Learn Serbian

Saturday, May 07, 2016

Aspect in Serbian with Verbs Describing House Chores

How to Practice Aspect in Serbian?

When talking about aspect in Serbian, I must admit it is best learnt by using the phrases in everyday situations. A good example is a set of the most frequently used verbs when talking about house chores:

Imperfective vs. Perfective Aspect in Serbian

Prati / oprati sudove = to be washing / to wash the dishes
Raspremati / raspremiti = to be tidying up / to tidy up
Usisati / usisavati = to be hoovering / to hoover
Čistiti / (p)očistiti = to be cleaning / to clean
Brisati / obrisati = to be wiping / to wipe
Kuvati / skuvati = to be cooking / to cook
Pržiti / ispržiti = to be frying / to fry
Peći / ispeći = to be baking / to bake
Peglati / opeglati = to be ironing / to iron

Extensive Reading and Listening 1

Marina Listening comprehension , listening comprehension skills

It is such a delight to simply watch fun films, series or cartoons or read interesting books in Serbian and pick up the language, isn't it? This is known as extensive reading (or listening). It helps one to speed up the learning process and expand vocabulary very quickly and effortlessly. With authentic films and novels it helps you improve from an intermediate to more advanced levels.

That is why I am sharing with you the well known Pop Ćira and Pop Spira series based on the novel by Stevan Sremac.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

For more similar series and films, check out this Youtube playlist - click here.

Common Mistakes in Serbian - 2

Marina common mistakes ,

Another fun video about the most common mistakes in Serbian is coming your way:

Common Mistakes in Serbian

So, which of these are the correct options:

a. bombona
b. bonbona
c. ne bi
d. ne bih
e. nizašta
f. ni za šta

Learn Serbian Phrases with Beogradski Sindikat 1

Marina serbian songs , Serbian vocabulary

I guess it is just the perfect time to learn a bunch of commonly used phrases and collocations in Serbian with a newly released song "Sistem te laže" by Beogradski sindikat.

I created a new kind of exercise, with dropdown suggested answers, so you don't need to write while listening to the song, but simply click on the option you hear. You can also try to do the exercise before listening to the song, in order to guess what's missing.

Make sure you listen to the song once again, following the same lyrics in the Cyrillic script!

Common Mistakes in Serbian

Marina common mistakes ,

I must tell you that I am more than happy that there has been more and more educational videos about the Serbian language. They cover different topics, such as:

Pronunciation of Serbian with Nada
Serbian Grammar - Jezičke nedoumice
Common mistakes in Serbian - Negujmo srpski

Today I wanted to present the series of short videos about the most common mistakes in Serbian called Negujmo srpski jezik! The first video in the series is about the words "all" and "he acted".

Common Mistakes in Serbian - sve or svo?

After listening to this video can you tell which of the mentioned words is correct (tačna) and which one is incorrect (netačna):

sve
svo
glumeo
glumio

You can use the following form to say what you think:

Mislim da je reč "svo" netačna / tačna.

Let' check the correct answers:

Learn Common Serbian Phrases with Mikela

Marina common phrases , internet phrases in serbian

If you liked the previous post about the common Serbian phrases, I am sure you will like the following set of phrases people tend to use in daily conversations when they meet the friends they haven't seen for quite a while.

I will add a translation next to the each phrase, so you can see what is only natural to ask if you have a friend who is from Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro or Croatia :) You will see that there are no "safe" topics about the weather though, lol:)

Đesi ba?* = Where are you? =what's up?
šta ima? = what's up?
kako si? = how are you?
šta radiš? = what are you doing?
ima li šta novo da me iznenadiš?
= is there anything new to surprise me?

Kad si doš'o? = When did you come back?
kad se vraćaš? = when are you coming back?
vidiš li ti ovo? = can you see what's happening?
i kako ti to shvaćaš? = and what's your take on that?

Šta planiraš danas? = What are your plans for today? (what are you gonna do?)
jesi l' sutra šta planiro? = have you planned anything for tomorrow?
što si neraspoložen? = why are you in a bad mood?
ko te iznerviro? = who bothered you?
Jes' ti diplomiro ono što si studir'o? = finished what you've been studying?
Nešto s' ti to čini mi se malo pauziro? = it seems you didn't finish it in time?

Jes' to novi telefon kupio? = Have you bought a new (cell) phone?
pošto? = how much?
ako bi ga prodavo koliko bi košto? = if you were to sell it, how much would it be?
Kol'ko mu prostora u memoriju staje? = how much memory (space=prostor) is there?
kol'ko mu dugo baterija traje? = how long does the battery last?
Jesu l' to tvoja kola? = is this your car? (The word "kola" in Serbian is always in plural)
il je rent a car? = or is it a rent-a-car?
Je l' to dizel il' benzinac? = is it using diesel fuel or gasoline?
kol'ko je star? = how old is it?

Je l' to na lizing? =Is it on lease?
il je gotovina? = or in cash?
je l' to vuče prednja ili zadnja osovina? = is it front or rear traction?

Refren 2x (* kaš = Kad ćeš)
Kaš* se žent? = When are you gonna get married (ženiti = to get married for men)?
kaš se udavat? when are you gonna get married (udavati = to get married for women)?
De mi reci pa da mogu mirno spavat! = do tell me, so I can sleep peacefully!
imaš li djece? = have any kids?
e nemaš pa što? = no? so why not?
šta čekaš više? = what are you waiting for?
što ne rješavaš to? = why aren't you working on that?

Kako ti je mama? = How's your ma?
kako ti je tata? = how's your pa?
je l' ti ono imaš sestru ili brata? = have you got a sister or brother?
(The word "ono"implies that he has forgotten about it)
Radiš li šta? = working?
i kol'ka ti je plata? = how much is your salary?
jesi l' u kreditu? = having a (bank) loan?
kol'ka ti je rata? = how much is your (monthly) installment?

Đe budeš? = Where are you staying?
đe živiš?= where do you live?
đe stanuješ sada? =where are you living now?
je l' to periferija? = is it in the suburbs?
za kolko si do grada? = how far is it from the city center?
jesi to na fejsu? = are you on Facebook?
koja ti je slika na profilu? = which is your profile photo?
je l' de da to i ti imaš viška koju kilu? = do admit it that you have put on weight!
(some (extra) kilos = koju kilu viška)

Refren 3x

*Đes ba or Gde si? here means "what's up", and is often used along with that phrase "Đes ba? Šta ima?

Common Phrases in Serbian

Marina common phrases ,

Common Phrases in Serbian

I am sure you liked the previous post where you could practice pronouncing "Laku noć" which means "Good night". Today we are going to practice saying "Dobro jutro" or "Good morning" with this fun commercial:

It is actually based on a well known song by Bajaga, called "Dobro jutro, džezeri".
Džezeri is short for "jazz players", but in this ad this word is changed to "džezVeri", because the word "đezva" or "džezva" means a specific coffee pot, like this one:

At the very end you are also going to hear how chicken's "piu-piu" is used in the meaning of "they drink" = Piju (to drink = piti: conjugations>>> pijem - piješ - pije // pijemo - pijete - piju)

Now, here comes Bajaga's song with the lyrics, so you can compare the two:

New Lesson to Practice Accusative in Serbian

Marina Accusative in Serbian ,

After two months of adjusting an old course of mine to the new set of quality criteria at Udemy, Serbian 102 has been approved and is visible for anyone interested in learning Serbian at pre-intermediate level. I'm adding now additional new video lessons such as this one:

Accusative in Serbian

and quizzes:

Quizzes with Accusative in Serbian

TEST - 15 rečenica

Example with Sg. JA + IĆI + CRKVA >>> Idem u crkvu
Example with Pl. TI + VIDETI + MOSTOVI >>> Vidiš mostove

LEARN

SPACERACE

Pronunciation of Exercise

You can record a similar story with www.Vocaroo.com

Most Common Phrases in Serbian

Marina common phrases , Serbian for beginners

Common Phrases when Saying Goodnight

Here comes a fun commercial which is great for you to practice authentic language, especially the word "laku noć" = goodnight, you'll see why :)

I couldn't resist creating a short exercise based on it! Simply pull the words listed above to the appropriate gaps.

Common Phrases Task - Saying Goodnight in Serbian

International Mother Language Day

Marina Serbian as a Foreign Language ,

Today is the International Mother Language Day. Mother tongue is part of the cultural identity of a people, the point of recognition, diversity, tolerance and understanding. Taking care of the mother tongue is a way of proving the people's awareness of their own identity.

The legacy of the Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja says: "My dear child, guard your language as your country. Word can be lost as a city, as a country, as a soul. And what is a people if it loses its language, country, soul? Do not take someone else's word in your mouth. If you take a foreign word, know that you didn't conquer it, you've actually alienated yourself. It's better to lose the biggest and the toughest city of your country than the smallest and the least significant word of your language. People who lose their own words cease to exist as people."

***Many thanks to Meet the Serbs FB page for this post and translation:

Данас је Међународни дан матерњег језика. Матерњи језик је део културног идентитета народа, тачка препознавања, различитости али и толеранције и разумевања. Брига о матерњем језику је начин доказивања свести народа о властитом идентитету.

Завештање Стефана Немање каже: „Чувајте, чедо моје мило, језик као земљу. Реч се може изгубити као град, као земља, као душа. А шта је народ изгуби ли језик, земљу, душу? Не узимајте туђу реч у своја уста. Узмеш ли туђу реч, знај да је ниси освојио, него си себе потуђио. Боље ти је изгубити највећи и најтврђи град своје земље, него најмању и најнензнатнију реч свога језика. Народ који изгуби своје речи престаје бити народ“. („Завештања великог жупана српског Стефана Немање свом сину светом Сави“, аутора Милета Медића).

Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Marina Accusative in Serbian , serbian conjugations

The topic of today's lesson is the verb IĆI U/NA(to go to) followed by different places. Because of the preposition U/NA, which mean in/at/on in English, students tend to make a mistake and use the Locative case of a noun instead of the Accusative. However, since IĆI U is the verb which denotes movement, we can translate it with GO TO and then it is followed by the Accusative.

So, with today's Quizlet set we will be practicing:

different conjugations of the verb IĆI in its imperfective form: idem (sada) = I am going to (now).
prepositions U vs. NA
Accusative Singular nouns (there is a change only with the Feminine nouns, which drop the final A and add U)

Learning Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Practicing Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Test with Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Serbian for Beginners in Cyrillic and Latin Alphabet

Marina Serbian for beginners ,

Yesterday I made two brand new Quizlet exercises as a follow up of the following video Serbian exercise for beginners, both in the Serbian Cyrillic script and Latin alphabet.

If you are not sure what some words mean, do check them out with the following flash cards:

Once you feel confident about the meaning of the words, feel free to do the following exercises in the Cyrillic script:

or Latin Alphabet:

Google Tag Head

Saturday, May 07, 2016

How to Practice Aspect in Serbian?

Imperfective vs. Perfective Aspect in Serbian

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Common Mistakes in Serbian

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Friday, April 15, 2016

Common Mistakes in Serbian - sve or svo?

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Friday, March 04, 2016

Common Phrases in Serbian

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Accusative in Serbian

Quizzes with Accusative in Serbian

Pronunciation of Exercise

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Common Phrases when Saying Goodnight

Common Phrases Task - Saying Goodnight in Serbian

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Learning Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Practicing Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Test with Serbian Verb to Go to with Places

Monday, February 15, 2016

Advanced Serbian - Srpski kao drugi jezik

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