If you were happy with my short video lesson about the very simple form of the phrase "I need something" yesterday, I am sure you are now ready for a few exercises. Let me start with the easier ones and then I'll add some for more advanced students:

• For Beginners: Practising only "Treba mi +  different international words"

• For Intermediate students: Practising "Treba + mi/  ti / Vam / mu / joj / nam / im + international words"

• For Advanced students: Practising the past tense form "I needed + something", which is more complicated because here the past tense form of the word has to agree with the direct object (something): "TrebalE su mi jabukE // TrebalI su joj prijateljI // TrebalA nam je vodA" (+ word order with 3rd person Sg of the direct object).

I need = Treba mi

I guess one of the most needed verbs in a language must be the verb to need = trebati :) It is a really handy word in Serbian, because of the two following reasons:

Firstly, this verb doesn't conjugate, because in its simplest meaning "I need (something)" we actually use "Treba mi" where "mi" means "to me". If you want to say "You need", it will be "Treba Vam" (formal version) or "Treba ti" (informal version). Therefore, you'll simply change the pronoun as follows:

• TREBA mi hamburger
• TREBA ti pica 
• TREBA mu vino (to him / it = mu)
• TREBA joj muzika (to her = joj)
• TREBA  nam restoran (to us =nam)
• TREBA vam /Vam burek (to you - You = vam/Vam)
• TREBA im mleko (to them = im)

Secondly, because in Serbian this phrase sounds like the passive in deep structure, the noun always takes a subject case, which is Nominative. (A hamburger is needed to/by me = Treba mi hamburger). Therefore, you don't need to change its form, i.e. no declension :) Lovely! Take a look at the previous examples and the words which follow "Treba ... " phrase. No cases, at all:

1. hamburger - a hamburger
2. pica - a pizza
3. vino - a wine
4. muzika - music
5. restoran - a restaurant
6. burek - burek (a special kind of pie)
7. mleko - milk

Here comes an exercise for of you who liked the song about colors in Serbian!

While creating another Serbian lesson for kids, I came across a very useful song which can teach you how to pronounce the colours (boje) clearly.

Colours in Serbian

In one of the very first posts I created on this blog, there was a list of the keywords when talking about yourself . It was published back in 2008 and you can find it by clicking on this link.

Now, if we use these words in context, we can see how the personal pronouns referring to the same words can be often heard. Let's practice such sentences together!

Masc./Neuter  Sg Nouns in Accusative >>> Corresponding Pronouns (on / ono  >>> ga/njega)

1. IME = first name.............................................Koje je vaše ime? Možete li da ga ponovite? 
2. PREZIME = surname.....................................Koje je vaše prezime? Možete li da ga ponovite? 
3. DEVOJAČKO PREZIME = maiden name....Koje je vaše devojačko prezimee? Možete li da _____ ponovite? 
4. MESTO ROĐENJA = place of birth...............Gde ste rođeni? Ponovite Vaše mesto rođenja! Možete li da ____ napišete?
5. DATUM ROĐENJA = date of birth...............Kad ste rođeni? Ponovite Vaše datum rođenja! Možete li da ____ napišete?
6. PASOŠ = passport.........................................Da li je ovo Vaš pasoš? Dajte mi ___ molim Vas! 

1. LIČNA KARTA = identity card....................Imate li ličnu kartu? Dajte mi je, molim Vas!
2. STALNA ADRESA = permanent address....Imate li stalnu adresu? Možete li da __ napišete? 
3. MEJL ADRESA = e-mail address................Imate li mejl adresu? Možete li da mi __ pošaljete
4. ZDRAVSTVENA KNJIŽICA = health insurrance...Imate li knjižicu Dajte mi ___, molim Vas!

1. PASOŠI...................Imate li pasošE? Molim vas dajte mi ih!
2. LIČNE KARTE...... Pokažite mi lične karte. Dajte mi ____, molim vas!
3. IMENA .................. Kako se zovete? Koja su vaša imena? Ajde, ponovite mi ___ polako, molim vas!
4. MEJL ADRESE.... Hajde da razmenimo mejl adrese! Možete li da mi ___ pošaljete još jednom, molim vas!

Here comes a  set of commonly used phrases when talking about money and banks:

1. Trošiti novac (imperfective) // potrošiti (perfective) = to spend (money)
2. Dobijati (imp) // dobiti (perf) = to get 
3. Skupljati (imp) // skupiti (perf) = to collect
4. Bacati (imp) // baciti (perf)= to throw
5. Štedeti (imp) // uštedeti  (perf)= to save (money)
6. Davati (imp)// dati (perf) = to give
7. Pozajmljivati (imp) // pozajmiti  (perf)= to borrow/lend
8. Zarađivati (imp) // zaraditi (perf) = to earn

Rešenje i prevod:

Since Državni posao is quite difficult for lower levels, I'll just post a bunch of simple questions for the more advanced learners of Serbian to choose from.

1. Koja se sve hrana / jela pominju u ovoj seriji?

a. mleko
b. parmezan
c. salata
d. rukola
e. goveđi gulaš
f. eurokrem
g. krastavac
h. limun
i. pivo
j. paprikaš od mladih svraka
k. hleb
l. lovorov list
m. rečna riba

In today's "Radni ručak" we can enjoy watching "Piletina lampia" with the chef Samir and  beautiful Milena.

Listen to the video and try to answer the following questions:

1. Jedan sastojak je viška. Koji?

• piletina
• crvena paprika
• tikvica
• crni luk
• so
• pirinač
• med
• ananas
• banana
• šampinjoni
• šargarepa
• pavlaka
• biber
• sirće

In the previous month I posted a few exercises for you to practice how to pronounce rooms in a flat in Serbian. There was an exercise to help you write and read the same words both in the  Latin and Cyrillic script. I hope you liked all the exercises.

 Now it's time to expand the vocabulary and learn about the furniture in different rooms. Here comes an exercise with flash cards to help you hear and pronounce the words correctly!

Furniture in Serbian

Games with Furniture in Serbian 

As usual, there is a vocabulary game, but this time it's a hangman game based on some of the words from the previous exercises.

In the previous post you could see the different forms of pronouns in the Accusative case in Serbian:

If you are familiar with the personal pronouns in Serbian in the Nominative case, it's time for you to their different forms through various cases.

The clever way is to approach these more complicated forms through the texts you've done before, using the pronouns instead of nouns. For example:



If we turn all the nouns into the corresponding pronouns, we would get a fun story:

• Želim da kupim njih. = Želim da ih kupim.
• Da li  imate njih, ali u plavoj boji? = Da li ih imate, ali plave?
• Da li možete da mi pokažete nju i njih = Da li možete da mi je pokažete i da mi ih pokažete?
• Želim da kupim nju, nju i nju i njih. = Želim da je kupim i želim da ih kupim.

However, the easiest way is to learn pronouns is through songs and exercises:

• Personal pronouns in the Dative with "Kafu mi draga ispeci"
• Personal pronoun "we" in different forms with "Moja draga" 
• Personal pronouns in the Accusative and possessive adjectives with "Dudo"
• Mixed personal pronouns with "Tako mi svega"

• Accusative (MENE / SEBE - TEBE/ VAS - NJEGA - NJU(JE) - NJEGA // NAS - VAS - NJIH)

• Locative ( o MENI/ SEBI - TEBI - VAMA - NJEMU - NJOJ - NJEMU // NAMA - VAMA - NJIMA)
• Instrumental (SA MNOM/SOBOM - TOBOM - VAMA - NJIM - NJOM - NJIM // NAMA - VAMA - NJIMA)