Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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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 ...

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Serbian Language 365 Day 2 - Serbian for Pre-intermediate Level

In the past five years I've scattered numerous blog posts with lessons of Serbian and corresponding grammatical explanations not only on this blog and Youtube and Youtube but all over the Internet. One of the many reasons for starting 365 Days of Serbian Language was to connect them and tag them correctly.

Since the previous post covered the verb TO BE in the Simple Present tense, I think that all the students who are either at elementary and pre-intermediate level can easily learn to use the same form with the Locative case, saying where you are:



At the end of each video lesson, let's revisit some of the previous posts covering the same, or similar topic:





Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Serbian Language 365 - Day 1

As you've probably noticed, I recently started making  new series of HD Serbian courses. Each Tuesday I  introduce you the Serbian 101, a course for the real beginners. It is a completely new version of the  Serbian for Beginners 101, which will be available via Udemy and Plimus platforms in February.

In this series of blog posts which will be published every day, I'll be posting some of the new video lessons together with accompanying exercises. I'm sure you'll enjoy it !

The verb To Be in Serbian:

Additional exercises:

Monday, February 11, 2013

365 Days of Learning Serbian

I've recently reread a great book "First Things First" by Stephen Covey  and it reminded me, yet again, how important it is to organize our activities well and dedicate our time to people we love and  things that matter. Learning a new language on a daily basis, or any other skill for that matter,  can make a huge difference in the long run, once we urgently need it.

That's why it struck me that I should use this blog, and all the digital teaching content I've created in years, not only to encourage you to perservere, but provide you with meaningful and graded content to learn Serbian regularly. Even if you skip a day or two,  or an entire week/month, you know that you  have everything in one place, right here !

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:

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