Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Learning Serbian with Songs

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Serbian Lessons Online - Colours

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Serbian Language for Kids

If you enjoyed learning Serbian by watching Neven or Poletarac or Kefalica, I am sure you will love  "Slovo na Slovo" series, too :)

Monday, November 18, 2013

Places in the City - Video Exercise

If you haven't been to Novi Sad, you'll surely look forward to visiting it after you watch this video by Daniel Erdeg :















You can also practise making simple sentences as I did in the classroom exercise and prepare to do one or few tasks based with this video explanation (if necesarry, check the vocabulary video):
  • Exercise for Serbian 102: What can you see ? Šta vidite ?

  • Exercise for Serbian 201: Šta se nalazi ispred Vas / s leve ili desne strane ? Šta ste videli ? or Šta ćete videti kada dođete u Novi Sad

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Serbian Conjugations in Cyrillic Script

If you have always wondered it there were any videos with conjugations in Serbian with the Cyrillic script, here they come :

With this video you can not only pronounce the Simple present conjugations of the verb "zvati se", but you can also practise its word order and asking and answering simple questions in the second part of the video. Which words are missing there ?

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

How many sentences can you make in Serbian ?

If you are a beginner in learning Serbian and you want to practise only the most frequent  verbs, I'm sure you'll enjoy this video with:
along with the nouns (in the Accusative case), do watch these videos and try to:
  • ask "what" (šta) questions
  • or simply talk what you see or you don't see along with it: 


For more speaking practice videos click here. and if you are a more advanced learner of Serbian try to ask / answer questions in different tenses or conditionals. For example: Šta bi uradio kada bi video zeca / mačku...?

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Easy Way to Learn Serbian Pronouns

In order to start speaking Serbian fluently, the best way to automatically recall the whole phrases and chunks of language is to listen to films and songs in Serbian (and  preferably sing along). For example, in the chorus of this song you can hear the following phrase over and over again:
Nije za nju, nije za nju ...za nju je ...
and I bet you won't make any mistakes in the future if you want simply to say:
  • ...for her = ...za nju
  • ... isn't for her = ... nije za nju 


On these pages you can find the :
...and don't forget to make the most of the first Serbian with Songs free e-book!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Breaking Bad - Connotation in Serbian

Here comes another listening comprehension for more proficient Serbian language learners, based on the following video:


Feel free to pause the video and try to answer the following questions:
  1. Koliko Mićko ima godina ?
  2. Šta se Mićku zapali i pukne ?
  3. Koliko časova hemije mu treba ?
  4. Zašto profesor hemije ne može da pomogne Mićku ?
  5. Šta profesorka hemije predlaže sve vreme ?
  6. Da li on sam upotrebljava ono što pravi ?
  7. Ko je nepoverljiv prema Mićku ?
  8. Koliko profesora hemije je Mićko do sada pozvao ? 
  9. Odakle Mićko više ne izlazi ?
Which phrases does the teacher use :
  1. to say that she can't help him
  2. to suggest another solution
  3. to inquire about Mićko's needs
  4. to decline his request
  5. to show understanding
  6. to end the conversation
What is the obvious meaning and what's the connotation of these phrases:
  1. ...jel' tu spadaju travnate površine ?
  2. ... malo sam nagoreo
  3. ... i ja sam posle miran dva dana
  4. Završio sam ja s hemijom !
  5. ...ja ne bih to više čačkao
  6. ...jer kad sam video u kom pravcu sve ovo ide, pravo da Vam kažem, šta mi drugo preostaje ?

Friday, October 25, 2013

Advanced Serbian Video Lessons


 After watching this video (several times) try to do the following exercises


 and  answer these questions:
1. Kako se zove prvi kandidat za posao ?
2. Koje su njegove prednosti ?
3. Koje su njegove mane ?
4. Koji posao bi on želeo da radi ?
5. Koji posao mu je predložen ?
6. Da li ga je odmah prihvatio ?
7. Koji je prigovor poslodavca dok on izlazi iz kancelarije ?
8. Kako se zovi drugi kandidat ?
9. Koje su njegove prednosti ?
10. Koje su njegove mane ?
11. Koji posao mu je predložen ?
12. Da li ga je odmah prihvatio ?

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Serbian Idioms and Phrases with Verb "nositi" - Part 3

This is the final part in the series of blog posts about the verb "nositi". The previous ones can be found on the following pages:

Today I am going to give you the explanations and various examples of the following phrases:

  • Što ga noge nose /  koliko me(te/ga/je/nas/vas/ih) noge nose = at full speed, as fast as possible = as fast as one's legs will carry one:

a) MREŽNI MARKETING, prevara ili ne - beži kud te noge nose !

or
b) Kakva greška ! Provocirao grupu navijača,  pa bežao kol'ko ga noge nose
  • Pas laje, vetar nosi = idle gossip should be disregarded = the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on; words and feathers the wind carries away; words are but wind
c) Pusti ti draga priče. Znas onu" PSI LAJU, KARAVANI PROLAZE !"?! Samo se ti smiri i slusaj lekare i sve ce biti u redu.
or
dPas laje, vetar nosi 
or
e) No, svako vredjanje najvise govori o onome ko vredja.Psi laju,vetar nosi... (the first comment under the text)
  • Idi gde te (oči vode i) noge nose = gubi mi se s očiju = idi mi s očiju (pej. nosi se) = get out of my sight, get lost, be off with you 
Examples from the internet sites:
fA FaceBook comment
or 
g) A folk song by Mira Škorić "Idi nek te noge nose" (lyrics)
  • Plati pa nosi (or more a more modern rhyming version: plati pa klati):
h) Naslov u tekstu o platnim karticama "Plati pa nosi"
or
 iTo su najobicniji lopovi. Svaka susa danas otvorila auto- skolu i kao poducava te. Plati pa se klati  (the penultimate comment)

And now the tasks for the more advanced /proficient learners of Serbian:

  1. Који од наведених примера комбинује две изреке, док носи значење само једне (на неки начин погрешно употребљено, али не омета разумевање) ?
  2. Који од наведених примера личи на превод енглеског идиома са истим значењем (што показује утицај енглеског због честих буквалних превода на медијима и Интернету )
  3.  Који од наведених примера је употребљен у букваном значењу, и уопште не носи идиоматско / пренесено значење ?

Monday, October 14, 2013

Baby Steps in Serbian

In order not to neglect the beginners in Serbian, here's  a video lesson about Jeremija without my voice. If you are a real beginner, do watch the version with slow pronunciation before doing the following tasks:




  • Say the sentences based on the facts before the answers show up
  • If that's difficult, try simply to read the answers (help)
  • If that's too easy, try to ask the appropriate questions for Jeremija's answers

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Serbian Idioms and Phrases with Verb "nositi" - Part 2

Here come the second part of the idioms and phrases with the verb "nositi":

  • Koja kokoš mnogo kokodače, malo jaja nosi = he who talks much, does little; the ass that brays most, eats least
Example 1Niko nema prava da gradira vaš (ili bilo čiji) patriotizam. Oni što najviše kokodaču o patriotizmu i trube na sva zvona o veri i tradiciji koje smo mi (kao) napustili, ne znaju ni šta je patriotizam po definiciji. Ima jedna stara izreka (srpska) koja kaže: Koja kokoš mnogo kokodače, malo jaja nosi. Želim vam od srca sve najbolje, gde god da ste, i drago mi je što ste uspeli da se operišete.( a reader's comment on Plus site)
Example 2.Znači dolazeće izbore gubiš. Nikaj konkretnoga od ove vlasti ne očekujem, vrijedi ona stara:koja krava jako muče, malo mlijeka daje. Za aktualne bi se to karikirano:koja kokoš jako kokodače, malo jaja nosi. Pozdrav... (an interesting reader's comment from a Croatian site - za naprednije pratioce bloga: da li ste razumeli slični izraz u kojem se pominje druga domaća životinja, ali sa istim značenjem ? )
  • Nositi svoj krst = to bear one's own share of suffering; to bear one's cross
Example 3Ivan Ivanović: “Svako nosi svoj krst!” (from WannaBeMagazine)
Example 4: An explanation with a fun example sentence in context, from Vukajlija : ... ал' шта сад да радим... свако носи свој крст!"
  • Nositi se mišlju = to intend to do something; to toy with an idea
Example 5Pošto moja naknada za održavanje trudnoće i dalje kasni (5 meseci), ja se nosim mišlju da u sledećoj trudnoći žešće zloupotrebim sistem, jer ovo zaista nema smisla. Idući put ću da otvaram i zatvaram bolovanje do 30 dana sve do 28 dana pred porođaj -- onda niko neće moći da me vuče za nos kao sada.  (from BeBac forum)
Example 6"Ne nosim se mišlju da su gradjani Krusevca rasisti.Nasim gradom slobodno se krecu prpadnici svih manjna pa i oni koji se razlikuju po boji..." (from a FaceBook page)
  • Ne zna se šta nosi dan, a šta noć = don't make hasty judgments;  one never knows what the future may bring


Example 7Srbija je velika tajna by Desanka Maksimović:
Srbija je velika tajna:
Ne zna dan šta noć kuva,
Niti noć šta zora rađa... 

Zadatak za naprednije učenike: Pokušajte da nađete u ovoj pesmi aluziju na još jedan idiom koji smo pominjali u prvom delu
Example 8: Ne zna dan, noć šta nosi ( a theatre review from Politika)
Example 9: ...Neka svako ide svojim putem. To treba postovati. Ja, recimo, da sam zensko, nikada ne bih isao sa kriminalcima, ali se nikad ne zna sta nosi dan, a sta noc(the first reader's comment from Plus)
For more advanced learners of Serbian: One of the idioms quoted in the examples 1 to 9 is inappropriately used. Which one ? 

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