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Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Thursday, August 15, 2013

What Does it Mean in Serbian ?

A  photo I took the other day - just for you  :)

If you don't understand what's being said ( or written ) in Serbian, you can always ask questions such as:
  • Šta znači " Gazda bio, gazda ost'o 100 % " ? = What does "..." mean ?
  • Ne razumem = I don't understand
  • Možeš li da mi objasniš (šta znači) "..." ? = Can you explain what  "..." mean ?
  • Možeš li da ponoviš "..." ? = Can you repeat "..." ?
  • Ponovi još jednom, molim te ? = Repeat once again, please ?
  • Molim ? = Pardon ?
  • Možeš li da ponoviš malo sporije ? = Can you repeat it a bit slower ?
  • Kako se izgovara ova reč ? = How do you pronounce this word ?
  • Kako se čita ova reč / ovo slovo ? = How do I read this word / letter ?
  • Kako se piše slovo "ć" ? = How do you write letter "ć" ?
Da li neko ima ideju kako najbolje prevesti " Gazda bio, gazda ost'o 100 %" ?


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Word order in Serbian Sentences in the Simple Past

In one of the previous blog posts about the "red reči" in a Serbian sentence, I covered the word order in the present tense and it's time to talk about the past simple. Don't forget that the letter  N is used for the most neutral / natural sounding sentence:

One word verb: pevati (to sing)

Past tense OF "I sang / I was singing."

Subject (S) + predicate (P)

  • Pevao / pevala sam. N
  • Ja sam pevao/pevala
  • Ti si igrao, a ja sam pevala. N 
  • Ti si igrao i ja sam pevala. N 
  • Komšije su čule kako sam pevala. N
  • Priznajem da sam pevala. N






















S + P +  direct object (dO)
  • Pevala sam pesmu. N
  • Ja sam pevala pesmu.
  • (not neutral, but rather poetic word order would be: Pesmu sam pevala / Ja sam pesmu pevala. / pesmu pevala sam ja (reminded me of "zaboravio sam jutros pesmu jednu ja" - watch the video)
  • Čuješ da sam otpevala  pesmu.  N
  • Svi su čuli da sam pevala pesmu. 

S  + P + dO + adverb of time (AoT)

  • Pevala sam pesmu svaki dan. N
  • Svaki dan sam pevala pesmu. N
  • Moji prijatelji su juče čuli kada sam pevala pesmu. N


    S + P + dO + AoT + AoP (adverb of place)
    • Pevala sam  pesmu svaki dan  kod kuće.  N
    • Pevala sam pesmu kod kuće svaki dan. N
    • Svaki dan sam pevala pesmu kod kuće. N
    • Kod kuće svaki dan sam pevala pesmu. N
    • Moje komšije su juče čule kada sam kod kuće pevala pesmu. N
    • Moje komšije su čule  kada sam  pevala pesmu pre nedelju dana kod kuće. N
    • Moje komšije su igrale uz iks-boks dok sam pevala pesme kod kuće pre nedelju dana. N

    Tuesday, August 13, 2013

    Easy Texts in Serbian

    Here comes a sample video exercise of a  very basic and simple text in Serbian, much much easier than the previous ones:


     Anyway, I think this is a good example how you can practise making natural sentences in Serbian on your own, simply by reading together with me and supplying the words which are missing. You can also do the follow-up exercise in writing.














    Sorry for the poor audio quality - I'll try to fix it somehow !

    Monday, August 12, 2013

    Word order in Serbian

    Although there's this widespread view (uvreženo mišljenje) that the word order in Serbian is "free", in order to form sentences which sound natural, there are lots of rules to follow... which doesn't make it free at all ! But don't panic! The more you listen  to the Serbian language, the easier it'll be for you to make sentences in the most natural way. Learning the set of rules, can only inhibit you if you don't learn / listen to the target language on a daily basis. That's why I'll simply give you lots of examples with different verb patterns through different tenses, but today I'll just focus on the Simple Present  affirmative in simple and compound sentences. I'll add the letter N for the most neutral / natural sounding sentence:

    One word verb: pevati (to sing)

    Present tense OF "I sing / I'm singing."

    Subject (S) + predicate (P)

    • Pevam. N
    • Ja pevam
    • Ti igraš, a ja pevam. N 
    • Ti igraš i ja pevam. N 
    • Komšije su čule kako pevam. N
    • Priznajem da pevam. N
    S + P +  direct object (dO)
    • Pevam pesmu. N
    • Ja pevam pesmu.
    • (not neutral, but rather poetic word order would be: Pesmu pevam / Ja pesmu pevam. / pesmu pevam ja - I'll skip adding all these specific / emphasis based but not commonly used word orders in the future and stick with N(neutral) and OK (when I don't add any comment))
    • Čuješ da pevam pesmu.  N
    • Svi čuju da ja pevam pesmu. 

    S  + P + dO + adverb of time (AoT)

    • Pevam pesmu svaki dan. N
    • Svaki dan pevam pesmu. N
    • Moji prijatelji svaki dan čuju kada pevam pesme. N


      S + P + dO + AoT + AoP (adverb of place)
      • Pevam pesmu svaki dan  kod kuće.  N
      • Pevam pesmu kod kuće svaki dan. N
      • Svaki dan pevam pesmu kod kuće. N
      • Kod kuće svaki dan pevam pesmu. N
      • Moje komšije svaki dan čuju kada kod kuće pevam pesmu. N
      • Moje komšije svaki dan čuju kada  pevam pesmu kod kuće. N
      • Moje komšije igraju uz iks-boks dok ja pevam pesme kod kuće svaki dan. N

      Sunday, August 11, 2013

      Warnings in Serbian :)

      If you ever wondered how to warn someone in Serbian, let me give you a list of phrases, starting from the most formal ones:
      Formal and semi-formal warnings:

      • Dozvoli da te upozorim da ne + present (2nd person Sg. - with 2nd p. Pl, start with "Dozvolite da Vas upozorim...)
      • Ono što ja ne bih nikako uradila je da + present (1st person Sg.)
      • Ako me pitaš za savet, nikako nemoj da + present (2nd person Sg. - with 2nd p. Pl, start with "Ako me pitate za savet, nikako nemojTE da...)
      Informal warnings:
      • Pazi se + noun in the Genitive case or gerund (verbal nouns ending in -nje, again in Gen.)
      • Nemoj da + present (2nd person Sg or Pl)
      • Šta god da radiš, nikako nemoj da + present (2nd person Sg. - with 2nd p. Pl, start with Šta god da radite, nikako nemojTE da...) 

      If you need all these phrases written both in the Cyrillic and Latin script, pronounced slowly, check  Serbian phrases link.

      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