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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Adjectives and Genders in Serbian - 1

Many of my students have asked me to create a series of video lessons or similar teaching materials dedicated only to adjectives contrasting Masculine and Feminine forms. Here comes the first one in this series - something reeeeaaaaally simple:


Made with ToonyTool.com

Masculine Sg. of hungry>>> gladAn
Feminine Sg. of hungry >>> gladnA
Neuter Sg. of hungry >>> gladNo

Exercise with this photo lesson



  1. Ko je gladan? Who is hungry?
  2. On je gladan! He is hungry!
  3. Ona je gladna! She is hungry!
  4. Ja nisam gladan! I am not hungry!

Here comes a trick question: Da li sam JA dečko ili devojčica? Am I (JA in sentence 4) a boy or a girl?

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Greetings from Genitive - Part 2

If you really had fun learning Genitive yesterday, I'm sure you'll have a blast  today:


Made with ToonyTool.com

As you can see, there's a bunch of characters speaking to you in Serbian (written both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet :) Because they are talking about where they are right now, they are using (guess what?) the Genitive case. Now, I have a few tasks for you. Let's find out:

A. Who is saying what? = Ko šta kaže?

  1. Sunce kaže: 
  2. Majmun kaže:
  3. Ptica kaže:
  4. Dečko kaže:

B. Where are = Gde su...

  1. dečko (a boy)
  2. devojčica (a girl)
  3. pingvin (a penguin)
  4. ptica (a bird)
  5. majmun (a monkey)
  6. sunce (the sun)
  7. mačka (a cat)

C. One Cyrillic text is missing - which one? Write it in the comment below:


Serbian Genitive with Sg. Feminine Nouns


I hope you have mastered your Genitive with Sg. Masc. nouns. That's why we are working on  the nouns which are Fem. Sg. today. Look at the examples:

  1. Ja sam iznad zgrade! Ko sam ja? Da li sam ja ptica?
  2. Danas sam ispred zgrade! Ko sam ja? Da li sam ja mačka?
  3. Oni su iznad mene! Ko su oni? Ko sam ja?
  4. On nije iznad mačke! Ja sam iznad mačke! Ko sam ja?
What happens with the following nouns?
  1. zgrada = building
  2. ptica = bird
  3. mačka = cat
  4. devojčica = girl
  5. voda = water
when they follow the prepositions: 
  • iznad = above or over
  • ispod = below or under
  • iz = from
  • pored = near or beside
By looking the examples, you can see that the final -a disappears, becoming an -e:

  1. Iznad zgradE = above the building
  2. Ispod pticE = under the bird
  3. Pored mačkE = beside the cat
  4. Iza devojčicE = behind the girl
  5. Iznad vodE = above the water

Asking simple questions with the verb TO BE in Serbian

I am sure you have noticed two types of questions in this exercise:
  1. Wh-? questions: Ko sam ja = Who am I and Ko su oni? Who are they?
  2. Yes-no questions: Da li sam ja pingvin? = Am I a penguin? 
With the verb to be=biti, it is obvious that there is
  1. a wh-? question word before an inversion (ja sam becomes KO sam ja)
  2. da li question phrase before an inversion (ja sam becomes DA LI sam ja)
Yes, it's that simple :)

Rešenje = Solution


Now that you understand EVERYTHING, it's time to solve the mystery...

Monday, May 15, 2017

Serbian Genitive - Greetings from London, Part 1

What a lovely morning for such an easy Serbian Genitive photo lesson:
  Made with ToonyTool.com
Dobro jutro iz sunčanog LondonA! Pogodite odakle šaljem pozdrave: ispod ili iznad mostA?

Добро јутро из сунчаног ЛондонА! Погодите одакле шаљем поздраве: испод или изнад мостА?

Good morning from sunny London! Guess where I am sending the greetings from: under or above the bridge?

Serbian Genitive with Masculine Singular

London and most (bridge) are two Masc. Sg. nouns in this case. What endings showed up when we used them after the prepositions:

  1. iz = from
  2. under / below = ispod
  3. above / over = iznad
Yes, the answer is -A. So, if you are from the following cities/countries you will always  say "I am from ..."

  • Ja sam  iz Londona / Beograda / Lisabona / Bostona / Čikaga (Čikago) / Sidneja / Frankfurta /Minhena / Beča / Pariza
  • Moja mama je iz Perua / Irana / Iraka / Luksemburga / Portugala /Izrael


Sunday, May 14, 2017

Where are you today? Part 2

What do you want to do TODAY?
Šta želite da radite DANAS?

Today I am in Paris. I want to see the Mona Lisa.
DANAS sam u Parizu.  Želim da vidim Mona Lizu.

Made with ToonyTool.com While in the previous lesson we noticed that the Locative Singular ending was only -i, it was like that simply because we were in places which are in Feminine Singular (U Moskvi, Aziji, Evropi, Budimpešti...)

However, today we are in having fun  in places which are Masculine Singular and that's why we add the suffix -u at the end of each place:


  1. Ja sam danas u Parizu. = Danas sam u Parizu.
  2. ...Beograd >>> Beogradu
  3. ...Lisabon >>> Lisabonu
  4. ... Sidnej >>> Sidneju
  5. ... Niš >>> Nišu
  6. ...muzej >>> muzeju
  7. ... centar >>> centru 

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Let's Play Guessing Game

Let's take a guess:

Is this my room?

Made with ToonyTool.com

To master this topic, check out the following video

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Where are you today?

Where are you today?

Today we are in Moscow. Moscow is in Russia. Russia is in Europe and Asia. Where are you today? Let's say this in Serbian! Made with ToonyTool.com Latin Script Version

Danas smo u Moskvi :) Moskva je u Rusiji. Rusija je u Evropi i Aziji. Gde ste vi danas?

Cyrillic Script Version

Данас смо у Москви :) Москва је у Русији. Русија је у Европи и Азији. Где сте ви данас?


Let's practice the Locative in Serbian

Feminine Singular

  • Moskva >>>Moskvi
  • Rusija >>> Rusiji
  • Azija >>> Aziji
  • Evropa >>> Evropi
  • Lima >>> ???
  • Barselona >>> ???
  • Budimpešta >>> ???
  • zgrada (building) >>> ???

Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Photo Serbian - Simple Yes/No Questions

Made with ToonyTool.com Let's play with fun photos and comics! All you have to do is ask simple questions:


  1. Da li si u Serbiji? (Are you in Serbia?)
  2. Da li čekaš da pređeš ulicu? (Are you waiting to cross the street?)
  3. Da li je rasprodaja u prodavnici? (Is there a sale in the shop?)

Sunday, May 07, 2017

Family Members and Friends in Serbian



Another Quizlet video exercise for you to practice the pronunciation of the following words:
  • mama = mother
  • tata = father
  • sestra = sister
  • brat = brother
  • sin = son
  • ćerka = daughter
  • drug = close friend masc.
  • drugarica = close friend fem.
  • prijatelj = friend masc.
  • prijateljica = friend fem.
  • kolega =colleague masc.
  • koleginica = colleague fem.

Best Way to Learn 






Monday, April 24, 2017

Serbian Verb Conjugations - Practicing Can

Here comes a brand new video based on an exercise with the modal verb MOĆI. Let's watch the video first, before doing a bunch of exercises:



Practicing Can with Language Games



Practicing Serbian Verb Moći with Flashcards




Testing your Knowledge of Serbian Verb Conjugations 


Saturday, April 22, 2017

Perfective and Imperfective Aspect in Serbian

In today's lesson we will learn the following verbs

Perfective Aspect = Svršeni glagolski vid 


1. šutnuti = to kick
2. skočiti = to jump
3. potrčati / trčati = to run
4. povući = to pull
5. otvoriti = to open
6. gurnuti = to push
7. zatvoriti = to close
8. uhvatiti = to catch

Imperfective Aspect = Nesvršeni glagolski vid 


1. šutirati = to be kicking
2. skakati = to be jumping
3. trčati = to be running
4. povlačiti / vući = to be pulling
5. otvArati= to be opening
6. zatvAriti = to be closing
7. zatvArati= to be closing
8. hvatA = to be catching

We'll use them in the past tense.

Prošlo vreme, perfektni oblik = Past Simple Tense 


He kickED the ball - on je šutnuo loptu
he jumpED - on je skočio
he ran - on je potrčao
he pullED the box - on je povukao kutiju
he openED the door - on je otvorio vrata
he pushED the box - on je gurnuo kutiju
he closeD the door - on je zatvorio vrata
he caught the ball - on je uhvatio loptu

Click here for the full version.

As you can see each aspect has a different or slightly different form. That's why I am making the short videos with conjugations so you can hear and see the conjugations clearly. Let's focus on the fun task in front of us today, and in the following days you can expect me to focus more on the conjugations of the each verbs with fun exercises. Looking forward to getting your vocaroo.com stories in both aspects :)

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Get Ready for Easter

In the course of the past ten years, there's been a lot of posts about Orthodox Easter. I covered different topics, from the greetings to video stories about it, songs and songs . However, I still haven't written about one of the kids' most favourite tradition: egg tapping or "kucanje jajima".

Let me share with you what Wikipedia says about it:

Egg tapping, or also known as egg fightegg knockingegg pacqueingegg boxingegg picking[1] or egg jarping is a traditional Easter game. 

The rule of the game is simple. One holds a hard-boiled egg and taps the egg of another participant with one's own egg intending to break the other's, without breaking one's own. As with any other game, it has been a subject of cheating; eggs with cementalabaster, and even marble cores have been reported.[2]

To see what it looks like in one local community, I'm sharing a video about Easter egg fight from 2014, along with the listening comprehension quiz. For an easier quiz based video with basic greetings and common Easter phrases, check out my blog on Patreon.



Ћирилични задатак: одслушајте видео и допуните празна места. Резултат је у коментару :)
  1. Милица је добила ово јаје од ________ .
  2. Милица има ________ година.
  3. Милица је ________ у куцању ускршњим јајима.
  4. Ово је ________ такмичење у куцању јаја.
  5. Деца знају да код куће треба да направе ________ турнир.
  6. Данас је било ________деце.
  7. Све је протекло у ________ духу.


***********

Latinični zadatak: odslušajte video i dopunite prazna mesta. Rezultat je u komentaru :)
  1. Milica je dobila ovo jaje od ________ . 
  2. Milica ima ________ godina. 
  3. Milica je ________ u kucanju uskršnjim jajima.
  4. Ovo je ________ takmičenje u kucanju jaja.
  5. Deca znaju da kod kuće treba da naprave ________ turnir.
  6. Danas je bilo ________dece.
  7. Sve je proteklo u ________ duhu.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Serbian Conjugations - Verb to Have

Today I am sharing with you conjugations with the verb TO HAVE = IMATI + words in an office:



Present Simple of Verb to HAVE:


JA imam
TI imaš
ON-ONA-ONO ima
MI imamo
VI imate
ONI-ONE-ONA imaju

Nouns Following the Verb to Have


Feminine Sg:
1. stolica = chair
2. kanta = bin
3. biljka = plant
4. diploma = diploma
5. klima = air conditioning
6. slika = picture

Masculine Pl:
1. sto = table
2. kompjuter = computer
3. telefon = telephone
4. sertifikat = certificate
5. ormarić = filing cabinet
6. sat = clock

Speaking and Writing exercise




If you are curious as to why the final -a in the fem. sg. noun changes, do check the theory about the Accusative case. Even if you are not interested in the cases, after practising with this video lesson, you will be able to say and write these examples correctly.

If you would like to enjoy the full version with exercises such as this one with the verbs live and work, you are welcome to support my work on Patreon :)

p.s. You are enjoying these cute little animations, thanks to the consistent support of my five current Patrons!  Hvala im :)

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