Learn Serbian

Friday, February 22, 2013

Serbian Language 365 Day 11 - Detective Story "Ubistvo u radnoj sobi" part 1

Marina Advanced Serbian , correcting mistakes

Убиство у радној соби

Part 1: Who is Who

I'm sure you've been hardly waiting for my detective stories from intermediate to advanced levels of Serbian. They'll all be in the Cyrillic script!

Your task: Read the text carefully and correct the grammar mistakes. The first mistake is already shown. You should say:

"It's not "nađena", but "nađen", because Đorđe Belić is a man! " or
" Ne kaže se "nađena" već "nađen", zato što je Đorđe muškarac, a ne žena!"

Introduction to the case:

Ђорђе Белић, 60, , чувени глумац из Београда, нађена је мртав у својој радној собy, 2. фебруар у 18 часови и 5 минута. (3 mistakes, without the example)
Иако је полиција позвани на лице места због случаја самоубиства. Током увиђаја је утврђено да је у питању убиство и да је усмрћен пиштољима марке Глоцк, Модел 26. (2 mistakes)
Тог тренутака, у његовој кућaмa у Гроздићевој 142, налазило се још четири лица: (2 mistakes)

a. Војислав Симеуновић, стари 48 година, ради у обезбеђењу кућне већ 4 годинa. (3 mistakes)

b. Снежана Ранковић, стар 33 године, ради као куварица већ 3 година. (2 mistakes)

c. Радивој Шошкић, стар 44 годину, запослен као возач убијену Ђорђа Белића - на овом послу скоро 1 годинe (прецизније, 11 месеција и 6 данa) (3 mistakes)

d. Мирјана Белић, старица 21 година, ћерка убијеноме. (3 mistakes)

Наставиће се...

Serbian Language Day 10 - Aspect in Serbian

Marina aspect in Serbian , Free lessons of Serbian

I hope you enjoyed revising the Simple Past in Serbian and wondering why the last lesson was so easy for someone at an intermediate level. The obvious reason is the introduction into this tense, because it'll lead us to the trickiest aspect of the Serbian language:

While in the English language there's an elaborate system of tenses (level of syntax) in order to express whether an action took place, was talking place or has been talking place, in the Serbian language, these distinctions are inferred mainly from the verb, at the lexical level. For example:

odmorio (had a rest) or odmarao (was having a rest)

That's why I prepared quite a lot video lessons about Jeremija and Spomenka, and the follow-up exercises, hoping that it'll help you clarify the aspect in Serbian. Let me start with this difficult one, but if it's too easy, check this one out :)

PROBUDITI = to wake up (perfective)
BUDITI = to wake up (imperfective)
RAZBUDITI = to wake up (perfective)

Kada se obično budiš ? = When do you usually wake up ?

Koliko ti treba vremena da se probudiš ? = How much time does it take for you to wake up ?

Kada si se jutros probudio ? When did you wake up yesterday ?

Jutros sam se probudio u pola šest (5.30) = This morning I woke up at 5.30

In the "she-version", Jeremija made a few mistakes. Here're the correct text:

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

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , Learn Serbian online

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:

the names of the capitals
the Locative case (practice and explanation with the practice)

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!

Don't forget to the follow-up exercise!

Serbian Language Day 8 - Beginner Serbian, Lesson 2

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , Learn Serbian online

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:

what "OVO" means ?
what is the negative form of "JE" ?

Answers:

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

Marina Learn Serbian Podcast , Listening comprehension

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...

Serbian Language 365 - Day 6 Phrases in Serbian

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , how to learn 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)

Serbian Language 365 - Day 5 Singing in Serbian

Marina comprehension exercises , Serbian language 365

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:

Serbian Language 365 Day 4 - Advanced Levels

Marina Advanced Serbian , detective stories in Serbian

For upper-intermediate and advance levels of Serbian I enjoy creating detective stories, where students have to actively use the language, learn about the Serbian history, culture, customs and language. They ask questions, write e-mails and direct the "investigation".

On Fridays, I intend to share just the beginnings of these stories with you, along with the grammar exercises. So far I've completed the following series of lessons:

Ubistvo u radnoj sobi (pre-intermediate)
Misterija otrovanog piva (pre-intermediate to intermediate)
Tajna drevnog buzdovana (intermediate to upper-intermediate & advanced levels)
Petar BlOgojević - prvi srpski vampir (intermediate to upper-intermediate & advanced levels)
Ko je zabiberio kulen ? (upper-intermediate & advanced levels)
Misterija slavskog kolača (final test for intermediate Serbian202 course)
Maglovite četvrti srpskih gradova (beginner to pre-intermediate)

Serbian Language 365 Day 3 - Intermediate level & Past Tense

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , intermediate Serbian

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:

Past Tense of To Be in Serbian - conjugations
Practise Serbian with Jeremija
Past Tense of To Be in Questions + Locative case
Past Tense word order in questions
How to form the Simple Past in Serbian
Learn by singing - Bila je tako lepa

...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 ...

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

Marina free Serbian lessons , Learn Serbian online

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:

Clothes + in the wardrobe (with the ancient video ) - you can practise it by muting the terrible audio and focusing on JE or SU (Sg. or Pl. ) + u ormanu (both ormaN and ormaR are accepted forms in the Serbian language) - check the clothes 1 and clothes 2 post
Gapped exercise about the Locative (really ancient - I must add the new link to the exercise with an instant feedback and translation)
Prepositions with the Locative / Genitive
A beautiful "April u Beogradu" song

Serbian Language 365 - Day 1

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , Serbian for beginners

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:

365 Days of Learning Serbian

Marina how to learn Serbian , Learn Serbian online

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 !

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