference
  • asteroid language games
You can practice speaking by following these steps:


  • at first watch the video with me pronouncing the phrases/sentences
  • try to speak along with me
  • next, mute the video and say the phrases or sentences  on your own
  • finally, you are ready to play these games yourself and speak in Serbian while playing them :)
Let me show you a few examples of the videos I created for my students.

Speaking Exercise in Serbian with GA, JE, IH




Practice Speaking Serbian - NOSITI




Parctising Serbian Vocabulary

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Serbian Language 365 - Phrases for Giving Directions

About two years ago I was tinkering with the free version of Camtasia for a month. The result was one part of the Serbian phrase course, covering three topics, both in the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic script. Now when I look back on my early works, I'm quite disappointed and I recon it's high time I made  much clearer video lessons with better background music and wide scope of topics. I bet you agree :)

In the meantime, I'm sure you'll find these two videos covering "Giving directions in Serbian" useful. 

Serbian Phrases free e-book
Places in the city in the Cyrillic script:

Giving directions in the Latin alphabet:

Friday, January 30, 2015

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.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Genitive in Serbian - Exercise with Adjectives

Genitive in Serbian

Let me announce  a series of blog posts about the Genitive in Serbian with exercises. Theory can be easy to learn, but what's more difficult is to actually produce correct sentences and phrases. 



That's why I want to encourage you to play with the Quizlets I make for you and keep saying the words in Serbian out loud, especially while playing the SpaceRace :)

Practising Genitive in Serbian



Here comes the answer key:

od čistog zlata - of pure gold
prljave šolje - (of a) dirty mug
od tamnog odela - of dark suit
od svetlih gradova - of light cities
prijatnih žena - (of) pleasant women
od neprijatane dece - (of) unpleasant children
širokog osmeha - (of) broad smile
iz uske ulice - out of narrow street
od visokog čoveka - from the tall man
od niske žene - from the short woman
iz lepog sela - from the beautiful village
od ružnih pasa - of ugly dogs
od pametnih - from smart friends
od glupih političara - from stupid politicians
od duge suknje - of the long skirt
kratkih rukava - (of) short sleeves
od vrednih ljudi - from hardworking people
od lenje dece - from lazy kids
od dobrih roditelja - of good parents
lošeg uticaja - (of) bad influence
jasnih uputstava - (of) clear directions
nejasnih misli - (of) unclear thought
omiljenih kolača - (of) favorite cookies
udobnog kreveta - (of) comfortable bed
prazne kese - (of) empty bag
pune šake - (of a) full hand
srećne žene - (of a) happy woman
prostranih soba - (of) spacious rooms
nesrećnih kolega - (of) unhappy colleagues
bogatog muža - (of a) rich husband

Test with Genitive in Serbian


So you can try to do the test now :)

Friday, May 31, 2013

Telling the Time in Serbian - Revision

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?

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Let's Practise Greetings in Serbian

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Serbian School Activator Revisited

In January I proudly presented my most beautiful site, www.skolasrpskog.com and the new concept of teaching Serbian online, which I called SkolaSrpskog Activator. It's been working for six months now, and I am really satisfied with all the language materials I've created in this period:

1. My Youtube channel www.youtube.com/learnserbian has 100 videos more (there were only about 20 up to 2011, and now there are 125, with 99 being visible).

2. The initial concept of an online session which was to consist of a language exercise, recipe and a song, has been changed, according to the feedback of all the subscribers. Still, at the end of each session, we enjoy singing one of the songs which I carefully choose each week.

3. I started adding all the explanations and exercises into pdf files, and also creating fun quizzes with the instand feedback. Some of the pages based on the situational phrases can be downloaded in pdf format from www.SkolaSrpskog.com.

4. During Easter, I organized some kind of an "online language quest" and we all had fun chasing Easter eggs on the site (some of them are still hidden there :) and doing fun exercises in Serbian. Some of the participants won  free SkolaSrpskog Activator subscription, some won free 1:1 lessons, and I won many new friends and great ideas for our lessons :-)

5. I started gathering anonymous feedback, and here are just a few lines:
"Everything is super"
"I appreciate the amount of work the instructor puts into the experience. The YouTube videos are helpful"
"Everithing, and my teacher is lovely and flexibile, she love teaching us"

However, all that I've done and created so far is hardly mentioning  in comparison to the effort my students have put into their work. They regularly attend the lessons and I am really proud of each one of them.

Today, on Britannia bookshop site, one of my most proficient students of Serbian, Jelena from Санкт-Петербург, Russia  published  the first part of our interview, which was very much inspired by our SkolaSrpskog Activator lessons.

Hvala Jelena i hvala svim đacima, Jani, Fabijanu, Matiji, Lari, Mirku, Milici, Toniju, Silvini, Ljubi i Tini na ukazanom poverenju, istrajnosti i velikom trudu :) U avgustu ćemo napraviti mali raspust, i onda opet nastavljamo sa časovima u septembru.

For all of you who'd like to learn more about SkolaSrpskog Activator, do join FB SkolaSrpskog Podcast group and you will be invited to attend our Third Friday Free Serbian lessons.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Let's Practice Serbian Cyrillic Script - Part 2

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Serbian Phrases: Don't Argue with Me

Would it be funny for you to hear a phrase "Don't argue with mine!", whatever that might mean?

Here comes a short clip with a similar phrase, which is obviously wrong and make people laugh (together with a specific pronunciation of  Mr. Šojić's "ć" in "ćao" :)



- Nemaš! Šta moliš? Imaš (li) kod sebe 350 Evra?
- Ma gospodine Šojiću...
- Ma, ćao! Nemaš! Ćao! Ne raspravljaj se sa mene! Ne raspravljaj se!

Don't argue with me!

The correct Serbian phrase: "Don't argue with me" would be as follows:

- Ne raspravljaj se sa mnom! (not "sa mene"=)

The verb "to argue" is always used with "se" form: raspravljati se. A few synonyms would be:
svađati se and prepirati se. (Ne svađaj se sa mnom / Ne prepiri se sa mnom). 

 Instrumental of Serbian Pronouns

The preposition "with" requires the Instrumental  form of the pronoun so you can use the mentioned verbs with the following pronouns as well:
  • with me = sa mnom
  • with you = sa tobom
  • with him/it = sa njim
  • with her = sa njom
  • with us = sa nama
  • with you = sa vama / Vama
  • with them = sa njima
If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon. HVALA!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Serbian Idioms - "Doterati Cara Do Duvara"

The Serbian idiom "doterati cara do duvara" has the similar meaning as the English one "to come to a head". I have often heard  this phrase in my childhood, always wondering what "duvar" might mean.

The word "duvar" is a loan word, and if you go to Google translate and check it at Turkish-English translation, you'll find out that the meaning of the word is "zid" (wall). So, the literal translation would resemble the expression "to drive someone (in this case "the tzar") up the wall" and yet, Serbian phrase for this expression (drive someone up the wall) is "dovesti nekog do ludila" (or litterally "make someone crazy"). You can check the pronunciation of these two idioms here, at our audio forum (and I hope you'll surprise your Serbian family or friends by pronouncing the phrases correctly and using them appropriately).

Talking about the usage, I was really surprised that in my group of eight teenage students only one had heard of  "doterati cara do duvara". She explained that her teacher of Serbian insists on students learning and using proverbs and idioms, but she also hasn't heard of the phrase being used outside of the classroom!  Does this mean that we tend to use idioms less frequently, or is it the case just with this idiom ? Maybe the world has changed for better and  retko iko ikada (rarely does anyone) "dotera cara do duvara" :)

What do you think ?

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Serbian Language Tests - Accusative Plural

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 :)

If you flicked through Serbian School website, you probably noticed that I started adding videos and Serbian language tests made with this tool. I even started making classes at different levels, to group the tests, so feel free to join in!

Let me see if I can share some of the tests on this blog as well! This particular exercise is a follow up of a video lesson explaining which phrases to use when shopping:

  • želeti = to want to
  • kupiti = to buy
  • videti = to see
  • želim da kupim = I want to buy
  • želim da vidim = I want to see
Kupiti/videti is followed by the Accusative (čaša - želim da vidim čašu), but in this exercise we practise asking general questions with the Plural noun form, in the Accusative. That's why the idea behind this exercise is for you to turn : I + want + buy + a glass into I want to buy glassES or in Serbian: JA + ŽELETI + KUPITI + ČAŠA into ŽELIM DA KUPIM ČAŠE

Sooooooo, let's give it a try! How well did you do it?

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Learning Serbian Present Tense via Daily Motion

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Serbian Phrases through Songs

If you're learning Serbian, you'll surely need these commonly used phrases (on a daily basis LOL):
  • Ostaviti (nekoga) na miru = Leave (someone) alone (e.g. ostavi me na miru! = leave me alone)
  • Poludeću = I'll go crazy
  • Učiniću sve da + present tense = I'll do everything to...
  • Možda i grešim = maybe I'm mistaken
  • Samo nebo zna koliko + phrase = (only) heaven knows how much ...
Let's learn them while singing this oldie song by Oliver Mandić:

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, June 19, 2017

Verb Conjugations in Serbian - Present Tense of Go

Present Tense of to Go



Here comes a short lesson with the verb IĆI = TO GO to in the Simple Present tense. The conjugations are as follows:

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

Common Serbian Phrases with this Verb


How can you use the verb IĆI to create the most common phrases:

  1. Gde ideš? = Where are you going?
  2. Kada ideš u školu? = When are you going to school?
  3. Gde ideš u kupovinu/prodavnicu? = Where are you going shopping?
  4. Zašto ideš na posao tako kasno? = Why are you going to work so late?
  5. Gde ideš na odmor svake godine? = Where do you go on holiday every year?
  6. Kad idete na odmor? = When are you going on holiday?
  7. Ko ide u školu? = Who is going to school?
  8. Ko ide sa mnom? = Who is going with me?
  9. Ko ide ka Beogradu? = Who is going to (towards) Belgrade?
  10. Kada ideš u Beograd sa mamom? = When are you going to Belgrade with me?
As you can see, this is a tricky verb, because it can be followed by nouns in different cases. The most common are:

1. Accusative with the preposition "u / na" = in or to, as in GO TO

examples:
a. Idem na posao.
b. Idemo u školu u 8 ujutro.
c. Idemo na odmor  u avgustu.
d. Svake godine idem na odmor u Grčku.
e. Sutra idem u Beograd sa tobom.
f. Idem ( u Beograd) sa mamom u petak. 
g. Deca idu u školu.

2. Instrumental with the preposition "sa" =with, as in GO with a friend

examples:
h. Baka ide sa mnom.
i. Idem ( u Beograd) sa mamom u petak. 
j. Zato što idem biciklom.

3. Less frequently it will be followed by the Dative, with the preposition "ka / prema" = towards, as in GO TOWARDS.

examples:
k. Mi idemo ka Beogradu. Možete li da nas povedete?


Your task

Try to match the questions 1 to 10 with the answers a to k. and record them with www.Vocaroo.com. You can send them to me and get your replies via Patreon.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Authentic Serbian - Greetings and Introductions

While conducting a survey about your needs in learning Serbian, some of you mentioned that they would appreciate videos with authentic Serbian, spoken in everyday situations by ordinary people.

This video with a brand new  Serbian presidential candidate who is meeting the editorial team of a local newspaper is an excellent example of something like that. In it, Beli gets introduced with a lot of people, and you will be able to hear how ordinary people say "pleased to meet you".



I will list all the most common introductory phrases along with some others (not heard in the video), so your task will be simple. Just tick the phrases you hear while watching the video!
  1. Zdravo!
  2. Ćao!
  3. Dobar dan!
  4. Dobro veče!
  5. Ovo je ...
  6. Dobrodošao!
  7. Radujemo se tvojoj poseti
  8. Radujem se Vašoj poseti
  9. Drago mi je!
  10. To su naše lektorke.
  11. Bolje vas našao!
  12. Kako ste Vi?
  13. Kako si ti?
  14. Hvala.
  15. Kako ste?
  16. Mnogo vam je lepo ovde.
  17. Baš mi je drago.
  18. Jeste dobri?
  19. Jeste dobro?
  20. Poštovanje!
  21. Izvoli, dobrodošao!
  22. Izvolte, dobrodošli!
  23. Izvolite. 
  24. Hoćete neku kafu?
  25. Želite li kafu?
  26. Šta želite da popijete?
  27. Ne hvala.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Serbian Phrases - At the Hotel



This is one of the videos with the slow Serbian pronunciation of the words and phrases written in the Cyrillic script, which I'm currently creating. Feel free to leave your comments and feedback regarding the speed of pronunciation and usefulness of such 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