Learn Serbian

Learning Serbian with exercises, video lessons and online courses

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Monday, March 20, 2017

Where do You Work?

In the verb conjugation series of videos, I just published a new video with a lot of examples how to use the verb TO WORK = raditi in the Present Tense.




Useful Vocabulary


In this lesson we are practicing the verb TO WORK in = raditi u ...

1. raditi = to work
2. škola = school
3. bolnica = hospital
4. prodavnica = shop
5. muzej = museum
6. pozorište = theatre
7. lekar = (medical) doctor
8. medicinska sestra = nurse

RADIM - RADIŠ - RADI // RADIMO - RADITE - RADE

To practice with a short story based on the verbs to go to, to live and to work, you're invited to follow Patreon blog! You can regularly access interactive surveys like this one:

... and get my feedback :)

Friday, March 17, 2017

Authentic Serbian - Greetings and Introductions

While conducting a survey about your needs in learning Serbian, some of you mentioned that they would appreciate videos with authentic Serbian, spoken in everyday situations by ordinary people.

This video with a brand new  Serbian presidential candidate who is meeting the editorial team of a local newspaper is an excellent example of something like that. In it, Beli gets introduced with a lot of people, and you will be able to hear how ordinary people say "pleased to meet you".



I will list all the most common introductory phrases along with some others (not heard in the video), so your task will be simple. Just tick the phrases you hear while watching the video!
  1. Zdravo!
  2. Ćao!
  3. Dobar dan!
  4. Dobro veče!
  5. Ovo je ...
  6. Dobrodošao!
  7. Radujemo se tvojoj poseti
  8. Radujem se Vašoj poseti
  9. Drago mi je!
  10. To su naše lektorke.
  11. Bolje vas našao!
  12. Kako ste Vi?
  13. Kako si ti?
  14. Hvala.
  15. Kako ste?
  16. Mnogo vam je lepo ovde.
  17. Baš mi je drago.
  18. Jeste dobri?
  19. Jeste dobro?
  20. Poštovanje!
  21. Izvoli, dobrodošao!
  22. Izvolte, dobrodošli!
  23. Izvolite. 
  24. Hoćete neku kafu?
  25. Želite li kafu?
  26. Šta želite da popijete?
  27. Ne hvala.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Conjugations of Serbian Verb to Go to in Present Tense

Last time we practiced the verb to live. Today, we are learning the verb to go with the following video:


and a couple of exercises:

  

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Serbian Verbs Conjugated - To Live

I have tried to make simple conjugation videos before, but was never satisfied with what they looked and sounded like. Last week, thanks to my dedicated patrons on Patreon and my students of Serbian whom I've been teaching for years, I was able to afford the first professional version of the software which I have always dreamt of.  HVALA!!!

How do you like my first pro conjugation video?



Now that I have all the tools, I am sure you'll all enjoy my short video lessons about:


  1. verb conjugations in Serbian, both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet.
  2. short video stories, based on the video with conjugations
  3. short dialogues based on the texts and Serbian Phrases
  4. videos explaining Serbian idioms
  5. easy Serbian songs and chants for kids
Još jednom ogromno hvala mojim dragim pratiocima i učenicima koji pomažu održavanje ovog bloga i sve bolji kvalitet video lekcija srpskog jezika. Moje nove lekcije će izgledati super zahvaljujući Mirku, Milici i Milenki, Lari, Matiji, Dejanu i Danijeli, Marion, Pavlu, Dejvidu, Niku i Dženi i Jani!!! 

Friday, February 17, 2017

Serbian Passive Voice with Exercises

Serbian Passive Voice with Exercises


Unfortunately, there haven't been many posts about the Passive Voice on this blog. I want this to change and that's why I would like to add a few more exercises about this topic. Based on the following fun song which has great lyrics about Rakija production, I'll make a few exercises for you.

Let's relax and watch the video by Cache & Djavo called "Kakvu sam rakiju pek'o" :)



Serbian Passive Voice with Exercises

 

Serbian Passive Voice with Exercises 

Wednesday, February 08, 2017

His and Her in Serbian

His and Her in Serbian


While his = njegov and her = njen sounds pretty easy and straightforward, there is a little catch. These are possessive adjectives and therefore they agree with the noun they describe. That's why they will have all kinds of suffixes to mirror the main noun in number, case and gender.

Today will stick just to the basic Nominative case and see how NJEGOV and NJEN mirror the gender of the nouns through the following exercises:


HIS and HER in Serbian with a funny photo

Simply look at the photo and write his shirt (njegovA košuljA) or her shirt (njenA košuljA), based on the position of the question in the photo:



His and Her in Serbian

HIS and HER in Serbian with Quizlet

If you have learnt clothes with one of my previous lessons, this one will be a piece of cake = prosto ko pasulj:



If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon.




Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Serbian for Children - Lesson 2

Thanks to your kind help the second lesson of Serbian for Children was released yesterday:


In this lesson you can practise saying "Ovo je..." (this is) as well as the vocabulary for family members!

Porodica

mama = mom
tata = dad
sestra = sister
brat = brother
sin = son
ćerka = daughter

***
moj / moja = my

Additional exercises:
1. https://quizlet.com/146121479/micromatch
2. https://en.educaplay.com/en/learningresources/2531536/serbian_for_children_lesson_1a.htm

The first part was published in the post about teaching Serbian with children songs, but I will add it here as well:

 

Hope you find them useful and come here for more!

If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon. HVALA!

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Why Learn Serbian?

There are so many reasons to learn Serbian. That's why I'd like you to help me find out what your main motivation is when learning this language. I am also interested what you need most and what you think could help you learn most efficiently.

That's why I have created an anonymous survey and I'd appreciate if you could spare a few minutes to do it. HVALA!

 Thanks so much for your time! All the info is used to make my Serbian Activator e-mails and video lessons most relevant to you!

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Learning Serbian Efortlessly

Let's learn the past tense form of "She was" in Serbian the easy way: BILA JE with this beautiful song, step by step:




Now, an exercise:


If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon. HVALA! 

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Serbian Phrases: Don't Argue with Me

Would it be funny for you to hear a phrase "Don't argue with mine!", whatever that might mean?

Here comes a short clip with a similar phrase, which is obviously wrong and make people laugh (together with a specific pronunciation of  Mr. Šojić's "ć" in "ćao" :)



- Nemaš! Šta moliš? Imaš (li) kod sebe 350 Evra?
- Ma gospodine Šojiću...
- Ma, ćao! Nemaš! Ćao! Ne raspravljaj se sa mene! Ne raspravljaj se!

Don't argue with me!

The correct Serbian phrase: "Don't argue with me" would be as follows:

- Ne raspravljaj se sa mnom! (not "sa mene"=)

The verb "to argue" is always used with "se" form: raspravljati se. A few synonyms would be:
svađati se and prepirati se. (Ne svađaj se sa mnom / Ne prepiri se sa mnom). 

 Instrumental of Serbian Pronouns

The preposition "with" requires the Instrumental  form of the pronoun so you can use the mentioned verbs with the following pronouns as well:
  • with me = sa mnom
  • with you = sa tobom
  • with him/it = sa njim
  • with her = sa njom
  • with us = sa nama
  • with you = sa vama / Vama
  • with them = sa njima
If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon. HVALA!

Sunday, January 22, 2017

How to Practice Serbian Pronouns in Instrumental

How to cope with all different forms of Serbian pronouns, in different cases and with all the different endings? Well, there are many different ways, starting with old-fashioned grammar learning;


to using them in phrases, without thinking about grammar at all. What I find really efficient, is to listen to Serbian songs and learn the pronouns in common phrases, by singing :)

Let me share with you the following song: Za Njom by S.A.R.S.



How to Practice Serbian Pronoun SHE in the Instrumental Case



Now that you have heard this song, sang along, and done the exercise, can you tell me which prepositions were there in front of "NJOM"?

Friday, January 20, 2017

Are You Proficient in Serbian?

From time to time I get a request to publish more exercises for Serbian for an advanced and even proficient level. I guess that creating short tasks based on various films and series in Serbian certainly helps. One of such series which I wanted to recommend for more proficient speakers of Serbian is Prvi Servis, sponsored by VreleGume. I love their short format and a really great cast.  The topics are everyday problems of ordinary people.

In the first episode, there is a short monologue with lots of mistakes, which can be easily corrected by an advanced student of Serbian.


Would you like to give it a try? You can write your suggestion in the comment below!

Example 1:

1:25 min: Kada sam u vaša zemlja ja ovo, a kod kuće imam Volvo.
           *Correction:  Kada sam u vašOJ zmljI

Your task:
3:35 min: Majstor kaže da je teško kvarnost velika. Ili je amortizer ili je može biti da je možda ova …. kako kaže on kod vas… balans štanglica, ili je može biti da je stabilizatorski dio. Kaže popraviće, hitno mi je potrebno auto za sutra.
A auto moram imati jer mater meni stiže. Moram je pokupit. Moja mater je iz naša zemlja, srpska. Moja Mater je iz Vojnić.A otac mi je njihov, on je Lunski La iz Lunski Le, Moj otac je Turstend. Tako da mater moja dolazi. Stara je, ne može da hoda. Kaže više mi je samo  da umrem, samo da umrem, već mi dosta to,  da se sahrani u Vojnići to.
A hitno bi  mi moralo se  prebaciti ja za grad. Ako ima neko dobro da pozove taksi.  Imam krune, plaćam sve, da. Ako može neko da mi nazove taksi, a majstor će se potruditi. Vidim da je dobar čovek.

 You can write your suggestion in the comment below!

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