Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Hymn Dedicated to Saint Sava

Monday, January 07, 2013

How to Say "Merry Christmas" in Serbian

Here comes a short video wishing you Merry Christmas (Srećan Božić) and a Happy New Year (srećnu Novu godinu) to all the followers of LearnSerbianBlog!

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 ?

Friday, November 02, 2012

What's Something Like in Serbian

How to say "what is something like in Serbian" ? Listen to this song and answer my questions in the quiz. Make sure you click "Finish Survey" at the end in order to get an instant feedback:



Uradite kviz odmah = Do the quiz immediately!

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Serbian Verb Conjugations



Fill in the gaps with the correct verb form - you'll be able to see the Serbian verbs conjugated, above the text. You can write your answer in the comment below. For all those who'd like to more actively participate in learning Serbian, do join free Activator newsletter.

Friday, September 07, 2012

Which Serbian cases to use after "iz", "rođen u ..." and "živim u "



Write the answers to these questions in the comment: Start like this:
Ja sam iz...
Rođen sam u...

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Learning Serbian Family Words

Listen to this podcast about Jeremija's family and write in the comment the names of your relatives.

For example: Tatin brat se zove Slobodan. On je moj stric/čika.

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Podcast about Serbian Church Wedding

Listen to this short podcast about church weddings in Serbia and what one should know before they take the plunge. Try to answer the questions posted in the quiz:

Monday, July 30, 2012

Past Tense in Serbian - Common Mistakes

If you watched our previous podcast, you'll be aware of the fact that Jeremija keeps making mistakes, and I do my best to help him understand which correct forms to use. This time the topic was "bio" or "bila":

Are there any other mistakes which I didn't correct ?

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Serbian Pronunciation - Lj and Nj

Let's practise pronunciation of the Serbian letters "lj" and "nj". In the video you'll be able to see their counterparts in the Cyrillic script. Try to listen and repeat:

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Serbian for Beginners - Common Mistakes

This is a short video with Jeremija, who was pretty tired when answering my questions, so he made quite a few mistakes. Try to figure out which numbers are wrong, and what he should have said:



If you want to watch the video lessons covering the same topic and level, check out this page with beginner Serbian lessons.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Learn Serbian Podcast

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