Learn Serbian

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Present Tense in Serbian - questions and negative forms

Prezent u potvrdnom, upitnom i odričnom obliku

a. one example is with a transitive/intransitive verb, while the
b. example is with the 'se' verb (see the explanation in this post)

affirmative
(I sing every day) > Ja pevam svaki dan
(I comb (myself) ) > Ja se češljam

interrogative
(do you sing every day?) > Da li pevaš svaki dan?
(What do you sing every day?) > Šta pevaš svaki dan?
(Do you comb (myself) ) > Da li se (ja) češljam ?
(Who combs (themselves)? ) > Ko se češlja?

negative
(I don't sing every day) >Ja ne pevam svaki dan OR Ne pevam svaki dan.
(I don't comb (myself)) > Ja se ne češljam. = Ne češljam se.

******** EXERCISE******** mark the sentences as C *correct or I*incorrect :

Ja se igram.
Mi pevam.
Da li se ja umivamo?
Ne doručkujemo u 8.
Ti pereš.
Ja idem u Beograd.
Zovem Mario.
Kupam se svaki dan.
Gde ste se upoznali?
Imam čas svaki dan.

Present Tense Conjugations in Serbian

Marina exercises in Serbian , serbian conjugations

Fill in the gaps with the suitable form of the verbs in brackets and send the homework to 'learnserbian@gmail.com'. I hope that I will manage to launch the site with similar grammar exercises by April. Watch this space!

- IM

Svako jutro se (1) BUDITI u 8.
Da li ti (2) MISLITI da su jedan plus jedan dva?
Da li Vi (3) MISLITI da u životu jedan i jedan nisu uvek dva?
Dragan se (4) OBLAČITI bar pola sata!
Kada (5) OTVARATI prodavnicu?

- AM

Svaki dan te (6) ČEKATI bar deset minuta!
Moja deca (7) ČITATI knjige - a tvoja?
Danas je baš hladno! Vetar baš (8) DUVATI.
Koliko često (9) GLEDATI tv?
Ana i Sofija se (10) IGRATI.

- (uj)EM

Svaki dan se (11) DOPISIVATI sa drugaricom iz Engleske.
Kada ti (12) DORUČKOVATI?
Šta najčešće (13) PITI tokom dana?
Oni (14) PISATI e-meilove svaki dan.
Kada mi (15) POČINJATI sa učenjem srpskog?

Ko rano rani dve sreće grabi

Marina serbian conjugations , Serbian grammar

KO rano rani DVE sreće grabi

The early bird catches the worm

Success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort.

In Serbian, there is a very similar proverb, but it is much more general, and there is neither a bird, nor a worm mentioned. It sounds very general, something like ‘Those who get up early, catch 2 happy events ” (literal translation, don’t laugh)

Your Serbian lesson KO RANO RANI DVE SREĆE GRABI: vocabulary

KO means WHO

RANO means EARLY

RANI means GETS UP EARLY

DVE means TWO

SREĆE means HAPINESS (in Serbian used as plural here)

GRABI means GRABS

Your Serbian lesson KO RANO RANI DVE SREĆE GRABI: grammar

Ko je to? means Who is it?

Ko si ti? means Who are you?

Ko sam ja? means Who am I?

Sooooooooooooo, how do you say in Serbian the following:

I am ?

You are?

It is?

You are right - it isn’t difficult at all!!!

JA SAM means I am

TI SI means You are

ON JE means He is

ONA JE means She is

ONO JE means It is

Now, how about Plural ? Let’s try it again:

1. Ko smo mi?

2. Ko ste vi? Ko ste Vi?

3. Ko su oni? Ko su one? Ko su ona?

If you have any idea for the verb To Be Plural form, send them as comments.

Group lessons of Serbian

Marina Myngle , online group lessons

I am happy to announce that Myngle introduced group lessons on its platform. Since it is real fun to learn in a group, I would like to invite all of you interested in taking such lessons, to give your suggestions about the time, topics and levels which suit you best. You can write to my gmail address, which will (from now on) be under my profile. For those interested in learning Serbian with the help of a bilingual French/Serbian teacher, check this link.
Enjoy Myngling!

Verb Conjugations in Serbian

Marina exercises in Serbian , serbian conjugations

Serbian belongs to a group of (highly) flective languages, and as such its verbs have conjugations. This means that you have to pay attention to the suffixes which are added to the stem of each verb. If you have a dictionary of Serbian, you will notice that infinitive endings are -iti, -ati, -eti, or simply -ti and sometimes -ći. In order to learn the conjugations, it is wise to know that the suffixes for each person singular or plural are added to the verb stem (base verb without infinitive endings).

The conjugation system of Serbian verbs is rather complex. There are several classes of regular verbs distinguished according to certain features the verbs within a class share. (I copied this sentence from Wikipedia, so you can follow the link to see the conjugations of the verb 'RADITI' (to work) to get the idea how it looks like in different tenses.)

As you could see, it is not only the present tense, but we need also to learn how to use the verbs in different tenses. Therefore, I made a playlist which will in time grow and help you learning Serbian verb conjugations:

Let me jot down a few examples:

infinitive: živETI
verb stem: živ

I live = ja živim
you live = ti živiš
You live = Vi živite
He,she,it live = on, ona ono živi
We live = mi živimo
You live = vi živite
They live = oni, one, ona žive

The verbs belonging to the same group are as follows:
GOVORITI to talk, HVALITI to praise, UČITI to learn, MRZETI to hate, VOLETI to love, RADITI to work, ŽELETI to want, BROJATI to count, POSTOJATI to exist

The most useful website listing various forms and numerous verbs is LogosConjugator. I am sure it will help!

Internet phrases in Serbian

Marina internet phrases in serbian , vocabulary

Internet fraze na srpskom

MOGU LI DA KORISTIM INTERNET ODAVDE? = Can I use the Internet from here?
KAKO DA SE PRIKLJUČIM = How can I connect?
KOJI JE VAŠ / TVOJ IMEJL = Which is your e-mail?
IMATE LI SVOJ VEB SAJT? = Do you have your own website?
ZAŠTO KONEKTOVANJE TRAJE TAKO DUGO? = Why does connecting take so much time? DA LI U BLIZINI IMA INTERNET KAFE? = Is there an internet cafe near here? KOLIKO KOŠTA SAT VREMENA NA INTERNETU? = How much is it per hour for the Internet?

St Valentine's Day in Serbia

Marina Serbian holidays , Serbian Saints

Sveti Trifun
Arhaični tekst

Sveti Trifun je rođen u selu Kampsadi u Frigiji. Roditelji su mu bili siromašni, pa je odmalena čuvao guske. Još od detinjstva na njemu je bila velika blagodat Božja, te je mogao isceljivati bolesti na ljudima i stoci, i izgoniti zle duhove. U to vreme zavlada Rimskim carstvom car Gordijan III, čija ćerka Gordijana siđe s uma, i time baci svoga oca u veliku žalost. Svi lekari ne mogahu ludoj Gordijani ništa pomoći. Tada zli duh iz lude devojke progovori i reče da njega niko ne može isterati osim Trifuna. Car naredi da se na dvor dovedu svi Trifuni iz carstva. Posle mnogih, i ovaj mladi Trifun bio je pozvan po Božjem Promislu. Doveli su ga u Rim gde je iscelio carevu ćerku. Car mu podari mnoge darove, koje Trifun pri povratku razdeli siromasima. U svom selu produži ovaj sveti mladić da čuva guske i moli se Bogu. Kada se zacari hristoborni Decije Trajan, sveti Trifun je bio ljuto mučen za Hrista. No on podnese sva mučenja s radošću velikom, govoreći: "O kad bih se mogao udostojiti, da ognjem i mukama skončam za ime Isusa Hrista Gospoda i Boga moga!" Sve muke ništa mu ne naškodiše, i mučitelji ga osudiše najzad na posečenje mačem. Pred smrt Trifun se pomoli Bogu i predade dušu svoju Tvorcu svome 250. godine.

U pravoslavnoj crkvi praznuje se 14. februara po novom, odnosno 1. februara po starom kalendaru.

Savremeni tekst iz novosadskog lista Dnevnik:

Danas se slavi nezvanični Svetski dan zaljubljenih. Pominje se kao Valentin day ili sveti Valentin, po zapadnjačkoj tradiciji, koji se poslednjih godina, zajedno s imenom odomaćio i kod nas. Sveti Valentin je, po predanju, pre 1759godina ljubavlju izlečio slepu kćerku uglednog plemića. Ne zna se tačno ko je bio, ali se smatra da je reč o biskupu koga je 14. februara 270. godine pogubio rimski imperator Klaudio Gotika. NJemu je smetala narodna vera u ljubav i čuda koju je Valentin budio svojim upornim molitvama i ljubavlju.

10, 20, 30 ... 100

Marina exercises in Serbian , vocabulary

10 - deset 20 - dvadeset 30 - trideset 40 - četrdeset 50 - pedeset 60 - šezdeset 70 - sedamdeset 80 - osamdeset 90 - devedeset 100 - sto

****************

21 - dvadeset (i) jedan

**************** As you see the rule is very simple, just add 20 + 1. As for writing, the two numbers are written separately, either with 'and' or without it in between, while for administrative purposes, ie. in documents, the numbers are written together eg. 'dvadesetjedan'.

**************** Practise saying the numbers below, and then listen to the answers in the GCast Widget on the right, under the Post named 'Tens-exercise'.

29
34
67
98
61
23
35
53
47
78
82
93
130
169
174

Numbers in Serbian

Marina numbers in serbian , vocabulary

Brojevi na srpskom

0 - nula - нула
1 - jedan - један
2 - dva - два
3 - tri - три
4 - četiri - четири
5 - pet - пет
6 - šest - шест
7 - sedam - седам
8 - osam - осам
9 - devet - девет
10 - deset - десет
11 - jedanaest - једанаест
12 - dvanaest - дванаест
13 - trinaest - тринаест
14 - četrnaest - четрнаест
15 - petnaest - петнаест
16 - šesnaest - шеснаест
17 - sedamnaest - седамнаест
18 - osamnaest - осамнаест
19 - devetnaest - деветнаест
20 - dvadeset - двадесет

Many thanks to the blog follower who added the reply to the question about the numbers from 20-100! Hope this AUDIO helps as well!
---
Numbers like 21 are written separately, for example: dvadeset jedan (except when filling in cheques and similar)

Breakfast in Serbian

Marina Situations , vocabulary

DORUČAK

ČAJ - tea
JAK ČAJ - strong tea
SA LIMUNOM - with lemon
SA RUMOM - with rum
JAJA - eggs
OMLET - omlette
JAJA NA OKO - eggs sunny-side-up
OMLET SA ŠUNKOM - ham and eggs
KAJGANA - scrambled eggs
KAFA - coffee
SA MLEKOM - with milk
KAKAO - cocoa
HLEB - bread
PEKMEZ / DŽEM - jam
MED - honey
MASLAC - butter
SIR - cheese
PAVLAKA - sour cream
PAHULJICE - flakes
JOGURT - youghurt

Let's practise asking questions in Serbian

Marina Word order in Serbian ,

Characteristics in context

Marina exercises in Serbian , Serbian adjectives

TO BE & ADJECTIVES for different genders

Adjectives describing Masculine nouns in Sg (Singular) take no endings (on je bogat), while the same adjectives describing Fem. Sg nouns take -a (ona je bogata), while with Sg. Neuter nouns the ending is -o (bogato selo). Plural, masc. adj. take an -i ending (ljudi su bogati), fem. adj. take -e (žene su lepe), and neuter adj. take -a (deca su visoka). In some cases, there are some changes in pronunciation, with adjectives ending in -N, or -K, for example (on je gladan - ona je gladna) - but there will be a special post on that subject.

For the sake of clarity, let's do a simple exercise with adjectives which have no pronunciation changes. The answer key is in the comment. If you want me to record the answer, just drop me a line.

A Short Adjective Story:

Andrew is tall. He is very handsome. His wife Lilly is also tall and pretty. They have a son, called Tom. He is very good. They are now at home. Their house is big, because they are rich. Their dog Ava is very old and lazy.

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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

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