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Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Sretenjski Ustav Exercise and Video

Sretenjski Ustav Exercise with Video

Here comes the perfect opportunity to share with you a special episode of "Mala istorija Srbije" dedicated to Sretenjski ustav.


I also want to share with you a few suggestions as to how to have an interesting lesson based on this video:

1. Opišite šta se dešava u ovoj epizodi, ali bez slušanja
2. Sada ponovo odslušajte celu epizodu i odgovorite na sledeća pitanja:


  • a. po čemu je poznat Sretenjski ustav?
  • b. kada je donet?
  • c. kako ga je ruski ambasador nazvao?

  • Monday, February 09, 2015

    St Valentine's Day with Exercises 2

    Songs for St Valentine's Day in Serbian

    For all of you eagerly waiting for another love song, this time sung to a woman, here comes one suggestion: I Still Love You by Sergej  Ćetković. The answer key, or the lyrics, can be found here, but I am sure you'll have fun trying to do my exercise as well:

    Sunday, February 08, 2015

    St Valentine's Day with Exercises 1

    If you are in love and getting ready to surprise your loved one on 14th February, or Sveti Trifun in Serbian, and if you are in search of a good love song, in the following few days I'll share with you a few suggestions.

    Ako ste zaljubljeni i pripremate se da iznenadite voljenu osobu povodom 14. februara, svetog Trifuna u Srbiji, i u potrazi ste za dobrom ljubavnom pesmom, evo ovih nekoliko dana ću vam dati nekoliko predloga:

    Pesma za njega = A song for him
    *Ne brinite, sutra stiže pesma za nju = No worries, tomorrow I'll post a song for her!



    Vežba za tebe :)



    Friday, January 30, 2015

    Ideas for Advanced Serbian Lessons - City

    Advanced Serbian Lessons - Describing a City

    For all of you who are eager to learn more advanced Serbian, I found another great video which can be turned into a few different speaking and listening comprehension exercises:

     

    Advanced Serbian Speaking

    Exercise one: watching the video without listening to it. You can take a guess what each building or buildings might be, using the following structures:
    • Ova zgrada bi mogla da bude (this building could be...) ... pijaca / vrtić / škola / stambena zgrada / crkva / sportski centar / tržni centar / bazen / pozorište ... or plural form:
    • OvE zgradE bi moglE da budU...
    • Ovo je idealno mesto za (this is a perfect spot for...) ... pijacu / vrtić / školu / stambenu zgradu / crkvu / sportski centar / tržni centar / bazen / pozorište
    • Da sam arhitekta / dizajner / političar, ja bih na ovom mestu izgradio ...(if I were an architect, I'd build...)  ... pijacu / vrtić / školu / stambenu zgradu / crkvu / sportski centar / tržni centar / bazen / pozorište
    Exercise two: watching the video and listening to the detailed explanation. Check if you were right about each building(s), using the following phrases:

    • Oni su rekli da će ovde biti izgrađen tržni centar, a ja sam rekao da će biti škola (They said that there will be a shopping centre built, but I said that would be a school.)

    Advanced Serbian Vocabulary and Grammar

    Exercise three: doing an exercise based on the text below, which I am currently working on (making gaps mainly where the nouns in genitive are):

    Advanced Serbian
    Šabac, grad na Savi
    Šabac, grad koji je delio države i carstva, na obali velike reke sa srednjovekovnom tvrđavom, kao obeležjem i simbolom. Živeo je kroz istoriju san o izlasku na Savu. Vizija o gradu na reci konačno je estetski, funkcionalno i ekonomski utemeljena planom detaljne regulacije: "Šabac, grad na Savi".

    Plan obuhvata površinu omeđenu ulicama: produžetak Kralja Aleksandra i Kralja Milana, od pruge do obale reke Save. Područje obuhvata plana podeljeno je na blokove različitih namena.Blokovi 11, 13 i 14 rezervisani su za izgradnju poslovnih objekata, dozvoljene spratnosti P+2. Tržni centar, izložbeno-prodajni salon ekskluzivnih oblika i materijala, samo su neki od planiranih sadržaja. Svoje mesto imaju i objekti kulture iste srpatnosti.

    Infrastrukturni objekti biće smešteni u bloku 12. Najatraktivniji segment obuhvata plana je stambeni deo za  oko 4000 ljudi. Naselje će činiti objekti kolektivnog stanovanja  dozvoljene spratnosti P+3 i gradske vile spratnosti P+2, koje mogu imati maksimalno po 10 stanova, minimalne površine do 45 metara kvadratnih.

    Pored stambenog bloka planirana je izgradnja memorijalnog centra, osnovne škole i dečijeg obdaništa. Na mestu nekadašnje kasarne, uzvodno od tvrđave, predviđena je parkovska površina koja se završava pristaništem i marinom za čamce i turističke brodove, uz prateće sadržaje: hotel, carinarnicu, portirnicu, hangare za čamce, ugostiteljske i administrativno-upravne objekte. Marina će biti sagrađena na mestu predratnog pristaništa, piše agencija, nekada omiljenog mesta Šapčana tokom leta.

    Thursday, January 29, 2015

    Learning to Conjugate in Serbian - To Have Breakfast

    Learning to Conjugate in Serbian

    Today I've found a video with an easy text in Serbian, which I forgot to upload  and share  with you last year. I corrected this mistake and you can see it now on my Youtube channel. I think you will find this exercise quite easy, as it focuses only on  the verb " to have breakfast " - doručkovati.

    Learning to Conjugate in Latin Script

    Since the video is for you to practice the Cyrillic script, let me write some basic forms of the verbs you will need in the Latin alphabet.


    Present Simple of doručkovati and piti (to drink)
    • Doručkujem-doručkuješ-doručkuje // doručkujemo - doručkujete - doručkuju
    • Pijem - piješ - pije // pijemo - pijete - piju
    Past Simple of doručkovati and piti (to drink)
    • Doručkovao - doručkovala - doručkovalo // doručkovali - doručkovale - doručkovala
    • Pio - pila - pilo // pili - pile - pila
    Future Simple of doručkovati and piti (to drink)
    • Doručkovaću - doručkovaćeš - doručkovaće // doručkovaćemo - doručkovaćete - doručkovaće
    • Piću - pićeš - piće // pićemo - pićete - piće
    I've written both the past and the present forms for the more advanced learners to practice turning the same text into the past and future tenses and thus learning to conjugate "doručkovati".

    Learning to Conjugate in Cyrillic

    Now, I am sure you are ready for this exercise:



    In order to turn the Cyrillic into Latin alphabet, do use the perfect tool for that, called SlovoMajstor:

    Wednesday, January 28, 2015

    Verb Biti in Serbian

    Biti in Serbian

    The verb "TO BE" in Serbian is something you should learn at the very beginning, because you'll need it not to express the most essential facts about yourself, but also because it is used as an auxiliary verb in the Simple Past tense.

    That's why this post dedicated to the different conjugations, i.e. forms, of the verb to be can be useful both for the beginners and more advanced students.

    A few short videos and exercises with the verb Biti in Serbian

    Exercise 1
    While watching this video say "This is a... These are ...s" using these structures:
    • Ovo je ... (+ nominative Sg)


    Exercise 2:
    • Ovo su ...(+ nominative Pl) 
    • Ovo je...(+ nominative Sg)

    Exercise 3
    While watching this video say what the photos are about (the locative case ) using the phrase: Ova slika je o... = This photo is about

    Exercise 4
    Using these full forms of the verb TO BE, give the positive and negative answers with 

    the full form of the verb to be:


    Links to the previous posts about the verb Biti in Serbian

    Tuesday, January 27, 2015

    Saint Sava Holiday in Serbian

    Saint Sava Holiday in Serbia

    Srećna slava Sveti Sava!

    I wish you  a happy St. Sava day with yet another version of the beautiful hymn dedicated to Saint Sava, sung by the Serbian men's choir "Kosovo" from Ohio.



    While listening to this number, check out these useful links about this topic, shared on our blog in the course of the previous years:




    Tuesday, January 06, 2015

    Christmas in Serbian

    Merry Christmas in Serbian

    I am sure you are enjoying these festive days and moments with your family and friends, wherever you are! Let me wish you a peaceful and merry Christmas with this newest version of my favourite Christmas song "Oj Badnjače, Badnjače":



    Learning more about Christmas in Serbian


    I also want to share with you a list of great links which will help you learn more about Serbian tradition and  Christmas in Serbian:


    Monday, December 15, 2014

    Greetings in Serbian Pronounced

    Greetings in Serbian with Pronunciation

    After trying to record the pronunciation for the basic Serbian lesson greetings with my computer running on Ubunty, it hasn't occurred to me to try switching to Windows. Once I did it, I saw how simple it was to make these little Quizlets even more useful! 

    Let's learn the greetings by simply listening to the pronunciation of the following words for saying hello and goodbye:

    dobar dan - good afternoon
    dobro veče - good evening
    dobro jutro - good morning
    kako ste? - how are You?
    kako si? - how are you?
    dobro, hvala! - well, thanks!
    doviđenja - goodbye
    ćao - hi / goodbye
    zdravo - bye bye / goodbye
    zdravo - hello
    laku noć - good night

    Exercises with Greetings in Serbian

    Now, let's do a dictation!


    Games with Greetings in Serbian

    The aim of the first game is to connect the Serbian word or words with its English counterpart.



    In the second game, which is real fun, you have to type the word in Serbian until its English translation reaches the end of the screen.... so the bigger the screen, the easier, haha!




    Greetings in Serbian


    Genitive in Serbian - Exercise with Adjectives

    Genitive in Serbian

    Let me announce  a series of blog posts about the Genitive in Serbian with exercises. Theory can be easy to learn, but what's more difficult is to actually produce correct sentences and phrases. 



    That's why I want to encourage you to play with the Quizlets I make for you and keep saying the words in Serbian out loud, especially while playing the SpaceRace :)

    Practising Genitive in Serbian



    Here comes the answer key:

    od čistog zlata - of pure gold
    prljave šolje - (of a) dirty mug
    od tamnog odela - of dark suit
    od svetlih gradova - of light cities
    prijatnih žena - (of) pleasant women
    od neprijatane dece - (of) unpleasant children
    širokog osmeha - (of) broad smile
    iz uske ulice - out of narrow street
    od visokog čoveka - from the tall man
    od niske žene - from the short woman
    iz lepog sela - from the beautiful village
    od ružnih pasa - of ugly dogs
    od pametnih - from smart friends
    od glupih političara - from stupid politicians
    od duge suknje - of the long skirt
    kratkih rukava - (of) short sleeves
    od vrednih ljudi - from hardworking people
    od lenje dece - from lazy kids
    od dobrih roditelja - of good parents
    lošeg uticaja - (of) bad influence
    jasnih uputstava - (of) clear directions
    nejasnih misli - (of) unclear thought
    omiljenih kolača - (of) favorite cookies
    udobnog kreveta - (of) comfortable bed
    prazne kese - (of) empty bag
    pune šake - (of a) full hand
    srećne žene - (of a) happy woman
    prostranih soba - (of) spacious rooms
    nesrećnih kolega - (of) unhappy colleagues
    bogatog muža - (of a) rich husband

    Test with Genitive in Serbian


    So you can try to do the test now :)

    Tuesday, November 25, 2014

    Conjugations in Serbian - to Shave

    Why Conjugations of Brijati - To Shave

    While I was watching RTS1 today I saw a very interesting and insightful story about a very old "brica", a barber who works in  "berbernica". I looked it up on Youtube, but couldn't find it on RTS1 Channel. However, there was a similar story which can be turned in another interesting lesson at an upper-intermediate or advanced level.



    How to use this video and introduce relevant verb conjugations?


    • As usual, it's always great to elicit the vocabulary based on watching the video, without the audio:
    1. BRICA - barber
    2. BRIJATI Present (brijem / brijes/ brije // brijemo / brijete/ briju) -to shave (impf)
    3. BRIJATI Past (brijao / brijala / brijalo // brijali/ brijale/ brijala) - shaved (past)
    4. BRIJANJE - shaving
    5. OBRIJAN - shaved
    6. OBRIJATI - to shave (perf)
    7. IZBRIJATI/IZBRIJVATI/IZBRIJAVANJE - to clean shave
    8. BERBERNICA
    9. Collocations: brijati + bradu/glavu, savladati brijanje, brijanje glave/brade, ucenje brijanja, vezbanje brijanja, oblikovanje brade
    • Now, let's watch the video with audio this time and simply encircle the words, conjugations and collocations as you hear them. 
    • The last step is vocabulary practice, which is soon to be uploaded onto Serbian School website with videos and exercises.



    Monday, November 24, 2014

    Short Serbian History - Part One

    This year I have discovered three real gems for learning Serbian at higher levels:
    As I have already written about Naša Snajka and Državni Posao, let me introduce you to  "Mala istorija Srbije" series which present Serbian tradition and history in a didactic and lively manner. For example, while watching the first episode you can learn:



    • until what time it is safe to greet someone saying "dobro jutro"
    • what "stalni gosti" usually drink
    • what "srpski političar" looks like
    • the connotation of the word "stoka"
    • who can save you on February 24th



    Now, how can you learn Serbian while watching these videos?




    1. At first turn off the audio and describe what's going on
    2. When watching the video for the second time, do listen to it and ask as many questions as possible (of course, press pause in order to manage this!). So, the aim is to understand what's going on!
    3. Retell the story using the phrases and vocabulary used by Milena, Lane, Vlasta, Vasić and Žika
    Have fun! 

    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