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If you are a real beginner in Serbian, make sure you don't miss the previous lessons at this level, before you start preparing yourself to connect the previous knowledge (The verb TO BE) and Serbian adjectives with the following lesson which will be about the Greetings in Serbian:
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Sunday, March 03, 2013
In the previous posts you could practise the phrases for giving directions. Today, I came across this great video which can help you learn the language of instructions, when talking about exercises. It's useful to revise the body parts first:
and then to enjoy watching and listening to the video below:
and then to enjoy watching and listening to the video below:
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| Serbian Phrases free e-book |
- First, you can do these exercises with your eyes closed, only by listening to her
- Then, you can watch the video and do the exercise, checking if you understood her well
- Finally, you can do this follow-up exercise I made for you
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Although this poem is not written by a Serbian, but a Russian poet, I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to Rade Šerbedžija, our renowned actor, and his uniqe interpretation :)
This poem is perfect for getting to know the verb "to wait" and its
- imperative form "čekaj"
- the pronouns following it "čekaj + me"
- the word order: Čekaj me vs. Samo me čekaj dugo
- parts of speech: čekati (infinitive) čekanje (noun)
- conjugations
Friday, March 01, 2013
Part 1: Where are they ?
Now that you are aware of who the main characters of the first detective story are, let's move onto the second phase of solving this mysterious case!
- Do exercise 1 in order to figure out if you solved the first task correctly
- Watch the video below, before doing the exercise 2 in order to understand what had happened on the day Đorđe Belić was murdered and where the main characters were at that moment.
- If you have any questions regarding this case, feel free to ask them in the comments section.
Наставиће се...
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Before we continue with the video lessons focusing on aspect differences, let's be impratctical and talk only about the grammar today:
As you probably noticed in the previous post for the intermediate level, one can turn an imperfective verb into a perfective one by adding a prefix (buditi - probuditi , razbuditi ). But this is not the only way to change an aspect of a verb. You can also:
As you probably noticed in the previous post for the intermediate level, one can turn an imperfective verb into a perfective one by adding a prefix (buditi - probuditi , razbuditi ). But this is not the only way to change an aspect of a verb. You can also:
- add a prefix to the verb and it becomes perfective
- add a suffix to the verb and it becomes perfective (dremati - dremNUti)
- alter the stem (odmoriti - odmarati, which I explained in the previous post)
But, we have to be cautious with the process of prefixation ! Quite often the meaning of the verb does not bear only the difference in aspect ( whether the action is complete or incomplete: "I wrote" - "I was writing" : Napisao sam = Pisao sam). It more frequently bears a new layer of meaning, like the ones mentioned in "buditi" becoming perfective in "probuditi" or "razbuditi", so we need to use phrasal verbs in English to accurately convey the additional meaning.
Let me give you a few examples of:
- clear-cut distinction pefective-imperfective (without any additonal meanings):
- pisati - napisati (to be writing - to have written/wrote)
- čitati - pročitati (to be reading - to have read/ read )
- the prefix adding new meanings :
- igrati - odigrati / izigrati / zaigrati (to be playing - to have played / to play up / to play upon* these translations are incomplete and need to be read in the sentences, which will be the aim of our future lessons at this level )
- pisati - prepisati (to copy) / zapisati (to jot down) / upisati (to enroll)
Until the next lesson, do practise the aspect in Serbian by doing some fun exercises published in the previous posts:
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Before moving onto the third lesson for the pre-intermediate level of Serbian, you can always flick through the previous blog posts:
- Beginner lesson 1
- Beginner lesson 2
- Beginner lesson 3
- Pre-intermediate lesson 1
- Pre-intermediate lesson 2
In today's lesson you can revise your knowledge of the Locative case, but this time with the verb "živeti" = to live and "govoriti" = to speak (a language) + adjectives describing languages & nouns for countries:
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
If you practised the verb TO BE in the Serbian in my previous lessons, I'm sure this will be an easy task for you:
*This is also a smooth intro to the lesson on numbers in Serbian.
- Mute this video before watching it and try to give / write the correct answers for each button.
- You can write down the answers and then watch the video again and listen to Jeremija giving his responses.
- Has he made any mistakes and if he has, correct the wrong answers (you can write the replies in the comment)
*This is also a smooth intro to the lesson on numbers in Serbian.
Monday, February 25, 2013
I'm sure you enjoyed my last post about Poletarac ! Bilo je zabavno, zar ne ? Today, I'd like to remind you of four great interviews with foreigners living in Serbia, which I posted last year:
They share their view of many different aspects of life and I'm sure you'll enjoy watching them, as well as doing some extra exercises and video lessons:
They share their view of many different aspects of life and I'm sure you'll enjoy watching them, as well as doing some extra exercises and video lessons:
- Word order in Serbian, Exercise based on the first video
- Collocations about city life, based on Video 2 (the first two parts of the video)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
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 :)
Places in the city in the Cyrillic script:
Giving directions in the Latin alphabet:
In the meantime, I'm sure you'll find these two videos covering "Giving directions in Serbian" useful.
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| Serbian Phrases free e-book |
Giving directions in the Latin alphabet:
Saturday, February 23, 2013
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:
Friday, February 22, 2013
Убиство у радној соби
Part 1: Who is Who
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!"
- 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)
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...
Thursday, February 21, 2013
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:
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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