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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Serbian Language 365 - Phrases for Giving Directions

free Serbian lessons , how to learn Serbian
Serbian Language 365 - Phrases for Giving Directions
About two years ago I was tinkering with the free version of Camtasia for a month. The result was one part of the Serbian phrase course, covering three topics, both in the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic script. Now when I look back on my early works, I'm quite disappointed and I recon it's high time I made  much clearer video lessons with better background music and wide scope of topics. I bet you agree :)

In the meantime, I'm sure you'll find these two videos covering "Giving directions in Serbian" useful. 

Serbian Phrases free e-book
Places in the city in the Cyrillic script:

Giving directions in the Latin alphabet:

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Learn Serbian for 365 Days - Songs and Poems

Advanced Serbian , Serbian language 365
Learn Serbian for 365 Days - Songs and Poems
Last time I explained why I incorporated so many beautiful Serbian songs into my teaching. Besides these popular songs, I'd also like to share the well-known poems, which are the part of Serbian culture and heritage.

Although learning them by heart is not very popular nowadays, I still remember many a verse because we had to learn them by heart at school a few decades ago (yes, I'm that old). Once you mention a few lines of a well-known verse, it will surely enrich the conversation, triggering some deeper layers of meaning and connotation.

That's why I'll create a follow-up exercise, for each poem or song, which you can do while listening to the pronunciation. I'll emphasize in bold the most prominent and recognizable lines, so you can learn them if you wish to :)

Let me start with the beautiful Santa Maria Della Salute by one of the most notable Serbian poets, Laza Kostić:



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Friday, February 22, 2013

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

Advanced Serbian , correcting mistakes
Serbian Language 365 Day 11 - Detective Story "Ubistvo u radnoj sobi" part 1

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:
  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. 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...


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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Serbian Language Day 10 - Aspect in Serbian

aspect in Serbian , Free lessons of Serbian
Serbian Language Day 10 - Aspect in 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:
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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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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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