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Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Serbian Language Day 9 - Pre-intermediate Course, Lesson 2

Free lessons of Serbian , Learn Serbian online
Serbian Language Day 9 - Pre-intermediate Course, Lesson 2
You can always revise the simple structures by following the Serbian for Beginner course tag, as well as Serbian Lesson Pages.

In our previous pre-intermediate lesson we covered:
Let's use the similar group of words, this time "places in the city" to express our whereabouts:

  • "Ćao! Gde si ?" = Hi, where are you ?
  • "Zdravo! Sada sam u muzeju. A ti ? " = Hello, I'm in the museum. And you ?
  • "Ja sam na autobuskoj stanicu ! Vidimo se za pet minuta!" = I'm at the square ! See you in five minutes! 

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Serbian Language Day 8 - Beginner Serbian, Lesson 2

Free lessons of Serbian , Learn Serbian online
Serbian Language Day 8 - Beginner Serbian, Lesson 2
Serbian for beginners, lesson 2:

If you successfully completed the previous lesson, and vežbe = exercises jedan and dva, you are ready for the followin lesson covering the phrase "This is ..." and "This isn't ...". Watch the video exercise and try to guess:
  1. what "OVO" means ?
  2. what is the negative form of "JE" ?


Answers:

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Monday, February 18, 2013

Serbian Language Day 7 - Video Series, Films and Podcasts for learning Serbian

Learn Serbian Podcast , Listening comprehension
Serbian Language Day 7 - Video Series, Films and Podcasts for learning Serbian
Youtube is a great source of unique and authentic materials for learning Serbian, which I have been sharing with you under "listening comprehension" tag. One of the best and most comprehensible TV series for learning the Serbian language are surely ancient "Neven", as well as "Poletarac", directed by Timothy Byford and featuring the most prominent actors, actresses and sportsmen from ex-Yugoslavia in the early eighties.

Watch the first part of "Poletarac" and you'll see why it can come in handy when learning Serbian:

1. Part one about swimming (plivanje) and knowing (znanje) from the beginning to minute 3:00
  • plivati = to swim
  • znati = to know, can (I can swim = Znam da plivam)
  • ko zna  da pliva = who knows to / can swim ?
  • osim = except
  • žaba = frog
  • imati = to have
  • da li žaba ima zube ? = does a frog have teeth ?
  • ne znam = I don't know 
2. Part two about telling the time (koliko je sati) and numbers (from 3:00-4:00)
  • koliko je sati ? = what's the time ?
  • sada je tačno jedan sat = it's one o'clock sharp
  • jedan i dva SU tri = one and two are three
  • ovo je jedna žaba = this is a frog
  • ovo su dve žabe = these are two frogs
  • lopta je okrugla = the ball is round
  • Zemlja je okrugla = the Earth is round
3. Part three about APPLES (from 5:30)
  • jabuka = an apple
  • koliko imate jabuka = how many apples do you have ?
  • imam tri jabuke = I have three apples
  • ljuštiti = to peal
4. Part four about UP and DOWN (from 6.30)
  • sad = now
  • gore = up
  • dole = down
  • sad sam dole = now I'm down
  • sad sam gore = now I'm up
  • visoko = high
  • nisko = low
5: Part five with the short answers (from 8:00)
  • Da li imam zube = Do I have teeth ? 
  • Imam = I do
  • imati   = to have
  • Da li sam zelen kao žaba ? = Am I green like a frog ?
  • Nisam = I'm not
  • skakati = to jump
  • Da li skačem kao žaba ? = Do I jump like a frog ?
6: Part six - thanking and greetings
  • hvala = thank you
  • doviđenja = goodbye
  • hvala Vam najlepše = many thanks
  • drago mi je = I'm glad
7. Part seven (from 10:50) about bees and numbers
  • ovo je ... = this is...
  • pčela = bee
  • hive = košnica
  • fabrika = factory
  • roj (pčela) = swarm
  • med = honey
  • ko bude jeo..., biće ... = the one who eats..., he'll be...


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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Serbian Language 365 - Day 6 Phrases in Serbian

Free lessons of Serbian , how to learn Serbian
Serbian Language 365 - Day 6 Phrases in Serbian
Many of you who have joined my online lessons, accompanying Serbian language courses, already know that I've had so much precious insight into learning Serbian from my mother-in-law who is French. She told me how difficult it was for her to learn the language from books, and she actually started speaking the language and becoming fluent when she threw away all her grammar books and textbooks and started learning phrases and letting her children correct her mistakes. You can imagine why: since Serbian is a highly flective language, one can come across many suffixes which are the same, denoting different cases (like "vidim pitU" (Acc.Sg.Fem.) in contrast with "ja sam u BeogradU" (Locative, Sg. Masc.)), which can only confuse you.

In reality, if you stopped to think what you'd say, you'd never become fluent. The key to learning ANY language is always immersion, either by spending time in the country where the language is spoken, or watching films, singing songs or being surrounded by  people speaking only the target language. In case none of the above is possible, you can always  learn the set phrases, which will help you become fluent.

Learning grammar is always a "reverse engineering" process  - and it should stay that way. That's why I will always publish one "Serbian phrases video lesson" based on a situation covered in my Serbian phrases e-book on Sundays. Lots of my students told me it was highly useful and practical, and I'm sure you'll find it the same!



Pozdravi na srpskom (Greetings in Serbian)
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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Serbian Language 365 - Day 5 Singing in Serbian

comprehension exercises , Serbian language 365
Serbian Language 365 - Day 5 Singing in Serbian
If you have been following this blog, you've certainly noticed that there are a lot of songs with which you can practise your language. The main reason is that songs will help you with fluency, because while singing you repeat the same structures, collocations and fixed verb+case noun sets, and this boosts your confidence and automatic responses.

Before I continue creating new songs+exercises, such as this one, let me give you a short review of the past songs and grammar points which my students really loved:

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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
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